September COG Monthly Meeting

Name: September COG Monthly Meeting
Start: 2025-09-24T19:00:00-04:00
Location: Worthington Presbyterian Church

Schedule

Wed, 24 Sep, 2025 at 07:00 pm

UTC-04:00

Location

Worthington Presbyterian Church | Worthington, OH

Join us for our next monthly meeting in the Worthington Presbyterian Church Youth Room on WEDNESDAY, September 24 at 7 PM in person or online. To join virtually, find Google Meet on COG's Google Calendar or facebook. You do NOT have to be a member to attend, everyone is welcome. After the meeting, we'll head over to Villa Nova Ristorante for pizza and drinks. Please bring cash to cover your share.
COG Monthly Meeting
Wednesday, August 27· 7:00 – 8:30pm
Time zone: America/New_York
Google Meet joining info
Video call link: https://meet.google.com/zfc-wktg-wzz
Or dial: ‪(US) +1 662-674-1233‬ PIN: ‪431 213 899‬#
More phone numbers: https://tel.meet/zfc-wktg-wzz?pin=8923801100058
She’s back! Laura Demarest will join us once again as our September speaker. The last time Laura spoke with us was in the summer of ‘23 when hosting the NSS convention in the Ohio River Valley was still but a hope. Laura has helped turn that hope into a reality and now she needs all Ohio River Valley cavers to rally to ensure the 2026 NSS Convention is a success!
Bio: Laura Demarest is co chair for the 2026 Ohio River Valley NSS Convention. Demarest graduated from Franklin College with a bachelor’s degree in biology and is now an independent contractor managing grant projects for multiple soil and water conservation districts in West Central Indiana. Her caving career began in Bluespring Caverns during an overnight adventure with her 8th grade science club. Her passion eventually led her to become a trainer for the NSS Vertical Training Commission and a National Cave Rescue Commission instructor where she also holds the position of recording secretary. She’s served as the chair of BIG, Bloomington Indiana Grotto from 2019-2024 and has served on the Indiana Karst Conservancy Board since 2018. During that same year, she co founded Indiana Cave Rescue Scholarships, which raises and distributes funds for training. She’s also an active survey leader and has had a hand in pushing the Binkley Cave Project to its present status of the longest cave system in Indiana and the 7th longest in the US. Laura says this of her many accomplishments:
"If there is any caving skill I possess, it must certainly be a dogged will to just keep putting one foot in front of the other ... The majority of my accomplishments have happened ... all because I jumped out of my comfort zone.”