DKG Xi Chapter Florida May 1, 2021

XI GRAM
DKG Xi Chapter | Summer 2021 | Vol. IV

Xi Business President’s Message

Meetings Dear Xi Sisters,
Save the Date(s): The end of our first year of the 2020-2022 biennium
Founder’ Day is quickly approaching. During this year, our chapter
was able to implement innovaAve meeAngs and
Meeting
programs. Thank you to everyone for helping us
May 10, 2021
share remembrances of Doris and Jean during the
4:30-6:00 moving Necrology service in the Fall and learn more
Execu&ve Board about our fellow members at the December Heritage
Mee&ng Sharing AcAvity. January found us celebraAng the
August TBA outstanding Holiday Projects some of our members
and daughters of our members created with their
New member grants in aid. The March meeAng allowed us to
mee&ng on Zoom. celebrate Xi Chapter’s 75th birthday in style. Our
August, TBA state organizaAon and local chapters offered virtual
acAviAes to parAcipate in as well.
During the past year, some of our members and
their families have experienced health issues.
We wish them each conAnued progress in the
coming months.

The Florida State ConvenAon was held on April

30 and May 1, 2021. Four Xi members aWended
the hybrid convenAon virtually using Zoom--Pam,
Neena, Risa and Paula. The informaAon
presented in the general and breakout sessions
will be beneficial to our chapter in the future.

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DKG Xi Chapter Florida May 1, 2021

President’s Message Con&nued

Time to Submit Dues! Roxanne Berger, the newly elected 2021-2023

Delta Kappa Gamma Florida State President,
emphasized three acAviAes to involve and
energize chapters:
*CommiWees - meet with your commiWees
beginning July 1, 2021 using Zoom
*Adopt a first-year educator
*Communicate with your members via phone
calls, email and mail Hopefully, all members will
have the opportunity to aWend state and
local meeAngs on Zoom or in person next year.
Please submit dues by next year.
June 30th.
Active members:  $80.00 
Reminder: read the Florida Rays newsleWer
Reserve Members:  $30.00 published four Ames per year-Winter, Spring,
Check made payable to:  Summer and Fall.
DKG-Xi Chapter
Paula and Pam
Send to:  
Carol Lansdale
1800 SW 3 Avenue
Pompano Beach, FL 33060 What Happened in 1929?

•Stock Market Crash and the

beginning of the Great Depression
•St. ValenAne’s Day Massacre of
Al Capone’s rivals
•VaAcan becomes independent from Italy
•First Academy Awards
•First car radio developed by Motorola
•Sam Foster begins selling sunglasses at
Woolworths

•Delta Kappa Gamma becomes an

organiza&on

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DKG Xi Chapter Florida May 1, 2021

75th Birthday Celebra&on Goodie Bags

I’m sure each of us enjoyed the different items that Sharon Quinn and Jane
Spence included in the Goodie Bags they had conceived of and filled. Whether it
was the cake (complete with icing and sprinkles) or the candy, the Covid mask, the
Assues or hand saniAzer, the pencil, games, or party hats, it was FUN! A fifng
celebraAon for the 75th birthday of Xi Chapter. Thanks again to all who made the
contents of the bags and the deliveries possible!

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DKG Xi Chapter Florida May 1, 2021

Founder’s Day

May 11, 2021 marks the 92nd anniversary of the founding of Delta Kappa
Gamma at a ceremony held at the University of Texas. Dr.
Annie Webb Blanton, a professor at the university and former
Superintendent of Public InstrucAon in Texas, conceived of it
as an organizaAon of women educators. Dr. Blanton iniAated
eleven women from various areas of Texas into the
organizaAon. Alpha, the first Chapter, was chartered on June
3, 1929.

The 12 Founders were: Dr. Annie Webb Blanton, Miss Mamie

Sue BasAan, Miss Ruby Cole, Miss Mabel Grizzard, Dr, Anna Hiss, Miss Ray
King, Miss Sue King, Dr Helen Koch, Mrs. Ruby Terrell, Dr. Cora M. MarAn, Mrs.
Laila M. Odom, and Miss Lela Lee Williams.

They wanted to recognize women educators in every facet of educaAon and at

every level; improve their educaAonal preparaAon; and, promote going for
advanced degrees through scholarships.

You can see the pictures and biographies of each Founder on dkg.org.
Extraordinary women for their Ame or any Ame. You will learn more about
these women at our Founder’s Day meeAng on May 10th.

Notes from the State Conven&on

Pam said of the Convention that the hybrid structure created challenges
that the organizers were forced to deal with in real time--sound, visuals,
etc. They made Herculean efforts to deal with them and problems
smoothed out over the sessions.

*As Neena shared with us in March, we were

awarded the Communications award for our Xi
Grams and website. Hooray!

*They had a lovely Ceremony of Remembrance

recognizing all the state members who were lost
over the past biennium.

*They had an innovative method for voting by

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DKG Xi Chapter Florida May 1, 2021

Notes from the State Convention Continued

virtual attendees. After we voted for each item on the computer screen,
the system displayed the results to be added to the results of in-person
votes.

*One of my workshops which was attended by Risa Katz as well, featured

a young Pakistani woman who was awarded a scholarship to study at
FSU. Although virtual attendees were challenged by poor sound quality
and the inability to screen share her program with us at first, it was clear
that she was an enthusiastic young woman and determined to impact
education.

Paula attended the following breakout sessions:

“Why Should the Presiding Officer Use a Script?”

Presenter: Sam King, PRP

Sam King’s knowledge and enthusiasm for her topic were evident during
her presentation. At the conclusion of the presentation, she provided her
contact information if we wanted her to send us a copy of the PowerPoint.
Please let me know if you would like a copy.

“DKG Voices Making a Difference in Education”

This presentation provided suggestions for engaging with state legislators

to improve the lives of teachers, students and families. Donna Heald was
one of the presenters.

The speakers encouraged us to work with other organizations (League of

Women Voters, Florida Retired Teachers, American Association of
University Women, etc.) to advocate for educational issues.

Rep. Anna V. Eskamani, received the Friend of Education Award. She

suggested that we follow the re-districting process that will occur this
summer.

For more information:

OnlineSunshine.org is the Official Internet Site of the Florida Legislature.

Neena and Risa ASended the following breakout session:

Session 1: “Developing Intercultural Competence and Global Mindedness Through
Short Term Teaching Abroad”

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DKG Xi Chapter Florida May 1, 2021

Notes from the State Convention Continued

This session provided strategies to develop intercultural competence

through teaching abroad in Poland. The learning theory of the program
was shared showing the difference between what is normally revealed
by students from another culture and what can be revealed when more
in depth relaAonships are forged. The presenters are the Co-presidents
of the Eagle-Orzeł EducaAonal and Cultural Exchange, Inc. RepresenAng
K-12 schools, insAtuAons of higher educaAon, and internaAonal
organizaAons, the ExecuAve CommiWee and Board draw upon experAse
gained from decades of leadership and involvement in facilitaAng
educaAonal opportuniAes for Polish and American teachers and
students both in the United States and abroad. oversee a cultural
exchange program where teachers can parAcipate as a teacher or peer
teacher and more. Details of a summer cultural exchange was also
presented (see flyer here).

More informaAon can be found at hSps://eagle-orzel.org/

Neena aSended the following breakout session:
Session 2: Mighty Women
This session presented ideas on how chapters can present mighty women
selected by chapter Members in a slide presentaAon, newsleWer or Facebook
page. The Mighty Women are women chosen because they are are inspiring,
have made significant achievements in society or they could be women in Delta
Kappa Gamma InternaAonal, State, or from your local chapter. See resources
here.


Reports from CommiSee Chairs

Communica&ons

The CommunicaAons CommiWee met on three

separate occasions. CommiWee members include:
Neena Grosvenor (Chair), Renée Schwartz and Jane
Spence. Topics covered included creaAng the Chapter Yearbook, using a cell

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DKG Xi Chapter Florida May 1, 2021

Reports from CommiSee Chairs Con&nued

phone app for meeAng updates and checking on members during an emergency.
Signal is the app that was decided upon since Remind (the app previously being
considered) required the owner be an acAve teacher. The CommiWee looked at
the chapter rules requirements for the CommunicaAon CommiWee. Barbara Sabin
joined us for one meeAng to discuss the chapter rules as they pertain to the
CommunicaAon CommiWee. We examined the Xi website and provided each
member with access to the site for ediAng. We discussed updaAng the website,
applying for the DKG cerAficaAon and associated fees for retaining the domain
name.

Rules CommiSee

During the past two months the Rules Committee, members--Pam

DeLucia, Jane Claud, and Barb Sabin-- have consulted by phone
regarding the proposed amendments to the Chapter documents. Those
twelve changes were sent out to the membership by President Pam on
April 27th and will be voted on at the upcoming May 10th meeting.

Finance CommiSee

Pam DeLucia and Barb Sabin, chair of the Finance Committee,, met with
our treasurer, Carol-Ann Lansdale on April 30th to finalize a proposed
budget for 2021-2022 and conduct the required annual financial review. All

the records were found to be in compliance with state guidelines, so we

give accolades and our thanks to Carol-Ann for her good work.

On May 4th, the Finance Committee met via the chapter zoom site, thanks
to Neena, a member of the committee, along with Pam, Carol-Ann, and
Barb.  The proposed budget was approved for presentation to the
membership at the upcoming meeting of the chapter on May 10th. 

Program CommiSee:
Risa Katz & Lourdes Boza Meyer, chaired a Zoom Program CommiWee meeAng on
May 3, 2021 to plan the Founder’s Birthday celebraAon on May 10, 2021.
Members in aWendance were: Alyce Marshall, Renee Schwartz and Paula Miller.
The meeAng will recognize the Founders and provide an opportunity for members

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DKG Xi Chapter Florida May 1, 2021

to get acquainted. Each member will send a statement about themselves to

Lourdes, and she will create an acAvity using Nearpod.

Educa&onal Excellence CommiSee:

Renee Schwartz is in the EducaAonal Excellence CommiWee. She shared the

informaAon via email and newsleWers.
Renee Schwartz’s involvement in the EducaAonal Excellence CommiWee
encouraged members to parAcipate in programs to promote professional growth,
support desirable legislaAon, and explore educaAonal issues at the local, state and
naAonal level. She informed members of resources from many organizaAons via
email and Zoom.
Throughout the year, Paula Miller aWended several virtual workshops and
meeAngs concerned with educaAonal issues She shared the informaAon via
email and newsleWers.

Cer&ficates of Apprecia&on

Nine of our members have belonged to Delta Kappa Gamma
for 25-50 years. One of those nine hit the 50 year mark this
year—Bea Wilbur. As you probably read in the last Xi Gram,
Bea has been an extremely acAve member both in California
and Florida. Each of our eight 26- to 42-year members too had
very impressive educaAonal and personal accomplishments. All
of our long-term members were given cerAficates recently to recognize the
longevity of their membership signed by the Xi Chapter Presidents and the
InternaAonal President. It is a small token of our appreciaAon for the amount of
service they have given to the organizaAon as a whole and Xi Chapter in parAcular.
Check out the disAnguished women of Xi below.

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DKG Xi Chapter Florida May 1, 2021

Jane Claud
Louise Costello

Carol Lansdale Pat Houchens

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DKG Xi Chapter Florida May 1, 2021

Barbara Sabin
Renée Schwartz

Beatrix Wilbur

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DKG Xi Chapter Florida May 1, 2021

Remember these members with our best thoughts:

Lucy is OK she says. A liWle stressed by school, gefng ready to put house up for
sale and assisAng in-laws ater her father-in-law’s stroke. Whew!

Risa’s husband had a 2nd surgery and is rehabilitaAng again.

Louise is a wonder! She met Paula and I at my car when we took her award to her
and was walking so jaunAly. Good days and bad days she reports.

Pat Houchens is improving every day. Out of an abundance of cauAon, she is sAll
using a cane or walker.

Paula’s knee replacement is doing well, but hurt her other knee when helping her
Dad. Her Dad’s hip has healed but he is experiencing a lot of pain elsewhere.

Elaine Aaron is doing fine according to Neena

BeWy Lavelle, in TN, had surgery this week. Wish her well.

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