On December 4, 2024, Senior Scholars at Queens held its annual holiday luncheon, for which more than 80 members and guests registered. That event marked the end of the organization’s 2024 calendar (the final educational presentation took place a couple of weeks earlier). During the festivities, President Jane Howard introduced the slate of officers who will lead the organization in 2025. Having completed my term as First Vice President, I automatically assumed the Presidency under the organization’s bylaws.

Fortunately, I will lead an organization that is financially healthy and organizationally sound with a very talented and committed leadership team. If you’ve attended our weekly meetings in person or over Zoom, I expect that you’ve been impressed by the competence of the group of members who oversee and implement our technology to deliver the presentations of our speakers capably and consistently. The fact that the organization is comprised entirely of such enthusiastic and talented volunteers from among its members constitutes one of its greatest strengths.

As robust as Senior Scholars is, of course, we’re not content to sit on our laurels and we continue to seek ways in which it can be more so. Its vibrancy depends entirely on its membership. As such an organization, we in the leadership rely on feedback from members to ensure that we deliver the benefits of membership that you want. Some of our offerings are of long standing and are well known and understood (the prime examples, of course, are the weekly expert presentations by outside speakers and our annual three-day retreat in the mountains of western North Carolina). We hope to make Senior Scholars even more helpful and responsive. For that to happen, of course, we in the leadership ask the following of you:

• If you are not yet a member, please join. The first-year fee for a new member is $35, including a $10 charge for the nametag. Renewal costs $25.

• If you’re currently a member, renew your membership for 2025 if you haven’t already done so. Doing so tells us that we have met your expectations or wishes. You probably know already how to do so from our weekly e-mails in which the means of doing so were laid out.

If you have any thoughts as to how we can serve you better within the constraints of our organization’s structure, please share them in one of these ways:

1. Use the “Contact Us” button on this website. Located in the top right area of site, or click here. 

2. Volunteer to be part of the organization beyond membership alone. If you have ideas to improve Senior Scholars, the most assured means of seeing them adopted and implemented is to work on them from inside the group. Joining one of our committees is a particularly effective way to do so and I think you’ll find that doing so returns more to you than you give to us. Information on volunteering with Senior Scholars can be found under “Volunteers Needed” on the website’s landing page. Or click here for more information.

3. Contact an officer of the organization and relay your thoughts directly to one of us. My e-mail address appears below, as an example.

What do we already plan for 2025? First, I expect that you will see more field trips available. We have had a couple previously that were related to talks that we heard, to the Catawba Nation cultural center and to the Sullenberger Air Museum. We hope to arrange more trips to local sites of interest, particularly ones associated with speakers’ talks. Suggestions by members as to possible speakers and field trip possibilities are always welcome.

Second, you will hear about more “lunch bunch” gatherings following our weekly meetings. We have a subcommittee of the Social Committee of dedicated members working to identify appropriate locations for those gatherings and working to make them happen. Our Marketing & Cultural Diversity Committee works to broaden the appeal and reach of Senior Scholars within the Charlotte region.

Thanks for your attention and for reading this.

Steve Lauer
President
Senior Scholars at Queens
slauer@carolina.rr.com
973-207-3741 (cell phone)

seniorscholars.net