President’s Message

This is the last Thumb Sketch of this fiscal year and of my presidency. I want you all to know how much I appreciate the help and encouragement that has been given to me to make this year very special. 

As President-Elect you are taught the ropes and the basic job of what you will need to know for your next job, President. You are not alone. At that point you really don’t know what you don’t know. Therefore, as I see on TV the ads for being a mentor, that is exactly what the President is–a mentor to the President-Elect. I had a mentor when I was P-E and she helped me to see what needed to be done and helped me along the way. However, there also were many people helping prepare me for my next adventure: President. 

Over this last year I neglected to let members know how much I appreciated them for being there. Thank you to all of you, members, Board members, committee chairs and special project coordinators. You helped me so much. Thank you all for coming to our monthly meetings and sharing your precious Saturday mornings and helping to keep us focused on our mission. 

Mission: To advance gender equity for women and girls through research, education and advocacy.

You all helped raise funds for the Opportunity Award so more women and girls could advance their education. Bring books (read, meant to read but haven’t), well-loved and ready to share, need to clear my shelves for more, want to share) to the May General Meeting Book Sale to add to our Opportunity Awards funds.

I didn’t plan on shining the light on anyone, person or committee, but I must thank the Communication Team for their patience, understanding and help. If you hadn’t noticed, I am pretty lame in the technology area. Anytime I screamed for help, someone on the Comm Team came to my rescue. I lost sleep thinking about having to create a PowerPoint presentation for each meeting. The Comm Team gave me the tools to do my simple basic slides. 

In closing, I know this is a bit rambling but I want you to know this has been a very wonderful year as your Branch President,
Miriam

Upcoming Programs

General Meeting: May 10th Program

Our May speaker is Tricia Michelson from the Yavapai Speakers Bureau.   Tricia is a diehard veggie gardener, certified as a Master Gardener in 2013 and now holds Emeritus status.  Believing that gardening is a continual experiment, Tricia takes on new gardening challenges each year.  She grows fruit and vegetables inside her home as well as outside and loves sharing the joy of gardening through public speaking engagements throughout the county.    Tricia is a graduate of Arizona State University with a BS in Computer Information Systems.  Before moving to the Prescott area, she deployed computer systems worldwide for Honeywell and was based out of the Phoenix metro area.  She will be speaking about: 

• Alternative Water Sources – making best use of a precious resource
• Yavapai County Water – where does it come from and how is it used
• Weather patterns and their effect on our landscapes
• Landscape design and plant considerations
• Properly hydrating your landscape
• Watering annuals – flowers and vegetables

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General Meeting: June 14th Social

This year, to add a little fun to it, there will be some questions to answer with mini-prizes for the winners.  You will find out whether anyone else in your group attended the same school or had the same major and a few other things. We look forward to this opportunity to get to know one another better and just have fun together, so please join us.  Additional details regarding the meeting will be forthcoming.

 AAUW-Prescott News

2025-2026 Elected and Appointed Officers

The slate of officers is nearly complete for the upcoming 2025-2026 year.  Still not filled are the positions of President-Elect and Archivist.  If you are interested in either of these positions, please contact Jet Sletten or Miriam Haubrich. 

All-Officers-for-newsletter

Membership

Membership Update: Welcome New Members + Time to Renew!
We’re excited to share that our branch is growing! Over the past month, we’ve welcomed three new members: Pam Linkner, Candace Buzzard, and Belinda Sunderland. Be sure to say hello and introduce yourself when you see them at interest group meetings!

Time to Renew Your Membership
It’s that time of year again—most membership renewals are due by June 30th.
Please renew and pay your dues online through the national AAUW website:
http://www.aauw.org

• Click “Login”
• Use a credit card to pay your dues directly
• Be sure to select our local branch: Prescott (AZ0009) when filling out the form

Membership Dues Update
You may remember that AAUW National had proposed a $5 dues increase. Thanks to feedback from branches like ours, that increase was adjusted. Instead:

• Dues are increasing by $2 this year
  *Another $2 increase will follow next year – 2026-2027
  *For now, the total annual dues is $107:
  • $74 to National
  • $9 to State
  • $24 to our Prescott Branch

A bit of history: several years ago, our branch actually reduced local dues from $27 to $24. Prior to that, dues remained consistent at $27 as far back as I could check, which was 2013. We’re proud of how much we accomplish on a modest budget!

Your continued support means a lot. Your dues help fund important national initiatives—like advocacy for gender equality and research—as well as the engaging local programs we all enjoy.

Thank you for renewing your membership and being part of our vibrant community!

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It was the best of times, it was the worse of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, …(Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities, 1859)

AAUW Prescott Branch has a wonderful history, but over its 76 years the branch has weathered through some “not so best of times” also. The credit goes to all the strong, dedicated and hard-working women who built the foundation of the AAUW Branch in Prescott.  Last year, when one of our former branch presidents passed away, it was brought to the Board’s attention that information about many of our past presidents was not easily obtained.  A short-term project was begun to obtain/write/save the biographies of these “Leading Ladies”. The photo shows ten “Leading Ladies” (Past Presidents) gathered on January 13, 2024, for AAUW-Prescott Branch’s 75th Anniversary.

What fun it was to communicate with and research these women!  The committee is now nearing completion of these biographies with pictures, including almost all past presidents since 1986.  Many of these women are still members of our AAUW Branch, and some wrote their own stories describing why they joined and what was accomplished during their year(s) of leadership. 

Isn’t there someone in this membership that would like to help keep the branch story going?  It is minimal job, “just keeping records” while these officers – vibrant, excited and dedicated women are “doing the job” to achieve AAUW’s mission to help women and girls. If you are “computer friendly” and like to work behind the scenes, this is a perfect fit for you.  The present Archivist promises to be around to help get the next Archivist oriented and serve as a resource of support for this one-year appointment beginning in July 2025.  Contact Jet Sletten for more information.

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Member Highlights

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May 12, 2025, Field Trip to Western Heritage Center on Whiskey Row

Meet at 9 a.m. at 156 South Montezuma, on Whiskey Row. 
A formal program and refreshments will be offered. Check out their website: https://www.visitwhc.org. A group from the Center gave a great presentation at the April AAUW-Prescott meeting and sent a note saying they appreciated our generous donations.

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Days Past

AAUW-Prescott member Marj Sente was asked why she wrote the articles for the Prescott Daily Courier. Here is her story:

Why I contribute to “Days Past”/Marjory J. Sente

Moving to Prescott in 2004, I discovered and enjoyed reading “Days Past,” the local history feature published each Sunday in the Prescott Daily Courier. Two years later, I moved from reader to contributor, and until 2020, I submitted articles very  infrequently. 

However,  two factors gave impetus to my increased contributions. First, as I read more and more “Days Past” articles, it became increasingly apparent to me that women and minorities who lived in Yavapai County needed a champion to tell their stories. Second, shutdowns due to COVID meant I had ample time to spend doing research and writing. So, I began submitting articles primarily about women to the Sharlot Hall Museum’s Days Past Coordinator, and, in May, my fiftieth article, including 29 about women and minorities will be published. One of my favorites is “Fred and Helen Jones: Father-Daughter Vets.” They were local patriotic African Americans who served in the United States’ military to make the world safe for freedom, despite the segregation and lack of freedom they encountered in their own country. https://archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles/days-past-articles/1/fred-helen-jones-father-daughter-vets

Two recent articles talked about women who were members of the Prescott AAUW Branch: Etta Oliver’s living room was where our branch was organized in 1949, https://archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles/days-past-articles/1/etta-j-oliver-a-quiet-dynamo  and  Edith Foster Scholey was AAUW state president from 1956 to 1958. https://archives.sharlothallmuseum.org/articles/days-past-articles/1/edith-foster-scholey-from-jerome-to-the-philippines-and-back

In 2023, I was inducted into the American Philatelic Society Writers Unit #30 Hall of Fame for contributions to philatelic (stamp collecting and postal history) literature. My first article about American female philatelic writers was published in 1975, and, fifty years later, I have written more than 800 articles that have been published in the philatelic and general press. 

AAUW Arizona

Legislative Day, 2025

Members from the AAUW-Prescott Branch enjoyed their time at Legislative Day, 2025. Opening remarks were given by Becky Gunn, President of AAUW-Arizona and Prescott Past President.

Four speakers presented on very diverse topics. Ellie Pérez, Political Director at Arizona Education Association, spoke on education and immigration. Jodi Liggett, AAUW Lobbyist, shared information on legislation that could potentially affect women and girls. From the Children’s Action Alliance, Jennifer Burns outlined the impact that Medicaid cuts would have on state budgets and public health. Mary Jo Pitzl, Senior Reporter for the Arizona Republic, spoke on how journalism impacts public opinion and policy. The morning concluded with lunch and a question and answer session with a panel of Arizona Representatives and Senators.

AAUW members were recognized in both the House and Senate Chambers at the conclusion of the day.

Spring Forum Highlights

Two members of AAUW-Prescott, Sonya Tenney and Lenore Hemphill, represented our Branch at the AAUW AZ Spring Forum held at the Scottsdale Community College Indigenous Cultural Center.  

The theme of the Forum, Opportunities for Action, featured presenters Melina Merkel Iyer and Cathy Sigmon.  They spoke to “Identifying Your ‘Why’ and Getting from ‘Why’ to Action.”  They encouraged members to follow the legislative sessions and provided tips for how to engage in things that they could affect.  They also reminded Forum attendees that the legislative sessions are available both live and recorded.

After lunch, Meghan Kissel, Senior Director, Policy and Member Advocacy National AAUW, provided updates from the National Office.  She mentioned that AAUW is the largest supporter for women’s graduate education.  Meghan also walked the members through a guided exercise as to how to identify a policy they could support and design an action plan.  It was a great day to meet other Branch members and learn how to be an effective advocate./Lenore

Sonya adds:
I’m so glad I decided to attend the Spring Forum. It was truly invigorating to sit side-by-side with engaged members from AAUW branches across the state and talk with them about why they’re involved and what drives their passion. There was a real sense of kinship and energy in the room—it was incredibly inspiring.

I filled two pages with notes full of ideas I want to explore further so I can become a more effective advocate for women’s issues. One message that really stuck with me was this: the number one rule for making change is to show up, speak up, and say, “I can do that.” I left the Forum feeling hopeful and empowered—believing that I can truly make a difference that matters.

Advocacy Activities

Advocacy News

Over the next two months our AAUW year will wrap up. I’ve spent some time reflecting on what advocacy has accomplished over the course of the year and where it might go next year.

Remember, this is our first year of ,having an advocacy coordinator and an advocacy committee. There is still work to do, but what have we accomplished? In the fall, our AAUW-Prescott volunteers helped students at Prescott College and Yavapai College register to vote. We also distributed information on AAUW and our Opportunity Award during these times. Our members attended school board meetings. Reality Store returned and was successfully presented to the Early College Academy students (and they’d like us back next year).

In the last issue of the Thumb Sketch, legislation affecting women and girls was highlighted, and three members attended Legislative Day in Phoenix. Members also attended the Spring Forum in Scottsdale where “Opportunities for Action” was the theme. Members advocated at the Women’s March for equity, and we provided an informational table there as well. Even though at times it felt as though we were
not advocating, it turns out we were making small strides.

Going forward there are opportunities for members to engage more with advocacy. First, please join our committee! We are still looking for a few members who would like to participate in brainstorming ways our branch can put our mission into action.

Onward,
Penny Briner Ewell
Advocacy Coordinator

Scholarships

We raised $265 for the Opportunity Award Fund with our March Opportunity Drawing for the baskets! Thank you to all who participated!

Interest Groups

Book Groups

The Friday Morning Book Group – Prescott Valley meets on the 3rd Friday
of the month at 10:00 a.m. In the cold months (and the too-hot month of
July!). We have been meeting at Carlito’s Café & Coffee House on 2nd Street,
although we’re open to other locations. In the good weather, we have enjoyed
Fain Park. All are welcome, so if you’d like to join us, let me know so I can
confirm the location. You would just need to send me your email address.
Contact Susan Goe –address in the directory – for more information. Our
group selects interesting books from a variety of genres. See the books read/are reading/to be read at https://www.aauwprescott.net/interest-groups/book-groups/3rd-friday-morning-book-group/.

Mah Jongg Group

The group plays Mah Jongg each Tuesday at the mall. We will be happy to teach any AAUW member interested in learning to play. We also welcome experienced players to join us. To find out more about the group, contact us at our email addresses in the 
Membership Directory.
——-Laury Shayne and Edi Taylor-Richards