by Frances Swensson
In response to our speaker at last January’s General Membership meeting, Carolynn Cooper wrote an incredible article reflecting on the extraordinary sense of sight and the many gifts it brings us each day—from seeing the familiar faces of loved ones to turning to see the brilliant sunset at the end of a day--- sights that can both make your heart swell and take your breath away. And yet even with the generous gift of eyesight, we sometimes do not see some of the most extraordinary things going on around us.
As you will read in this newsletter, last November, Janis Henry and Angelle Hamilton and their committee produced our 33rd annual Scholar Awards Celebration in the beautiful ballroom of the Piedmont Driving Club. Our guests were given printed name badges as they entered, saw the inspiring scholars with their medals around their necks, reviewed the posters displayed on easels around the room, saw the excitement as scholars talked about their projects, read the meticulously compiled yearbook introducing each scholar and recognizing our donors, and gazed upon the impressive floral arrangements on the buffet table—a feast for all eyes!
But what about the parts we did not see--the long hours in the labs to complete research projects and write the papers; the mentoring and guidance offered throughout the research project; the coordination to submit and produce the information for scholar posters; the tireless proofreading of lists to ensure all information was properly included; selecting, preparing and transporting all elements of those remarkable floral arrangements; and last, but definitely not least, updating lists hourly and compiling the name badges?
Each of these may have been accomplished out of our line-of-sight. All of these things were undertaken, not for the recognition of the task, but rather for the commitment to the mission: Standing Strong With Science. Our scholars’ dedication to carving new frontiers with their research and our members’ devotion to sustaining those efforts by making sure these scholars have financial support to do their work – all that is seen and unseen – combined to create an extraordinary day of celebrating these achievements together!
ARCS Atlanta and our scholars…what a team!
