This Week's Speaker is Jennifer Berquist, KU Athletics
Associate Athletics Director/Development
Jennifer Berquist joined the Kansas Athletics staff in February 2002 as assistant director of the Williams Educational Fund after serving as the compliance auditor assigned to Kansas Athletics for four years. She was later named associate director of the Williams Fund, associate athletics director/Williams Fund in May 2010 and later associate athletics director/development. In May of this year, Berquist shifted to a part-time internal role.
A native of Marion, Kan., Berquist earned her bachelor’s degree in journalism from KU in 1994 and a master’s in education with a sports administration emphasis in 1996. As a student, she worked four years in the KU sports information office, one year as the Big Eight Conference service bureau intern and then full-time at Kansas Athletics as publications coordinator in 1995-96. Berquist had a brief stint as assistant sports information director at Kansas State in 1996-98 before returning to her alma mater.
A 2001 Leadership Lawrence graduate, Berquist is a member of Women Leaders in Sports and NAADD (National Association of Athletic Development Directors) and has served as a Big 12 Conference representative for NAADD. She is a past president of the Lawrence Rotary Club as well as the Lawrence Schools Foundation board. Currently, Berquist is the Paul Harris Society Coordinator for District 5710 and is her club's PolioPlus chair. She is also a member of Chapter JC (Lawrence) within the P.E.O. Sisterhood.
Berquist and her husband, Craig, have two children, Landon (brokerage associate at Foundations Commercial Real Estate) and Claire (University of Nebraska-Kearney sophomore), and they reside in Lawrence.
We have several volunteer opportunities coming up! If you need more details about each one, please check out past issues of the E-Spoke.
Festival of Trees - November 19–23 at the Kansas City Holiday Boutique in the Overland Park Convention Center. Sign up: https://www.signupgenius.com/go/fot25#/
Holiday Shopping with KidsTLC (Walmart at 15700 Metcalf)December 1, 2025, 4:30-8:30 pm SIGN UP TODAY! Questions? Contact Mark Parman 913.827.7143 or Bill Morton (913.706.2582)
Instrument Cleaning Day on Saturday, November 22nd at Meyer Music Blue Springs (1512 SW Hwy 40, Blue Springs, MO 64015). Volunteers can sign up for one or both shifts here: Instrument Cleaning Day Volunteer Form
STAY TUNED FOR MORE! We are working on a date for volunteers at the Johnson County Christmas Bureau Holiday Shop. We'll need 10 volunteers and will send out a sign up as soon as the date is confirmed.
The Rotary Foundation has declared a Disaster of Magnitude and established a temporary Hurricane Melissa Response Fund, which will support disaster response grants in communities affected by this destructive storm.The Response Fund will accept contributions from now through 31 January 2026. These grants can be used to supply critical items such as water, food, medicine, shelter, and clothing. Donate to the Hurricane Melissa Response Fund.
Save the date: OP Rotary Club will host a Holiday Social on Wednesday, December 3rd from 5:30 to 7:30 PM at the DoubleTree Hotel. Spouses or significant other guests are welcome. Guest charge is $25.00. The Holiday Social will replace our normal breakfast meeting.
