AAUW CALIFORNIA STATE ANNUAL MEETING — 2019
Branch members Kay Clark, Pauline Rogers and Dolores Seidman represented the Greater Whittier Area Branch at the AAUW CA Annual Meeting in San Diego on April 6. Unfortunately, Rozanne Child’s illness prevented her from attending. We were also joined by our dual member Joyce Paul, who represented her AAUW Branch (Ontario, Upland, and Rancho) where she is President-Elect.
One of the best reasons for attending these state meetings is getting to know other AAUW members from throughout the state, as well as to put a face to the name of our state officers. The exchange of information, both formally and informally is invaluable.
The day began with a business meeting in which each state officer reported on her activities throughout the year. The goal was to increase communication with the branch officers and members and to listen to them, as evidenced by the huge rabbit ears they wore as they reported! (What a sight!)
At the end of that session, awards were presented to four branches for outstanding programs. Dolores Seidman was pleased to accept the award for our Branch for the Annual Math/Science Conference for 8th Grade Girls. In her remarks she gave credit to Sharon Heck for being the chair of this event and to the over 40 Branch volunteers who assisted.
The Membership Panel next featured information from Donna Lilly about the AAUW College Relationships, especially the work done through Start Smart (for students) and Work Smart (for staff members). Our own LACIC Chair Susan Negrete introduced the Young Women’s Task Force, and the leader of this group, Camille Veneracion (who was a former dorm mom at Whittier College Tech Trek) explained this program to involve more younger women.
During lunch we heard from Julia Brown, AAUW National Board Chair, whose talk was titled “AAUW: This is Your Moment” highlighting ways we can grow. She emphasized the need to contribute to AAUW’s Greatest Needs Fund in order to maintain our financial solvency.
After lunch the three Speech Trek finalists gave their talks, with the winner being Dominique Ruedaflores from Ramona Convent sponsored by the Poway/Penasquitos Branch.
The meeting ended with the Leadership Panel, which distributed a Leadership Development Toolkit offering many ideas we can implement in the future.
Dolores Seidman
PUBLIC POLICY
Patricia Cuocco Public Policy Chair