On Friday, April 20, two vehicles left Wytheville – one in the early morning hours and one later in the afternoon. The first vehicle transported Wytheville branch members Anita Aymer (also AAUW Virginia’s Vice President for Program), Julie Kause (AAUW Virginia’s Incoming-Southwest District Representative), and Leslie King (AAUW Wythe’s President-elect). Both Anita and Julie attended a Friday AAUW Virginia Board Meeting, while Leslie (also the writer of this post) became acclimated to the Newport News City Center Marriott, where the conference was being hosted. AAUW Wythe Co-president Pamela Montgomery and Secretary Peggy White arrived later in the second vehicle.

Rather than relate every aspect of the conference (okay – a few of us enjoyed fabulous blue cheese, crab-topped hamburgers at a local tavern – you dragged that out of me), I will mention conference highlights. Friday night, thanks to the prowess’s of the conference programming, we enjoyed a concert by the Hampton University Ensemble, a local history-themed scavenger hunt, tasty desserts, and an amazing presentation on Victorian fitness by the History Missie.

Saturday was a full day starting with a business session including  keynote speaker Lisa Maatz, AAUW Director of Public Policy and Government Relations, who updated us on women’s political topics. This was followed by workshops on social media, AAUW’s program “Get Out the Vote,” and recruiting and retaining members (one of the presenters was our own Anita Aymer). Lunch featured speaker Claudia Richards, AAUW Senior Branch Relations Officer. Workshops continued after lunch.

There was a break during the afternoon and members could choose to attend tours of two local museums or enjoy what the locale offered. I believe all five of us choose the latter. And we all bought raffle tickets for the basket raffle (participating branches donated theme baskets for a fundraiser) – and none of us won.

The evening banquet included the presentation of the Woman of Achievement Award, which was given to poet Rita Dove. Dr. Dove graciously accepted the award, gave a short talk, and beguiled us with a few of her poems. The Wythe branch was most fortunate to be able to meet her after the banquet.

Sunday culminated with district meetings and a second business session.

All in all, this was a very informative and entertaining conference. Congratulations to the State Conference Committee!