Welcome!

WELCOME

to the website for the Poway/Penasquitos branch of the
American Association of University Women

We are a vibrant group who are committed to the AAUW mission of promoting educational and career opportunities for girls and women. We meet monthly to explore and discuss topics related to our mission. We offer scholarships to women returning to education, run math & science camp for girls and also hold a public speaking contest for high school students.

We also like to have fun. Members have formed interest groups that share our enjoyment for hiking, books, wine tasting, travel, and current events. If you’d like to know more, please read on. To Join Us, scroll to the bottom of this page for membership information, or click on the blue Join Us button in the heading.

February 11th General Meeting 

This month we delve into Advanced Care Planning: Your Wishes for Care Through the End of Life, presented by Susan Reynolds, MSW, LCSW. Susan is a licensed clinical Social Worker in CA and WA. She is also a member of our AAUW Poway-Penasquitos branch! Susan has worked for many years in the health care community providing social work services in home health and hospice, HIV and AIDS, genetics and Huntington’s disease. Her goal is to provide education and resources for adults about meaningful end of life care planning.

Please join us to learn more about:

  • Establishing a health care directive and naming a durable power of attorney for health care.
  • Communicating with your health care team/family/trusted individual about end-of-life care options.
  • Preparing an Estate or Financial Plan.
  • Providing documents to your DPOA, lawyer, doctor, or other trusted individual and reviewing these documents to make sure they are up to date.
  • Creating a POLST (Physician Order for Life Sustaining Treatment).

The meeting is open to the community, so please feel free to invite friends and family. We will meet at Eastview RB Community Center, 17520 Drayton Hall Way, San Diego, CA 92128. On Wednesday, February 11, we will gather at 1 p.m. for snacks and social time, with the presentation starting at 1:30 p.m. Light refreshments will be provided by members of our Grape Expectations interest group.

Please RSVP to aauwboard@gmail.com by Monday, February 9 if you plan to attend.

Speech Trek Competition – February 28, 2026

Mark February 28 on your calendars to attend Speech Trek and listen to what high school students think of the future of AI. As of this writing, 10 students are registered to compete.

There is a location change, and the competition will now be held at the Rancho Bernardo Library in the community room located on the second floor. Rancho Bernardo Library | City of San Diego Official Website. The competition starts at 10 a.m. We hope to see you there!

Women in History – Betty Reid Sorkin

Having actively worked until the age of 100, Betty Reid Soskin (born 1921) achieved renown as the oldest park ranger in the U.S. National Park Service. More importantly, though, was the oral history she shared as an interpretive guide at the Rosie the Riveter/World War II Home Front National Historical Park in Richmond, California. As a Black woman, Betty engaged visitors in the history of the home‐front movement using her own stories of working as a “Rosie the Riveter” during segregation to add context to the times. She retired in 2022.

It was during her teen years that she realized how much skin color affected a person’s life. As a young Black woman in WWII, she worked as a file clerk in an all-Black auxiliary lodge of the Boilermakers shipyard union, which didn’t allow people of color to join as regular members. During her 104 years of living, she made her mark as an activist, mother, singer, legislative representative, park planner, and commenced her last job at the age of 85 as a National Park Ranger. The documentary No Time to Waste: The Urgent Mission of Betty Reid Soskin chronicles Betty’s involvement with Rosie the Riveter/WWII Home Front National Historic Park and the influence she had on the National Park Service.

Former President Obama during an award ceremony commented, “The American story is told more completely, our history is known more fully, and our understanding of the experiences of Black women is richer because of Betty Reid Soskin.”

In a 2014 interview with NPR, Betty said, “What gets remembered is a function of who’s in the room doing the remembering.”
Oldest National Park Ranger Shares ‘What Gets Remembered’ : NPR

Betty passed away at age 104 on December 21, 2025, at her home in Richmond surrounded by her family who described her cause of death as “living.” ‘Her cause of death was living’: East Bay park ranger Betty Reid Soskin dies at 104 – The Wall Street Publication

To learn more about Betty Reid Soskin, check out these resources:

Happy Healthy Hikers exploring Annie’s Canyon

Our Interest Groups have exciting new plans scheduled for this upcoming year. Visit the Members Only section or your monthly Adelante! for full details.

Happy Healthy Hiker’s will visit San Diego Zoo Safari Park on Fri Feb 13th.  Travel Group goes Mediterranean at BouijeMana on Feb 21st. And don’t miss  Grape Expectations return trip to Spreckles Rock VIneyard on Feb 27th! Or join one of our Book Clubs to discuss The Girls of the Glimmer Factory by Jennifer Coburn, Belshazzar’s Daughter by Barbara Nadel, or My Friends by Frederik Backman.

Great Decisions, a world affairs policy discussion group assisted by reading material from the Foreign Policy Association, will discuss America’s Global Role: America First versus Liberal Internationalism.

We welcome potential new members to participate in a few of these activities. Please contact us if you are interested. You may reach us via email at aauwboard@gmail.com.

MEMBERSHIP MATTERS – Contact us to get involved!

“Our mission is to advance equity of women and girls through advocacy, education, philanthropy, and research”

Chartered in 1971, our branch has over 120 members residing in the Poway, Penasquitos and Inland North County communities.

Need to renew your membership?   Most memberships expire each year on June 30. You have until then to go to the AAUW website to renew by credit card. Currently the membership dues are $117: $74 for National; $20 for CA; and $23 for our affiliate.

The first step is to log into the AAUW website. You may be asked to reset your password so you’ll have to enter your email address, then request to reset your password, which will be sent through your email account. Once you log in with your new password (remember to write it down and keep it for future use), click membership, and then renew national membership. Locating our affiliate is a bit tricky because they are listed by state, so look for the code CA0159 for Poway-Penasquitos. Once you check the branch, make sure you scroll down to the bottom and click submit. From there it will prompt you to the state, choose CA again, and scroll down to the bottom to submit. Then the process will take you to the payment page where you will enter your credit card info. Bingo, you are renewed for another year!

If you run into any problems, let us know. If you can’t pay on-line, you can send a check to our affiliate’s treasurer.  Thank you to those that have already renewed!

Anyone interested to Join Us, please follow the link or contact us at aauwboard@gmail.com. We are happy to invite you to a few meetings and/or activities so you may see why you should Join Us.

Updated: 21 Oct 2025.