One of my favorite jobs as ARCS Foundation Atlanta President is making the site visits to all of our partner schools each spring. Organized by University Relations co-chairs Carolynn Cooper and Linda Kay McGowan, we travel to each school to meet with school officials and review ARCS guidelines and deadlines. We have had great conversations with our university and college representatives, and made sure we are all working together on the same plan.  This year our visits included lunch with our GA Tech scholars, and lunch and presentations with our UGA scholars.  The time spent on campus meeting with the school officials and scholars alike reaffirms that our work is important and matters to them!

Our Funds Development team led by Kelli Keb and Suzy Wasserman has been very successful this past year.  We are so grateful for all of our members, foundations, corporations and friends who have so generously supported our mission.  This fall we will be increasing our total scholar awards and our number of scholars.  After our 2019 Scholar Awards Luncheon, the Atlanta chapter will have provided $5.9 million dollars in cumulative scholar awards since 1992. 

I am anticipating a busy summer as we gain new members and start planning for our fall events.    We are also going to begin work on a strategic plan for our chapter and take a hard look at all our marketing materials, including our website.  There are many exciting and fresh ideas being kicked around for our chapter; if you have any suggestions and/or talents you would like to share with us, please let me know.

Finally, the Atlanta chapter is currently ranked fourth in the ARCS Chapter Challenge to raise funds for the national endowment and operating funds.  The winning chapter will be named based on the percentage of members who made a contribution during the Chapter Challenge, so gifts of any size will help us.  Time is running out, so please make your contribution by the May 31 deadline so that we move up in the rankings and claim the $2500 Scholar Award Fund for Atlanta! 

I hope you all enjoy a relaxing and joyful summer.  See you at the Fall Cocktail Party!

Susan