Alpha Kappa State's 71st Spring Convention
Crowne Plaza, Cromwell

Expand Our Horizons: Make a Difference!
April 23-24, 2010
Registration Form
Schedule

 

Alpha Kappa State’s International Guest
Cathy P. Daugherty, Delta Kappa Gamma SE Regional Director

North Carolina was home for the first thirty years of Cathy Daugherty's life.  From her home town of Hickory she traveled to UNC-Greensboro for college, then on to Raleigh to begin her teaching career and later to Chapel Hill before moving to Virginia in 1980.  Music, scouting, and the pursuit of a good education were constants in her early years. There were ten years of piano lessons and twelve years of choral work with her church choir while she also earned badges and other Girl Scout awards during the years before college. Being named a Fulbright Scholar to the American Academy in the late 1970's changed her life significantly. During the summer program in Rome, she met Professor Gregory Daugherty (Randolph-Macon College), who would become her husband in 1980. 
            Moving to Virginia from North Carolina meant making new friends and making a new life. They purchased the old Elmont Elementary School in Hanover County and together have spent the last thirty years renovating it and making it their home. When not teaching, writing articles, or preparing materials for their students, they are working on their home and gardens.
            Cathy’s career in public education has been long and varied beginning in 1972 at Ligon Junior High in Raleigh/Wake County, NC and ending (sort of) at Hanover HS/Oak Knoll MS in Hanover County, VA in 2007. Within that thirty-five year span she has taught Latin, English, journalism, and study skills to students ranging from the 6th grade through the 12th grade. College-aged students became a focus of her career when she undertook adjunct work at Randolph-Macon College in Ashland in the late 1980's and later in the 1990's.  Currently, she teaches part-time for Hanover Public Schools; she is also teaching Latin and supervising student teachers at Randolph-Macon College.
            A large part of her work history and her interests lie in Delta Kappa Gamma. Since becoming a member in the late 1980's she has grown professionally and personally through the experiences encountered through meetings at all levels, offices held and friends made throughout the world.
Currently, as Southeast Regional Director, she has been challenged in staging the 2009 SE Regional Conference last year in Little Rock, been motivated by the work of the 2008-2010 Administrative Board, and been educated by her work with the Strategic Planning Committee and the International Project Committee. On the chapter level membership has directed her work this biennium for Alpha Alpha Chapter in IOTA State/Virginia. Initiating new members into the chapter has gladdened her heart in much the same way teaching does. She delights in knowing these new members have opportunities for growth and fellowship awaiting them, just as she has had and continues to have.

Dr. Bonita Chamberlin
U.N. Resource for Afghanistan

Dr. Bonita Chamberlin was educated by the Religious of the Sacred Heart and is an authority on Afghanistan, having worked in the country for 33 years, most recently in the economic development of a village in Eastern Afghanistan, where the villagers are making jewelry from the gemstones and silver mined in the area.
            Bonita has also worked with the United Nations for emergency disaster relief, coalescing health manpower, medical equipment, and supplies in Nicaragua, Mexico City, Italy, Turkey and Afghanistan. Currently she acts as a resource for the Department of Defense in training the Special Operations Forces being deployed to Afghanistan.
            Soroptimist International honored Bonita during their annual Gold and Silver Ball as a woman who is “Making a Difference for Women” by presenting her with the Award for her role in International Goodwill and Understanding.  The National Association of Female Executives also honored Bonita at their Women of Excellence awards luncheon in New York City. Through her selfless dedication, Bonita has given the people of Afghanistan faith in themselves and hope for a better future.  Dr. Chamberlin is indeed a woman making a difference for women.
            Dr. Chamberlin will talk about her experiences in Afghanistan, including the culture, history, mineralogy and geology of the region. From 1983 through 1997, Bonita worked with the local tribesmen of Afghanistan in the proper mining, recovery, and marketing of gems. During this time, Bonita walked and mapped the country. These experiences provided her with unique skills to help the Department of Defense in a variety of ways.
            In 2002, she started her own income generating project, making jewelry. Revenues from this project are returned to the villages in Nuristan, starting schools, training teachers, hiring a doctor, and clearing minefields, as well as reforestation and irrigation programs. The mining and the jewelry making have become industries upon which the villagers can build and sustain a vastly improved way of life.
            Alpha Kappa State members will have an opportunity to purchase jewelry from Bonita at the Convention. All proceeds are sent to Afghanistan to fund the many projects to help the villagers. Members are encouraged to invite any others who might be interested in this unique, one-of-a-kind jewelry.

Christine Ieronimo, Author
Drinking from Puddles
Fine Arts Presenter

            Alpha Kappa State is pleased to welcome Connecticut native Christine Ieronimo as the Fine Arts presenter at the Spring Convention. Christine, along with her husband and three children decided to adopt a child from Ethiopia.  In March of 2008, she made the life-changing journey to bring home her beautiful daughter.
            Having been a critical care nurse for 16 years, she had seen more than her share of sadness and tragedy, but nothing prepared her for the poverty and desperation that she witnessed in Ethiopia.  A few days after being home with her newly adopted 2 1/2 year-old daughter Eva, she found her drinking from a puddle in her driveway.  To Christine, this act represented all of the struggles Eva had to endure in order to survive.  That incident inspired her to write a children’s book, titled Drinking From Puddles, to share with children in this country.
            It is her mission to spread awareness about acountry so impoverished and struggling yet also very beautiful in hopes to change the way children perceive the world beyond our borders.

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Last Updated: March 4, 2010