Summit College Club: 100 Years Old
Submitted by Marylou Motto
“We originally scheduled our centennial gala for the first quarter of 2020. The pandemic happened, and so we rescheduled. And rescheduled. Now, at one hundred and one-and-a-half years old, the Summit College Club (SCC) has at last had its well-earned celebration.” So said Lynne Rogerson, newly elected president of the Summit College Club.
The gala was held at the Summit Grand Hotel on Sunday, September 12. It included a festive, plentiful brunch; a socially distanced dining room; and a display of the club’s scrapbooks, newspaper clippings, and yearbooks stretching back to the 1930’s. Most importantly, the event included pleasure all round as SCC members greeted friends they hadn’t seen in months.
Dr. Karen Gevirtz, a member and professor of English at Seton Hall University, spoke about the 18th century origins of the pharmaceutical industry as it developed alternatives to women’s “home” remedies for illness. This, from her forthcoming book, The Apothecary’s Wife.
Summit College Club, which was formed by a Summit High School French teacher in 1920—six months before the Nineteenth Amendment passed Congress—is now a branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) and still devoted to advancing gender equity through “research, education, and advocacy.”
Perhaps Summit College Club’s longest-standing issue is women’s education: for more than a century, it has granted scholarships annually to graduating high school students in the area who have been selected for their academic record and leadership qualities. In 2021, Summit College Club gave away $24,000: $4,000 to each of six impressive young women.
Other SCC activities addressing gender equity have included a workshop for working women in how to negotiate for a raise, and grants for local teenage girls to attend a summer STEM workshop.
For the past 18 months, the Club’s programs have been online, but current programming includes a mixture of online and in-person events. In April 2022, SCC’s popular annual Book Sale will return. Planning for that annual event has already begun.
In other words, the 100th birthday celebration was a fine success, and members have started working on the next 100.
For a membership application and other information, see the newly rebuilt website at summitcollegeclub.org.
