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Welcome to the Southwest
Section
January-March 2008
I hope your holiday season was enjoyable without too much stress. Most of my own Chapter members have been down with the flu-thing going around, but are recovered or recovering. If you’ve had the same thing, our sympathies go out to you.
By the time you read this, we will have completed the Winter Business Meeting in Tucson. Many thanks to Kaye Craig and the Tucson 99s for hosting the meeting. As of this writing, it looks like this will one of the best-attended ones lately. As has often been mentioned, the Winter Business Meeting is really less of a “business meeting” than a 99s Chapter “camp.” We get a chance to pass on information or training to the Chapters as well as take care of updating them on any Section business. For those of you who have never before participated in this one-day meeting, try to attend one, especially if it is being held close to you. Lots of information gets exchanged and Chapters get to compare notes on their various activities and problems.
We’re all looking forward to the Spring Section Meeting on May 2-4 at Palm Springs, being put on by our host Chapters, Coachella Valley and Imperial So-Lo. They have a beautiful location selected and lots to do in the area. Because of several requests that have been made, we will be doing something different in this meeting. In the past, we have asked that Chapters bring their Annual Chapter Report to the meeting, and make a one-minute speech about their doings in the past year. This year, we would like for each Chapter to limit their one minute talk to 2-4 of the most important activities, projects, or happenings that affected their Chapter in the last year. Of course, we would still like a full written report, but by selecting some of the major highlights, we can emphasize the areas that are of the most interest and create the greatest impact on each Chapter.
This spring you will be receiving ballots for the International and Section officers for the upcoming 2008-2010 terms, as well as your local Chapter ballots. Please carefully consider the candidates and return your ballots by the time(s) specified. The Nominating Committees have spent a lot of time recruiting the candidates and preparing the ballots and our thanks go out to them for their hard work.
As a reminder, the Section Awards committee members have updated the Award programs to make them standardized for the dates that the Awards cover, and the dates that the entries are due to the Awards Chairmen. The Airmarking, Pilot Proficiency, and Aerospace Education Awards are based on the last calendar year (January to December, 2007) and your Chapter entries are due by March 15th. The current forms are on the Southwest Section web site. Another date to remember is that the applications for the New Pilot Awards for 99s Future Women Pilots ($1500 scholarship) must be in the hands of the Section AE Scholarship Chairman by April 1st. That form is located on the International 99s web site.
Looking forward to seeing you all in Palm Springs,
Martha