Members and guests of American Association of University Women (AAUW) Long Beach Branch will toast to their traditional wassail and celebrate their 100th year on Saturday, Dec. 3, from 10am to noon in the home of member Lamis Hashem. JoAnn Kuroda and Darlene Daclan, co-presidents, will honor past presidents who will pour the traditional hot, mull-spiced wassail, coffee, and tea amidst a table of holiday treats.
Originally called the College Women’s Club, AAUW was founded in Long Beach on Jan. 21, 1911. Early childhood health and the local PTA were emphasized when members met at the Ebell Club by the late 1920s. Members typed 53,508 pages as a public service for the Braille project in the mid 1960s. Contributions to Educational Foundation in the early 1970s placed them fifth in the state of California.
By the middle of the 1980s, the group sponsored a “Women in Technology” Conference at California State University Long Beach for high-school girls. The conference was a predecessor to the Science, Technology, Education and Math (STEM) Conference, which is scheduled for February 2012 at Long Beach City College. AAUW provides scholarships to local middle-school girls to attend Tech Trek, a summer camp at University California Irvine and Whittier College for one week.
There is no cost to family, friends and prospective members who attend the Dec. 3 wassail event. For more information, contact Deloris Mayuga at (562) 596-8902 or dmayuga@verizon.net by Nov. 25. AAUW membership is open to those with an associates degree or higher. To learn more about membership in AAUW, visit aauw-longbeach.org.
