Lana’s
Letter 
Greetings, Ladies. It seems time is measured by conventions, conferences,
district meetings, etc. GFWC Convention 2003 has come and gone and
along with it, mountains of information, bylaws changes and more.
I have asked our Director of Junior Clubs to give you a full report
on Convention, which you will find elsewhere in this publication.
Congratulations to us. We did win some awards which will be presented
at Fall Conference.
Our next “measurement” is Fall Conference. The Call was mailed the last week in July to board members and club presidents. A copy is also included in this edition. I urge you to read it carefully as we have planned a fun and very informative meeting for you. WE WILL BE HONORED WITH A VISIT FROM GFWC 1ST. VICE PRESIDENT, JACKIE PIERCE, who will not only bring us greetings and information from GFWC, but will also conduct a seminar especially designed to help those who are now or may become a president. You will not want to miss this session. This is going to be weekend of themes, so I can wait to see the costumes you create. (See details in the Call).
You will also see attached to the call, an invitation “Especially For East Tennessee”. I want to reiterate that this meeting is for ALL MEMBERS FROM ALL DISTRICTS who wish to attend and I urge club presidents and board members to pass this information along to your cub women and encourage them to be there. Neither your Director of Junior Clubs nor I have been able to attend the Fall District Meetings in District I because the scheduling thereof has been at times we had already scheduled meetings in other districts or as in this case, the same time as GFWC Board. Carla and I want to visit club members in that district, so I’ve arrange this meeting to do so. Let’s have a huge crowd for this.
In Federation Love,
Lana
Tennessee Leadership Seminar—2003
The weekend of May 16-18 was a very successful one for the newest
GFWC of Tennessee project -- Tennessee Leadership Seminar! There were
112 students in attendance and they were one of the brightest, best
groups one could hope to have attended.
A number of circumstances prevented a higher percentage of attendance -- sports conflicts, graduation exercises, exams, delays in activities due to the floods we had experienced, one illness, and one concerned parent due to a report of suspected SARS patients in the Memphis area.
Students attending experienced panels on education, our democratic process and career and family. They enjoyed a workshop which dealt with how to more effectively communicate as a leader and there were four "skill building" games which they experienced - the tower game (where they built a tower with gum drops and tooth picks, but were unable to speak a word to each other or to write instructions); the barter game (where they brought "give away" items from businesses and traded for things other students brought); the NASA Moon Survival Game (where a rocket is temporarily stranded on the moon and they must decide what is critical for survival until a rescue can be made); and Win All You Can (which deals with working with a group and reaching compromises and negotiations).
On Friday night, the students participated in a "Seminar Survivor Game" which had challenges and immunities, featured finding rather obscure towns on a map of the State of Tennessee, unscrambling words, tasting and identifying baby food while blindfolded, a Tennessee "pictionary" game; recall of details of a story which was read to them and so forth. Students eliminated became the "jury" to choose from the finalists who had to give their opinion as to why they were the most "spirited" and should be chosen the ultimate survivor. All of the shifts from the previous seminar went smoothly and those who attended feel the new agenda is extremely successful.
Support from the GFWC of Tennessee clubs was overwhelmingly appreciated and noted. Numerous mentions were made in regard to the support and sponsorships of the club women. Those who work on the program and the students who attended and were sponsored by clubs are extremely appreciative of the support.
submitted by Joan Beaver