Since November (after Thanksgiving), I have attended five of our state organization annual meetings/conventions: Panama (November), Alabama (February), Michigan and Maine (April), and Norway (May). Each Administrative Board member who attends such a meeting brings members in that state organization the latest news and "doings" at the international level: committee/board/Foundation work, and how members of those groups are working to move the Society forward successfully. We also fulfill assignments as requested: keynote speeches, workshops, closing remarks, holding installations/initiations, etc. We are not "visitors" or "guests," but Society representatives sent to work and help the state organization president mak the meeting as successful as possible.
However, as Society representatives to those meetings, it is also part of our responsibility to meet members and listen to their concerns and successes and to bring those concerns/successes back to international. All members everywhere are concerned with gaining and retaining members, and are eager to find ways to improve leadership and participation in their chapters.
Panama members were holding their very first state organization meeting, having only been installed the year before. Thirteen initiates nearly doubled the size of Alpha Chapter, and I enjoyed the energy and positive electricity that every single member exhibited. Four seminars for members and non-members were held prior to the initiation and were extremely well attended by younger educators. I worked on my Spanish pronunciation and gave my entire speech in Spanish, even though I do not speak Spanish!
Alabama members were still reeling from the unexpected death of Elizabeth Garner the month before, and her presence was palpable everywhere. New SE Regional Director Libby Watson, however, was making all members extremely proud of the way she was quietly beginning to fulfill Elizabeth's plans for the regional conference in Louisville. I think that, more than anything, Elizabeth's death pulled those members closer together than ever before, and they enveloped me in their cocoon of grieving and remembering, yet optimistically moving forward. It was a weekend of the best of "genuine spiritual fellowship."
President Jackie Smart made overhauling state organization bylaws appear easy and fun in Michigan. Her easy leadership and sense of humor engendered a sense of ease and fun throughout the weekend. The current Michigan Teacher of the Year was an outstanding speaker and seemed very impressed with DKG, along with interest in becoming a member. Incoming State Organization President Olive Horning stated that her project for the biennium would be "Ten Women of Distinction," a novel idea for chapters. Over the course of each of the next two years, identify ten women of distinction in the community and invite them to a meeting to speak, meet and greet, participate in a panel, etc. They need not be educators, but having them come to the chapter is a fresh way to market the Soceity while helping members learn about their community, and, if they are an educator, meet potential new members!
Maine had the highest attendance at a state organization annual meeting in history, and members were excited and having fun! The site of the meeting in Auburn, Maine, was a hotel on the edge of a gorgeous waterfall. The main meeting room (and my room) looked out on the falls, and the sight and sounds of that falls was music to the soul! The first meeting of the 2013 regional conference steering committee was held, and the meeting room was filled with ideas bouncing in the air from person to person. Conference Chair Rena Kearney kept everything under control (most of the time!). I enjoyed being asked to sit in on the meeting.
Norway's annual meeting was held in Granavollen, about two hours outside of Oslo, in a lovely small hotel with a family feel. A speaker from the University of Norway in Oslo and one who was the mayor of Granavollen (both women) both made visual presentations and were excellent (I had translators whispering in my ears the whole time). Forty six of 77 total members were in attendance, and the business meeting was conducted efficiently, but with great participation and interst by members. Nearly all members speak English fluently, having studied it since first grade, and they were most gracious and hospitable to always switch to English whenever I joined a group. They all understood me when I presented (in English, as I do not speak Norwegian, either) my international update, my presentation/workshop on the Educational Excellence Committee (that I did in three of the five meetings I attended) and gave remarks at the Saturday evening dinner.
Along the way, the terrible tornadoes and flooding from rain anad snow melt caused Manitoba and Indiana to postpone their meetings. Many of our members have had tornado, storm, and flood damage, and the Emergency Fund checks are being sent as quickly as we learn of their distress.
The winter and spring have been both wonderful and tragic, and I look forward to seeing those I met in their states again at their regional conferences this summer. We are truly a group of leading women educators whos projects and programs are impacting education worldwide. I am proud to call myself one of us.
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