Volume 81, Issue   6

President’s Message

Greetings Arlington AAUW Branch Members!

I hope everyone’s summer has gotten off to a great start although it seems we went from late winter weather to summer overnight. We had a great year of fellowship activities highlighted by celebrating our branch’s 80th birthday, meeting author Diana Parsell, and hearing former branch president Vivian Kallen discuss the life and times of former Virginia House of Delegate Kathryn Stone.

Our year concluded in May with a wonderful evening. We met our amazing science scholarship winners and were fascinated to hear about their projects. We were very impressed by our top scholarship winner as she described her project and shared the results. Our Educator of the Year gave an impassioned talk about her work and its many accomplishments.

In June your Board members met to plan the 2025-26 calendar and discuss possible topics for next year’s branch meetings. We will meet on Saturday mornings this year at 10:30 am at Lubber Run. More information about our programs is further on in the newsletter. Other activities coming up include writing Get Out the Vote (GOTV) postcards in early fall, a September theater trip to Signature Theater in Shirlington to see Play On, and a museum field trip. Following up on our presentation last year from the Arlington Historical Society on the Stepping Stone Project memorializing formerly enslaved people, we are also looking into our branch sponsoring a stone. More information on these activities will be in the next newsletter or via e-mail if they are time sensitive.

And one last note – For many of us, June is also time for us to pay our dues. National will send you a note about paying on line or you can send a check to our treasurer. All the best for a very happy July 4 holiday, and I look forward to seeing everyone again at our first branch meeting of the new year on September 20 at 10:30 am at Lubber Run.

Terry Bratt

Arlington AAUW Branch President.

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2025-26 Arlington AAUW Branch Programs & Calendar Updates

Mark your calendars now! For the 2025-26 year, the branch will meet on Saturday mornings at 10:30 am at Lubber Run. The dates are September 20, October 18, November 15, February 21, March 21 (our annual meeting to select new officers), April 18, and May 16. Our holiday luncheon is planned for December 6 but we are looking for a new location with better accessible parking. If you have any ideas please let us know.

Program topics being considered include Brave Angels, Book Banning, Fraud Prevention, a talk by author Nicholas Reynolds, a Stepping Stones Update, Women’s Health Issues, and our Scholarship program. If you heard other great presentations, let us know. We are still in the planning stage!

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Community Picnic

On May 31, AAUW-Arlington was one of 28 organizations participating in the Arlington Central Library’s Community Picnic and Joining Fair.  Each organization was provided with a table on which to display information about their group. The library provided free popcorn and drinks.  Susan Senn, Meg Tuccillo, and Barbara Smith ‘manned’ the table for AAUW-Arlington. We displayed a colorful handout created by Candace Lilyquist and Teri Doxsee  that described the many benefits of joining AAUW and offered a drawing for a set of AAUW inscribed wine glasses and a Keurig coffee maker.  The drawing provided us with the names and contact details of potential new members. During the four hours of the fair, we had a number of young women stop by to talk with us about AAUW.

Barbara Smith, VP Membership

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Let’s Talk About Books

Our June Our meeting is on Tuesday, June 24.April 22, 2pm at the home of Terry Bratt, theresabratt@gmail.com.  Our book selection is James by Percival Everett. Look forward to seeing you then.

Our July meeting is scheduled for July 22, at 2 pm at the home of Barbara Gallagher. Our book selection is Lula Dean’s Little Library of Banned Books by Kirsten Miller.

Please let the hostess know if you will be attending the session at her home.

Even if you haven’t finished the book, come join the fun!

Barbara Gallagher, Let’s Talk About Books Chair

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Membership Renewal 

Please remember to renew your membership in the month you last joined. There has been a slight dues increase for the national level membership of $2.00. This is $.16 a month. The total for national, state and local dues is $105. The new dues rate started on April 1, 2025.

People who have Lifetime membership should pay $31 for state and local dues.  You can pay online or send a check to Teri Doxsee.

Please let us know how we can help you with any questions you might have about your membership.

Candace Lilyquist, VP Membership

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Lunch Bunch

The lunch bunch met for the last time this year in April with a well-received presentation by Naoual Benjelloun, owner of the Hair Play salon in Shirlington. She described her own immigrant experience coming from Morocco, her early entry level jobs while she went to school, and her training and licensure process in cosmetology. The follow up discussion included other post high school training the high school students were interested which included HVAC and the culinary arts and scholarship opportunities.

Next year we will be mentoring a new group of students at Arlington Community High School, so think about joining us. Our next meeting will be in October.

Mary Beth Pelosky, Meg Tuccillo and Terry Bratt

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2025 Award Winners Honored at Meeting

On May 19th we were delighted to have about 25 folks attend our annual Awards Event at Lubber Run. We had two of our scholarship winners and our Educator of the Year in attendance – our Arts Scholarship winner, Charlotte, decided to go to her senior prom that night instead!! Our Lunch Bunch Scholar, Marieth, shared her story and her goal of becoming an early childhood educator by attending Northern Virginia Community College and getting certified in Early Childhood Development. Our STEM Scholarship winner, Nadia, wowed the audience with her presentation on her Science Project titled “Mathmatical Interpretations and Diagnoses of Pediatric EEG Seizure Disorder” – yes, pretty impressive!!!!

Our Educator of the Year, Monica Lozano Caldera, is a repeat winner having initially earned the award in 2013. She is a tireless advocate for her students at the Career Center empowering girls in STEM through a cohort model and inspiring her students to dream big. As one of her students advised other students, “Ms. Monica is like a diamond in a pile of coal, and it would be worth your time to introduce yourself to her”. It was a wonderful evening and we look forward to next year to see what our new awardees have to share with us!!!!!!!

Meg Tuccillo, Susan Senn, and Terry Bratt