Stories

On April 27^th, we held our most important award night of the year. We honored a Woman of Distinction, Megan Seiffert, Headwaters Science Institute, for her many years encouraging and educating youth in science. She founded the Headwaters Science Institute to encourage youth to understand and pursue science. Their mission is “ fostering curiosity through science.”

She was given $500 to donate to the charity of her choice, which was Headwaters Science Institute.

Entertainment was supplied by Coco Lowe with her brother Elliot on the guitar. Her powerful and beautiful voice stole the show!

Kim Bateman, Dean, Sierra College Tahoe-Truckee Campus, inspired us with her keynote speech which highlighted the discrepancy of wages between men and women and then shared an ancient fable about climbing a glass mountain and locating the tools or guidance to get to the top. She concluded by noting how the awards given this night helped women achieve our goals.

We gave over $27,000 in financial awards for scholarships and grants.

The Live Your Dream $10,000 was awarded to women with dependents needing financial aid to improve their career opportunities. The winners included Jazmin Garcia, Angele Marie Carroll, Christy Kathleen Goldsworthy, and Sydney Taylor.

The Career Advancement Scholarship $16,000 was awarded to women who want to improve their careers through additional education or training. Winners were Malenie Coral, Sabrina Futral, Perla Mendez Mayra Plascencia, Araceli Lopez and Jasmine Sanchez. We were able to increase the amount of money for these scholarships this year because of generous grants from Martis and the Truckee Airport District.

The Violet Richardson Award is for a high school girl who volunteers in her community. It was given to Zuridey Vazquez-Lopez from North Tahoe High School. She was given $300 for herself and $300 for the charity of her choice, which was the Humane Society of Truckee.

President, Denise Trani-Morris was Master of Ceremonies, and the event was held at the Glenshire Clubhouse.

Shirley Phalen prepared cookies for the participants to enjoy. Joan Kreamer, Pam English, Patti Conk and Kathleen Raber planned the event with Janet Sanzari helping with decorations.

Hello, my name is Debbie Quement. I am a 5th generation Californian, born and raised in South San Jose, Almaden Valley. This was during a time that much of Almaden was nothing but orchards and open space which was the beginning of my love for the outdoors. After high school, I moved to San Diego to attend college which was an amazing experience. After graduating I moved back to the Bay Area where I spent my career in various financial roles. I continue to work part time as a fractional CFO for multiple venture capital funds. My husband and I both have a great love of the outdoors. We met while mountain bike riding in the Santa Cruz mountains and very quickly realized we had similar interests. Much of our time and travels center around outdoor activities such as hiking, biking, and skiing. While my husband grew up in Switzerland enjoying his time in the Alps, I spent much time in the Tahoe Basin learning to ski. My early memories of Truckee are stopping at the one pizza parlor in town on the way back home. Truckee has certainly grown over the years, and we love it here. The Truckee draw was hard to resist as it offers year-round access to all the activities we enjoy. In 2015 we bought our home in Tahoe Donner. The first several years we were still heavily tied to the Bay Area for work. However, over the last 5 years we both have much for flexibility in our schedules to pursue other interest. For my husband that has been volunteering with the Nevada County Sheriff’s Office Search and Rescue team and working as ski patroller at the TD cross country center. He has been loving his experience and finds it to be very rewarding. For myself, I began doing some volunteering at the local Humane Society and had been looking for another organization which led me to Soroptimist. Some of the volunteer work I did in the Bay Area helped me realize what I found rewarding. Through both Meals on Wheels and mentoring “at risk” high school students I like being a part of something that is meaningful at the individual level. I first learned about Soroptimist through attending multiple Wine Faire events and the more I learned the more interested I became. I look forward to being a part of the mission of standing up for women and making a real impact at the local level.

1. Headwaters Science Institute, a local nonprofit with the mission to foster girls curiosity through science,
2. Nine women through North Tahoe Truckee homeless services,
3. New uniforms for girls in the Truckee High School marching band,
4. Funds for educational materials for the Family Room at Sierra Community House,
5. A new stove for Sierra Senior Services and,
6. A laser cutting/engraver at Truckee Roundhouse, a non-profit makerspace.

• April 12^th at Sierra High, 12:30 - 1:30 PM
• April 13^th at Truckee High,  12:30 - 1:30 PM

Introducing Tanya Barron. I have been a Truckee resident since the mid-nineties and have worn many hats throughout my life. I was raised in Saratoga, in the South Bay Area.  A beautiful area, but I knew I wanted something different.

I fell in love with Tahoe while visiting in the summer months after taking a plunge in Lake Tahoe.  The water was crisp and clear and it suited me perfectly.  My boyfriend at the time convinced me to come to Truckee in the middle of winter, during a snowstorm. While sipping tomato soup at OB’s restaurant I felt as if I belonged and knew I would be moving there.  I rented a place shortly after that and made Truckee my home.

Truckee is not only beautiful, but it offers a lot of my favorite sports.  I enjoy hiking, mountain biking, wakeboarding, yoga, and paddleboarding.  The community has so much to offer from the Round House, Sierra College, Truckee Community Theater, amazing restaurants, and the night sky is a sight to see.

Currently, I am a realtor with Dickson Realty, and a financial consultant for the Small Business Development Center.  (A no-cost access for entrepreneurs seeking solutions for their businesses.)   I teach small businesses from here to the Sacramento area on how to set up and run the finances of their businesses.

I am currently very active in the working world, but now that my kids, Keiran and Keanna, are officially adults, I am ready to get back to community work.

Although I love that the Soroptimist is geared towards women & girls, the main reason I chose to join the Soroptimists is the mission of improving people’s lives.  I am a firm believer there is always room for growth, but sometimes people do not have the tools quite yet.  Showing compassion towards others leads to improvement not only for the recipient, but also for the givers.  

Some other reasons I decided to join the Soroptimists is a sense of unity towards a common goal, money being used towards humanitarian efforts, spending my time on purpose rather than solely entertainment, to foster more compassion in my heart, to become more aware of the struggles in the world, to grow as an individual, and for the social networking aspect as well. 

I love people and I love to serve, so it is a perfect fit!