Inside this issue:

Karen’s Comments 2

In Memoriam 2

Links for Learning 3

Committees 4-6

Hawaii Pics 7

Four Corners 8

Dates 9

Volume 69, Issue 3

MISSOURI, DELTA STATE

Fall 2017

The Southwest Regional was held in beautiful Hawaii, July 4-7. The opening ceremonies began with a traditional Hawaiian chant. The flags from the seven countries in the Southwest Region were pre-sented. These include: The United States, Mexico, Guatemala, El Sal-vador, Costa Rica, Panama, and Japan. Next banners of the 22 state organizations of the Southwest Re-gion were presented. The Missouri State banner was carried by Presi-dent, Karen Evans, and 1st Vice President, Jana Siefkas. The Re-gional attendees were greeted by Hawaii’s First Lady, Dawn Ige. Keynote Speaker, Pono Shim spoke on the “Aloha Response”. He stated that by sharing the natu-ral values of Aloha, we can find peace in the 21st century. The theme for the conference was “Experiencing a Lifestyle of Alo-ha.” Hawaii Night was on the Fourth of July and what a great beginning for the conference! The music was from the wonderful Royal Hawaiian Band with dancers from Halau I Ka Wekiu. The Roy-al Hawaiian Band was formed in the early 1800s by King Kame-hameha III. They have been am-bassadors for Hawaii all over the world. The male and female danc-ers of this award winning group performed traditional hula and chants. Wednesday started the Second General Session. Our State Presi-dent and World Fellowship Com-mittee Member, Karen Evans, gave the inspiration describing how one young lady from Afghanistan was able to overcome numerous obsta-cles to achieve her educational goals and become a World Fellow-

ship Recipient. The Keynote Speaker, Dr. Shawn Kana’iaupuni described her experiences as a vol-unteer crew member of the Polyne-sian Voyaging Society that pro-motes education and the under-standing and care of our planet. The U.S. Forum also met on Wednesday. The topic at this meet-ing, presented by Valeria Marino and officer Anso “Kaipo” Paiva, was “Keeping Safe in Cyber-space”. Kathy Davis, SW U.S. Forum Representative, invited members to the National Legisla-tion Seminar in Washington, D.C. March 18-21, 2018. The Third General Session was held on Thursday. The keynote speaker was Dr. Maenette K.P. Ah Nee-Benham. She spoke of her journey to become the first native Hawaiian woman chancellor of a university. The Birthday Luncheon followed the general session. The keynote speakers were Miki Nishi-zawa and Kel Hirohata. Their speech was entitled, “Empathize, Engage and Empower are Essential E’s to grow student leader-ship.” They described how Wai-pahu High School’s Youth For Safety

Club helped achieve their goals.

Thursday was also the night the Missouri delegation got together for an enjoyable fellowship meal. Thirteen Delta State mem-bers were in attendance. Friday started with the All States Breakfast. Donations were accept-ed and $5,379.97 was collected for the Emergency Fund. All attendees were invited to the 2018 Interna-tional Convention which will be held in Austin, TX. Also an invita-tion was made to the next SW Re-gional (continued on page 3)

The

Delta Kappa

Gamma

Society

International

promotes

professional and

personal growth

of

women

educators and

excellence

in education.

Aloha! Southwest Regional 2017

Deltagrams, Page 2

State Officers

2017-2019

Karen Evans, President

Jana Siefkas, 1st Vice President

Marty Tidd, 2nd Vice President

Brenda Jarrett, Recording Secretary

Paulette Fischer, Exec. Secretary/Treasurer

Deltagrams is published four times a year online at http://www.dkgmissouri.com/

News items should be sent to: Jamie Erwin,

Deltagrams Editor 112 Lisa Avenue, Lathrop, MO 64465

816-528-6986, deltagrams.mo@gmail.com

Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, P.O. Box 1589, Austin, TX 78767-1589

888-768-4685

Karen’s Comments I want

to let

everyone

know

how

honored

I am to

be elect-

ed Del-

ta/

Missouri

State

Presi-

dent. I

thought

that I

would tell you about myself. I taught

second grade for 26 years and loved eve-

ry minute of it. I live in Festus which is

just south of St. Louis. My husband is

my college sweetheart and we have been

married for 42 years. My husband was

also an educator. We retired several

years ago.

We have two wonderful children, Lau-

ren and Brad. Lauren is a nurse practi-

tioner in private practice with two doc-

tors. She is married to Andy, who works

for the family business which installs

commercial water fountains. They have

our only grandchildren, Jack who is al-

most 7 and Will who was born in July of

this year. I love visiting with the boys

and reading to Jack. I enjoy singing my

own special lullabies to Will.

Our son has served in the U.S. Navy

for nearly twelve years and lives in Vir-

ginia Beach. He is married to our won-

derful daughter-in-law, Christina. They

have been married for almost two years.

We don’t get to see them as much as we

would like, but when we do, we have a

great time. We hope to hear the patter

of little feet in their home soon.

I am passionate about several things:

my family, my church, and DKG. I am

passionate about everyone receiving an

education. That is why I have served on

several scholarship committees. In fact, I

was the chairperson of our Delta/

Missouri State Scholarship Committee

several years ago. Presently, I serve on

the International World Fellowship

Committee which gives scholarships to

women from outside the United States

and Canada to come to study here.

Their stories and struggles to get an edu-

cation are amazing.

Our membership has requested more

articles about the chapters. We have

added a special column entitled: Focus

on Four Corners”. Each of the four areas

will highlight a chapter. It may have pic-

tures and is limited to 250 words. Check

out this edition of “Focus on Four Cor-

ners” on page 8 of this issue.

The theme for this biennium is simply

the International theme with a little ad-

dition, “Leading Women Educators Impact-

ing Education Worldwide, Honor, Learn,

Lead through DKG”. We are leading

women educators. You wouldn’t have

been invited to join DKG if you weren’t

one. We are impacting education world-

wide through our scholarships and

World Fellowships, by supporting early

career educators and being involved in

Schools for Africa. We are honoring our

members for their involvement through

Key Women Educators. We are learning

by reading professional books, journals,

magazines, and newsletters. We are

learning by attending conferences, con-

ventions, and educational breakout ses-

sions. We are leading through our exam-

ples as leaders, by being aware of what is

new in education, helping others in our

profession, and supporting educational

legislation.

I look forward to serving you this bien-

nium.

-Karen

Pictured are Karen and her grandsons,

Will and Jack.

Gladys Lorrene Long March 24, 2017 Gamma Beta

Nancy Jo Reynolds May 27, 2017 Alpha Gamma

*For names to be printed in the Deltagrams, Form 6 must be submitted to the Membership Chair, Marty Tidd, dkgmo2ndvp@gmail.com.

In Memoriam Golden Anniversary Sales

Please help support the Golden Anniversary Funds by purchasing DKG items!

Items can be mailed to your home (postage will be added to the cost).

Call or email Vicki Cassady 417-438-6213, cvcassady@sofnet.com

Deltagrams, Page 3

Links for Learning New Ways to Engage Parents by Dr. Patricia Edwards - This book received the 2016 Educator's Book Award given

by DKG. This award recognizes women authors whose research and writing could potentially affect the thoughts and actions of today's society. In this book, Dr. Edwards writes about ways to involve families in their child's education. The book includes specific strategies and helpful resources.

Teach Like A Pirate by Dave Burgess - Our Leadership Seminar speaker, Dr. Jennifer Webb, mentioned this book

in her presentation. Teach Like A Pirate is based on Dave Burgess's seminars which offer inspiration and specific

techniques to increase student engagement.

The Third Chapter: Passion, Risk, and Adventure in the 25 Years After 50 by Dr. Sarah Lawrence-Lightfoot - Dr. Law-

rence shares the stories of women and men who faced the years after 50 and found growth and fulfillment instead of a diminishing role. Dr. Lawrence-Lightfoot's book, Exit: The Endings That Set Us Free won the Educator's Book

Award in 2013.

The Girls At the Kingfisher Club by Genevieve Valentine - Set in the 1920's this book tells the story of 12 daughters

who escape the confines of their home each night to dance. The eldest daughter protects and serves as the only mother they know. All seems well until their father decides to find husbands for them. This is a great book to take along on a vacation because it is fanciful with just enough substance to make the read enjoyable.

Unshakeable: 20 Ways to Enjoy Teaching Every Day . . . No Matter What by Angela Watson - Do you need some in-

spiration to face the class tomorrow? Check out this book. Also, visit Angela Watson's web site https://thecornerstoneforteachers.com/enjoy-teaching/ for some additional resources.

Photofy - Check out this photo-editing app at http://photofy.com/. Its mission is to be an easy-to-use tool for iOS and Android devices. This app is designed to make content creation easier for social media. Note there are in-app purchases.

Canva - Designed to be an incredibly simple design tool, information about the app is available at https://www.canva.com/. Tutorials are also available on the Canva site. There is a free version with limited features.

PicCollage - Use this app to create collages with photos. It is available for iOS , Android devices and Windows

10. Visit https://pic-collage.com/ for more information. There is a Teacher's Corner that shows how teachers are using the app.

Typorama - Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch, this app allows you to create flyers, posters, and all sorts of graphic designs. Go to this site, http://www.apperto.com/typorama/ for samples and more infor-mation. It is available for download in the iTunes store.

https://booktrackclassroom.com/ - This site allows students to use their own writing to create stories with a movie-style soundtrack. Sample lesson plans are available on ways to use Book Track. Included as well are how-to videos for the teacher.

**Links for Learning is a regular column of resources that may be helpful or interesting to you. They may include books, mag-azine articles, web resources, and apps. The web addresses were current at the time of publication; however, websites change rapidly and cannot be guaranteed to be available later. All resources should be previewed before using in a presentation or class-

room. No endorsement is given to resources.

Conference in Costa Mesa, CA, in 2019. After the Breakfast was the Fourth General Session. The keynote speak-er was Mervlyn Kitashima who talked about her participation in the Kauai Longitudinal Study. The study started in 1955 to find out about “High Risk” youth. She sug-

gests that we no longer should call children “At Risk” but children “At Promise”. As this last session ended the flags of the represented countries were retired. Friday night was the Banquet and the last event of the conference. The keynote speaker for this event was International President, Carolyn

Pittman. Six of the Missouri members con-tinued their adventures in Hawaii with a cruise of the islands. They visited Maui, Kauai, and the Big Is-land, Hawaii.

Aloha! Southwest Regional Conference 2017 (cont.)

Deltagrams, Page 4

Delta State Committees Look to the Future Achievement Awards

During the state planning meeting, it was decided, based on survey feed-back, to create one form to combine the three chapter awards into one Google document/form. The three chapter awards referred to are Chap-ter Achievement, Order of the Rose, and S.E.E. (Supporting Early Career Educators). The merging of the three forms will provide a more efficient way to submit chapter awards. The form will be updated and uploaded to the state website by November 2017. It is important for each chapter to complete the Achievement Award form regardless of whether all ques-tion can be answered. Please contin-ue to watch for more information regarding Chapter Achievement Awards.

Bylaws Bylaws and standing rules are fluid documents that reflect the guidelines

by which a chapter operates. It is the responsibility of each chapter to re-view its rules every biennium, and whether or not changes are made, send a copy to the state chairman of the Bylaws and Standing Rules Com-mittee, Linda Wall. Copies of rules may be sent electronically to lindali-brarian63028@yahoo.com, or via regular mail. See the Yellow Pages for her address. At the 2017-2018 Delta State Plan-ning Meeting held in Jefferson City in August, the members of the com-mittee met to discuss how best to inform chapters of the status of their chapter rules. The committee mem-bers also developed four goals for the committee to achieve in the bienni-um. The goals are: contact chapters in all four areas to inform them of their chapter rules status, review and approve chapter rules, 100% chapter rule compliance by the end of the biennium, and ensure that Delta/Missouri state bylaws and standing

rules are in compliance with DKG International bylaws and standing rules.

Communications

The Communications Committee's goal is to promote chapter newslet-ters and websites this biennium. The committee sent chapter presidents emails in August offering support. The committee will recognize chapters' efforts to send out at least one newsletter annually. In addi-tion, the committee will support chapters in creating websites. There are currently five chapters in Mis-souri that have met the website re-quirements and are linked on the state website. Could your chapter be the sixth? The steps are easy to enter your newsletter or website: 1) Go to the website—dkgmissouri.com/resources 2) Click on “Communications” 3) Check the two rubrics for websites and newsletters.

Send the first two newsletters by De-cember 15 and the last two on or be-fore March 15 deadline. If your chapter doesn’t do four newsletters, just send in what you have. The Communications committee will recognize your chapter at the 2018 conference. Two articles dealing with copyright issues, and with rules of style will appear in upcoming issues of the Deltagrams. One article on building a

Weebly website will appear in ear-ly 2018.

Finance The finance committee is responsi-ble for the supervision of the finances of the state organization. While they do not complete the day-to-day work of paying bills and submitting dues, they oversee the process. The com-mittee develops a budget for two years, which is approved at the state convention. They also make recom-mendations for the investment of

funds and expenditures. Each year the committee is responsible for con-ducting the financial review. This review looks at each account. The review includes items such as deter-mining that the total amount of checks written equals the total amount of expenditures on the books and that all expenditures are support-ed by documentation. This bienni-um, one of the goals of the commit-tee is to research and evaluate online payment of convention fees and then make a recommendation to the state executive board. Please contact any member of the Finance Committee for answers to questions about the State budget. For the day-to-day kinds of questions about reimbursements, checks, and dues, check with Executive Secretar-y/Treasurer Paulette Fischer.

Leadership Development The Delta State Leadership Develop-ment Committee led by Bev Teri met in Jefferson City on July 29, 2017 to plan for the 2017-19 biennium. Two goals for the committee were made: 1) Increase leadership training for chapter officers and committees. 2) Increase networking opportunities among area chapters. Plans for 2018 Area Conferences were discussed. Be sure to SAVE the DATES for the upcoming Area Con-ferences: April 13/14, 2018 – NW Area to be held in North Kansas City April 20/21, 2018 – SW Area to be held in Springfield April 27/28, 2018 – NE Area to be held in Jefferson City May 4/5, 2018 – SE Area to be held in Festus

Membership

Reinvigorate, Reinstate, Recruit Entering a new biennium, the Inter-national president, Carolyn Pitman, has challenged each member to bring in two members either by reinstate-ment or recruitment. Perhaps it's

Deltagrams, Page 5

time to reinvigorate your chapter by viewing the video "Sustaining Pride in the Big Picture" found on the In-ternational website under resources-chapter resources- reorientation. It's a good reminder of what and who DKG is. A new school year calls for new ideas and inspiration. Look for ways to help at schools in your area for Supporting Early-career Educa-tors (S.E.E.) Rethink the idea of edu-cators to include pre-school, nursing education, vo-tech teachers or alter-native educators? Many of us know prior members who have left the organization due to family, health, or professional time constraints. Perhaps this is the year to ask them back. Sending an invita-tion to those people for a mixer could produce some interest in rein-statement as well as letting them know that your chapter is still inter-ested in them. The recruitment plan as set forth by International has proven to be very successful for those chapters that have utilized it. The membership committee is here to assist any chap-ter in implementing the plan.

Personal Growth “To unite women educators of the world in a genuine spiritual fellow-ship.” This is the first purpose of Delta Kappa Gamma. One way this purpose can be met is by attending a Regional Conference or Internation-al Convention.

Members may have considered at-tending a DKG conference or con-vention more for a professional growth activity, but there are many opportunities for personal growth as well. Traveling and meeting new people are among these opportuni-ties. International Conventions and Regional Conferences alternate years and can be located all over the Unit-ed States and Europe. This is a won-derful opportunity to visit new places

and meet fellow educators from around the world. The opening ceremony is a visual display where state presidents bring in state banners. After the opening ceremony, the host state offers a “state night” which features enter-tainment focusing on that state. At the recent Southwest Regional Con-ference in Hawaii there was a band followed by a hula demonstra-tion. This is a wonderful opportuni-ty to learn more about the area where the meeting is being held. Conferences and Conventions are a great opportunity to meet new peo-ple. Because Missouri is in the Southwest Region, there are mem-bers not only from the United States but also Central America and Japan. Listening to the amalgamation of languages is a growth experience in itself. The meetings always offer great speakers and workshops. Some of these are professionally oriented but there are also many geared towards personal growth. In Hawaii, the Ja-pan delegates offered a workshop about the traditional tea service along with samples of tea. The host state, Hawaii, gave members oppor-tunities to learn how to tie a sarong and make leis. The opportunities are not limited to the convention or conference it-self. Missouri delegates usually get together one evening for dinner at a local restaurant. In addition, there is opportunity for travel to and from the meeting. At the recent Hawaii conference, many members took ad-vantage of a seven day cruise around the islands. As members plan future vacations, think about including a DKG con-vention or conference as part of the trip. Next year the International Convention will be in Austin, TX - headquarters for DKG. It’s not too soon to start planning!

Personnel The Personnel Committee met at the Biennial Planning Meeting on July 29, 2017. The goals for this 2017-19 biennium are: 1) The Per-sonnel Committee shall conduct per-formance reviews for compensated employees—Executive Secretary/Treasurer, Deltagrams Editor and Web Editor. 2) The Personnel Com-mittee shall review performance re-view forms for compensated employ-ees for clarification and consistency in wording for the Delta State Stand-ing Rules which will be presented at the 2019 Delta State Convention.

Professional Affairs The Professional Affairs Committee seeks to increase participation in the Key Women Educator recognition program. On average, statewide, Delta State has only received 12-15 nominations out of a possible 49 chapters. In an effort to better acknowledge outstanding education-al accomplishments in our state, a goal of 50% or greater participation has been set for the 2017-19 bienni-um, with at least 5 nominations from each region. Information regarding how to nominate 2018 candidates is available on the Delta State website. The deadline for completed applica-tion packets is March 1, 2018. Our second goal is keeping mem-bers informed of legislation affecting education.

Research

On Saturday, July 29, the Delta State Research Committee met at the Delta State Planning Meeting in Jef-ferson City. The overall purpose of the Research Committee is to “conduct the research program of the state” as well as to aid chapters in research. The Research Committee of this biennium will assist in pre-serving the history of each chapter. This task is important to honor Delta

Committee Reports (continued)

Deltagrams, Page 6

Kappa Gamma, to learn who makes up Delta State, and to lead others to share in and be a part of a rich and powerful history. To this end, the committee has adopted the following goal: “The Delta State Research Committee will gather and update chapter histories for the Delta State website by 2019.” Soon, Chapter Presidents will receive an email from a member of the Research Commit-tee asking for some basic chapter his-tory information. A checklist will be provided to aid the chapters in listing and organizing the information. Once information is received, con-sistent formatting of that information will be completed by committee members. Thank you in advance for your assistance. Members of the Re-search Committee consider it an honor to share in your histories and look forward to reading, editing, and compiling the history of each Mis-souri Chapter.

Scholarship New forms have been published on the state website at dkgmissouri.com.

World Fellowship The World Fellowship Committee met on July 29, 2017 in Jefferson City during the Delta/Missouri State Biennial Planning Meeting. The committee viewed a short in-formational PowerPoint about World Fellowship and established goals for the upcoming biennium. Goals set by the committee will pro-mote familiarity of World Fellow-ship to Delta State Chapters. In addi-tion, committee members will estab-lish contact with World Fellowship recipients attending universities in the Midwestern United States. The World Fellowship Program began at the 1946 National Conven-tion in San Francisco. Four German women educators received funds from Delta Kappa Gamma to spend eight weeks of study and visitation in Sweden during the spring of 1948. Since 1960, 920 women in 120 coun-tries have received awards totaling $3,349,100.00. In 2015/2016 the fol-lowing awards were given: 20—$4,000 awards, 2—$800 extensions, 4—$400 extensions for a total of

$83,200 to 26 women in 19 coun-tries. Members may learn more about World Fellowship by visiting the in-ternational website and/or attend a Table Top Topic on World Fellow-ship during the 2019 Convention in Springfield, MO.

All Committee Reports are sub-

mitted by state committee members

and chairs. Please refer to the Yel-

low Pages on the website for com-

mittee members’ names and contact

information.

Pictures were taken of all mem-

bers of committees at the Planning

Meeting in July. These pictures

have been published on the Mis-

souri State website at dkgmis-

souri.com. Just click on the Pic-

tures tab.

Committee Reports (continued)

Chapter and Member News Jessie Gray, a member of the Al-

pha Tau chapter, helped her Pleasant

Hope Third Grade class set up a Lit-tle Free Library in their community. Last September, her class began the project. The kids mentioned they would like a place they could get books during the summer. Their community has no library and they often cannot make the drive to the county library. After discussion, the third-graders understood the im-portance of the project for their com-munity and began the research and work necessary to set up a little li-brary. The first challenge was raising enough money to purchase the Little Library. Gray created a GoFundMe account and raised $600. In 48

hours after posting, they had raised more than what they needed. The library arrived already constructed but had to be painted and treated. The col-or selected was pink so it would stand out. Community leaders helped to find a spot for the library. The third graders with the guidance of Jessie worked on all aspects of the library. Little Free Libraries are free book ex-changes with the premise of "take a book, return a book".

For more information about Little Free Libraries visit their website, lit-tlefreelibrary.org.

Deltagrams, Page 7

Memories

Aloha from the Missouri Delegation!

Above: Terri Gilette, Karen Evans, and Sue Bolander Right: Members enjoying creating leis with ribbons.

Left: Karen Evans, Marty Tidd and Paulette Fischer enjoy a day in Kauai. Above: Kristy Miller, Jana Siefkas, Cheryl McBride, and Paula Heck enjoying dinner with other Missouri dele-gates. Right: Paulette Fischer, SW Reg. Director Pat Parks, Int’l Pres. Carolyn Pittman, and Karen Ev-ans.

Above: Paulette Fischer and Karen Evans at Leadership De-velopment for State Presidents and Exec. Sec-retaries.

Deltagrams, Page 8

Focus on the Four Corners Northwest

Chi Chapter will start the year in September with a trip on the streetcar to the City Market area, with lunch along the way. Oth-er suggestions for programs include a visit to the Truman Library to see the exhibit of the restoration and renovation that Truman conducted of the White House, which was in shambles when he took office. Margaret’s piano leg fell through the floor! The chapter is also going to ask member, Mary Gulick, and her son, Ron Gulick, who suffers from quadriplegia, to update them with information about his trip to Washington D. C.. During the event, “Rolling on Capitol Hill”, Ron, and his service dog Meade, represented the Spinal Cord Association. He was selected to go to DC, and serve as an advocate, meeting with Missouri Senators and Congressmen, to continue to push forward for those with disabilities. Member, Celia Jeffers, participated in the Kansas City Diction-ary Project, which gave dictionaries to third graders. She took the dictionaries to one of the many receiving schools and taught searching games to familiarize the students with the various parts of the dictionary. Last year, chapter money was used, from the annual auction, to support this project. This year, the project will be to help the teachers at John T. Hartman Elementary School. One of Chi’s members, Dr. Jessie O. Kirksey, is the principal there. She has just completed her 50th year as an educator! Chi Chapter is 26 sisters strong. For so many years, they met only on Saturdays, and kept the same program format intact. This year, they are becoming “movers and shakers”, as they begin new traditions with varied meeting days, times and subject matter. Chi Chapter looks forward to a new, vital, informative and exciting year together.

Northeast Beta Omega Chapter, in Saint Charles County, is home to beau-tiful Historic Saint Charles Riverfront and the First Missouri State Capitol. Eighteen members represent retired and active edu-cators from four districts. In an ongoing project, the chapter adopted two middle schools in the Francis Howell School District. Members contribute donations for gift bags helping teachers in their first five years as well as supporting them with resources, class-room assistance, and a yearend celebration. These teachers may apply for the Beta Omega Early Career Educator Grant-in-Aid Award given to one Saint Charles County early career educator. 2017 recipient, Katlyn Kinkade of the Orchard Farm School District, will use the grant to participate in an autism in-tervention training. Beta Omega is proud to have a part in helping Katlyn bring benefits of this program to her district.

Members of Beta Omega also part-ner with Operation Food Search and Hollenbeck Middle School’s National Junior Honor Society to host an annu-al food drive. Over 1,000 pounds of food for the 2017 OFS Operation Backpack was collected by Hollen-

beck; 31 new backpacks were donated by Beta Omega. Several members also volunteered at the OFS Shop Out for Hunger Pro-gram. This project is part of Beta Omega’s desire to help stop childhood hunger. Pictured is Rose Brown with Katlyn Kinkade and members with the 1000+ pounds of food.

Southwest Alpha Tau chap-ter, founded on June 1, 1968, with 13 members by initiation and 34 by transfer from the Omicron chapter is located in southwest Missouri north of Springfield. Many of the members live in Polk and Dallas counties. Currently Alpha Tau has 41 members. The chapter meets four times during the year on Saturdays. The chap-ter has a website maintained by member, Myrna Walker. Alpha Tau chapter offers Grants-in-Aid to education majors. The Grants-in-Aid, established in 1994, has been awarded to 16 ladies. They also have a scholarship, which is for chapter members pur-suing advanced degrees. Thirty members have received a scholar-ship since its establishment in 1984. The chapter has supported a number of projects from donations to various charities to collect-ing books for area libraries. This year the projects include pur-chasing school supplies and collecting items to share with early career educators or prospective members. The chapter has two charter members who are still active in the chapter, Eva Marie Glor and Rosemary Owens. Eva Marie Glor served as chapter president and several years later, her daughter, Evonne, did as well. Five chapter members have received state scholarships. Several members have served on state committees. The chapter has had two members serve as Delta state presidents, Faye Peters (2007-2009) and Cay Sergent (2015-2017). One member, Jessica Sergent, has served on an International committee. Alpha Tau looks forward to a busy year supporting various projects, enjoy-ing great fellowship, and recruiting new members.

Southeast Alpha Iota is located in Jefferson County about thirty minutes

south of the St. Louis Arch. The chapter is small but mighty! This year there were seven members who at-tended the state convention. Alpha Iota received the Five Star Chapter Achievement Award, the Order of the Rose Award and the S.E.E. Award. Alpha Iota members like to have fun together whether they are putting gift

bags together for early-career educators, making up Operation Christmas Child Boxes, putting together books for Raising Read-ers, doing craft projects or having a guest speaker. The chapter meets on Monday evenings at various locations in the county. Since most of the local restaurants are closed on Monday, the hostess committee often provides a light meal for members. They also participate in their council, Jefferson County Council, which meets on the second Monday in October. This year, members had an opportunity to invite other chapters to the May meeting to hear Don Ficken speak about “The Total Solar Eclipse” that will happen in our area on August 21. There were 4 chapters attending Don’s presentation and was followed by cake and fellowship. Pictured above are Terri Schrader, Marty Tidd and Jane Cable at the Council Meeting. Below are Linda Wall and Sue Bookstaver working at Scholastic Warehouse Sale for the Raising Read-ers Project.

Deltagrams, Page 9

Second Biennial Leadership Seminar

On June 17, 2017, Delta State held the 2017 Leadership Seminar at the Hawthorne Bank in Jefferson City. There were 48 members registered and 44 were in attendance. Registra-tion, greeting and Golden Gift sales began at 9:00 am followed by the main speaker at 9:30. President Cay Sergent welcomed the attendees to Jefferson City. The speaker was Jennifer Webb,

Williams Elementary Principal in Springfield. She titled her presenta-tion Relationship Building 101. She discussed many things that could be used in classrooms as well as with chapters. Ms. Webb spoke about elements of bonding. Those include: eye contact, smile, touch and saying things like “I noticed that…” and using nicknames. An-other area presented was mindful-ness minutes. A mindfulness minute is having the students clear their minds. Students and teachers can do this by using bracketing, concentrat-ing on breathing, or just accepting quiet. Ms. Webb also discussed derailing arguments. “If you are going to be the change, you’ve got to bring the change.” Things to consider here are

to: bring wisdom, bring best practic-es, bring understanding and aware-ness, bring resources, and bring posi-tivity and enthusiasm. “Making sure that you are in a pos-itive frame of mind each day is es-sential.” Jennifer pointed out that a person may have to tweak their atti-tude as the day goes on. And also remember that failures can help one to regroup and move forward. Many more pieces of good advice were given during the day. It was also a wonderful time to enjoy food, friendship and fellowship. Those that attended enjoyed the day. At the end of the day, door prizes were given by drawings. Plan to attend the next Leadership Seminar in the summer of 2019 as it is for everyone!

The Seven Purposes The Seven Purposes are the key-stone to Society Work. Everything done in DKG is structured around the “Purposes.” In the next few is-sues of the Deltagrams an article will be published highlighting one of the “Seven Purposes.” This issue’s high-light is on Society Purpose #4. Purpose #4 is: To initiate, endorse, and support desirable legislation or other suitable endeavors in the inter-ests of education and women educa-tors. Staying up-to-date on educational/legislative issues is a responsibility of the members of DKG! Educators frequently state that they

don’t want to get involved in poli-tics. With the current state of poli-tics, that’s easily understanda-ble. However, almost every decision that impacts students, educators and public schools is made by elected officials. Therefore, it’s imperative that educators get to know their school board members, their legisla-tors and their congressional repre-sentatives. Establishing a relation-ship with these key decision makers makes it easier to communicate with them once an educational issue aris-es. Throughout the year, the officers will be keeping members up-to-date on educational issues, but also stay

updated through other professional associations (MSTA, MNEA, AFT-MO). Once an educational issue aris-es (on GPO/WEP, on PSRS issues, on the state or federal budgets, on vouchers/charter schools) articles will be published that will state the facts and how it impacts teachers in Missouri. We’ll also include who to contact (state or federal officials) if action is needed. Currently, it is the federal budget (and cuts to public education) and the advocacy for vouchers and unac-countable charter schools that is an issue. Stay tuned for more infor-mation.

Alaskan Glacier Cruise with DKG 11 DAYS | AUGUST 29, 2018

Starting from $2,899

Cruise out of Seattle to discover classic gold rush towns and spectacular seascapes. Alaska will thrill you with its winding wa-

terways, towering glaciers and rushing waterfalls, all within camera-shot of the ship’s deck. Keep your eyes peeled and you’re

likely to spot an array of whale species breeching in the waves. After a week on the water, return to civilization in Victoria,

beloved for its blooming gardens and mild weather. Your tour includes guided sightseeing, handpicked hotels, local cuisine and more.

GROUP COORDINATOR CONTACT: Carolyn Rants, Group Number: 67954919, 712.274.0183 | carolyn@rants.net, Enroll before December 1, 2017. Pricing is subject to change after this date.

Deltagrams, Page 10

Official Delta State Picture from SW Regional Conference in Hawaii Front Row: First Vice President Jana Siefkas, President Karen Evans, Second Vice President Marty Tidd, and Ex-ecutive Secretary/Treasurer Paulette Fischer. Second Row: Sue Bolander, Terri Gillette, Marge Eckhardt, Diana Ackley, and Paula Heck. Back Row: Cheryl McBride, Ruth Ann Buckholz-Smith, and Susan Couhig.

Upcoming Conventions and Conferences

Missouri State Leadership Are Conferences:

April 13-14, 2018 Northwest Area April 20-21, 2018 Southwest Area

April 27-28, 2018 Northeast Area May 4-5, 2018 Southeast Area

July 16-20, 2018 International Convention, Austin, Texas

July 16-19, 2019 Southwest Regional Conference, Costa Mesa, CA

Dates to Note

September 1-Electronic Deadline for Lucile Cor-

netet Award for Professional Development October 1-Deadline for submission of articles for

The Bulletin October 31-Deadline for members to submit dues to chapter treasurers

December 1-Deadline for International Leadership Management Seminar Application

December 15-Deadline for submission of articles for The Collegial Exchange