By ANN Correspondent Aleta Vinas

A small crowd gathered this week for the 17th Annual Women in Aviation International (WAI) membership meeting in Nashville, TN.

As with most annual meetings, the agenda was business -- approving last years meeting minutes, election of officers and state of the "union."

Fortunately for WAI, there was only good news to report. Last year there were approximately 2,500 conference attendees; this year, there are over 3,000 pre-registrants.

In 2005, WAI signed Memorandums of Understanding (MOU) with the United States Air Force and the Federal Aviation Administration. At the opening meeting this year, an MOU was signed with Women Military Aviators. The MOU is designed to promote women and military aviation.

The financial report by Dick Koenig shows WAI in an "excellent financial situation, also noting sponsorships are "at an all time high." Overall, WAI's numbers are 17 percent above last year's.

Dr. Peggy Chabrian, President of WAI, welcomed the newest of the 46 WAI chapters, Nigeria, with 17 members.

"One of the missions of Women in Aviation is to encourage young people to consider aviation as a career choice," said Chabrian. "The chapters help fulfill that part of our mission."

The results of the "Just Ask Someone" membership campaign are in, too: almost 500 existing members recruited over 900 new members. Another membership program asked corporations to sponsor memberships for student pilots. This method helped to more than double membership, from 6,700 in 2005 to over 15,000 so far in 2006. The hope is for the sponsored members to renew and continue their WAI memberships.

This year's scholarships totaled over half a million dollars. The winners will be announced at this year's conference.

If you would like a piece of that action, the key is to be a WAI member and "keep at it," said Rosemary Emhoff, who spoke about the scholarships. Some of the scholarship recipients didn't win a scholarship until their third try. The information for next years scholarships will be posted on the website.

Speaking of next year... the 2007 WAI Conference is scheduled for February 15-17, 2007 in Orlando, FL. Not a bad place to meet some new people, learn about aviation, and bring home a suntan -- and maybe, even a scholarship.

FMI: www.wai.org