AMERICAN  ASSOCIATION  OF  UNIVERSITY  WOMEN FREMONT,  CA

AAUW   FREMONT  BRANCH  SERVICE  PROJECT

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Two Branch Members Honored in Volunteer Book

By Shirley Gilbert, Member of the AAUW Fremont Branch Administrative Team

“I hope that people appreciate the photos and the mood and feeling they create, and are inspired to go out and volunteer.”       Those are the words and rationale of 17-year-old Nathan Zucker, Irvington High School student, for creating the powerful photography-and-text book entitled Advocates of Service for his senior year QUEST project.       QUEST is a five-component project that must be completed by all Irvington High School seniors.   The project starts with a question that leads to an exploration of an area of the student’s personal interest.       Nate has a love of photography and telling stories and wanted to honor those who volunteer in the community with first-rate black-and-white photos and a write-up of what they volunteer for and why they are propelled to do so.  He photographed and talked to 17 community members.

Miriam Keller, with charming smile, on the cover of the book.       Miriam Keller, AAUW Fremont Branch member, is pictured on the front page of the book along with six other volunteers and is also featured alone with two charming photos on one page and her AAUW Fremont Branch volunteer activities highlighted next to it.  “I have helped with 23 Mother/Daughter Math and Science Discovery Days," writes Miriam.  “These events are meant to introduce girls from the 3rd to the 6th grades into the exciting fields of math and science.”   Miriam affirms that she’s always had an abiding interest in math and science herself.  “This,” she ends the write-up with, “"is my small way of leaving an impact on the women of the future.”

Mary Lynn Pelican is featured in the book with her music vest and black hat.       Mary Lynn Pelican, also an AAUW Fremont Branch member, is the last volunteer featured in the book.   She talks about her experience leading the Ardenwood Elementary School Choir for 25 years.  “I remembered the joy and satisfaction,”   she writes, “from being in a church choir, high school Acapella choir, Sweet Adelines and other choral groups.”  Mary Lynn inherited her passion for volunteering, helping others and making a difference in the world from her dad.  She saw the joy, happiness and fulfillment he received from his daily random acts of kindness, philanthropy, commitment, dedication and serving others in her small community of Fontana, California.   There are two pictures of her in the book - one with a pixie-like grin wearing one of her famous hats.       Other Fremont citizens featured include volunteers for senior activities, theater works, the library, regional parks police services, school book fairs, Boy Scouts and Girl Scouts, diabetes research, breast cancer, elementary school, Little League coaching, animal rescue, Pencil project and music conductor.

Miriam’s picture is included on the cover of Nathan’s Book.       For Nate’s QUEST project he answered the question of which direction to go in by focusing on his love of photography and his admiration for people who volunteer in the community.       “I wanted to promote volunteering through photography,” he writes.  He worked with professional portrait photographer Michael Collopy on this project, who had done something similar spotlighting people who promoted peace.       How did he get the names?   “I asked my mom for a list of her friends and sent them all emails asking them to submit names of those who volunteered in the community.”   The toughest part of the project, according to Nate, was actually taking the pictures.  He had to talk to his subjects to get a natural look and snap pictures at the same time.  “It was hard,” he attests, ”to carry on a conversation with a person I had never met and take their pictures all at once.”       The best part, writes Nate, was seeing the finished product.  “I put hours and hours of work into this project and it was great to see it come together.”   He also loved meeting the wonderful people he interviewed and photographed and was intrigued by what made them volunteer.       Nate is now out of high school and will be attending Belmont University in Nashville, Tennessee in the fall majoring in Music Business.       If you would like to order a copy of this beautiful book from Nathan Zucker, send a check for $45 to him at his e-mail address, natezucker@comcast.net

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