Hitting the ground SPRINTING in February!

Members of the George Read Chapter start the 2011 Spring Semester off with a BANG!!!

It is hard to believe we're already in our spring semester of the 2010-2011 academic year!  Only 8 weeks in and already the George Read Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta has done a ton of events!

Wednesday, February 2nd
George Read's 3rd Annual, "Dining for Success" Etiquette Dinner

Jon Bassard (PAD Director of Law Operations), Jay Ross (former District XXII Justice and current
International Executive Board Member at Large), Andrew Quietmeyer (Justice), [back] John Breil
(International Etiquette Specialist from The Professional Edge), Lynne Breil (Owner and
Etiquette Specialist from The Professional Edge), [back, hiding for some reason] Darya
Natesova (Etiquette Dinner Committee Chairperson), Kimberly Renner (Clerk), [back]
Jim Lewis (Vice Justice), Justin Roberts (former Justice, current PAD Director of Alumni Services),
Alicea Milbourne (Marshal)

You can see the 2009 award here, among all the other awards we have won

In 2009, former Justice Josh Inkell, then a 1L, coordinated our first "Dinning for Success".  He did such an excellent job with it the George Read Chapter won the "Best Professional Development Event" award from Phi Alpha Delta.  In 2010, Kimberely Renner, our current over-worked Clerk, took the reins from Josh and delivered yet another fantastic dinner.  As a result, our chapter won "Best Student Group of the Year" award at Widener Law.  This year, Darya Natesova took on the daunting task of trying to build upon Josh and Kim's success.  And she knocked it out of the park!!!  Despite the weather working against us, close to 100 students came out to the Barristers' Club and dined on a four-course meal. 

M&Ms were used for the
chopstick practice.

As they have always done in the past, The Professional Edge provided an amazing seminar during the dinner, covering the proper way to dine with clients, hiring attorneys, and other professionals.  Lynne, owner and etiquette specialist, managed to blend her expertise with humor to make the meal as entertaining as it was informative.  This year Darya and Lynne worked to add a new component to our Etiquette Dinner - international dining etiquette tips.  In addition to learning what to do (and more importantly what not to do!) when meeting with clients from around the world, those in attendance learned the proper way to use chopsticks in a formal setting - a utensil used by over 1 billion people in the world. 


In addition to the professional development aspect of the dinner, Darya worked hard to turn the dinner into an amazing Alumni networking event!  She reached out to PAD and Widener Alumni, and invited them to come out to the dinner.  She worked to try to get an Alumna at each of the tables so that students had an opportunity to meet and dine with a practicing attorney.  Furthermore, somehow Darya managed to get a couple of our Deans and Professors to tear themselves away from their workloads to join us!

All in all, Darya put on perhaps the BEST Etiquette Dinner the George Read Chapter has had to date (thanks in part to the hard work Josh and Kim had done in previous years).  We can't wait to submit this event to Phi Alpha Delta for consideration for a hard earned award!

Thursday, February 10th
George Read's 35th Spring Initiation Ceremony

Our chapter has been around for 35 years (almost as long as our law school!).  On Thursday, February 10th, 10 more members officially took part in the sacred Phi Alpha Delta Ritual, and became full fledged members.  These new members join the ranks of over 500 George Read PAD members from the past 35 years.  They also become part of the over 160 members of George Read that are current students!  This year, thanks to everyone's hard work and dedication, we have DOUBLED our membership.  And we're only going to get bigger....

Kenneth Williams, Kimberly Renner, Nir Guy, Joe Greco, Scott F. Frame, Jennifer-Dean Wilkins, Andrew
Quietmeyer, Alex D Mills, Prema Roddam, Jim Shore, Alicea Milbourne

Monday, February 21st
Members of the George Read Chapter participate in Widener Law's Annual Fusion Celebration!

Asamahan Akam, (BLSA President and PAD Member), Dean Ammons, Brandy Ryan

Every year, Widener Law celebrates the diversity of its student body by having a week long event highlighting the many achievements, past struggles, and continuing battles faced by various cultural groups in our country.  This year's activities included: a panel discussion regarding the legal ramifications of the repeal of DADT; a lecture on the legal perspectives in African American history delivered by Professor Evans; and an awards ceremony honoring early African American Widener alumnae hosted by the Black Law Students Association President and Phi Alpha Delta Member Asmahan Akam.


The week was kicked off with the annual FUSION Dinner.  At this event, student groups serve ethnic dishes, perform cultural music, and display art from around the world.  This year's participants were joined by the two newest student groups on campus - SALSA (South Asian Law Students Association) and LALSA (Latin American Law Student Association).

Vijay Yellareddigari (PAD Member and 
SALSA Co-Foundedr)

Claudia Bustamante needs to hurry 
up and join PAD!

Andrew Quietmeyer, PAD Justice

Although not a cultural student group, the George Read Chapter was also there.  With a chapter that has well over 100 members, it was hard to vote on what kind of food we should serve.  So, we decided to fall back on every fraternity's roots and do Greek food!  Andrew Quietmeyer cooked up Gyros using a homemade marinade and tzatziki sauce.  Never having cooked Greek food before, he was a bit nervous that things would not turn out tasting good.  Luckily, Kenny Wan, PAD member and gourmet extraordinaire, gave his official seal of approval by eating multiple piping hot Gyros!

All in all, the week was an enormous success.  All the student groups who participated should feel proud that they helped Widener Law celebrate the cultural diversity that not only makes up our student body, but our entire profession as well.  And no, next year, we will not be wearing togas to serve our food.


Monday, February 28th
George Read Chapter visits A.I. DuPont Children's Hospital.

Phi Alpha Delta had another great experience at the Nemours Alfred I. DuPont Hospital for Children. The attendants were thrilled to see our group once again, and we were quick to join the children in some activities. Nathan Barnett was glued to the television for the duration as he got a lesson from one of the younger patients in a game of Spiderman. Peter Tsoflias, Roderick Thompson and Ben Chapple discussed high school life with one of the older patients over a couple games of pool. Unfortunately, they were unable to get a game off the young man but at least they learned not to pursue a career in billiards.

Amanda Tagliaferro, Peter Tsoflias, Roderick Thompson,
Ben Chapple, Melissa Caltabiano, and Nathan Barnett

Amanda Tagliaferro, and Melissa Caltabiano enjoyed some arts and crafts activities with a group of younger girls. Melissa’s bead-bracelet kit was a hit amongst the group as they created several friendship bracelets for each other. Melissa even gave some of the girls some beads and string to take back to their room to continue the activity throughout the night.

Spending time with the chronically ill children was truly a rewarding experience and was much appreciated by the children and staff. Before we left, Joann, the head-tech, reminded us that we were her favorite group and we told her that we look forward to coming back again soon.


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With only a few more weeks left in the semester, George Read members are keeping an eye on their fast approaching finals.  But, the chapter is still not showing signs of slowing down any time soon!

Coming up in March:
Thursday, March 4th:  Alumni Networking Event at the Public House
Friday, March 5th - Saturday, March 6th:  PAD's National Mock Trial Competition
March 14th - March 23rd:  Phi Alpha Delta's Jared Box toy drive
March 29th:  How to Network seminar with John Cirrincione

and finally,

Thursday, March 31st.... our second annual Professional Dress Fashion Show!!!