.
We had a festive gathering in December to celebrate these anniversaries with
cake,
scrapbooks, historic reminiscences, and appreciation of where
we've been and where we're going.
We began our year with our annual garage sale, which funds our
local scholarship. We put
an AAUW team together to participate in a community spelling bee
fundraiser for a new Northfield
Public Library Bookmobile. A local bookstore gave us a
percentage of member purchases
for three days during the holiday shopping season to supplement
our Educational Foundation
funds.
We brought the theme of “Education as the Gateway to Women's
Economic Security” to
our programming with a CPA who gave us guidance on planning and
organizing our financial
affairs, a nurse practitioner who addressed decisions that need
to be made later in life, and branch
member Hudlin Wagner, dean of students at Carleton College, who
shared her work with
“Retention of Minority Students in Higher Education.”
The Northfield mayor and representatives of the Downtown Council
informed us about
issues with implications for the future of a healthy downtown.
Representatives of Citizens for
Quality Education brought us up to date on finances in the
Northfield Public Schools and the
need for a levy referendum.
Our next project will be co-sponsorship, with the local Girl
Scouts, of a May event at
Carleton College for middle school girls interested in math and
science careers. They will meet
with women math and science faculty and women students who will
share their projects and
research with the girls. AAUW members will be on hand to assist
with registration and supervision.