Two current Germanna Community College leaders and a former
GCC professor were honored at the Commonwealth of Virginia Girl Scouts Women of
Distinction Awards Thursday night at the University of Mary Washington’s Jepson
Center.
Dr. LaZalia Richardson, who retired from teaching English at
Germanna a year and a half ago after a stroke, talked about the joy of teaching
students at all levels “to read and to write and to develop their cognitive
skills.”
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| Dr. LaZalia Richardson and husband Xavier Richardson |
She noted that her daughter Christina has become a teacher
and often texts her excitedly: “’Mom! She got it! He got it! They got it!’ She understands
that she grows taller metaphorically each time she reaches down and teaches a
child.”
Dr. Patti Lisk, Germanna’s Dean of Nursing and Health
Technologies, said Girl Scouting pointed her in the right direction
career-wise, even though she hated camping out.
She said that after spending a week camping out as a Girl
Scout, “I can remember going home, soaking in the tub and wondering why did
people camp? I learned that vacation for me is not camping. Vacation for me is a resort with sheets and
fine food.”
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| GCC Dean of Nursing & HealthTechnologies Patti Lisk |
Dr. Lisk recalled
that her Nancy Nurse Doll helped her earn a Girls Scout First Aid badge. “The Nancy Nurse Doll had a button in its
stomach and you would push it and she’d say ‘”My tummy hurts,’ or cough. The
job of the child was to make the doll feel better. Then the doll would say ‘I
feel better now.’ “
Now, she said, she
works with high tech human simulators in Germanna’s Virtual Hospital that mimic human illnesses and respond to
treatment by either getting well or “dying,” depending on the knowledge of the
students.
“The Girl Scouts started to prepare me for my adult life and
helped me recognize things I would be good at and things I wouldn’t,” Dr. Lisk
said.
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| Germanna VP for Workforce Development Jeanne Wesley |
Dr. Jeanne Wesley, Germanna’s vice president for workforce
development and community relations,
noted that three women from college were being honored last night and that a
past honoree, former GCC Dean of Nursing Jane Ingalls, was in the audience.
“You can see that Germanna Community College can handle
strong women,” she joked. “And we need to be strong because of what we do.
“We send students from this area to the top universities in
the nation, including some in Virginia,” Dr. Wesley said.
“We train technicians… we provide apprenticeships.. . We change
lives. We break cycles of poverty and we’re very proud of it.”
She also had a
camping story.
“We were camping somewhere in the middle of
the night, and we began to hear howls, screams, and then out tents started
flapping.
“And the Boy Scouts who were doing it, “she said as the crowd
laughed, had lived up to their credo by being prepared to wreak havoc on the
Girl Scouts. “But the experience only made us stronger.”
Since 2000, Girl Scouts of the Commonwealth of Virginia has honored
women “for their stellar accomplishments, tireless endeavors, and selfless
service to the Greater Fredericksburg community.”
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| 2013 Women of Distinction honorees pose for a group shot. |
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