DKG International Convention New York

The Delta Kappa Gamma International Convention 2012

July 23 - 29, 2012 - New York City            

Central Park from 36th Floor

For thirty years I have been a member of The Delta Kappa Gamma Society International, a prestigious organization of women teachers, from of 18 countries (we just added Japan). Every other year DKG holds an International Convention and this summer it was in New York City. Since Paul, my husband, chose to stay home, I went with my travel friends from Medford, Carolee and Charlene. We flew non-stop from Portland to JFK on Monday, July 23 so that we could have a chance to do some touring on Tuesday before meetings started that night. The convention was held at the Sheraton Hotel, 7th and 53rd.

We were up early for the 8:00 AM tour to Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty, which was closed for renovation. Then we had time to explore Ellis Island where many immigrants landed and entered the United States.

Instead of taking the bus back to the hotel, we stayed in the Financial District and walked around the World Trade Center area where we observed the progress on the new towers. We then walked to Wall Street.

Taking the subway back to Times Square was an adventure. Thanks go to a number of friendly, helpful people; we bought our tickets, walked onto the right train, and off at the right station.

Carolee and the Subway map

Tuesday night was the official start of the convention with the opening meeting and formalities. The highlight for me was the keynote speaker, Tori Murden McClure, who as the first woman and first American to ski to the geographic South Pole and the first woman to row alone across the Atlantic Ocean. What an inspiration as she challenged us to “Dare Mighty Things.”

Wednesday morning we started early with a breakfast for our Oregon delegation. The General Meeting filled the rest of the morning. The Roll Call indicated there were 1,775 members in attendance. During the convention there were almost 120 workshops available, so I had to make serious decisions. In the afternoon I attended two workshops. One on Geocaching was very interesting and informative. This is something I’ve been thinking of doing; looking for items using GPS coordinates. The second session was on Travel Apps and packing ideas. Many points I already knew but there was one I had not considered. If you are traveling as a single, or not with your spouse or persons who would need to come assist you if something happens to you when you are out of the country – be sure THEY have a passport. Bet you never thought of that one!!!

Charlene and Carolee

In the evening we attended The Book of Mormon at the Eugene O’Neill Theater. It was my first Broadway play. I really enjoyed the play and the small theater where we had excellent Mezzanine seats, thanks to Carolee, who was in charge of plays and seats for the trip.

Grace and Charlene at NBC

Thursday started early as we met a very large group of members at 6:30 for the walk to Rockefeller Center to appear, en mass, for the Today Show on NBC. There were many of us on the square. At one point they announced (should have been known ahead of time) that NBC was broadcasting live from London, so many of the group walked the several blocks to Times Square and the ABC Good Morning America Show. We decided to go back to the hotel and have our breakfast.

There were two workshop sessions in the morning. I attended one on “Road Scholar, Lifelong Learner.” It was about the former Elderhostel program, which has lots to offer for both domestic and international travels. The second session I attended was about financial investments.

The Birthday Celebration Luncheon celebrated the 83^rd anniversary of DKG. Besides lunch, the time was used to recognize members receiving doctoral degrees, international scholarships, the Achievement Award, and the “Distinctive Service to Education” Media Award, which went to NBC. Since there wasn’t a speaker, we had an early start on our afternoon adventure.

NY Public Library

Charlene in Genealogy Room

Since we had tickets for a play Friday night at the Shubert Theater, we set off toward Times Square to locate the theater. We walked through Bryant Park, enjoying some shade under the trees. Carolee is a librarian and was particularly interested in revisiting the New York Public Library, which is a beautiful building. This was Charlene’s first visit and it was fun showing the sites to her. We made a special stop at the genealogy room especially for Charlene, since this is her specialty. The last stop was Grand Central Terminal, another gorgeous old building. Of course, a stop there had to include a visit to the very large Apple Store on the mezzanine. 

Grand Central Terminal (Station)

After a quick stop at Rockefeller Plaza we headed back to the hotel. A quick check with the Weather Channel indicated there was a huge thunderstorm heading toward New York City and due to hit our area at dinnertime. Our decision to have dinner in the hotel was a wise one because the weather turned very nasty, and we watched heavy rain and lightening from the room.

Janet, Madaline and Grace

Friday morning started with the Regional Breakfasts. Oregon is in the Northwest Region. The breakfast was delicious and served hot, on hot plates. I’ve never seen that done before. It was nice to be with a smaller group and sit with friends. There were 20 Oregonians in attendance. Again the morning was filled with workshops. I attended one about how to write one’s life story. This was to gain information so I can help a neighbor write about her fascinating life. The second was for DKG Chapter Historians. I went because I have just accepted the job of Historian (with assistants) for my chapter. Both sessions provided lots of good ideas.

After a quick lunch at a Deli (this seems to be the way many NY’ers have lunch) we were back for the Third General Session. The leaders announced the results of the International Officer Election. We also finished updating the organization’s Standing Rules. All went quite smoothly.

Before long we were heading out for dinner and the Shubert Theater to watch Memphis. The play was very good with lots of music and dancing from the 1950’s era in the South. After the play we walked back to Times Square. I don’t know if it was because it was Friday night, or just night, but the square was packed with people, a very awesome experience. Unlike the night before, the weather was warm and clear. It was another very late night before we were in bed. 

Charlene, Carolee and Grace in Times Square

 Saturday morning we slept in and skipped the Celebration of Life memorial service, but made it to the last General Session at 10:00. It was announced that, including 240 guests, the attendance at this convention was 2,022. The meeting was over at 12:00. We had tickets for a walking tour of Central Park but somehow we did not double check the time, so went for some lunch first. When we returned there was no one there, and on looking closely discovered that the tickets said 12:30. Oooops. We decided to walk up to the park where we took a horse-drawn carriage ride through the park. As it turned out, it began to rain and we were very happy to be riding in a covered carriage instead of walking. Our driver gave us a guided tour.

Carriage Ride in Central Park

Presidents' Banquet

We spent the rest of the afternoon packing and getting ready for the evening activities. First there was a reception and the Presidents’ Banquet then the new International President received the gavel for the next biennium. I have to say that for a banquet serving over 1,000 people, the meal was again served with hot plates and then the steak, veggies and potato dish was served individually to everyone. The steak was perfectly cooked and very tender. The only down side was the very cold room. It was sad to have another great International Convention come to a close. This was my fifth and hopefully not the last.

Sunday morning we finished packing, had breakfast we bought the day before and kept cold in the little refrigerator we had in the room. We dropped the keys in the checkout box by 11:00. As we went out to hail a cab, the bellman suggested we take a Town Car. It turns out that on Sundays they have them available for the same cost as the fixed rate cab. The nice lady driver explained that she works for a corporation and when she drops off a fair she picks up people at the hotel. She explained that she was a teacher in her home country, Jamaica, and we compared teaching stories. She took us up over the Queensboro Bridge for a better view than the Queens Midtown Tunnel we took coming into town. 

There was a fairly long wait at the airport, but we had lunch and bought some food to take aboard for dinner. It was a good thing, since the airplane crew was about out of everything when they got to us in row 29. We boarded on time, but had to wait on the plane for quite a while because of bad weather in the area, but not over us. This put us a half hour late into Portland and a very tight connection for Carolee and Charlene, who were going on home to Medford.

 It was good to be home. Now my work starts as I am our state co-webmaster and there are new things to add to the state website. I also took many photographs, which I will turn over to our state editor for use in The New Oregon Trail, our state publication.

That's it for now. Grace