2007 Past News & Events

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December 7, 2007 - WID-GFC Holiday Open House and Silpada Jewelry Show

The WID-GFC held a holiday open house and Silpada Jewelry sale at Grove Resource Solutions. We really appreciate the delicious holiday fare and wonderful décor/atmosphere provided by Grove, one of our annual sponsors. Special thanks to Cheryl Hull, WID-GFC Chapter, for her generosity in donating jewelry sales commissions and thank you to everyone who made purchases for themselves or as gifts. We also auctioned off 6 beautiful pieces of jewelry by e-mail which was very fun. Altogether our chapter raised $568 for our growing Scholarship Fund! If you are interested in hosting a Silpada party please contact chull1972@hotmail.com or look at mysilpada.com/Cheryl.hull for the catalog.

November 7, 2007 – WID-GFC Professional Development Seminar and Annual Meeting

The WID-GFC held our first annual meeting at the Fort Detrick Community Activities Center starting with a continental breakfast. The theme was "Inspiring Each Other to Succeed and Grow, Personally and Professionally". We were pleased to present appreciation awards to our annual sponsors, General Dynamics Information Technology, Grove Resource Solutions, and Golden Key Group. Susan Ebner, the President of WID National, confirmed our officers for their second year - Luanne Houck (president), Diane Yarnell (vice president), Karen Dickman (treasurer), and Lisa Collins (secretary). Luanne gave an overview of our first successful year as well as our goals and plans for 2008. We look forward to a great second year full of growth and opportunities. The WID business meeting was followed by a half-day program with the following topics and speakers:

“The Art and Science of the Private/Public Sector Relationship" Darryl Rekemeyer, Fort Detrick Business Development Office (FDBDO) Director, a 20+year veteran of the Business Development Wars in the Federal Marketplace “Dumping Data: E-waste – Yet another Headache for Government and Corporations” Lisa Collins, WID-GFC Secretary and Regional Sales Manager at Global Investment Recovery “How to Select High-Performance Staff: Recruiting in the 21st Century” Diane Yarnell, WID-GFC Vice President and Recruiter for Grove Resources Solutions “Learning is Forever: Adult Learning Theory and Applications in Business” Betty Poe, Director of Education, General Dynamics Information Technology “RFPs vs. Proposals: A Look from Both Sides of the Fence” Gretchen McCracken, Senior Partner, Golden Key Group

Following a buffet deli lunch with dessert, the group of 40 attendees were motivated with an interesting and inspirational Keynote Address entitled "Formula for Success" by LTC Marie Grimmer, Commander, 302d Signal Battalion, Fort Detrick, MD (For bio click here)

Thank you to our Event Sponsors:

October 25, 2007 – WID National Fall Conference

Luanne Houck (WID-GFC President), Diane Yarnell (WID-GFC Vice President), and Karen Dickman (WID-GFC Treasurer and Membership Director) attended the annual WID National Fall Conference in Arlington, VA. This was a great opportunity to meet members from other WID chapters throughout the U.S. Luanne also attended the Leader's Conference on October 24th along with officers from all of the other chapters. WID is going strong and growing!! There are now over 1400 members nationwide and 2 new chapters formed in upper New York State and Michigan.

Jennifer Dewalls and Julie Stackpoole, from new Michigan Chapter, were mentored by Luanne Houck and Karen Dickman, Greater Frederick Chapter.

October 18, 2007 - WID-GFC Social Gathering at Isabella’s in Downtown Frederick

About a dozen members met for happy hour at Isabella’s to celebrate our first year. We had a fun time socializing and enjoying the appetizers and drinks. We are very pleased to have had such a successful first year and look forward to more growth and opportunities in 2008. As of October, we have 86 WID-GFC members. Our goal is to reach 100 by the end of 2007.

September 27, 2007 - Women’s Golf Academy

The WID-GFC hosted a Women’s Golf Academy at Glade Valley Golf Club instructed by George Stem, Master Teaching Professional and Leo Duncan, Glade Valley Pro Shop. Everyone had a great time getting to know each other better and learning all about the game of golf. We learned about the rules and scoring of golf along with some etiquette tips. We spent a lot of time working on our short game (fairway and greenside bunker shots, chipping and pitching, and putting) and long game (full swing on-the-tee and off-the-fairway). After a deli lunch, we played a 9-hole best-ball tournament to work on our newly acquired skills.

The weather cooperated and everyone was very enthusiastic, giving their best effort. Many thanks to Glade Valley and George Stem for the generous prizes and awards which included free golf lessons and free rounds of golf to encourage us to keep playing!

Thank you to our Event Sponsors:

August 16, 2007 – WID-GFC Networking Breakfast

The WID-GFC was honored to have LTC Marie Cochran, one of Ft. Detrick’s dedicated female military personnel, give an inspirational talk. The title of her presentation was "Yup, My Mom Does Wear Combat Boots!" LTC Cochran discussed what it is like to be a woman and a mother in the current military environment. She brought tears to our eyes expressing how proud she is of her husband, who is also serving in the military, and her two sons. LTC Cochran has served in Germany; Saudi Arabia; Ft. Riley, Kansas; Ft. Sill, Oklahoma; Uzbekistan; and Qatar. She is an amazing woman and we are very fortunate to have her as a role model to other women in the Greater Frederick area.
For LTC Cochran's bio, click here.

July 18, 2007 – WID-GFC Networking Breakfast

The WID-GFC held a Networking Breakfast on Wednesday, July 18th from 8:00am - 9:30am at the Fort Detrick Community Activities Center (718 Porter Street, Fort Detrick, MD). Jeanette Eleff, ACC, CPCC, MBA was our guest speaker. Jeanette is an energetic certified Co-Active leadership and life coach, speaker, and consultant. See her website at www.jeleff.com. She is known for her optimistic outlook on life and for her passion in supporting others in their journey to being their best in their career, their business, and in their life. Her topic was "Be the FROG You Were Meant To Be." Everyone had great feedback about Jeanette’s inspiring message. FROG stands for:

• Fulfillment and Fun
• Organize to Optimize
• Right Relationships
• Grace and Gratitude

June 13, 2007 – Social Gathering at Isabella’s in Downtown Frederick

The WID-GFC chapter held a social gathering on Wednesday, June 13th at Isabella’s in Downtown Frederick. About 15 members attended the event and had a great time getting to know each other better. Isabella’s provided excellent happy hour food and had happy hour drink prices available. We had several new members come and we are very excited about the enthusiasm and diversity of our growing group. Please check out Isabella’s website at http://www.isabellas-tavern.com. The location is 44 N. Market Street, Frederick, MD.

May 5, 2007 – WID-GFC Volunteers at the UMBC Computer Mania Day

This event, which is hosted by UMBC's Center for Women and Information Technology (CWIT), has been held for 5 years. Luanne Houck, WID-GFC President, acted as a “role model” teaching 3 groups of students, primarily young girls, about Microsoft’s Sharepoint tools. Linda Burger, WID-GFC Member, was on the Executive Committee and acted as Chair of the Adult Program Committee for the Computer Mania Day event. Brooke Zeger and Nagla Abdel-Rahim, WID-GFC members, assisted with general volunteering during the event. This was an exciting opportunity for our chapter and provided great networking opportunities as well. Please check out more about this event at http://www.umbc.edu/cwit/computer_mania.html.

April 25, 2007 – WID-GFC First Annual “Reach for the Stars” Dinner and Awards Program

Almost 90 people attended the WID-GFC First Annual “Reach for the Stars” Dinner and Awards Program which was held at Dutch's Daughter restaurant in Frederick, MD. COL Gina Deutsch Commander, U.S. Army Garrison, Fort Detrick introduced the event speaker, MG Gale Pollock, Acting Surgeon General, U.S. Army and Chief Army Nurse Corps. MG Pollock gave a very inspirational talk about the role of mentoring and leadership in the personal and career development of individuals, especially young women. Julianna Albowicz, from Senator Mikulski's office, presented signed senatorial certificates to the awardees and WID-GFC.

Click here to see the list of our first “Reach for the Stars” awardees and nominees.

Thank you to all our Event Sponsors

March 8, 2007 – WID-GFC Breakfast with Professional Speaker, Julie Gaver.  The WID-GFC had a fantastic breakfast meeting at the Holiday Inn Frederick-Fort Detrick, 999 West Patrick Street, Frederick at 8:00 a.m. Professional speaker, Julie Gaver, gave a wonderful talk entitled “Passion - Unleashing the Power of Enthusiasm in Your Life and Work”. Please check out Julie’s website at www.juliegaver.com. She gave us great tips on how to make each day more fulfilling by remembering three qualities of enthusiastic women: Attitude, Sense of Humor, and Finding Balance. We had an excellent turnout for the meeting and welcomed several new members to our chapter!

Theresa Williams-Harrison, Patricia Pearson, Caylee Ortega, Deborah Corcoran	Lisa Hendrick, Nicole Mosmiller, Karen Dickman, and Julie Gaver
Kelly Sherman, Kim Hessong, Catherine Schempp, and Julie McGrath	Cheryl Pryor, Angela Phillips, MAJ Katherine Suarez, and Rose Shelton
Chapter President, Luanne Houck with Speaker, Julie Gaver	Julie Gaver strikes a pose!

February 8, 2007 – WID-GFC Social Evening.  The WID-GFC held a fun social evening at Champion Billiards Sports Café, 5205 Buckeystown Pike Frederick, MD starting at 4:00 p.m. We got to know our fellow WID members in a social setting and were pleased to welcome some new members into our association. We had some fun munchies with classic rock music playing in the background and we even pulled off a pool tournament. We made some of the women hold a pool stick for the first time! The 1st place team was Rose Shelton and Debby Poore and the 2nd place team was Kelly Sherman and Susan Killian. We gave out prizes to the winners as well as some random-drawing door prizes. Thanks to everyone who came for a fun night!

WID-GFC Social Evening at Champion’s in Frederick	Debby Poore, Rose Shelton, Stephanie Stokes, and Brooke Zegers
Karen Dickman Taking a Shot	Karen Dickman, Kelly Sherman, Kim Hessong, and Luanne Houck

Click here for more pictures!

January 11, 2007 –WID-GFC planning meeting open to all members.  We will be planning the details of our big spring fundraiser event to be held in April. We need lots of help to make this a success. We are working on picking a date and location. Our tentative theme is “Inspiration” with the focus on education and mentorship through the generations. What can each generation of the work force give back to the up and coming leaders, engineers, scientists, and analysts to ensure that the defense and security industry will meet the needs of the future? We are talking about the possibility of giving awards to academia, government, military, and industry individuals who are role models in support of this theme. The planning meeting will be a brown-bag lunch at 12:00 at Grove Resources at 5936 Elmer Derr Road, Frederick, MD 21703.

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