Buena Park Rotary Business Rotarian of the Year is Elizabeth Swift
Dr.Elizabeth Swift will be honored by Rotary International District 5320 on September 10th. The Luncheon location is the Doubletree Hotel in Orange at 11:30. Admission is $40. Guests are welcome to attend, call 714/921-1881 for more info. Shown below is a review of why Dr. Swift was selected.
Dr. Elizabeth Swift is a proven leader who has consistently gone above and beyond what’s expected in her roles as an active Rotary Club member (since 2006) and Buena Park School District Board of Trustees member (for 31 years). Dr. Swift was selected by her fellow Southern California School Board Trustees to be their representative at the state level. She served with distinction, providing her leadership skills and visionary thinking to benefit all Schools in the state of California. In acknowledgement of her efforts, she was awarded the prestigious Marian Bergeson Award for her excellence in education. She was a master and mentor teacher, special projects and School Site Council coordinator, club advisor and activities director in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District for 20+ years, until her retirement in June of this year. Although Elizabeth Swift has received many awards, she is a selfless servant in all the organizations she works with, never looking for credit, instead, creating opportunities for people to be the best they can be. Because of her exceptional talent, she is usually selected to lead or take whatever organization she is in, to new levels of achievement.
She is a true servant leader as demonstrated by her actions; by the way she models humility and integrity while working with people, young and old alike. When Beth Swift was nominated for and won 2008 District Teacher of the Year, one of her colleagues wrote a letter in support of her nomination. Dean of Attendance Dennis Equitz said, “Dr. Swift is the same warm, supportive, and dedicated individual when she’s working in front of the classroom as when she’s mentoring a student in her office. Her students and the entire teaching profession are truly blessed to have a person of her caliber choosing to pour herself into California’s students.”
When Dr. Swift sees a need, she seeks to fulfill it. She coordinated the School Site Council at Buena Park High School and wrote the Single School Plan, orchestrating the self-study process required by the state in order to evaluate English Language Development and other specially-funded programs at high schools. Dr. Swift stepped up to be the Coordinator of the 50th Anniversary event for Buena Park High School.
Beth is our Buena Park Rotary Club President-Elect. Beth and husband Greg are Rotarian’s, Paul Harris Fellows, and TRF Sustaining Members. She is always willing to help out in Rotary. For several years Beth has coordinated the Family Fossil Days at Ralph B. Clark Park. At this annual Rotary event, elementary students are able to visit an active fossil dig and meet the scientists who are involved. She is currently serving as our Club Secretary and sends out an informative weekly newsletter to all of our members/community friends and posts it to our www.bprotary.org website. She has co-chaired events such as the Transition dinners and Holiday parties, and participates in the Rotary Vocational Service area by recruiting and mentoring excellent student speakers for the annual Rotary Speech Contest and being part of the Culinary Arts Chili Cook-Off Selection Team each year. She has actively supported the annual city-wide Children’s Shopping Spree. She and her husband Greg attend the District Conference and the District Assembly and have facilitated both Interactors and Rotaractors as they serve in Rotary functions. Some examples of this would be their dedicated service during “Operation One Family,” “Giving Children Hope,” and “Scouting for Food”.