AE

The Zonta Club of Chelsea and North Shore hosted the annual Amelia Earhart Dinner on January 15th at the Hilton Garden Inn, Boston, in collaboration with the Zonta Club of Malden. The event honors the spirit of pilot Amelia Earhart, who had been a Zonta member, and recognizes young women recently awarded Amelia Earhart fellowships to pursue Ph.D. degrees in aerospace engineering and space sciences. Zonta International awards thirty $10,000 fellowships annually. Three of these were Zonta District 1 awardees, all Ph.D. candidates at MIT: Myrella Cabral of Brazil, studying Aerospace Engineering; Palak Patel of the US, studying Mechanical Engineering, and Fatima Zaidouni of Morocco, studying Physics. Each spoke about her area of study contributing to global aerospace projects. Dr. Irene Porro, Director of the Christa Corrigan McAuliffe Center for Integrated Science Learning (www.cm-center.org) at Framingham State University was keynote speaker. Dr.
Porro highlighted the importance of making science learning relatable and experiential across the ages, the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration, and the importance of women’s participation in global advances in science and space exploration.Mary Knight, Secretary of Zonta District I presented each fellow with, “wings,” a pin symbolizing empowerment, academic excellence and the legacy of Amelia Earhart.
Janice Tatarka, President of the Zonta Club of Chelsea and North Shore presented recipients with flowers. Event coordinator, Lee Farrington noted in summary, “All three Fellows were such a pleasure to meet and hear from. In addition to the monetary award and their “wings”, each received one year membership in Zonta International, and expressed a desire to support our mission of making a better world for women and girls and the connections. Dr. Porro
related well to our mission as well. Upon learning that a fellow countrywoman was the incoming Zonta International President, she asked to be connected to Fernanda Gallo Freschi to brainstorm ideas on how the CM-Center can be involved in Zonta’s efforts Attendees of the ceremony were impressed also with the raffle table, the tributes to Amelia Earhart and the opportunity to network. The 2026 Amelia Earhart Dinner was truly inspiring.”

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Zonta District 1 is very excited to announce that 5 of the 30 Amelia Earhart winners in 2024 are from our District.  four are from MIT:  Mennatallah Hussein – Egypt, Hannah Tomio – United States, Madelyn Hoying – United States, and Shion Andrew – United States; one of the winners is from Brown (RI): Kierra Wilk – United States. These women will be honored with the awarding of their “wings” at a ceremony on January 16th sponsored by the Malden Club – click here for details.   Click here for the bios of Amelia Earhart Fellows for 2024.

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Chloe was celebrated in January 2024 at an event hosted by the Zonta Club of Chelsea North Shore.

District 1 was proud to learn that the 2024 Amelia Earhart Fellowship was again awarded to an MIT graduate student. Chloe Gentgen is from France and is pursuing studies in Astronautical Aeronautics. She was presented with her “Wings“ and certificate by Club AE Co-Chair Theresa DiPietro and District Secretary Mary Knight, standing in for Governor Donna Sroka, at a special ceremony hosted by the Chelsea Club, at the Hilton Garden Inn, Logan Airport on January 18th. Thanks to Joan Lanzillo Hahesy and Janice Tartaka for coordinating this event.

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District 1 had three AE Fellows from MIT in 2022: Adriana Mitchell, Maya Nasr and Madeleine Schroeder. The MIT awardees received their wings and were honored in a special ceremony in January 2023 – Amelia Earhart month – hosted by the Zonta Club of Malden.  Governor Donna Sroka and members of Zonta District 1 Amelia Earhart Committee are available to speak about this prestigious award at MIT, WPI and other institutions.

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