And the winner is ...
Town Hall At left: Carol Kaspereit, Forbes Magazine founder Steve Forbes and Don Kaspereit. The Town Hall Lecture Series hosted a dinner for Forbes the evening before his presentation. Page 12
Jamy Vasquez! Jamy’s name was drawn from a pool of others who guessed the correct number of 13 mortarboards in our May 28 edition. Be on the lookout for future promotions sponsored by OKC FRIDAY.
OKC FRIDAY Vol. 55 No. 5 • One Section • 14 pages • June 11, 2021
www.okcfriday.com facebook.com/okcfriday OKC’s only locally-owned legal newspaper with all local news Serving Oklahoma City, Nichols Hills, The Village, Quail Creek, The Greens and Gaillardia for 47 years
Climate change, mental illness top concerns of 2021 grads
Rainbolt: ‘We must focus on education’
By Elyssa Gerstel Student Intern
By Vicki Gourley Publisher The Oklahoma City Rotary Club 29 hosted H.E. “Gene” Rainbolt, chairman emeritus and director of BancFirst Corp as its luncheon speaker. “We need to realize where we have been to know where we are going,” Rainbolt said. “If you want more of something, you have to put more in it. It’s a 25year challenge to change the trajectory. “The focus should be on education. The brain will be the commodity of the future.” Rainbolt urged the gathered business and civic leaders to invest in education for a better future for Oklahoma. The lack of natural
John Michael Williams, BancFirst Chairman Emeritus and Director Gene Rainbolt, Rotary President David Walters and Robert Dauffenbach during the meeting at which Rainbolt spoke.
resources in other states might have been a good thing for them, Rainbolt speculates because it forced them to seek other avenues of revenue. One of the charts in the packets he had at every place showed the ratio of per capita personal income (PCPI) and bachelor’s or higher degrees in the United States by state. Only seven states ranked lower than Oklahoma, with Massachusetts and
other northeastern states at the chart’s top. Oklahoma ranked at 25 percent with slightly less than $50,000 average income. With over 40 percent holding higher education degrees, Massachusetts had an average income of around $70,000. Rainbolt said he had worked over 25 years to change some of Oklahoma’s populist laws. He lobbied to modernize Oklahoma’s banking laws, and in the 1980s, the legisla-
Support the arts at OPUS By Rose Lane Editor Tickets are still available for Allied Arts’ 11th Annual OPUS XI: Club Cabaret, set for 7-11 p.m., Friday, June 18, at the Criterion. For over 20 years, the every-other-year gala has raised funds to elevate OKC’s cultural community to new heights. This year’s OPUS features a cabaret show, food
and libations, along with silent and live auctions. Sponsors had the opportunity to attend the event, attend and add a second table to donate to first responders or donate seats entirely to first responders. Doors open at 7 p.m. for a cocktail hour and light bites. Bidding takes place on silent auction items. Dinner is served at 8 p.m. See OPUS, Page 11
ture did. By 1989 BancFirst became the state’s first multi-bank holding company. “Metropolitan areas are the decision-makers of the future. Small population counties cannot survive,” Rainbolt said. “Big companies come to our state and the city because workers work for less.” Rainbolt closed with “you can’t get to the top by being the lowest on the chart for financing education.”
Fridayland’s graduating senior classes of 2021 are leaping into adulthood after a unique but rewarding year. Each generation brings shared challenges; commonalities that can create change and unity. It is no secret that Generation Z, the category that these graduates fit into, is unlike any generation in modern history. These graduates spent their childhood between the War on Terror, social media and smart phones, political polarization and now a pandemic. In a survey conducted by OKC FRIDAY, we asked seniors from our 10 Fridayland schools their opinions on the greatest concern facing their generation. Consistently, the fear of climate change and the potentially devastating effects it could have on the earth and the future of society is weighing heavily on the minds of many graduates. Isabella Hampton Pardo, from Casady School, said, “Climate change affects not only our current generation, but every subsequent generation that follows after us as more time passes and large corporations around the world continue to ignore the evidence in front of them, choosing to purse power and fortune.” See GRADS, Page 11
United Way to honor three community leaders United Way of Central Oklahoma is honoring three community leaders who model exceptional integrity, dedication, generosity and passion with the organization’s most prestigious volunteer awards at the United Way Gala Friday, at Omni Oklahoma City Hotel. Brad Sheriff, vice president of information technology for Ascent Resources, is the recipient of the Ray Ackerman Leadership
HH’s Hamel recognized by DePauw DePauw's Honor English writing and minored Scholar Program is recogin Ancient Greek at DePauw. nizing a self-styled "teachIn her nominating letter, ing historian" from Ephraim said that Hamel, Oklahoma City as the who taught her junior-year Battey National Educator honors U.S. history class, of the Year, an honor helped her become a more awarded annually to a confident writer. Hamel secondary school teacher "works tirelessly to maintain who inspired a DePauw his reputation as a tough but honor scholar graduating fair teacher," she wrote, "and HAMEL senior. every student at Heritage William Christopher Hamel, who Hall knows that he is passionate not has taught at the upper school at only about the history that he teaches Heritage Hall since 2009, is being hon- but also about the success of his stuored for the 2020-21 academic year. He dents.” was nominated by Maggie Ephraim See HAMEL, Page 12 '21, an honor scholar who majored in
Award. This honor recognizes those who share Ackerman’s tireless efforts and devotion to the United Way mission and set the standard for volunteering, leadership and caring. Sheriff has been involved with United Way since 2010, helping assess and improve the organization’s technology needs while recruiting other industry leaders for United Way to lean on for advice and support.
Another honoree at the gala is Kelly Dyer Fry, a member of the Oklahoma Journalism Hall of Fame who recently retired after a 26-year career with The Oklahoman. Fry will receive the John and Berta Faye Rex Community Builder Award, which recognizes individuals who share the Rexes vision in finding long-term solutions to community See UNITED WAY, Page 11
FRIDAY’s
Rescue Dog of the Week Butkus is about 20weeks-old, weighs 50 pounds and is a typical youngster. He may be the world's fastest land mammal. Butkus is a lover that does well with other dogs but would be too much for young children. His adoption fee from Village Animal Welfare is $95. Contact Kadin at (405) 751-9518.
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