Coastal Georgetown Branch Activities

The Coastal-Georgetown branch of the American Association of University Women was one of several organizations that presented special awards to Sussex County middle and high school students who participated in the March 3, Sussex County Science Fair.

AAUW selected five students to honor for their projects. The two middle school students from Sussex Academy of Arts and Sciences that were recognized were Julie Parsons for her project “Temperature versus Comprehension” and Jackson Zalper for his project, “What Wood you Rather Burn?” Ninth grade student Jacob Martin from Indian River High School was chosen for his project titled “Wind and Sara Westhafer, 10th grade student also from Indian River High School was recognized for her zoology project “From Murky to Clean.” Tanya Munyikwa, 11th grade student at Cape Henlopen High School was selected for her physics project titled “Biomimicry in Offshore Wind Turbines.”

At the award ceremony, Marty Johnson, President of the Coastal-Georgetown branch presented each recipient with a certificate and a monetary award given in the name of Louise Eiremann Dale, a charter member and past president of the Coastal-Georgetown AAUW branch. . This was Coastal-Georgetown AAUW’s seventh year participating in the Science Fair. The AAUW judges were Betsy Baumeister, Sheri Borrin, Linda Fischer, Rosalie Pitcher, Judy Stah and Marty Johnson. The judges were extremely pleased with this year’s projects and the students’ depth and understanding of their work.

AAUW promotes equity for all women and girls through education, research, philanthropy and advocacy. Membership is open to all graduates holding an associate or equivalent degree or a baccalaureate degree or higher from a qualified education institution. For more information about AAUW please see www.aauwdelaware.org or www.aauw.org

Below are several events that occurred in May, June and July 2010:

1. Two scholarships were awarded in May; one to a high school graduated from Indian River High School, who will be attending U of DE in the fall and another to a two-year graduate from Delaware Technical Community College who is continuing as a junior also at U of DE. Thank you all for the generous support you have given to our scholarship fund.
2. Our June potluck was enjoyable and we missed those of you who were unable to attend.
3. In June, Betsy Baumeister, Penny Deiner, Linda Fischer, Charma Konnor, Barba Merriwether, Wave Starnes, Kathleen Thompson and I met with the Cape Henlopen School District Teacher of the Year, Katy Del Campo, to discuss various types of STEM programs that our branch could initiate for middle school girls. Many young girls are unaware of the types of careers available to them in the fields of Science, Technology, Engineering and Math so one of the suggestions was that AAUW might work with the schools to arrange female speakers who are in the STEM areas to speak with the students.
4. Also in June, Lana Cobb, Wave Starnes, Jean Wastler, Penny Deiner and I met with the DE Secretary of Education, Lillian Lowery to discuss how the Race to the Top funding will be used for STEM initiatives in our K-12 schools and to advocate for assistance for early childhood education.
5. Over the summer the Issue/Action Group will be meeting to discuss types of STEM programs that might implement in our elementary and middle schools. The I/A Group will also meet to discuss plans for organizing a working group of Sussex Co. organizations that are interested in Early Childhood Poverty, Education and Health. Contact: Wave Starnes, 227-5577.
6. In early July, members of our branch assisted the Rehoboth Art League during their Cottage Tour. Thank you all who helped with this event. A special thank you to Betsy Baumeister who coordinated the AAUW members and to Mary Dickson and Sheri Borrin who recruited many friends to help and who worked double shifts.
7. The Notable Books group will continue to meet during the summer -- 1st. Thur of the month at 10-12 at the Lewes Library and the second Tue of the month 10-12 at the South Coastal Library) \Tthe Aug. book is The Wasted Vigil by Nadeem Aslem. Contact: Laural Capodanno 226-3773 or Ada May Shipley 436-2981.
8. The Diversity Book Group is in the process of selecting the books for next year. The choices are good and I think many of you would enjoy this book group. Contact Marty Johnson 226-5845
9. This is an excerpt from a letter to our DE AAUW President, Nadyne Rosin re: the awarding of a Public Policy Grant for the second year in a row to our state AAUW. Lana Cobb and Jean Wastler should be congratulated for the many hours they spent preparing our proposal EXCERPT: "Congratulations! AAUW of Delaware has been selected to receive a fiscal year 2010-2011 AAUW Public Policy Impact Grant. We knew when we began to review applications that we would be faced with a very difficult selection process. All of the states that applied were invited to do so because of their excellent public policy potential. Despite the tough competition, your state is among the eight that exhibited the highest potential for the strongest public policy impact as a result of intensified AAUW resources. The other states that join you as Impact Grant awardees are: Arkansas, Colorado, Louisiana, Michigan, Missouri, New York, and North Dakota. The amount of the grant is $1,000. With this grant AAUW DE will focus on the following objectives:


• Increase awareness of AAUW public policy program and ways for members to get involved;
• Create a plan for increased public policy activism among branch members and members-at-large, including increasing participation in Action Network;
• Organize a public policy committee or task force to help implement policy activities throughout the state;
• Build capacity and support among state leaders in order to respond to important and timely policy issues of importance to AAUW;
• Provide opportunities for member activism on AAUW public policy issues at either the state or federal level;
• Provide public policy programming at the branch and state level; and
• Evaluate the progress of the plan on a regular basis.

Have a wonderful rest of the summer and we will see you at our Sept. meeting.
Marty Johnson,
President, C-G Branch

NOTE:  The third Thursday of the month is the usual meeting day.

2009-2010 Program Schedule

Study / Interest Groups

* For information on Coastal-Georgetown Membership please contact:

Marty Johnson: mjaauw@comcast.net