Awards and Honors

The final meeting of 2006-2007 was a year-end celebration and volunteer recognition at J. Alexanders in Centerville. Attendees enjoyed the opportunity to reconnect with colleagues and participate in the year-end recognition and awards program.

Active Member Awards

For the third year in a row, the community presented tokens of appreciation to Active Members. To earn the Active Member distinction, SWO-STC members attend meetings, write for the newsletter, or otherwise participate in chapter activities. Members who accumulate eight points from September through April earn a prize. In previous years, the prize was a polo shirt or a long-sleeved T-shirt with special embroidery denoting active membership in SWO-STC. This year, the prize was a distinctive coaster set with the STC-SWO name and logo.

The active members recognized that night were Marce Epstein, Harold Fox, Elizabeth Fryer, Jean Fudge (Active Member Program Lead), Judy Harper, Kayte Rudolph-Griffo, Thea Teich, and Louise Tincher.

High School Technical Writing Competition

In 2006-07, STC-SWO participated for the first time in the International Student Technical Communication Competition (ISTCC). The ISTCC encourages students to develop and demonstrate the technical communication skills they need to enter scientific, technical, and business careers by recognizing excellence in technical communication at the high school level.

The community's first high school competition produced an INTERNATIONAL competition winner: Connie Estep, a Springfield Shawnee High School co-valedictorian poised to enter a pharmacy program at Ohio Northern University in Ada, OH. Connie wrote her winning entry as part of the Wright Scholar Program at Avetec (the Advanced Virtual Engine Test Cell, Inc., also in Springfield).

Avetec and its partners conduct modeling and simulation research aimed at reducing the time and money required to design, develop, and test new jet turbine engines. Connie's paper (Power Sensitivity Modeling and Analysis in Gas Turbine Engine Compressor Design) earned $250 and an Award of Distinction from SWO. Even better, Connie won an additional $500 as the second-place ISTCC winner.

"Writing this paper showed me how much research can be beneficial and that there are a lot of possibilities in the fields of tech writing and research," Connie told BTL. "I love writing papers, and not only about engines."