The Delta Kappa Gamma International Convention 2012
July 23 - 29, 2012 - New York City
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| 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 |
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!!!
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| 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.
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| 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 83rd 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.
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| NY Public Library |
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| 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.
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| Carriage Ride in Central Park |
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| 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
