Category Archives: Lunch Bunch

Lunch Bunch 2023-24

We have been meeting with a great group of young women monthly at the new site of the Arlington
Community High School on Fairfax Drive in Ballston since September. These young women each have their own journey that led them to this alternative high school program. We continue to acknowledge and celebrate the fact that they take the time each month to hear from various role models and to consider their own next steps in creating their future selves.

Our Lunch Bunch program has a strong focus on self-care, mental health and overall well-being. This month’s speaker will be a part two for Ms. Jennifer Gross of APS.
Earlier this school year, she shared her very own compelling journey as an EL learner dealing w/ cross cultural issues. As coordinator for Social Emotional Learning for APS, Ms. Gross will focus on “Calming Strategies for Stressful Times” and The Healthy Mind Platter for self care.

Our students found our December speaker, chef Daniela Hurtado of Kitchen of Purpose, highly relatable. Amongst sharing stories of her personal journey as an EL student, she spoke about opportunities for bilingual culinary training and courses on how to launch a small food business.

The 15 -20 young women each month are focused, eager and forward-looking! Come join us on the third Thursday of the month to meet some of our wonderful lunch bunchers!

Mary Beth Pelosky and Meg Tucillo,, Lunch Bunch

2023 Scholarship winner

Lunch Bunch

We have had some fun and interesting Lunch Bunch meeting with our young women at Arlington Community High School this spring.

In March, we heard from Gladis Bourdouane, Assistant Director of Communications with Alexandria Public Schools who immigrated from Central America as a young girl and attended Arlington Public Schools. The girls engaged in discussion with Gladis about her life, her challenges and the opportunities she took advantage of to reach her goals of becoming a professional in a challenging field.

In April, the girls also heard from the interim principal at the Arlington Community High School, Lara MacDonald, about her journey in her professional career.

Our Lunch Bunch Scholarship winner is Romaine Terceros. She is a strong student, an energetic force, and leader in Arlington Community High School. She came to Arlington from Bolivia, arriving on her own and living with extended family, while supporting herself. She is a senior and is planning on attending college when she graduates this June. She wants to study to be an architect, engineer, or automotive technician and is starting to explore these fields, including taking Career Center classes. She is currently a barista at Starbucks and is hoping for a promotion by the end of the calendar year to a management position. She is an enthusiastic student in all her classes and is a role model for her positive attitude and diligence. She is interested in many areas including photography, cosmetology, and fashion design. She has big dreams and will no doubt forge a path to reach them. She believes that “Your age or where you come from doesn’t stop you from becoming what you want to be.” And she ‘warns’: “Don’t close your eyes everyone, I’m going to be someone big!” Romaine will be attending our May 15^thawards event – please join us to celebrate her accomplishments!

Lunch Bunch needs Volunteers

The day of the meetings has changed to Thursdays. Please contact Mary Beth Pelosky or Susan Senn if you would like to join us once, twice, or every third Thursday of the month! We provide sliced chicken, a big salad, cookies and a fruit at each meeting. Our theme for this year is “The Immigrant’s Story”.

Susan Senn, Mary Beth Pelosky, Lunch Bunch

Lunch Bunch 2022-2023

Every Student Counts- Excellence for All: Exploring Immigrant Stories

Arlington AAUW is pleased to work with the leadership team once again at Arlington Community High School to offer our once-a-month lunch bunch. In keeping with Arlington Public Schools commitment to asset-based thinking, this year’s theme will center around Exploring Immigrant Stories. We will use the Learning for Justice framework and continue our efforts to provide highly relevant speakers who will share their own personal stories of resilience when overcoming challenges related to moving within the United States or immigration. Our kickoff for the 22-23 school year will take place the week of the 19^th of September.

AAUW members Susan Senn and Mary Beth Pelosky will be seeking addl AAUW funds in the hopes of securing a copy of the book Solito for each girl. This is the story of an El Salvadorean boy who journeyed to the United States by himself at age 9.

Mary Beth Pelosky, Chair

Lunch Bunch Scholarship Awarded

Susan Senn and Mary Beth Pelosky are pleased to announce the spring 2022 AAUW Lunch Bunch Awards Recipient, Arlington Community High School Senior, Julianna Ditta. In keeping with our Lunch Bunch theme for 2021-22, Profiles of a Virginia Graduate. Julianna is a model of courage, innovation, persistence and resilience. She is on track to complete her high school diploma in under two years on campus due to a four-year illness delay between 9th and 12th grade.

Julianna was selected as the Poet Laureate for Arlington Community High School, 2021-2022. She represented the Arlington Public Schools at the Poetry Out Loud competition with 9 other Virginia Regional Finalists. In addition, Julianna received an Honorable Mention in Scholastic Art and Writing Awards. 2022, as one of her poems “Missing” Poetry was selected from 1,000’s of entries.

Julianna is currently a member of the Wakefield Warriors Swim Team, admirably besting her previous times in 100-meter free style relay.

Prior to her illness, Julianna was active in 9th grade acting and dancing roles in Wakefield plays. A bright, talented artist, she designed and produced the cover art and school play posters and playbills for each play. Participated in the Arts as choreographer, chorus, choir, pianist, and bassist. Elected as chief artist to paint art in APS, Julianna’s artwork is on display walls at several Arlington schools that included human characters and mascots. Please join us in congratulating Julianna on this award!

Mary Beth Pelosky, Chair

Lunch Bunch for 2021-22

Plans are underway for our first three sessions this fall that will be held in person. The dates are Thursdays: 10/21, 11/18 and 12/14. The lunch time runs from 12:40-1:20. Volunteers should be there by 12:20 or 12:25 pm. Due to Covid guidelines, lunch/ snacks are quite limited. Mary Beth understands that some people may not feel comfortable attending in person.

Covid-19 vaccinations are now required for all volunteers in APS schools. For those who were already approved to volunteer, you should have received a notice via email to renew your application and provide verification of your vaccination status. All volunteers need to complete a volunteer form. You can fill out the application online and find additional information regarding volunteering on the APS website.

This year our theme will be, “The 5 C’s: Profile of a Va Graduate.” This is designed to reinforce the core competencies desired by the business community as designated by the VDOE. For our October meeting, the young women will complete an interest inventory for future speakers and complete Bio-poems to encourage self- reflection. Our November meeting guest speakers are a registered nurse and school health aide who is an immigrant w/
an inspiring life story.

Mary Beth Pelosky, Chair

Lunch Bunch

As the 2019-2020 school year opens at Arlington Community High School, our AAUW members, Principal Dr. Barbara Thompson, and Counselor Patricia Sanguinetti are looking forward to another successful Lunch Bunch program. AAUW members have been motivating, encouraging, and supporting the Lunch Bunch students (young women ages 18-30) for over 30 years. The school serves students from diverse cultural backgrounds, all hopeful of attaining a high school diploma. Lunch Bunch programs are held monthly on the third Thursday of the month (October through May) from 12:30-1:20 PM at 800 S. Walter Reed Drive in Arlington.

February 2020 Lunch Bunch

Ms. Carmen Hackett, shown with Patricia Sanguinetti from Arlington Community High School, Meg Tuccillo, Maryann Ullrich, and Susan Senn of AAUW.

On Thursday, February 20, our guest speaker was Ms. Carmen Hackett. She is a 53 year – old firefighter/paramedic with DC Fire and EMS and was featured this past summer on the local ABC and NBC news for her career accomplishments. She is a single mother with a 14 year- old son. Her rise to fame began with an AA degree in Culinary Arts. At the age of 20, she moved to DC and worked for GSA. Wanting more excitement in her life, she earned her Emergency Medical Technician Certification and began work with DC Fire and EMS. After 10+ years, once again she challenged herself and earned an Intermediate Paramedic Certification. That effort required 3 separate 6-month long training courses, 11 attempts to pass the qualifying exams, and 5 years total effort. Then, not content yet, she earned her full Firefighter designation in the Spring of 2019. Throughout her career, she has continued to challenge herself and has risen to the status of her current job. Along with her job, she enjoys hand dancing, painting and movies. She has 3 other jobs in addition to her Firefighter/Paramedic duties. Her presentation was quite humorous and really impressed upon the girls the notion of “Never give up!” She is the perfect example of “Make It Possible”.

The Lunch Bunch young women, after a pizza, salad, cookies, fruit, and Valentine’s candy lunch, listened intently to her story. They asked several questions after about what it took to keep her going forward. They enjoyed her presentation very much.

About the Lunch Bunch

Our educational programs and themes are developed cooperatively with the school administrators and with input from volunteers and students in the program. Topics and themes frequently relate to current issues identified through student surveys and concerns, including immigration issues, health care, community resources, careers, finance, continuing education, sexual harassment, and navigating legal systems, to name a few.

Last year’s theme, “Finding My Voice,” addressed multiple strategies to buildself-confidence, empowerment and healthy relationships. The monthly presentations for students were both inspirational and practical. Our own member, Dr. Emma Violand-Sanchez, opened our program with an inspirational message about setting and maintaining high standards and expectations.

The final meeting last year provided an opportunity to congratulate the Lunch Bunch students who were graduating. One student, Keiry Argueta, was presented with a $1,000 AAUW scholarship to NOVA. In addition, three students were awarded $25 gift certificates for top attendance at meetings.

If you are looking for an opportunity to be part of a team effort to make a real difference in the success of young women from different countries, contact the Lunch Bunch Coordinators. AAUW volunteers provide pizza or chicken as a main course along with a salad, fruit, and/or dessert.

Contact Susan Senn if you can join us or need more information.

November 2019 Lunch Bunch

This is Argyro Kavvada, NASA earth scientist who was our guest speaker at the November 21 Lunch Bunch at Arlington Community High school. She literally held the young women’s rapt attention as she described her work at taking earth science data from many technological sources ( satellites, in particular) and using that data to determine their effect on events on earth. The incidence of cholera was used as an example of the impact of climate change which causes flooding in some parts of the world, thereby increasing the incidence of cholera in those affected populations. The young women were so interested in her presentation that they forgot to eat and ended up taking their lunches to their next classes. They were very participatory as well, asking Argie detailed questions and contributing some examples of climate change in their home countries. Argie is from Greece and is an immigrant herself. Her presentation, her demeanor, her success simply said to the girls that really, anything is possible!

The next Lunch Bunch will be held on Thursday, January 9. For more information or to sign up, contact Michele Milden.