Welcome back, Soroptimist International of Chico!

What a whirlwind of a year and a half! Like many of you, this summer has been a time to catch up with friends and family. Unlike many of you, I thought it would be a good idea to add something else into my life – grad school. That’s right! I am starting a graduate program in kinesiology at Chico State. Actually, I started last week. It’s an exciting and crazy time for me as your President.

I wanted to share a quick story from my experience in grad school this past week from my graduate seminar class. It’s an amazing class, taught by the head of the department with 17 other grad students attending. We split off into groups of 4 to discuss research. In grad school, you do a lot of research, which means LOTS of reading. One of the questions we were asked to answer is, “If research were an animal, what would it be?” My answer, and our group’s answer, was an elephant. (Shocking, I know!)

When the professor asked our group to explain why we had selected an elephant as our animal, I told the story of the blind men and the elephant. It’s a parable tale about blind men who heard about this strange creature but had no concept of what it was. They all posted up around the large animal to feel it. Since they were all blind, touch is their sight. One person who felt the leg described the elephant as a tree trunk. Another who felt the trunk said it was a

snake, and another man said the tail was like a rope. One man said the ear was like a fan, and yet another said the side was a wall. Soon, they all began to argue that their description of the elephant was the correct one. But, if they all shared their points of view, their description of the part of the elephant where they stood, they could work together to piece together the big picture – the entire elephant. An elephant, like research, is massive, overwhelming, filled with

wonder, power, grace, and elegance.

Elephants are also known for the matriarchal society and all work together toward a common goal. We each bring our own experiences, our own strengths, and truths to the table. As club members, we are unique and the same, working toward the goal of helping women and girls in our community and worldwide. As a club, I hope can channel our inner elephants and work

together to serve our community together. There’s a lot coming up to celebrate, including Soroptimist International’s 100 year birthday!

I hope you are as excited as I am to get back. I am grateful that we get this opportunity to meet in real life again. A few things to consider before heading back to our regular meetings. Soroptimist International of the Americas (SIA), our Federation, has granted us the opportunity to meet given that we follow local health guidelines regarding masks and vaccinations. The current Butte County regulations are attached for your review. I have also included the link to SIA’s face-to-face meeting guidelines. I ask that you review both these for your information and to help our club be allowed to continue meeting face-to-face.

I look forward to seeing you in real life on Wednesday for our first business meeting of the year.

President Sara

The SI Objectives Committee is looking for greeters for our Wednesday lunches. All you need for this job is to greet everyone with a smile as they arrive.