ESO

ESO (or Epsilon Sigma Omicron) is an honorary educational society that is federation-supported and open to all GFWC club members. The North Carolina Alpha Eta Chapter of ESO was begun in 1961. To become a member, you simply read!  ESO is one of the benefits of belonging to a GFWC federated club.

The motto of ESO is “Enlighten Your Own Pathway”. Its purpose is to provide club women with a structured reading program to promote educational pursuits and stimulate a desire for self-improvement. ESO can take the form of a reading group or an individual’s personal reading pursuit. It has helped many members learn to read out of their comfort zone and explore new authors and new genres.  We all have our favorite genres… and our not so favorite genres. Maybe you love the classics, but you’re not so into robots and aliens. Or you love sci-fi, but you can’t make it through Dickens without nodding off. That’s why we need book clubs: to make us read those books that we never would have picked up on our own. You might discover that you really love The Hobbit, even though it lacks space ships. Or you might be totally into Eragon, even though it is about dragon riders.

How Do I Join?

Interested GFWC-NC members must complete the ESO pledge application before they can begin working towards membership status. Send the pledge application with $2 enrollment fee (made out to GFWC-NC, memo line ESO) to the state ESO chairman (address on the form), who will begin tracking your progress. Once you submit your Pledge Application, start reading. Write a brief report of your thoughts about each book. It’s that simple. The more you read and expand your horizons personally, the higher you will progress in membership categories. ESO Certificates are awarded annually at the ESO meeting during the GFWC-NC Annual Convention. Deadline: March 31st

  • PLEDGE – Completed a “Pledge Application” and working towards fulfilling the reading requirements
  • MEMBER – Has completed 4 books each in 4 different categories. Total 16 books.
  • STAR – Has completed 4 books each in 6 additional categories for a cumulative total of 40 books. Categories may not be duplicated from the Member level.
  • TORCH – Has completed 4 books each in 6 additional categories for a cumulative total of 64 books. Categories may not be duplicated from the Member and Star levels.
  • CENTURY – Has read an additional 4 books in 9 different categories. These categories may be repeated from the Member, Star and/or Torch levels, for a cumulative total of 100 books.
  • 2nd Century and beyond – members may continue on to reach additional Century levels by reading 100 books. Books read to achieve these may be in duplicate categories. Members may also use the Century 2 Report that only requires the author, book, and category to be listed.
  • Diamond – Has completed Century 10 and a total of 1,000 books.
2022-2024 GFWC-NC ESO Chairman: Lynn Wiss

Project Tools:

ESO Forms