This newsletter will be dedicated to Amelia Earhart and the Zonta organization.The Zontas are part of an International organization (www.zonta.org) dedicated to the advancement of women and children.
Each January, the Zontas celebrate the life of member Amelia Earhart. The month is designated as Amelia Earhart Month and January 11 is designated as Amelia Earhart Day, commemorating the day she became the first woman to fly solo over the Pacific Ocean. We plan our January meeting to include a presentation or activity dealing with aviation or aeronautics, and events have ranged from reenactors or speakers to plane rides.
Amelia Earhart was an active member of Zonta clubs in Boston and New York, epitomizing the ideals of Zonta International by actively promoting women to take on non-traditional fields. She lectured at Zonta club meetings, urging members to interest themselves in aviation. Zonta was the only non-aviation organization to which Earhart belonged, although she was besieged to join and to sponsor numerous organizations at the time.
The Zonta International Amelia Earhart Fellowships were established in 1938 to further her deep interest in the science of aeronautics. Fellowships are made annually to women pursuing graduate degrees in aerospace-related sciences and engineering. Fellows have gone on to become astronauts, aerospace engineers, astronomers, professors, geologists, business owners, heads of companies, even the Secretary of the US Air Force.