Hazel is one of the original members of the Women Anglers starting when Jean Brenchley was living. She has been critical in planning women angler events this past year and putting together the activities to advance the group and bring new women in who have a desire to learn how to fly fish. She works closely with the Trout Unlimited treasurer to make sure that we are within our budget and using the endowment funds correctly. Hazel has attended the Women Angler’s mentor retreat and is always willing to mentor at our monthly fishing excursions.

Amidea has been active for over a decade in offering classes for women in the community to learn and enjoy fly fishing. She and her team’s members started Fish and Boat’s Fly Fishing 101 for Women classes that have helped many develop a strong interest in fly fishing, and often this has resulted in considerable flyfishing skills along with an increased personal satisfaction in the activity . Moreover, Amidea has strongly promoted the sport as an outdoor activity for the entire family. Her positive attitude toward the benefits of fly fishing for women has encouraged those she has taught to consider helping others take up interest in the sport and thereby better appreciate its role in conserving our coldwater fisheries. And during recent pandemic years, Amidea generously used her free time to develop virtual programs that allowed remote interaction between herself and women anglers who were eager to learn new fishing skills during this time when direct personal instruction was otherwise impractical.

Amidea clearly has demonstrated the attributes that Jean Brenchley wished to have acknowledged by this Mentorship award.

Diane Brown is happily retired from Penn State’s Workplace Learning and Performance. In this role, she conducted training programs and provided executive leadership coaching. She has also been adjunct faculty for Penn State, South Hills School, Eastern College, and St. Francis University. She earned a BA in Organizational Management and an MBA in Management from Eastern College.

Diane emceed the Penn State’s Women’s Leadership Conference, the Toastmasters’ Area 22 Speech Contest, and numerous community events. As an active member of Toastmasters, she volunteers as Treasurer, Club Coach, Mentor, and Area Director. She also volunteers for many groups including Penn State Arts Fest, Frog Fest, Saint Kateri Church, Penn State’s Osher LifeLong Learning (OLLI), the College of Health and Human Development, Spring Creek Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and South Hills School.

Diane is a graduate of Leadership Centre County, former board member for The Pennsylvania Wildlife Federation, and an avid fly fisherwoman. Originally from Detroit, Michigan, Diane and her husband, Chip, live in Spring Mills with their three dogs, Lucy, Oreo, and Coco Chanel.

Judi Sittler has been helping women learn about fly fishing since the inception of the Women Anglers over 10 years ago. With her encouragement, the Women Anglers became an Outreach Program of the Spring Creek Chapter of Trout Unlimited, and has expanded its reach to more than 160 women. In addition to contributions for the Women Anglers, she has been instrumental in piloting a weekend STREAM Girls event regionally, which is a Girl Scout educational program designed to help adolescent girls explore topics related to science and technology, recreational fishing and environmental stewardship, art, and math. She has also actively supported Trout in the Classroom program and release day events.

Al Phillips and Jean Brenchley were long-time colleagues at Penn State University as professors of biochemistry (Al) and microbiology (Jean). When Jean retired, Al offered to teach her to fly fish as an extension of her pond fishing experience while growing up on her family’s farm in Pennsylvania’s Bradford County. Al’s experience with flyfishing was enhanced through Penn State’s highly regarded flyfishing program that included numerous opportunities for him to help course instructors Mark Belden and Joe Humphreys get students interested in fly fishing. Jean’s enthusiasm for fly fishing was evident after only 2 casting lessons in Al’s back yard. They then went to Fisherman’s Paradise no-wading section to get Jean started fly fishing in moving water with equipment Al loaned her. Soon thereafter, Jean acquired wading gear, a fishing vest, a 9 ft. 4-wt. fly rod with a reel and floating line, and an assortment of flies; these were sufficient for Al to take Jean to a variety of Spring Creek locations where she worked on mastering basic casting techniques, learned to tie important flyfishing knots, and experienced the excitement of catching wild Spring Creek trout and carefully releasing them back into the stream. While Jean enjoyed fishing Spring Creek, Al introduced her to many nearby trout waters, including Penn’s Creek, Little Juniata River, and White Deer Creek.

Both Jean and Al helped Mark Belden with his Jesse Arnelle-sponsored summer classes for minority students from PA high schools (located mostly in urban areas) designed to introduce them to flyfishing as a recreational activity. Not only did the students learn how to cast flies and catch fish with artificial patterns, but many had never seen live fish up close. It was usually difficult to tell who enjoyed this experience more – the students or Jean.