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25 years of Athena
By Kalea Hall
YOUNGSTOWN
25 Years of the Athena Award
Video
The Athena Award honors women for professional excellence and community service. Look back at how it got started in the Valley and some of the stories of previous winners.
Dorothy Peron was walking down an aisle inside a convention center when she saw something beautiful.
As the president of the Youngstown Business and Professional Women’s Club, it was something she knew she had to bring back to Youngstown.
It was the Athena Award sculpture, whose noticeable appearance represents notable women. It sits on a marble base illustrating the recipient’s solid foundation. Different textures of bronze on each sculpture represent the different life experiences of each recipient. A cut crystal on the top of the award is a symbol of the character of each recipient and the light that the recipients give off.
“I was impressed,” Peron said. “I felt it was the perfect fit for Youngstown.”
It was a perfect fit to recognize local women and has been for 25 years.
On Thursday, the Youngstown/Warren Regional Chamber and The Vindicator/Vindy.com will present the 25th Athena Award.
“Twenty-five years is a long time for a program,” said Kim Calvert, vice president of marketing and special events for the chamber who oversees the Athena Award program. “We are definitely not running out of women.”
THE JOURNEY
Athena International was founded in 1982 by Martha Mayhood Mertz. Mertz was on the board of directors for the Lansing, Mich., Regional Chamber of Commerce when she decided that women and their achievements needed to be acknowledged more.
“The more Mertz observed, the more she became convinced: If women’s strengths and contributions as leaders were publicly acknowledged, they could no longer be dismissed,” the Athena International website reads.
In its 35 years, the Athena International program has awarded more than 7,000 women in more than 500 communities in eight countries.
Locally, there have been more than 900 women from all backgrounds nominated for the Athena Award.
To get the Athena here, Peron raised hundreds of dollars for the cost of the sculpture by going to every Oldsmobile dealer in the area.
The first Athena Award ceremony in the Mahoning Valley was hosted at the former Wick Pollock Inn in 1990.
The first Athena Award recipient was Helen Paes, community development coordinator for the Youngstown Area office of the Alzheimer’s Association, who worked at The Vindicator as director of community affairs at the time she received the award.
“It’s a very humbling experience,” Paes said. “I think people look up to you.”
At the time, no one had any idea what the Athena Award was, but in time the popularity of the program grew and more and more women were nominated.
The Vindicator has been a sponsor of the Athena Awards for more than 20 years. The newspaper helps to promote the event with a series of advertisements.
“It’s been a good fit,” said Nena Perkins, community events coordinator for The Vindicator. “Honoring women for their outstanding achievements is something we are very much conscious of. You get a sense of knowledge of the tremendous women we have in the Valley and their dedication, their roles, and their contributions to our area.”
Since receiving her award, Paes has only missed one Athena Award dinner.
“It’s truly inspirational and aspirational,” Paes said of the program.
The stories and achievements of the nominees noted at the event make guests wonder how they do it all.
“I think they are stories that move you,” Paes said. “I think even the women who aren’t nominated walk out of the door and they feel they are appreciated as professional women. They feel they can do better. They feel empowered.”
The recipients include women with a background in education, health care and law. Some are still active, and others have retired.
Kathy Cook, the 2016 Athena Award winner, remains the president of St. Joseph Warren Hospital.
Cook was a nurse until one day someone said she would make a good leader, so she decided to enter the management side of health care. She’s been in leadership for more than 30 years and this is her fourth year as president of St. Joseph.
When Cook heard her name announced as the winner last year, she was taken by surprise.
“It validated all the hard work and everything I work toward,” she said. “It was a good recognition to the women and the hospital.”
People still bring up her achievement as an Athena Award winner when they see her. But the best part, she said, was to see her mom beaming with pride when her name was announced.
“I don’t do all this for me,” Cook said. “I do it for everyone else I serve.”
THE FUTURE
Everyone involved in the Athena program locally hopes to see it continue for another 25 years.
“I think it’s recognized what women can do and the power there is,” Peron said.
This year, Paes will be the keynote speaker.
“I think it has uplifted the Valley in many ways,” Paes said. “I think it has uplifted [men’s] image of how they look at women in the work place. I think it says women are important to the quality of life in our community.”