…For there is always light, if only we're brave enough to see it, if only we're brave enough to be it

– Amanda Gorman

Table of Contents

  1. President’s Letter

  2. Zonta Events Coming Up

  3. Zonta Foothills News

  4. Committee News

President’s Letter

Amanda Gorman’s words inspire us to be brave, even in the darkness.

We have all experienced those bright winter days when the sun glares after a snowstorm. We revel in the blue sky but we are blinded by the blackout that surrounds us. Then when we come inside our eyes try to adjust but it takes time and things seem gray and confused for a while.

As advocates for women and gender equity, we might be experiencing some of that blindness right now; we are trying to deal with the change we see around us. But as I read about the amazing work that our Club is doing, I see the glimmer of light ahead.  Thanks to the passion and commitment of our inspiring Zonta Foothills Club of Boulder County membership, we are helping to turn darkness into light in so many ways. 

Our Climate Justice Forum will celebrate International Women’s Day by honoring local women who are protecting our planet and fighting for gender equity. Our leadership clubs are creating sparks that will sustain future generations. Our free libraries are lighting the way for so many families, inspiring and strengthening them through books. Finally, our scholarships are lighting the way for young women studying architecture, medicine, biology, aerospace engineering and so much more. They are the women who will light our future.

As we work together in the months and years ahead I hope that we will light the way by seeing challenges as opportunities. We will celebrate our individual successes and those we accomplish together, and we will support one another. By focusing on what we can control together we will strengthen our community and one another.

You are brave women who see the light and brave leaders who light of our community. Thank you.

- Pam

Zonta Events Coming Up

  • February Business Meeting - Thursday, February 13, 5:30-7:30 pm. Valmont Community Presbyterian Church, 3262 61st St, Boulder, CO. Meet the winners of our 2025 Zonta Foothills Climate Justice Scholarship

  • Service Committee Meeting - Thursday, February 27, Location TBD

  • Club Social - Thursday, February 20, 5-?, Ironwood Bar and Grille, 5706 Arapahoe Ave, Boulder, CO

  • Advocacy Committee Meeting - Monday, March 3, Pica’s, 5360 Arapahoe Ave., Boulder

  • Board Meeting - Thursday, March 6, 5:00-6:30 pm via Zoom (all Club members welcome)

  • Zonta Foothills Climate Justice Forum - Saturday, March 8, 1:30 - 3:30 pm, East Boulder Community Center,

    5660 Sioux Drive, Boulder 

  • Business Meeting - Thursday, March 13, 5:30-7:30, Zing for Zonta Talent Night! We will be reviewing our applicants and picking our stars. SAVE THE DATE. Location TBD

  • Service Committee Meeting - Monday, March 27. Location and Time TBD

  • Culture of Respect Night at Boulder High vs. Fairview Women’s Varsity Soccer Game - Thursday, March 20 Boulder High School, Recht Field, 1604 Arapahoe Ave. Boulder

  • Women's Empowerment Day at the Capitol on Wednesday, April 9. Details to come. Join our Z Clubs.

  • Business Meeting - Thursday, April 10, 5:30-7:30 pm.

  • Take Back the Night - Front Range Community College, 2-5 pm. 2190 Miller Dr, Longmont, CO. We will be sponsoring this event and hosting a table.

  • Zing for Zonta: Boulder’s Got Talent - Friday, April 18, 6:00 pm at The Dairy Arts Center, 2590 Walnut Street

Committee Chairs, please enter committee dates into the Collaborative Hub so Club members know about all upcoming activities.

Check Out Our Website!

Our new website is featuring new and valuable information. Please check it out at https://www.zontafoothills.org/ . Please let our Outreach Committee membes know if you have any ideas or recommendations for changes or additions. This site is is for you, our partners and our community so we want it to represent YOUR voice! Specifically, we want the pages to reflect your committees’ goals and we need to be sure that the content, forms, pictures and structure supports your projects.

Check us out

Outreach Committee - Co-Chairs Pam Malzbender & Sheila Cohen, Joan Siebenaler, Carol Smoot

Let’s Get Social…

The Governance Committee is planning a fun evening together! No agenda, no speakers, just a time to get to know one another and catch up. Hope you can join us on Thursday, February 20, 5-? at the new Ironwood Bar and Grille, 5706 Arapahoe Ave, Boulder, CO.

Invite Your Friends to Join Us

We have a very busy spring ahead what with our Climate Justice Forum and Zing so we probably won’t have time on our calendar to host a Zing for Zonta until later in the summer. Instead, we need you to spread the word. Invite prospective members to join us at our inspiring events and of course invite friends to attend our business meetings. We would love to have them join us. Members of the Governance and Engagement Committee are also available to meet interested community members for coffee or via Zoom, to talk about the Club. And great news, those who join the Club in April or May do not pay dues until the next year, so now is the time to get everyone excited.

The Governance and Engagement Committee - Co-Chairs Nancy Rowe and Pam Malzbender, Catherine Medal, Claudia Ibarra, Kathy Israelson, Ann Hodgson and Amanda Elsnes

Zonta EducateZ Committee

Welcome to The Watershed School Z Club!

The Watershed School chartering and induction ceremony was held on Wednesday, January 22. Kay Meyer, District 12 Past-Governor and Zonta International Advocacy Chair issued the official charter and we installed the three Club Advisory Board members. Leadership and Climate Advocate, Maria Brinck was the guest speaker, inspiring the Club members to use their voices as women and leaders.

We are looking forward to the wonderful impact that this group of young leaders will have on our community and the world!

Amelia Earhart Luncheon / Area 3 Annual Meeting Takes Off

More than 30 Zontians from up and down the Front Range braved the snow on Saturday, January 25th to attend the Amelia Earhart Luncheon and Area 3 Annual Meeting hosted by our Club and led by Area 3 Director Colleen Farrell. We were in awe of the presentations by our 2024 AE Fellowship winners Erin Richardson, a student of Aerospace Engineering and Bioastronautics at CU Boulder, and Andrea Lopez, also a CU Aerospace Engineering Student who is studying Autonomous Vehicle Systems. You can learn more about them here.

Educatez Scholarship Committee

Zonta Foothills News

Zonta Foothills 2025 Woman of Achievement

For over 20 years, Zonta Foothills Club members have honored a Woman of Achievement to commemorate International Women's Day and Zonta Rose Day on March 8. This award recognizes a woman in our community for her work and dedication to our mission of Building a Better World for Women and Girls. You can see an amazing list of our past winners on our website.

This year, we are proud to announce that Lesley Smith is our 2025 Woman of Achievement.  

Lesley Smith spent nearly 30 years as a scientist and educator at the University of Colorado and last November she was elected to represent HD 49 in CO House of Representatives. One of her nominators describes Lesley as "a practical, hard-working woman who simply gets things done."  

Smith graduated from the University of California Santa Barbara, and earned a Ph.D. at the University of Maryland. While writing her dissertation, she became the first woman aquanaut in the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s underwater research habitat, Aquarius. Only a few women worked at the University of Maryland’s marine labs, and Smith was the only one selected to join the aquanaut team, where she lived underwater and conducted research on coral reefs. Her CU career began in 1989 with a Visiting Scientist Fellowship at CU Boulder’s Cooperative Institute for Research in the Environmental Sciences (CIRES). She loved working in the field as a research scientist, but also wanted to share the joy of inquiry-based scientific exploration and discovery with students. She taught an intensive, three-week Lake and Stream Ecology field class at CU’s Mountain Research Station for 10 summers. 

Upon her April 2018 retirement, Smith was Associate Director of Education and Outreach for CIRES, the largest research institution at CU. She raised more than $7 million in grant money from the National Science Foundation. These funds brought science alive in classrooms by providing professional development support for rural and Front Range teachers and fellowship opportunities between science graduate students Boulder Valley School District faculty. She also developed and directed the Research Experience for Community College Students program, which prepares students across Colorado to be successful in four-year STEM degree programs. Over its ten years, many former RECCS students have attained a four-year college degree, with many completing a Master’s or PhD. 

As a community leader, Smith won election to the Boulder Valley School Board in 2005 and served for eight years. She then served as University of Colorado Regent from 2019 to 2025 where she served on the Gender Equity Task Force for the Boulder campus’ Athletic Department, and led the search for current CU President. She also served as the CU liaison to the Auraria Higher Education Center. 

These are a few examples of values she lived, programs she put together, and the stands for gender equity she made. It would be hard to find a finer role model for living climate justice.

Lesley Smith will be honored at our Zonta Foothills Climate Justice Forum.  

Meet our Zonta Foothills Foundation Climate Justice Scholarship winners!

Our 1st place award of $5,000 goes to a team of three University of Colorado graduate students who applied as cohorts: Brigid Mark, Sara Fleming and Mariah Bowman. They are graduate students who are working collaboratively with undergraduates in a course that impacts CU Boulder’s Climate Action Plan (CAP) and incorporates climate justice.

Because of the stellar group of applicants who applied for this grant cycle, we also awarded a 2nd place prize to Casey Davis who will receive $2,000.  Casey is a Ph.D. candidate in chemistry, working to create sustainable electronics for renewable energy applications.

Brigid, Sara, Mariah and Casey will be joining us at our February business meeting.

Young Women in Leadership Award Selection Underway

Selection is underway for Zonta International's Young Women in Leadership Award (formerly the Young Women in Public Affairs Award). It recognizes young women, ages 16-19, who demonstrate leadership skills and a commitment to public service and civic causes. It also encourages them to continue participation in public and political life. Since 1990, Zonta has given 1,128 awards, totaling US$1,673,750 to 956 young women from 61 countries.

This year the Zonta Foothills Foundation will award a $5,000 scholarship, and then our winner is eligible to win an additional $6,000 award at the District/International level.

Applications and nomination letters are due to us by March 1, 2025. If you would like to read these inspirational submissions please let Nancy or Michelle know. We would love for you to join the review team. The winner will be notified by March 8, 2025

FUNdraising Committee

ZING 2025!

Zing for Zonta is only 2 months away and there is a lot to be done. As a Club, the majority voted to have Zing again this year. That makes us all committed to work on it and to make it a success. Zing it on April 18th at the Dairy Arts Center, our emcee will be Jeffrey Kash from Premier Members Credit Union. You may remember that he was one of our judges from last year and he is very entertaining. Greens Point from Longmont is our caterer and Bolder Events to manage our auction. The Judges are TBD; we will let you know when they are finalized. Everyone has received updated information to help us advertise for the talent and sponsorship forms electronically. Please help us get the word out about Zing and check the Zing spreadsheet on our Zonta Foothills Hub to sign up to volunteer to get sponsorships, talent, and a selected list of silent auction items.

Culture of Respect Taking off at Boulder High and Around BVSD

Our Club has gotten the go-ahead from both the school administration and the BVSD Title IX team to increase the reach of their Culture of Respect project. They are planning a number of trainings for the school community that will be taught by Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Non-Violence. These workshops will cover, Healthy Relationships, Sexting, and a number of other important topics. To promote the project, they plan to partner with the Boulder High School Women’s Soccer Team to hold a ceremony at the March 21 varsity game against Fairview. (Details to Come) Finally, the Club has produced the first of a series of PantherTV spots that will be shown to the entire school. The spots are designed to tell their community what a Culture of Respect is and why it is so important.

Pantherz Z Club Helping to Plan Boulder Park

Growing Up Boulder is partnering with the Pantherz ZClub to get a youth voice on the redesign of the parks around the Library and downtown Bandshell. Last week the Club met Cathy Hill. Education Director of GUB and other City representatives, who presented the first of four activities that will give Club members a voice in Boulder Park’s redevelopment. At their meeting, they learned about the park and our city’s plans, and then they started to generate ideas about how parks could be better meeting places for youth. Over the coming months, they will refine their ideas and tour the park to better understand how the city planning process works. The input generated by our Club will be used by the City in final design planning.

Zonta EducateZ Committee - Co-Chairs Gaby Lopez & Claudia Ibarra, Pam Malzbender, Michelle Carpenter, Tommie Atanasoff, Margareta Bancroft, Dixie Hollingsworth, Marta Lindrose

Advocacy Committee

Community Outreach Committee

Lots of Great Stories to Tell! Can You Help Spread the Word?

With our Climate Justice Forum and Zing fast approaching, and our amazing scholarship winners to talk about we can always use more help getting the word out. If you would like to help with posting on media event calendars and social media or emailing about to get the word out let us know. Just reach out to Pam Malzbender or Sheila Cohen.

  • February - talent search - we must have talent for the show

  • February - SPONSORSHIPS & DONATIONS are needed

  • February 17th -  Talent entries must be submitted

  • March 13th - Business Meeting TALENT SELECTION PARTY!

  • March 15th - Performers notified 

  • April 6th - Silent auction items finalized

  • April 18th - ZING performance

Zonta FUNdraising Committee - Co-chairs: Marta Lindrose and Colleen Farrell

Zervice Committee

Take Back the Night at Front Range Community College

We will be joining our community partners at Front Range Community College as they commemorate Sexual Assault Awareness Month in April. With the support of faculty member Maryann Grimm, we will be rolling out a Culture of Respect program along with their annual Take Back the Night event on Thursday, April 17. Our Advocacy Committee will be sponsoring this important event which invites the entire Boulder County Community to Say NO to Violence and YES to gender equity. More information will be available soon.

The EducateZ Scholarship Committee - Co-Chairs Nancy Rowe and Michelle Médal, Margareta Bancroft, Kathy Bousquet, Jan Cheney, Dana Rae Vaughn, Kay Meyer

Join us For the First Zonta Foothills Climate Justice Forum

Climate change impacts women’s safety and careers; it magnifies gender inequality. To discuss these challenges and their impact on women, children, families, and our community, the Zonta Foothills Club of Boulder County will host our Climate Justice Forum on Saturday, March 8th from 1:30-3:30 pm. This event will be held at the East Boulder Recreation Center to commemorate International Women’s Day. The Service Committee will be taking sign-ups to help with set up and other details on the day of the event. So please plan to be there. It promises to be a fascinating event in the spirit of Zonta Say NOW to Gender Equitable Climate Justice.

The Advocacy Committee - Co-Chairs Sheila King and Sara Gillespie, Lisa Lesniak, Renelle Randles, Kay Meyer, Pam Malzbender, Elizabeth Freedman and Dana Rae Vaughn

Governance and Engagement

Valentines For Mother House

At our February business meeting, we will be creating some Valentine’s Day cheer for the residents at Mother House in South Boulder. You may remember that we supported them at our October District 12 conference by collecting diapers and baby items. Later on this year, we will be hosting a dinner with the Mother House residents - date and time TBD. We will also make Valentines for our Z Clubs to let them know how proud we are of their commitment to our mission.

Z Club Scholarships Open to Applicants

Each year our EducateZ Committee administers the promotion and award of our two Z Club-related scholarships. This year’s application process for the Pantherz Z Club Scholarship and the Golden Z Club Scholarship will open on March 10 and run through April 11. We hope to invite our winners to our May business meeting.

Our Golden Z Education Fund is available all year for Golden and Platinum Z Club members who need support covering extra expenses.

Zonta Zervice Committee - Co-chairs: Marta Lindrose and Catherine Bailey, Tommie Atanasoff, Dixie Hollingsworth, Cheri Magin, Kim Prosser-Noonan, Joan Siebenaler, Carol Smoot

Joining Forces to Support Advocacy Committee - We need YOU.

The Service Committee is asking us all to put in your service hours by working with Advocacy on their International Women's Climate Justice Forum on March 8th and at Zing on April 18.  So mark your Calendars.

In May we will be creating gift bags for Safehouse Progressive Alliance for Non-Violence (SPAN) of toiletries, nail polish, and other fun items. More on this project later. 

Finally, when the weather warms up, we will host another book sorting day at the storage lockers to tidy up and make everything more accessible.