Events

The RYLA Class of 2023 sponsored by the Rotary Club of West Austin will speak to the Club about their experiences this summer.

About our RYLA Campers:

The Rotary Club of West Austin sponsored 5 RYLA campers to enjoy the 2023 Summer Session:

Harper Jordan - Anderson High School
Junyeop Lee - Anderson High School
Ekatarina "Katya" Veasey - Anderson High School

William Perkins - McCallum High School
Sydney Piper - McCallum High School

Our Club Past-President Nancy Ray will share her experiences and stories from the Rotary International Convention in Melbourne, Australia this summer.

About Club Past-President Nancy Ray

Nancy was born and raised in Mineral  Wells, Texas, graduated from the University of Texas and bleeds burnt orange. She is married to rancher Bruce Wittig whom she met through her 85-year-old mother-in-law (known as the matchmaker) .

Nancy has two grown daughters and four amazing grands, 2  stepsons and another set of six amazing step grands. 

She is gleefully retired and her passions include faith, family,  friends,  Rotary and being a weekend cowgirl! As a Rotarian for over 30 years she once had the privilege of meeting the first female Rotarian president. 

UT Texas Women's Basketball Head Coach Vic Shaefer will talk to us about this season and team development.

About Vic Shaefer:

Two-Time National Coach of the Year Vic Schaefer preps to enter his fourth season at the helm of the Texas Women’s Basketball program in 2023-24. Schaefer was the 2023 Big 12 Coach of the Year. 

Schaefer, a Texas native who has spent 24 of his 38 years in coaching within the state of Texas and 29 years in the Southwest, is the fifth head coach in program history.

In 18 seasons as a collegiate head coach, which also includes eights seasons at Mississippi State and seven seasons at Sam Houston State, Schaefer now owns a career record of 377-199 [.655].

Before coming to Texas, Schaefer spent eight seasons as the head coach at Mississippi State (2011-20), where he led the Bulldogs to a 221-62 [.781] record and five NCAA Tournament berths, including two NCAA Championship Game appearances. Under his direction, Mississippi State won the program's first SEC regular-season championship and SEC Tournament championship and made five consecutive appearances in the SEC Tournament Championship Game, tying the University of Tennessee's record for consecutive tournament final appearances.

A native of Austin, Texas, Schaefer served as a men's assistant coach at Sam Houston State [1987-89] between stints as the assistant boys' basketball coach and head tennis coach at Houston's Milby High School. As a player, Schaefer was an all-state performer in basketball, football and baseball at Houston Lutheran High School before going on to play two seasons of collegiate basketball at Alvin Community College. He graduated from Texas A&M in 1984. 

Schaefer and his wife, Holly, who played basketball at Arkansas State and later served as an assistant coach at UT Arlington, have twin children, Blair and Logan, both of whom graduated from Mississippi State during the 2017-18 year. Blair Schaefer currently serves as Texas’ Assistant Coach.

THE VIC SCHAEFER FILE
Hometown: Austin, Texas 
Alma Mater: Texas A&M [1984]
Wife: Holly Schaefer
Children: Blair and Logan

https://texassports.com/sports/womens-basketball/roster/coaches/vic-schaefer/3279

Rotarian Cass Grange will bring the topic  "Why we need friends".  She will talk about  new research from "The Good Life-- Lessons from the world's longest scientific study of happiness", by Robert Waldinger, MD and Marc Schulz PHD.There will be time for questions and Cass will pose questions for the group on friendship.  

About Cass Grange

Cass Grange has been in the financial services industry for 28 years. Cass and her husband Tom have been married 38 years. Originally from Nebraska, she graduated from the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, with a journalism degree. She also holds a Master’s in Business Communications from the University of St. Thomas in St. Paul, Minnesota. Cass and her two partners have a financial planning firm called Watercolor Financial. Cass Grange is an independent investment advisor. Watercolor Financial is an SEC Registered Investment Advisor. Their office is close to where the Rotary Club of West Austin meets, near the Arboretum.

About Dolores Ortega Carter

About Sharla Bell

About Kevin Brackmeyer

About Katie Nye

About Tab Barker

About Rob Cann