Posted by Liz Nichols on Jul 15, 2018
Tom Langenfeld, who has worked at ACT since 1998, talked about the history of the college testing process and the roots of ACT's services.
Visiting Guests and Rotarians
 
Emily Nicholson-- Guest of Amy Nicholson (her daughter, who is a teacher in India)
 
Announcements
 
Deb Ockenfels, Foundation Chair for IC AM Rotary, honored 8 individuals with new or higher level Paul Harris Fellowship pins.  The support of the endowment is a cornerstone for Rotary's charitable activities around the world and within our districts.  A portion of the Paul Harris funds sent to RI each quarter come back three years later to the district and are used for district grants and matching funds for international projects.  The people recognized at this time are:  For Paul Harris + 1:  Paul Ellis, Nan Johnson, Deb Dunkhase, Andreas Soemedi, and Dean Carrington.  Recognized for Paul Harris + 3:  Tom Novak; for Paul Harris +5:  Hazel Seaba; for Paul Harris + 7: Vernette Knapp.  Thank you one and all for your contributions to the Paul Harris Fellowship.
 
President Dick Huber commented that the recycle containers for cans at both Dodge St. and Eastside have been overflowing.  We will  regularly plan on having teams available for the first and third Saturdays each month and will do sign-up sheets.  Dick will also put out a call via the Monday Message.  Hazel Seaba volunteered to work on a sign-up form.  Some of the frequent sorters talked through some of the instructions for sorting.  It is important to have gloves and noise cancelling headphones.  Gloves should be available at each center.  More sorting tables are needed at each center.
 
Dick Huber indicated that Happy Bucks for July would go to the Food Fight.  Every dollar provided yields 4 lbs of food at the Crisis Center Food Bank.
 
Happy bucks:  Deb Pullen-Van Aucken announced that she and her husband are moving to Waterloo to be closer to her family and will be transitioning also to a US Bank in that area and to a Waterloo area Rotary Club.  You will be mightily missed, Deb! 
 
Ann Langenfeld and family witnessed the Big Island of Hawaii lava flow in a spectacular way from a helicopter. 
 
Myrene Hoover will be celebrating her 55th class reunion next week, and HD his 60th. 
 
Deb O has cucumbers left over from the auction, more than the Crisis Center needs right now.  She also announced that two weeks into the Food Fight our club is at about 5,068 lbs of donated food equivalent in dollars or food.
 
Kris O is busy sorting and organizing pictures of her trip to Iran.
 
Many more Happy Bucks were covered...
 
Speaker
 
Tom Langenfeld talked about the beginnings of ACT when it was named American College Testing.  It was an off-shoot of UI research into testing services in 1959.  It is now Iowa City's 4th largest employer. 
 
There are two main college testing services, SAT and ACT, and SAT was the one that started first by the College Board.  ACT was founded by E.F. Lindquist, a UI education professor who sat on the board of the College Board at one point.  The SAT was founded in 1926 as a way to vette applicants to Harvard. 
 
The ACT now has many other components beyond college testing.  WorkKeys began in 1992 and in 2012 ACT began ASPIRE, a K-12 assessment product.  ACT now sees itself as a learning company, not just a testing company.
 
For more information check out the ACT website.