July 2, 2011

Had a horrible night sleeping. The only good thing was the fact that I brought my book and was able to read. Finally fell asleep around 3:30 am. Harriet was heading back to Portland in order to celebrate her grandson’s third birthday. In order to get to the airport, she had to leave the hotel by 5:30. When she left, I never fell back to sleep.

When I got out of the shower, the light on the phone was blinking. I figured that Harriet must have forgotten something. Unfortunately, it was a message from Lil Leslie letting Harriet know that Shirley Girardin had fainted last night and was now in the hospital. I spend each break checking with Nancy Church from Headquarters to see if she had heard anything, but sadly she had not. Worry, worry, worry.

The first session was Girl Scouts—Building Confidence in Girls. Jaclyn Libowitz, Chief of Staff, Girls Scouts USA was the first speaker. She thanked KD for the support we have given the troops. This year we have helped 42,000 Girl Scouts! Caroline Tydings, a Gold Award winner, followed her.  Caroline is 17 years old and had more poised speaking in front of a large audience than anyone I have ever seen. She has spoken on Capitol Hill advocating the passage of Healthy Media for Youth Act. www.girlscouts4girls.org  The final speaker was Hope Sears. Hope is a Brownie scout who sold 1500 Girl Scout cookies to be sent to our troops over seas.

The second General Session was “Be Bold, Be Confident.” Jessica Gendron Williams, Vice President of Women’s Division, Phired Up spoke on developing confidence skills that can be used for recruitment, job interviews, or any time through out your life. Her motto was “If you are not confident, look like you are.”

By lunch, we had spent quite a bit of time on building confidence as part of the Confidence Coalition developed by Kappa Delta. The lunch keynote speaker was once again a lesson on developing confidence. This time the speaker was Julie Marie Carrier, author of BeYOUtiful and a coach on MTV’s MADE. She was engaging, but there was a feeling among the older alumnae that enough was enough.

The Women of Achievement brought a packed house. The women on the panel have very impressive achievements. On the panel were Maura Hayes, Director of Production Operations, Times Square Studios; Mona Jain, M.D., Ph.D., former Director of Family and Health Services, Mantee County Head Start; Judy Castle Scott, Director of American Foundation for the Blind; and Leigh Anne Tuohy, author, inspiration for the movie The Blind Side.

Tonight was the White Rose Banquet. President, Beth Martin Langford presented the traditional White Rose Toast. Betty Mulkey gave a moving tribute to outgoing National Vice President- Kim Flood Ryan. Following Betty’s tribute, a young lady from Delta Gamma, announced that a scholarship fund has been established in Kim’s name for one of “Kim’s Kentucky Girls.”  Beth Langford did a beautiful tribute for outgoing National Vice President-Alumnae, Margaret Lee Watson. The chapter president from University of Alabama then announced that the chapter has established the Margaret Lee Watson Community Service Award.

The top awards were announced.  Greater Atlanta Day AC is the top alumnae chapter, University of Louisiana-Lafayette was named the top collegiate chapter while the University of South Carolina was awarded the Outstanding House Corporation Award while Florida State won the Outstanding Advisory Board Award. 

Leigh Anne Tuohy was the evening’s keynote speaker. She challenged everyone to put herself out there and extend themselves beyond their own comfort zone. Helping others is what Kappa Delta is all about.

The evening ended with a Kappa Delta friendship circle, hugs and tears.

I returned to the room.  Matthew had arrived and was settle in. Off to bed early so we can get an early start in the morning.