Newsletter of the Northwest Suburban Branch
American Association of University Women
AAUW advances equity for women and girls through advocacy,
education, philanthropy, and research.
STEM - STEAM: What’s in a Name?
Come and Find Out:
Thursday, September 18, 2014
7:00 P.M.
Science Academy of Chicago
501 Midway Dr., Mt. Prospect
For years we’ve been hearing about STEM and now, suddenly, we have STEAM! What’s going on?
Yes, we have had programs focused on SCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY, ENGINEERING and MATH, but we are now looking at another very important part of a balanced education – ARTS. We will be visiting the Science Academy of Chicago, an award winning private school that offers an accelerated STEAM education and provides college prep schooling to students from Pre-K through ninth grade in a setting designed to foster and accelerate academic and arts education. Children come from throughout the Chicagoland area to study at the academy, where the class size is small and the student-teacher ratio is low.
We will gather at the academy at 7:00 p.m., have a tour of the facilities and have the chance to ask questions of the staff personnel who will be guiding us. This will give us an opportunity to learn about the kinds of programs that are available and the opportunities that are given the students. Although this is a private institution, very often programs that prove successful in such settings are adapted to the public schools, and we certainly want to be aware of what is being done. AAUW has been promoting programs of this kind for a long time.
Directions: The Science Academy of Chicago is located on Midway Rd., just west of Rte. 83 in Mt. Prospect. It is a couple of blocks north of Oakton and south of Algonquin. If coming from the south, take Oakton west to Rte. 83 and go north to Midway Drive, which runs between the Country Inn and Suites and First Merit Bank, which are on the west side of Rte. 83. Take Midway Drive west to the school. If coming from the north, take Rte. 83 south to Midway Drive. (Fiesta Mart shopping center is located just north of First Merit Bank.) Go west on Midway Drive to the school’s parking lot. As soon as you turn onto Midway Rd. you will see the school building, with its sign. Need a ride? Call Irene Jinks, 847-698-3113.
FROM OUR PRESIDENT
Well, it’s finally September and the kids are back in school. Our branch will be visiting a school this month, the Science Academy, for our program. Many educational opportunities are available to children and families today that didn’t exist when I went to school. I look forward to hearing about what this school does and how it fits into AAUW’s philosophy. Make sure to ask a friend who might be interested to join us for our program.
Thank you to Irene for hosting the Summer Soiree in August. It was a lovely evening with lively discussion – and we made some money for AAUW Funds, too. We will be sending money to help fund the Lois List Fund, an endowment not yet fully funded that was started by the North Shore Branch. This was a nice way to spend time together and make some money for women who want to further their education.
If you have any ideas for fundraising please make sure you tell Irene, Merna or me. Fundraising can often be fun as well as beneficial.
I look forward to seeing you soon,
Cindy Grau
IT HAPPENED LAST MONTH
Our group was not large, but the conversation was lively as we chatted and enjoyed refreshments at our Summer Soiree. This was a continuation of a branch tradition – for many years we have enjoyed a purely social evening at the end of summer before we begin our regular program schedule and, as noted by our president, it provided a way for us to raise a little bit of money to add to our project fund. It was great for several of us to get to know our newest member, Peggy St.Leger, and it was so nice that Diane Forsythe was able to drop in for a while. Now that Diane has moved to Wisconsin, we don’t get to see her very often.
INTEREST GROUPS
The reading group will have its first meeting of this year on Tuesday, September 23. We will meet at the home of Alice Jenks at 7:00 p.m. and will be discussing The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton. Call Alice at 847-255-6796 if you would like to attend. New members would be warmly welcomed!
Are there other groups that might interest you? If so, share your ideas with your officers
AAUW-IL LINK
Ladies, have you read your Link? You should have received it, either by email or snail mail recently. It is absolutely jam-packed with information. It might not all be of appeal or interest to you, but lots of it will be, since all of us, as AAUW members, need to be concerned and involved with what is happening for, about and to women. There are a number of programs that you certainly should know about, both local and national. One that is of significance to us is the Area Conference coming up on Saturday, Oct. 25 at Oakton Community College. This is open to all branch members and, since it is right in our back yard, it provides a great opportunity for our members to meet state officers and committee chairs. Although we don’t have this listed as a branch program, let’s try to have several of our members attend. Contact one of your branch officers for further information or, better yet, come to our September meeting and get information firsthand.
MEMBERSHIP MATTERS!
It certainly does! All of us are membership committee members for our branch. Do you know someone who should be a member of Northwest Suburban Branch? Maybe it is someone who was a part of our branch in the past and doesn’t yet realize that we have been revitalized. Tell them! Invite them to join you at one of our meetings. Encourage them to join or rejoin the branch. Do you have a daughter or granddaughter who should be a part of AAUW? If she hasn’t already joined, why not give her the gift of membership so that she, too, will be a part of all that AAUW does for women. Membership is not expensive – less than fifty cents a day! What do you pay for a cup of coffee or a Coke – and neither of those will do as much for you or anyone else as AAUW!
MEMBER NEWS
We were so pleased to have Diane Forsythe join us at our August gathering. She is now living in Waupaca, Wisconsin, although she is often in this area for business. Although we know she can’t often join us, we are certainly pleased when she can.
Our president, Cindy Grau, and her husband have just returned from a lovely river cruise through the wine regions of France. She will now be able to tell us about all of the vintages and which fine French wines we should enjoy, as well as being able to tell us about the beauties of the region and all that they were able to see and enjoy.
Evelynne Berg, who has been a member of our branch for a number of years, has been undergoing some very difficult health problems. For several years, Evelynne has spent the colder months in Hawaii so she has been unable to attend most of our meetings. She would certainly appreciate a note or greeting. Her address is 6950 W. Forest Preserve Dr., #201, Norridge IL 60706.
WHAT’S IN STORE!
Put the dates in your calendar so that you will be sure to plan to attend!
Thursday, September 18: STEAM Programs at the Science Academy of Chicago, located
in Mt. Prospect. We will tour the school and learn of the program.
Wednesday, October 22: Cook County Matters: Joint program with the League of
WomenVoters of Park Ridge at the Park Ridge Public
Library
Saturday, October 25: AAUW-Illinois Northern Fall Conference, Oakton Community
College
Saturday, November 15: Lunch at the Des Plaines Elks Club
Speaker: Blair Brettschneider, Executive Director, Girl Forward
Saturday, December 6: Holiday Brunch at the home of Irene Jinks
Saturday, February 7: Networking Luncheon with other District branches; Embassy Suites
Hotel, Deerfield
Saturday, February 21: Program TBA
Saturday, March 21: Program TBA
Saturday, April 11: AAUW Scholars Brunch, Lambs Farm, Libertyville
Thursday, April 16: Program TBA
Fri. – Sat., May 1-2: AAUW-IL Convention, Doubletree Hotel, Bloomington
Thursday, May 21: Annual Meeting; dinner at the Des Plaines Elks Club
Saturday, June 13: Outing to the Trickster Gallery in Schaumburg
June 18-21: AAUW Convention, San Diego, California
If other special events occur that we think would be of interest to our members, we will alert you to them.
DID YOU PAY YOUR DUES?
We are so pleased that nearly all of our members renewed their AAUW membership and that we have added a few new members this year. It is not too late to send your dues if you have forgotten! Your support of AAUW is part of your support of women and education.
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Northwest Suburban Branch, American Association of University Women
______I wish to join AAUW (national, state and local) for 2014-2015; total dues of $71.00
National: $49.00 ($46 is tax-deductible as it is not used for lobbying
or political activity); State: $10.00; Local: $12.00
Name ______
Address ______
______
Phone ______Email ______
______My newsletters may be sent by email
Please send dues to Irene Jinks, 834 Carolyn Lane, Park Ridge IL 60068.
Checks should be made payable to Northwest Suburban Branch