On April 13, 2019 we visited the campus of Northwestern University in the McClintock Choral and Recital Room of Ryan Center for the Musical Arts. The occasion was the report from Hannah Whitehouse on her Foundation Scholar circumnavigation in 2018. This report is an integral part of the mission of a Foundation Scholar after they complete their research. Our members enjoy learning some new things about what is happening in our world and taking something like a parental pride is seeing the growth of confidence that always occurs in our Foundation Scholars.

In attendance were members of our club, NU students, Hannah's father and grandmother, and Hannah's NU friends. Hannah's talk about El Sistema and how teaching music is a way to build character, good work habits and yes even help refugees trapped in camps. This talk was very well received. Afterwards, there was a reception with a lot of food in the foyer of the auditorium. A chance to eat and mingle.

I was surprised at the photo quality I could get from taking photos on a small camera sitting in the audience as Hannah delivered her persentation. Obviously this is just a fraction of her slides and none of her videos.

On June 16, 2019 we visited a performance of SIX, a critically acclaimed new musical. SIX is a musical about the wives of Henry VIII featuring an all female cast. It was held at the famous Shakespeare Theater on Navy Pier in the new Yard Theater. This was part of our on-going visits to cultural and historical treasures in the Greater Chicago area.

First we gathered for an informal lunch at Giordano's Pizza, another Chicago tradition.

The number of photos for this event is limited, but we do have photos of both Matthew and Charlotte Peterson receiving their membership certificates.

On September 11, 2019, we gathered in the home of Jim and Mary Houston, our hosts, with its magnificent view of Lake Michigan and Navy Pier. Our purpose was to enjoy ourselves with food, wine and fellowship while raising money for the Circumnavigators Foundation. Our chapter is pleased that for virtually the entire 21st century we have sent a Student from Northwestern University on a trip around the world so they could do research on a worthy topic. These successful and motivated Students come back transformed by the experience. Their life trajectory is lifted by the experience and their self confidence is super charged.

This day was also the 18th anniversary of the shocking attack on New York City, and the ferris wheel on Navy Pier was sporting an American flag at its hub to honor this day. Our focus was on celebrating the present, meeting prospective members and thinking about supporting these Scholars.

Peter Civetta of Northwest University, who is our partner in sending these students around the world, explained in some detail how the process works. Northwestern screens the student's research proposals to determine the three finalists, and our chapter interviews them. The good news: Peter can usually get some kind of lesser grant for the 2 finalists our chapter does not select.

Peter explained that our grant is part of an intellectural development process where students mature from supplying known answers to figuring out the questions that need to be asked.

On October 27, 2019, we gathered at the well known Gibson's Steakhouse. It's walls are covered with countless photos of celebrities, politicians, sports stars, etc. Also upstairs in our private room were vintage photos of former mayors and other notables. It was an atmospheric and pleasant venue.

Our well received presentation was on Cuba. Amy Gardner and Keith Sbiral have been there over a dozen times. It was a delightful and heartwarming series of stories. Their travel approach is to get away from the tourist places and to meet real Cubans. And they also like to re-visit Cubans, who become dear friends. They approach things with a sense of fun, e.g., presenting people in Hersey, Cuba (yes, this is a real place.) with Hersey chocolates from Hersey, Pennsylvania.

October 27th was Don Parrish's 75th birthday. Don is a long time board member and our Webmaster. Our president, Karen Schuleter gave him a card and gift. And we sang Happy Birthday to him. Our event was almost his 30th anniversary (Nov 16, 1989) as a Circumnavigator. Don received his membership certificate at one of our events. It was autographed on the spot by our speaker astronaut Jim Lovell.

On December 11, 2019, we gathered at the historic Lathrop House in Chicago. We had the place to ourselves and enjoyed our second holiday party here. This place has the opulence of a bygone era.

Every two year we elected officers and we did this at our holiday party. The proposed slate of the Nominating Committee was approved by acclamation. The new slate can be viewed on our Officers page.

We also celebrated our version of passing of the torch. In this case our photo of Earthrise gifted to us by Astronaut Jim Lovell from outgoing President Karen Schuelter to incoming President Jeneane Blom. Photos and links are below. Karen served as President with distinction for 2 terms.

Another highly anticipated event was the travel trivial pursuit quiz created by Dan Peterson, our former President, who stumped us before with his challenging questions. It turns out Dan gathered questions all year from a variety of sources. He was well prepared and eager to test our knowledge and illustrate to us our areas for improvement. We formed ourselves into teams and each group picked a name: Globe Trotters, Jim & the Four Graces, Hershey, and Gulliver's Travellers. There were 6 rounds and the written answers from each round were independently scored to provide accuracy. The Hershey Team won. The score sheet summary is shown below.