Debra Parsons, Dr. William Strayhorn, District Governor Kam Chandan, Ken Bostick, and Dr. Katrina Chance at the Rockingham Rotary meeting.
ROCKINGHAM — The Rockingham Rotary Club welcomed District Governor Kam Chandan, members of his family, and Assistant District Governor Caroline Goins on Monday during its regular weekly meeting at First United Methodist Church.
Following remarks on the value of Rotary Club membership to local and global communities, Chandan recognized five club members as Paul Harris Fellows for their annual contributions to the Rotary Foundation of Rotary International. Programs such as Polio Plus, a mission to eradicate polio globally, as well as others giving to help communities and individuals are supported by the Rotary Foundation.
Ken Bostick, Debra Parsons, Dr. William Strayhorn, Dr. Katrina Chance and Mechelle Preslar were honored, as well as the memory of Michael Read. Citing the principles of Rotary International founder, Paul Harris, Chandan thanked the new fellows and presented them with certificates and pins to mark the occasion.
A native of Pune, India, Chandan is a Principal – Application Modernization Leader at Amazon Web Services now living in Huntersville, NC. He received his bachelors in computer engineering from Pune Institute of Computer Technology, Pune and master’s degree in computer science with a business minor in entrepreneurship from the University of Southern California.
Inspired to join Rotary by his father-in-law, a past district governor, he is active in both his home club and in Rotary’s international activities. Chandan’s family had the privilege of hosting four youth exchange students and his daughter, Smera, is a 2022-23 Rotary Youth Exchange outbound student to Spain.
While president of the Huntsville club in 2016-17, the club was awarded Best Small Club Award of Excellence, International Service Award and Club of Distinction in District 7680.
The Rockingham Rotary club provides annual academic scholarships to local graduating high school students. Scholarships are funded by an annual BBQ lunch planned this year for Nov. 8th.