APL Environment

The club celebrates and builds on the rich resource of APL’s diversity of people and cultures, particularly people of African descent. The group is an important part of an ongoing multicultural effort to foster a professional community that reflects unity, creativity, and shared responsibility.

A group to promote Asian culture and to enhance the Laboratory’s workplace experience by providing a cultural connection to its people of Asian descent. The club provides resources for leadership and professional development, and plans activities to promote awareness of the Asian culture among APL employees. See photos from the Spring Festival 2008.

Geocaching is a worldwide sport, begun in 2000, dedicated to GPS (Global Positioning System) users. The sport basically involves a GPS user hiding "treasure" (a container and its contents), and publishing the exact coordinates so other GPS users can use their hand-help GPS receivers to go on a "treasure hunt" to find it. Thus, the basic idea is to have individuals and organizations set up caches all over the world and share the locations on the internet; GPS users then can use the posted location coordinates to find the caches.

The Hispanic Awareness Club plans and promotes activities to raise the level of awareness among APL employees of the contributions of Hispanic staff members and the Hispanic culture in general. Club members organize and present a range of activities to celebrate the national observance of Hispanic Heritage Month, September 15-October 15. http://www.jhuapl.edu/aboutapl/staff/HispanicHeritage/index.html

The Women’s Network is an advocacy group that brings together female employees from all parts of the University based on mutual interests. The HWN identifies and takes a leadership role on issues of concern to Hopkins women, fosters professional development, and provides networking opportunities through educational and cultural activities. The APL Caucus of the JHU Women’s network sponsors a wide range of educational activities open to all APL staff. Activities include lunch-time speakers on topics such as health issues, parenting, eldercare, etc.

The APL Woman’s Club is a social organization for female employees and wives of APL employees. The club was established 50 years ago and continues to thrive today with infusions of new ideas and interest groups. It provides a setting for APL women to meet one another, share common interests, and form friendships in a social environment. The Woman’s Club sponsors events throughout the year, such as a spring luncheon, wine and cheese party, and art shows. Core activities center on a large number of interest groups, including the following:

Women’s Night Out Dinner Group
Golf
Book Discussion
Gourmet
Travel
Home & Garden
Tour Washington
Young Artists Art Show