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Get to know your fellow Rotarian, Jim Prusak!!    

                                                                    by Ryan Micke   

 
RM: Tell us a little about yourself and your background in the community:
JRP:  Well I moved to Cloquet back in 1976 shortly after I graduated from the U of M with a degree in Civil Engineering.  I was born in Gladstone Michigan and shortly after our family moved to Duluth.  My dad worked for the Soo Line Railroad back then and his entire family was from Chisholm so I have a lot of connections to northern Minnesota.  When I was 8 years old my dad was transferred to NE Minneapolis and I pretty much grew up in the Twin Cities area but always wanted to move back north.  I landed a job with the City of Cloquet as the Assistant City Engineer and four years later was appointed to the position of Director of Public Works.  I met my wife Dona in Cloquet in 1979 and we were married in 1981.  We have two grown children and recently had our first grandchild.    

RM: What are your personal hobbies and interests?
JRP:  Of course being a kid with a love of northern Minnesota, I like the outdoors with years of hunting, canoeing, camping and in particular fishing.  I also like to build and fix things so I play with a lot of carpentry and mechanical repair projects.  I also consider myself an amateur landscaper.

RM: How long you have you been a Rotarian?
JRP: I joined the Cloquet Rotary Club back in 1997 and served as President in 2008/2009.

RM: What does Rotary Means to you?
JRP: To me being a Rotarian makes me part of an organization that connects people who have a desire to help others, whether it is internationally or right here in our own community.  In my years of working with the City of Cloquet, my biggest fulfillment has been helping people and working with others to share my talents.

RM: What makes a good Rotarian?
JRP: One who follows the Rotary motto of Service Above Self.

RM: What would you say to a new Rotarian and/or someone considering  joining the Rotary Club of Cloquet?
JRP:  I love this Rotary Minute from the website::  

Rotary is about Service.  You don’t come to Rotary to get something out of it.  You come to Rotary to put something into it.  And once you put something into it you will get something out of it but it won’t what you expected.  It will be better!

RM: If there was one thing you could do to help improve our club, what would it be?
JRP:  To assist with the development of a process whereby we create a more active and vital membership and one where every member has a role with some aspect of the Club.