Rubbing elbows with city officials

This week I had the unique experience of listening to Sheriff Kenny Furlong speak, have a conversation with Superintendent Mary Pierczynski and meeting many prominent members of Carson City's community.

And all of this occurred on Tuesday in a span of less than two hours.

"Where was I?" you might ask. The Carson City Noon Rotary Club meeting, of course.

I received so much positive feedback from the club members about this column I decided to take a week off from my political opinions and dedicate this week's piece to describing my fantastic experience as a Rotarian for a day.

Before I attended the meeting, though, I thought I'd do a little research.

Aside from the fact that my leadership teacher Mrs. Stoddard attends the meetings every week, I knew nothing about Rotary. So I checked out the Web site, which described Rotary International as, " E an organization of business and professional leaders united worldwide who provide humanitarian service, encourage high ethical standards in all vocations, and help build goodwill and peace in the world."

Sounds pretty impressive to me.

From the site I also learned one of Rotary's largest goals is to eradicate polio by the year 2005, an extremely admirable task.

Not only did the Rotary Club impress me, but surprisingly, they were impressed by me.

Walking into the Carson Nugget's meeting room, I was amazed at how many people were in the club. Then, as I glanced around the room, I was shocked by how many people I recognized as prominent figures in our community.

So this is where they all get together and talk about, I don't know, being a prominent figure in our community, I guess.

While waiting for Mrs. Stoddard to arrive, I talked to at least a handful of friendly people who came up and introduced themselves.

Again, I was taken aback by how quickly I was welcomed into their circle.

But when the meeting started, it was all business. Well, for the most part.

It was well organized and all addresses to the president or to the group were made formally. But there were some humorous moments as well (singing "If You're Happy and You Know It" for example).

The best part of the meeting for me, though, was the socializing.

I had a great conversation with Justice of the Peace John Tatro, who gave me the best compliment I've heard so far about this column: "I don't know if I agree with you, but when I read your column I was surprised that a high school student had actually written it."

And earlier in the meeting, Sheriff Furlong addressed and complimented me personally about my achievements. I also talked to the publisher of this newspaper and a professor at WNCC, and I thoroughly enjoyed the company and conversation of the Rotarians at my table.

To put the icing on the cake, I also won $10 in the raffle.

So thank you Carson High School, Mrs. Stoddard and Carson City Noon Rotary for providing me the magnificent opportunity to hobnob with Carson City's best.

And while I may not have won the Pulitzer yet, I would like to thank everyone who has read this column and been so supportive this past month.

But don't think you've seen the last of me -- I'll be back next week to tackle yet another significant political issue.

Jessica Smallman is a senior at Carson High School. She is writing a regular column for the Nevada Appeal as her senior project.