Sandford Honored with AAUW Carlsbad Empowerment Award

By Misty Cryer

At the Champagne Brunch en Blanc, which is an event hosted by the Carlsbad branch of the American Association of University Women (AAUW) to celebrate women’s equality, an outstanding Carlsbad woman was recognized.

“We as a branch are especially proud to recognize Mary Sandford, whose dedication to AAUW Carlsbad spans an incredible 50 years,” said Angie Barrios-Testa, Co-President of the branch.

“Mary has served our branch in countless leadership roles, while always being someone who shows up, encourages others, shares her knowledge, and helps move our mission forward,” she said.

“I’m humbled and honored because I know there are a lot of women who have contributed to AAUW over the years,” said Mary. “I feel honored to be recognized.”

Mary is from a small town in western New York, East Aurora, where she grew up and graduated from high school. “I went to college in Washington, DC, the American University, then I went back to western New York to teach,” she said.

Inspired by her teachers, Mary chose to study foreign languages, which she said she had studied for about 10 years during her pre-college school days, leading her to become a Spanish teacher.

“I took a group to Mexico one summer to study at an institute there and met my future husband,” she said, adding that it was the summer of 1974. In December of ’75, they married, and she moved to Carlsbad.

Mary said she taught as a substitute after coming to Carlsbad and took some time as a stay-at-home mom with her children while teaching at the college in the evenings, before returning as a public-school teacher in 1988. “For many years, I taught both in the public schools and at the college in the evenings,” she said.

When moving to Carlsbad, Mary said she didn’t know anyone other than her husband and in-laws, and she wanted to get involved in some organizations. Her neighbor, Shila Marek, took her to an AAUW meeting. “I just really enjoyed it; I enjoyed the women, the group, and the mission that it represented,” said Mary.

Over the years, Mary has served in many offices at AAUW-Carlsbad and at the state level, in addition to being on one national committee and participating in lobbying efforts at both the state and national level. “I was co-president for the state for four years, from 2008 to 2012,” she said.

She explained that AAUW has a nonpartisan political arm at the national level, a legal advocacy fund that helps women who feel they have been discriminated against, and a lobbying core at the state level.

“I do think that probably distinguishes AAUW from other women’s organizations a bit because yes, we definitely promote education, scholarships and all of that, that’s a big part of it, but that legal side of it probably distinguishes AAUW from other women’s organizations,” she said.

Broad public policy is established at the national and state levels, with local organizations having the option of either aligning with state policy or establishing their own, Mary explained, noting that things have to be kind of geared to the community.

“Here in Carlsbad, we have always geared our activities toward educational promotion—promoting education and promoting girls to be the best they can, as opposed to some of the other public policy issues of AAUW that might possibly be more controversial here,” she said.

Like many women’s organizations, AAUW went through a period when it had mainly older members, Mary said. “You worry about the future of the organization. Over the past few years, we’ve been able to attract younger women into the organization, and there has been kind of revitalization of it to some extent.” She said, “It gives me a lot of hope that the organization still has a future.”

Mary said she is pleased to see other women’s organizations and activities such as Women for A Better Carlsbad and Wine Down Wednesdays developing in Carlsbad. She said she is also a member of one of the three P.E.O. (Philanthropic Educational Organization) chapters in Carlsbad.

“Their main goal is to fundraise for scholarships for women.” She said she encourages women to get involved in these organizations, in addition to AAUW. “Women need to support other women.”

In addition to receiving the AAUW Carlsbad Empowerment Award, Mary was recently recognized as an AAUW Honorary Lifetime Member, both of which Angie said are well deserved. “We are incredibly proud of Mary and truly honored to work alongside her as we continue opening doors for women and girls in the Carlsbad community,” she said.