This is the “best thing” Athena has ever done! I’m inspired to “go buy an iPad!” “Applause” for a job well done! Such have been the kinds of comments and email messages coming from members since the unveiling of our new website on February 2.   I couldn’t agree more.

Thanks to the creative, insightful, tech savvy, and incredibly committed members of Athena’s Technology Committee – Patti Breckenridge, Julia Gorska Freeman, Yvonne Fry and especially Carolyn Reed and Elaine Terenzi – Athena has a website worthy of our membership and our mission. It is crisp and fresh and elegant in appearance. It is organized and easy to navigate. It provides the public with ready access to current coverage of Athena members in the news as well as to prior years’ coverage of our Dr. Sylvia D. Richardson Young Women of Promise Program. The “members only” side is particularly useful because it allows us to update our profiles, view Athena’s master calendar, register for luncheons, Bonuses and other events and even pay our dues online. We can see a current list of officers, directors, committees and their members, not to mention consult our bylaws, policies and procedures and long range plan with a mere click of a mouse or tap of a finger. We can also review our archived materials, including newsletters dating back nearly thirty years. What’s more, our website enables us to enjoy the treasure of Athena scrapbooks, news clippings and wonderful photographs heretofore largely relegated to our storage unit. In short, it’s terrific!

In typical Athena fashion, the Technology Committee was not content to just unveil our new gem. Instead, the committee organized a series of Bonus workshops to showcase the website’s capabilities, demonstrate its use and encourage us to embrace the changes that the new website will bring. As Carolyn Reed, who was so instrumental to this project’s success, reminded each of us earlier this month, “When you are through changing, you are through,” and “you must be the change you wish to see in the world.” From my vantage, it’s clear that our members have taken that message to heart as they’ve jumped into the new website and started surfing through the pages and enjoying the content. Thank you, Carolyn, for being such a positive agent for change. Kudos to the Bonus Committee for working to organize a photo shoot (on a date to be determined) for those of us who could use new photographs to accompany our bios. And a big “shout out” to those members who have embraced this change with such enthusiasm.

Undoubtedly, we’ll encounter some glitches in the process of learning to use our new website, but such is the case with any change of this magnitude. We are Athena; we will work through them in record time. So, dive in and have fun! If you see a mistake or hit a snag, or you have a constructive suggestion for improvement, please tell me, Carolyn or Elaine. If you have Athena photographs or clippings you’d like to share and/or a large flatbed scanner we can use, please let us know. With your input, our website will only continue to improve and enhance our participation in this fabulous organization. I’ve already decided we need to add a page for testimonials. What better place to feature all of the positive feedback on our new website!