On March 7, 2014, after a long day at SIGCSE, the members of the Georgia and Alabama chapters of the CSTA got together for some collaboration and conversation.
CSTA-Georgia Vice-President, Deepa Muralidhar, thought it would be a great idea for the neighboring chapters to get to know each other. With the financial support of Jeff Gray and the University of Alabama, as well as Barb Ericson and Georgia Tech, Deepa was able to plan an evening reception with light refreshments. Several people were kind enough to help Deepa with the planning and implementation of the reception including: CSTA Director of Development Lissa Clayborn, Jeff Baker and Carol Yarbrough of the CSTA-Alabama chapter, and Crystal Furman CSTA-Georgia.
Approximately 30 members of the Georgia and Alabama chapters of the CSTA met and mingled with each other and members of the CSTA Board of Directors. Chris Stephenson, Executive Director, CSTA said a few words to get the reception started. As always, her words were inspirational and well received by the crowd. Chris’ remarks were followed by a game of “Sort and Mingle”, devised to help members get to know a little bit about each other. After that, it was time to enjoy great food and conversations with fellow CSTA members.
A great time was had by all. It was a great opportunity for the Georgia and Alabama teachers to get to know each other and socialize. This was especially true for the members of the newly established CSTA-Alabama chapter. The Alabama chapter is just getting started and beginning to plan activities and future meetings. The reception was a great way for the Alabama teachers to learn what the Georgia teachers and CSTA National Board members are doing and get ideas for chapter activities.
We hope to continue to find opportunities for the neighboring chapters to get together and collaborate. We encourage other closely located chapters to do the same. The evening proved true to the theme: Collaboration opens new avenues.
Carol Yarbrough
Vice-President, CSTA-Alabama