National Commodore, Gene Seibert, gives the membership words of encouragement.

The First Southern District Conference was held this year, once again, at the Mystic Marriott in Groton, CT on March 4 – 6. There were a lot of changes this year including online registration. Members were able to go online and register for the Conference as well as sign up for workshops and make their payments with credit cards. People were overwhelmingly satisfied with the service and we had a lot of positive feedback. Of course, there were a few who found it difficult, but problems only lead to better solutions.
The workshops also had remarkable changes, which members raved about all through the Conference. Some of the workshops were setup to meet the Annual Requirements such as OPS and PV/PE. New workshops like Maritime Domain Awareness, Paddle Smart and Emergency Response Planning were introduced and well attended.
On Friday, we started registration and there were several informative displays set up for browsing. In the evening there was a cocktail reception that allowed the members to truly participate in the fourth cornerstone, Fellowship. Saturday was just packed with activities from morning until late in the evening. Over 300 Auxiliarists and guests, including National Commodore Gene Siebert attended the awards luncheon. Among other guest from the Auxiliary were COMO Robert Johnson, 1NR, COMO Peter Fernandez, D7, and Penny Pendergast, VCO 1NR. Coast Guard guests included CAPT Barry Smith (Commandant (G-OCX)), CAPT John Grenier (District Chief Of Staff), CAPT Scott Graham (Sector New York), CAPT Peter Boynton (Sector LIS), CDR John Healey (Group Moriches), LT Douglas Stark (USCG Station New London), and CDR James Munro (Sector New York).
Saturday was topped off in the evening by the Commodores banquet. Our keynote speaker was RADM Robert Olsen, Superintendent, USCG Academy. At the end of his speech he showed a slide show of coasties in action. The banquet continued on into the night with dancing and music provided by our own DJ, Dave Poulton of Division 7.
The Board meeting was held on Sunday with several guests in attendance.
I would like to thank my committee members, Co-chair Wendy Korteweg, Marge Korteweg, Ken Hall, Pat Ermilio, Laura Katona, Rodney and Gigi Short and Joe Romanowski for a job well done.


Judith Romanowski D-AA, Conference Coordinator
Images courtesy Ken Sommers D-AA