The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International Volume 20 No.

1 September, 2013

NuNews

Nu Chapter#13 Area VII Alpha State, Texas Hays & Blanco Counties

The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International promotes professional and personal growth of women educators and excellence in education.
Leading Women Educators Impacting Education Worldwide Editor: Mary Nabers mmbnab@gmail.com

First Meeting: Sept. 17, 2013 Chapel in the Hills Wimberley 6:00 pm Dinner provided by Wimberley Members 6:45 Business and Program Overview of the year and Committee Choices

Program:
How to protect your home from a wildfire before it occurs,
Through landscaping and paying attention to details Presented by Mary Nabers, Texas Master Gardener Firewise Specialist

Launch the new year with a commitment to Delta Kappa Gamma: True to the calling, as we firmly rally because our sisters need us, and because our pledge is that Education eer well further! A commitment to Delta Kappa Gamma is a personal commitment to learning, to enjoyment, to friendship, to our lifetime service to education.

Barbaras Page:
Hello, Nu Chapter Members:
Can you believe itwe are heading into fall with the temperature in the 100s. But, your officers and other board members have been busy planning for another successful chapter year. At our brunch/board meeting in late June we had an amazing group of ladies work on the suggested programs for this chapters monthly meetings. We will begin the year with a presentation given by our Communications Chair, Mary Nabers, information about being Fire Wise in our homes during these continued drought conditions. I know you will find her program to be important to each of us. Our dinner will be provided by the Wimberley members and held at Chapel in the Hills. The following month, October, we will hear about the exciting reading program that Dr. Assof, Education Department, Texas State University, has been implementing in South Africa for the last couple of years with assistance from her students at TSU. In January we will continue with the custom we have observed for the past few years of rotating a Saturday meeting with the New Braunfels and Seguin chapters. More information will be provided as the time draws near. You will have a summary of each months program when your yearbooks are distributed. Laurie Kirkscey received all the information she needs to complete the yearbook for 2013-2014. We are planning to send the yearbooks via email this year, except for the few members who do not use email. Laurie is planning to bring a few yearbooks to the September meeting. We are also anticipating that a copy will be available on our webpage. Thanks, Laurie and Nadyne! Please come to the meeting prepared to pay your annual dues or work with Tonda on your payment plan. Again this year, monthly payments will be available, while still meeting the state deadline of November. Thanks, Tonda! The state convention held in Austin in late June was an enjoyable few days. Once again, Nu Chapter received recognition for our newsletter, yearbook, and webpage. We again received the Presidents Award for Chapter Excellence, thanks to the hard work and dedication of so many remarkable members. The convention was well received, well planned, and well executed. We can thank our very own, Sandra Morales, who served as Co-chair of the event. She was available each day and carried out endless duties with kindness and thoughtfulness. Your officers and committee chairs are looking forward to the months ahead. I am sure you will enjoy all that has been planned. Our new state President, Nancy Newton, promises to be full of wonderful surprises. You will also want to hear from Nadyne Gartman about the successful regional conference she attended in July. I hope to see you at the September 17th meeting at Chapel in the Hills, at 6 PM. I look forward to seeing each of you.

Barbara

Sandra HonoredAgain!
At Wes Commemorative Air Force (CAF) Wing Meeting, I was presented with the following citation: MRS. SANDI MORALES HAS CONTINUOUSLY DISTINGUISHED HERSELF AS A DEDICATED WING SUPPORTER THROUGH HER SERVICE TO THE CENTRAL TEXAS WING. SHE IS RECOGNIZED FOR HER SUPPORT OF VIRTUALLY ALL WING ACTIVITIES. HER GENEROUS CONTRIBUTIONS OF TIME AND HARD WORK HAVE WON HER THE RESPECT AND GRATITUDE OF WING MEMBERS. FOR HER EFFORTS AND DEDICATION TO THE GOALS AND OBJECTIVES OF THE WING, MRS. SANDI MORALES IS HEREBY PRESENTED THE CENTRAL TEXAS WING LETTER OF APPRECIATION. BY ORDER OF: RICHARD L. HALL, COLONEL, CAF, WING LEADER I truly was surprised with this citation. You know I love helping Wes in any of his endeavors and interests. And working at the museum, I get to meet so many interesting visitors from everywhere. Many of them share their military stories, too. Sandra

Member News
School Notes-Cheryl Blake: My son got married this summer and his new wife will be joining him at the Beeville School District teaching 5th grade math there. He will be teaching U.S. History (11th grade) along with coaching football and becoming the head soccer coach. Robin Estepp kept her granddaughter Kendall while Melissa set up her room and started the year. Kathy Carriker spent some time in Houston setting her daughters school room up for the year. Delta Kappa Gamma was mentioned several times by TRTA members the District 13 Fall Planning meeting. Our members make a difference in many organizations. One TRTA group has a joint meeting with DKG when they have a good speaker or program.

Wild and Wonderful Vacations-Henrietta Smith toured the Southwest with her husband and twin granddaughters, driving from Texas to the Grand Canyon with stops at Mesa Verde and other highlights along the way. Henrietta also has a new grandson, Gavin, born to daughter Shelly in Michigan. Kathy Carriker visited Sweden this summer. She and Maggie must compare notes. Charlotte Evans spent the month of June in Las Vegas. Didnt make it to a casino, but helped my sister recover from her second knee replacement. We had a great time visiting and she was the perfect patient. When I spent last November there as she recuperated from the first knee surgery, she told me I was Nurse Ratchet when I needed to be and Florence Nightingale when she needed me to be. I think she learned in November, so I was able to be Florence Nightingale most of this visit! (Charlotte has knee replacement experience!) If you have a great vacation to report, just send it in!

This is the magnet Nadyne designed that we will sell at Convention! Every Delta Kappa Gamma member needs one so your car will advertise us everywhere. Only $5.00.

Book Review By Mary Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

The first five minutes or fifteen pages of this novel left me wondering why my book club chose it. Then the shooting happens. From then on I couldnt put it down. For nineteen minutes a teen-age boy who has been bullied all his life goes on a shooting rampage at school, killing or maiming those who have hurt him but also some who just happened to be where he was. The rest of the book switches between his viewpoint and those of his parents, another affected family, and a detective. It also switches settings between events of the day, events of the past, events following his arrest, and then his trial. Nineteen Minutes is not great literature, but it is well written. The characters may be overdrawn or extreme rather than typical, but they hold your interest. Each one evokes sympathy, so that, even while knowing a happy ending is impossible, the reader stays involved to see how it will work out. Some of the actual working out is a little far-fetched, but It is a novel. Peter, the shooter, is every child you ever taught who tries to be invisible, to avoid attracting attention in any way. Matt and his friends are every jock you ever taught who thinks he is king of the world. Maddy is every cheerleader whose likes and dislikes are law. Josie.is every girl who thinks popularity is what

high school is all about. Yes, they are stereotypes, but those types do exist. Mothers and fathers play a part too. Most parents have been guilty at one time or another of assuming their children were happy and welladjusted, maybe not delving into niggling little questions. As teachers most of us have expended so much energy on other peoples children that we sometimes had little time for our ownas if attending games were enough. Probably every teacher and parent should read this book. I thought I was on top of things as a teacher, and I thought I understood my sons, but maybe I wasnt and was just lucky. We had crises, yesMost of us didnt have the Leave It to Beaver family. The point is that sometimes the signs are there. Every time we hear of a school shooting, the signs were there, but nobody expected anything to happen. While parents and teachers cannot live and teach as if every hour may turn into a war zone, they can confront the problem of bullying when they see it. A few humiliating occurrences that the shooter experienced in this novel were so blatant that I cant imagine what the administration and teachers were thinking in letting them slide. Surely in the real world, action would have been taken. Again, Nineteen Minutes is not great literature and the characters are more or less stereotypes, but since bullying is out in the open and school shootings are a part of our world now, it is a timely piece, one that may stay with you, one that will be thought provoking and perhaps invite discussion.

Note from the Editor:

If anyone has a suggestion for a regular column or type of article that you would like to see in the newsletter or would like to contribute, please let me know.

Convention photos are on the website. Check them out!

See you in Wimberley on Sept. 17 at the Chapel in the Hills at 6:00 pm. We will have a light supper courtesy of the Wimberley Ladies and organize for the year. Mary Nabers will provide Firewise tips on how to keep your home protected in case all that cedar catches fire! This program is particularly important in our current drought conditions.