Girl Scouts award area role models

Five women received the Girl Scouts of Otahki Council 2005 Women's Impact Award on Saturday for being community role models.

Ilena Aslin, Dr. Betty Chong, Dr. Linda Godwin, Grace V. Hoover and Anita Meinz received the award at a ceremony at Dempster Hall on the Southeast Missouri State University campus. Godwin was unable to attend.

Cape Girardeau native Kathy Toon, a former Otahki Council Girl Scout, was the guest speaker.

Currently a teacher of homeless children in downtown San Diego, Calif., Toon explained the difference between her childhood and the second- and third-graders she teaches, emphasizing that for many the time spent in school may be the only time of day they are not facing adversity.

"What I learned growing up in this area is you can teach other people. People who come from here are walking ambassadors. We've gone out into the world and spread a little of our town around," she said.

"Go out and share some of that down-home goodness," she said.

Aslin was a teacher for seven years and a Girl Scout executive director for 40 years. She now serves in volunteer roles at Southeast Missouri Hospital and AARP. She is a member of the advisory council of Retired Senior Volunteer Program/Volunteer Intergenerational Center, Community Caring Council, and Seniors and Lawmen Together.

Chong has served in numerous positions in the Cape Girardeau School District and is currently the assistant superintendent for elementary education and special services for the district. Chong has served on many committees centered on education and community for which she has received several awards.

Hoover, retired chairwoman of the department of home economics and director of the center for aging and gerontology studies at Southeast Missouri State University, received several awards for her work at the university and a citation of merit from the University of Missouri-Columbia.

At a Girl Scout conference held in New York, Hoover was challenged to come up with an idea to get the women in the county involved in Girl Scouting, resulting in the Women's Impact Awards.

"This award is even more important today," she said. "We need to recognize women's contributions and the women who are making a difference. I taught when it wasn't the thing to do. It wasn't a woman's world."

Meinz served as school secretary for two Cape Girardeau schools for 27 years. Currently a volunteer receptionist at the Convention and Visitors Bureau of Cape Girardeau, Meinz served two decades as a bureau riverboat greeter and tour guide, and was honored with the Paddlewheel Service Award. Meinz volunteers at historic sites in Cape Girardeau and is active in the Red Cross and the United Way.

Godwin grew up in Oak Ridge, now resides in Houston and is currently the assistant to the director for exploration at Johnson Space Center in Houston.

cpagano@semissourian.com

335-6611, extension 133