Greg McCauley, Executive Director, Link Space Science Institute
Chasing Pluto: The First Mission to the Last Planet 
The Pluto program was recently featured at this summer’s Indiana State Fair in the Glass Barn. The $700 million NASA New Horizons mission launched in January 2006, was tasked with lifting the veil on a world that has remained mysterious since its 1930 discovery. Traveling 9 1/2 years and nearly 3.2 billion miles, it’s one of the most ambitions and historic NASA unmanned missions of exploration in history.

Built as a private planetarium the Link Observatory at one time fell into the hands of a few amateur astronomers. Greg McCauley sat on the board of this group and saw a vision for the observatory that would both honor the trust and enlarge the capabilities of the program. The Link Observatory has launched an ambitious program backed up with a dedicated mission, staff and volunteers to ignite curiosity, learning, fun and new interest in how space science touches our every day lives among school children in central Indiana. Their ultimate aim is to impact a far wider region of the United States.

TOPIC: Monumental Effort in Philanthropy and Community Involvement

In 2014 the Indianapolis Monumental Marathon (IMM) was the 23rd largest marathon in the U.S.  The 2015 edition on Saturday, November 7 promises to be the biggest yet.  Beyond the annual event, the organization is dedicated to improving Central Indiana.

IMM Executive Director Blake Boldon will discuss how the IMM works to educate Indianapolis youth on the benefits of healthy living, proper nutrition and exercise.  He’ll share details on the following:

• A youth fitness program, Monumental Kids Movement
• An employer-based wellness initiative, the Apex Monumental Challenge
• Donations exceeding $675,000, including $141,000 in 2015
• Exciting new developments
• Other community benefits

On October 6th, please welcome Linda Kirby, President and CEO of Leadership Indianapolis, to the Rotary Club. Leadership Indianapolis has a mission to develop and mobilize a robust pipeline of community leaders that can address and solve the issues and opportunities facing our growing metro area – for today and for the future. They believe that strategic community leadership can increase the vitality, strength and sustainability of Indianapolis. They recently joined with Walker to conduct a comprehensive community-wide assessment of Indianapolis community leadership in order to understand strengths and gaps in the training, development and engagement of Indianapolis community leaders. We hope you’ll join us as Kirby discusses the findings from the State of Community Leadership report (found here!) and presents a framework on how we, as Rotarians, can work to inspire, educate, connect, engage and build our Indianapolis community.

Tony Katz is the host of Tony Katz and the Morning News, 5-10amET on 93.1FM WIBC (Indianapolis.) Tony entertainingly works his way through current events and pop culture, exposing media hypocrisy and making the complex easy to understand. Different than other talk show hosts, Tony focuses on right vs. wrong, instead of right vs. left.

Before Tony Katz and the Morning News, he was the host of Tony Katz Tonight, on the same station. He had the #1 weekend program, The Tony Katz Show in St. Louis, and has been heard on stations across the country Tony is a contributor to  TownHall.com, and has provided political and election coverage and insight to FOX News, MSNBC, CNBC and radio stations around the country. He is a sought after public speaker and emcee, entertaining audiences and talking about new media and culture.