President’s Message continued from page 1
Simone Biles is an American champion gymnast. This was her fourth summer Olympics where she added three more gold metals and one silver to total eleven metals. During her career, she has had both amazing victories, but also great setbacks. In the 2020 Tokyo Olympics, Simone suffered the “twisties” and had to quit the competition. In the next four years she battled mental illness, worked hard, and set out again to return to gymnastics. Her power was to learn from her setbacks and help motivate other gymnasts like Jordan Chiles, a team member, who also suffered from an illness and had to work her way back up the ladder of success. The power of these gymnasts is to serve as examples to their team mates, and as role models to all those little girls, sitting at home, hoping to be future champions.
Katie Ledecky, a local champion swimmer, also became a legend this summer. At 27, she added two more gold and one silver to her many metals from four Olympics and world competitions. She, like Simone Biles, uses her power as a role model for so many young competitors in the United States and all over the world. Not only does she spend countless hours improving her strokes and stamina, but she also spends time motiving and inspiring others to help them compete. It was wonderful to see Katie Ledecky in the pool after a long race reaching out and hugging her fellow swimmers from many other countries.
The Power of Community is also evident at all three levels of the AAUW. The National AAUW, raises funds, formulates the main missions of the organization, and uses its power to advocate for important legislation that will fulfill its mission. Two examples of legislation are equal pay for women and paid leave. The National AAUW also gives out scholarships and grants to further women’s education. At the State level, AAUW has its own power when it supports or rejects state legislation. It connects the many local branches together at state conventions and through Zoom meetings and publications. It also works with other organizations on combined projects to increase its power and influence. The last piece of the power hierarchy is the local Branch. Each Branch is unique and educates its members on important issues and motivates members to work on special projects. Our Springfield-Annandale Branch has monthly meetings, usually with a speaker about a current or important topic. In August, many of our members joined to write 500 postcards to get out the vote. We met at two member’s homes for postcard-writing sessions. Many members finished the project at their homes. The Virginia State Branches are completing 4,000 plus postcards. The 2024 national election is essential and citizens need to vote. On each postcard, the voter will receive information on registration and early voting. This is an example of the Power of Community.
As our new AAUW year begins, I invite all of you to bring new members to our meetings so that we can increase the size of our community. Attend our meetings and work on Branch projects – your efforts will increase our power to accomplish our many goals.
I hope to see many of you at our September meeting. Read UPDATES each month for information on you can become more involved in Branch activities.