FAIRBANKS — In the early 1990s, Rachel Kleinfeld attended Monroe High School during the day and took evening courses at the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

Kleinfeld, the daughter of Judy and Andy Kleinfeld, was too young to drive, so her parents arranged for a taxi.

The same driver picked her up every day. He probably didn’t know it, but those daily 15-minute trips to UAF became an important part of Kleinfeld’s education in foreign policy.

The driver had come to this country as a Cuban refugee and talked to her about his philosophy and how driving a cab allowed him to send his kids to college.

“His story was pretty compelling — what he managed to do in his life and his thoughts,” Rachel said.

Kleinfeld mentioned the cab driver in an interview she gave on a website that features Q&A exchanges about “How Rhodes Scholars Think.” She earned the Rhodes Scholarship to Oxford in 1999 as a 23-year-old graduate of Yale.

To me, her story is pretty compelling. After finishing her graduate studies, she co-founded and became a leader of the Truman National Security Project, a Washington, D.C.,  group that describes itself as “the nation’s only organization that recruits, trains, and positions a new generation of progressives across America to lead on national security.”

Kleinfeld’s extraordinary work in public policy has not gone unnoticed. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton recently selected Kleinfeld and 24 other political and business leaders to serve on a new Foreign Affairs Advisory Board to advise the State Department.

The chairman of the new advisory board is Strobe Talbott, president of the Brookings Institution and a former deputy secretary of state. Other members are former members of Congress, a retired head of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, retired federal executives, White House officials, business leaders and scholars from numerous think tanks.

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GIFT GIVING: About 25 members of the College Rotary Club, assisted by members of Rotaract and other Fairbanks Rotary Clubs, plan to be at Fred Meyer West for a 7:30 a.m. shopping spree. They will assist about 100 kids from disadvantaged families in selecting gifts for family members.

Local lawyers and accountants are among the major sponsors of this long-running holiday tradition. The kids are encourage to buy for their family members, using a $50 gift card.

The College Rotary members will be ringing bells at Fred Meyer West after the 90-minute event until about 5 p.m.

The Fairbanks Downtown Rotary Club will be at the Bentley Mall and Safeway, while the Fairbanks Host Lions will be at Fred Meyer East.

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GOLDEN SALE: The folks at Golden Towers want to invite everyone to their annual Christmas Bazaar and Bake Sale from 10 a.m. to 5 p.m. today.

Nila Noble, president of the resident council, said there will be a mixture of handmade items by Golden Towers residents and fresh baked goods. All 96 apartments in the building are filled.

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RIGHT RESPONSE: Alaska Airlines acted promptly to give a price break to the hockey players stranded in Anchorage by weather.

I didn’t know this when I wrote the column that appeared in this space Friday about the travel difficulties faced by the three high school hockey teams. The people I had talked to were not informed about what steps had been taken to resolve the problem.

In any event, the airline matched the lowest fare of anyone on the plane, which was a great show of community support. Instead of paying about $250 each for more than 50 high school hockey players, the parent who put this on his credit card will pay $139, which is close to half off. The parents of the other players and perhaps the booster clubs will likely be chipping in and helping cover the cost.

Dermot Cole can be reached at cole@newsminer.com or 459-7530.