Journey of an International Arts & Humanities Jury Committee Member: “Time Well Spent”

After four years of serving on the DKG International Arts & Humanities Jury Committee, my tenure is coming to a close and will culminate with the live Art Gallery at the International DKG Convention held this summer in National Harbor, Maryland.  I am conflicted with this Committee journey ending.  Honestly, I have mixed emotions because I have truly enjoyed my time and yet, I know that all things must end. A new set of eyes and ideas will follow in my footsteps. Always the teacher, self-reflection was a huge part of my learning environment throughout my career.  Once again, I practiced reflection to assess the opportunity I’ve had to serve on this International Committee.  Taking a slight bend in the road for my last blog, I thought that I would share my committee journey and ultimate personal and professional growth with our readers.  Please join me in contemplation of time well spent.

“Creative thinking inspires ideas.  Ideas inspire change.”  Barbara Januszkiewicz

Pride, accomplishment, challenge and teamwork are words that come to mind when thinking of my time on the DKG International Arts & Humanities Jury Committee.  As a committee member, we served as jurors for the bi-annual Art Gallery Submission Period. The opportunity to view and work with so many incredible women artists and writers has been inspiring.  With each season, I have been awed by the talent and creativity of our DKG membership and their willingness to share their work with us.  The committee has seen the Art Gallery grow in interest and submissions.  Within the last two years, our role has grown as writers for the blog platform on the dkg.org website.  As with most committees, we wrote and revised our strategic goals and held meetings via Zoom.  Knowing our end goals helped us to focus our priorities on the resources available to our membership for the Art Gallery and subsequent Submission Process. From various backgrounds, each committee member shared their expertise and knowledge for our committee’s productive outcomes.  From a personal and professional perspective, it was a positive, enlightening experience for me.

Was this challenging?  Absolutely.  With challenges come accomplishments.  Always looking for improvement in the committee resources, our team worked to revise and create effective resource tools to create a user-friendly submission process.  Adding on to the hard work and dedication of the committee members who came before us, we took pride in our work.  Honoring our amazing artists was key and our Art Gallery provided a means to showcase the multi-talented members of Delta Kappa Gamma on an international scale.  Over the course of four years, with new ideas and input, change within our committee work happened for the better. With the inclusion of the blog post platform, our monthly blogs focused upon our talented gallery artists, tips on presentation and/or strategies for artwork/literary submissions.  Finally, teamwork was a key component of our committee work.  As a novice, I was impressed with the valued input and support of our International Presidents who served as committee members during their tenure.  Committee chairwomen were open and inclusive of new ideas and helped to keep the dialogue moving towards our ultimate goal: to highlight and showcase the visual and literary talents of our international membership. 

I have grown.  I know it.  I feel it.  Thank you for the opportunity to serve and to be a part of something much larger than myself.  I have learned from my fellow committee members, made lasting friendships along the way, and have gained a deeper sense of my purpose in the interest of Delta Kappa Gamma International Society for Key Women Educators.

I encourage our membership across the globe to apply to participate at every level in our Society.  Sharing your talents and perspective will help to give a diverse voice to the Society’s mission and purposes.  My father, a wise man, often said, “Anything worth doing, is worth doing well.”  Will working on an international committee take time?  Yes.  Will it be challenging?  Probably. 

Will it be time well spent?  Absolutely.

Roxanne Oustalet Lagarde, Jury Member

Louisiana State Organization, Rho

The Arts & Humanities Jury Committee is looking forward to hosting the live Art Gallery at the International DKG Convention this July.  DKG members who have been accepted to present their artwork at the convention will be notified via email.  Don’t miss the 40 plus artists and their creative pieces in the Art Gallery.  The live Art Gallery will be located in the EXPO area of the convention map.  In addition, the Arts & Humanities Jury Committee will be hosting a workshop during the breakout sessions.  We hope to see you there! We are looking forward to continuing to showcase our talented members and to increase the interest in the visual and literary arts for our DKG Society.

Let’s keep the conversation going.  If you have thoughts or comments on this blog, please let us know on the comment section below.  The committee is always looking for ideas and improvement to our platform. 

Be sure to check out the Spring Art Gallery at - DKG Art Gallery