Hello Phi Theta Kappans!!

An International Officer Team is efficient when they can mobilize regional officers, chapter officers, and chapter members towards a goal - a vision for Phi Theta Kappa.  The members of Phi Theta Kappa, despite what level of leadership they have achieved coupled with SMART goals and clear visions create the amazing results that push forward a society.  As an International Officer Team, Edgar, Rebekah, Thomas, Monika, and I have set five crucial goals to enable Phi Theta Kappa to reach a new tier of success.  These five goals are:  Membership Campaigns and Phi Theta Kappa Awareness, the Regional Officer Challenge, Collegefish.org, Reactivating Inactive Chapters, and the Honors In Action Academy at the International Convention site, Orlando, Florida in April 2010.

I would like to take a moment to share with you some special information about CollegeFish.org and Membership Campaigns and Phi Theta Kappa Awareness, since these are vital during the ever-important induction season.  November is the perfect time to incorporate these wonderful ideas and commemorate another Founders Day (November 19) and celebrate the history and accomplishments of Phi Theta Kappa while spreading the society’s vision and mission.

We are looking for your aid and assistance in spreading the news about the benefits of CollegeFish.org.  It is essential that Phi Theta Kappans know of this valuable transfer and scholarship tool right at the tips of their very own fingers - and did I mention that it is free?  Wouldn’t it be great if every member knew that if only they created an enhanced membership profile that they could save hours of searching for transfer institutions and scholarships?  Some ideas to help spread the word about this transfer database would be to hold your next meeting, whether it is a regional or chapter meeting, in a computer lab and take our members step-by-step through the process.  During chapter or regional events, you can arrange to have computers available for open enrollment.  Also, you can speak with your transfer department on campus and see if they are having any transfer fairs or transfer seminars that you can promote this beneficial tool to already engaged attendees.

Did you know that less than 15% of invited students whose academic accomplishments earned them an invitation to become members actually accept membership to Phi Theta Kappa?  I know that turning down membership is much more than simply turning down a pin and a membership certificate, don’t you agree?  Let us broaden our student perspectives to accept membership to Phi Theta Kappa to not only strengthen our chapter and region, but to share this amazing experience and benefits with as many outstanding community college students as possible.  Our advice to you is to touch each prospective member through at least three different forms of communication -

• hard copy letter
• e-mail
• phone call
• social networking site
• personal visit

I know what you are saying - personal visit?  It isn’t as difficult as you may think!  Try tapping students, which is a prestigious way to hand deliver invitations that gives immediate recognition for students.  This way they can put a face with a name to connect with chapter officers who can better explain Phi Theta Kappa and the society’s unique and exceptional benefits.  Perhaps you can visit classrooms to discuss Phi Theta Kappa with an attentive crowd of students.  It’s not too late to point out that we’ve just had another Founders Day by throwing Phi Theta Kappa birthday festivities, to celebrate Phi Theta Kappa’s birthday while raising awareness on campus and in the community.  Some additional ideas can be found at http://www.ptk.org/founders-day.

It is up to you.  Can you accept the challenge to aid your elected International Officer Team in achieving their goals set for your society?  Edgar, Rebekah, Thomas, Monika, and I are all anxious to work with you to help achieve these five key goals.  Help us to help you!  If you have any suggestions or questions related to any of these goals, please feel free to leave a comment to this posting.  Please also remember to return often because you will be receiving feedback from your International officer Team as well as members across the world.  As always, an enormous Phi Theta Kappa hug to you!!

Nicky Singer

International Vice President - Division I

nicky.singer@ptk.org

The purpose of this blog post is two-fold. We will let you know about the vision of Phi Theta Kappa, specifically what the organization is seeking to accomplish this year and moving into 2010, and we will let you know the specific goals that we, your International Officers, have set to contribute to the broader vision.  First, we want to begin by saying thank you. Committed and active members like you make a huge contribution to Phi Theta Kappa’s success. Vice President Nicky Singer from Division I, and Vice President Monika Groomes from Division IV were Regional Officers, and they certainly understand the job of the Regional Officer, and all of us are very active in our chapters and understand the jobs of Chapter Officers.  All five of us are proud to have the great opportunity to serve all of you.  We are here to hear your voice, the membership voice, and to share a common vision as honor students.

Before sharing our goals, we would like you to know the vision plans of our organization.  Key parts of the vision relate to:  Membership Acceptance, so that greater numbers of students have access to the benefits of membership; Program Participation, so that more chapters and members are creating the complete Phi Theta Kappa Experience to enhance their academic careers in active chapters taking full advantage of the honors program and real-world activities that Phi Theta Kappa supports;  and CollegeFish.org, so that all two-year college students who are seeking to transfer have access to the only on-line tools designed for transfer students.

Here are some details about specific goals our team has set that relate to this vision.

1) Membership Campaigns and Phi Theta Kappa Awareness: We would like to see every chapter and every region set goals related to their membership campaigns and increasing awareness of the benefits of Phi Theta Kappa membership.  Do you know what percentage of those eligible for Phi Theta Kappa membership become members in your college or in your Region? Overall, Phi Theta Kappa inducted nearly 100,000 members in 2008, and it would be unbelievable to break the 100,000 level this year, and everyone of us can do something to help that happen.  But it is not about an arbitrary number goal.  We want everyone who is eligible to become a member so that they can join the Phi Theta Kappa Experience and take advantage of the benefits of membership, including all the amazing scholarship opportunities exclusively for Phi Theta Kappa members.  If Phi Theta Kappa has made a difference in your college experience, tell eligible members about it! If you can find out about the percentage of eligible members who become members Set a membership campaign goal that is SMART (Specific, Measurable, Accountable, Realistic, Timely) and relates to increasing the acceptance rate.  Chapters and Regions receive rewards for their efforts through Phi Theta Kappa’s Pinnacle Program.   If you have already held your induction ceremony this semester, you can set a goal for the next semester, and you can get started on the goal right now by working to raise awareness of Phi Theta Kappa on your campus and in your community.  Founders Day is coming up and it’s a great time to celebrate the Society’s history and get the word out about its mission!

2) Regional Officer Challenge: We would like to motivate greater numbers of people to run for Regional Office so that every region has the student leadership it needs to thrive.   This idea is important in Chapters too - leadership is important at every level of the Society.  We’ll gladly talk to anyone interested in running for either chapter or regional office and we encourage you to leave a legacy by building up people to step into the leadership positions you are filling now. Talk about the benefits and growth of being Officers - you are the leadership backbone of our Society.  Can your team be servant leaders and nurture others to pursue the same opportunities?  Help interested people learn all they can about the Phi Theta Kappa Experience in your conversations and help them take on the positions feeling prepared for their duties.  For example, make sure your chapter is taking part in the Five Star Chapter Development Program and recording how you are fulfilling the requirements to reach your goal in the program.  Recording will help you when it’s time to complete the online update about your progress, and it will help the next group of officers to know what you did, when, and how, so they can have confidence that they will continue to strengthen the foundation to which you made contributions.

3) CollegeFish.org: Our members can feel proud to have incredible benefits. Do they know where they can search for those $37 million dollars in transfer scholarship opportunities available to them? Only in CollegeFish.org.  We want to inform the members about resources and tools like this one.  And by the way, CollegeFish.org’s searchable data base of scholarship opportunities is an excellent hook to attract eligible members.  If you haven’t completed your profile on CollegeFish.org and found out how it can help you with the transfer process, we encourage you to do it today!  Please encourage your chapter’s and region’s members to complete their profiles and start using the tools too!

4) Reactivate Inactive Chapters: We really need the Regional Officers’ help with this goal, but there may be chapters out there who could help too by taking on a “sister chapter” that is less active than they are.  How many chapters in your region have become inactive in the past two years and are no longer inducting members (this is the basic foundational level of activity for a chapter)?  Can you help us revitalize two chapters that have been inactive for two years or more with personal contacts and support?  If your region doesn’t have inactive chapters, but has chapters that are not involved in Phi Theta Kappa Programs like yours is, can you help us encourage them to take a look at the Five Star Chapter Development Program and set a goal to guide them into greater levels of engagement with what Phi Theta Kappa offers, or perhaps your region has chapters that are very active but have never attended the regional or international events and you can help them learn about what makes these events so significant and encourage them to send a representative or two.

And this takes us to our last, but not least goal;

5) Honors In Action Academy at the International Convention site, Orlando, Florida in April 2010: The Honors in Action Academy takes place on Thursday, April 8, 2010, and attendees will have an amazing opportunity to participate in a customized presentation by the world-renowned Disney Institute® and will work in small groups facilitated by Phi Theta Kappa experts.  Please help us promote this exciting event!  Attendance at an International Convention can really fire you up!  It’s what started my incredible Phi Theta Kappa journey when I attended our International Convention in 2008 before I was a member yet, and I was just starting to learn how involved I wanted to be when I was inducted.  I learned that Phi Theta Kappa is truly an outstanding organization fueled by wonderfully energetic people and I wanted to be as involved as I could.  We want to encourage everyone to attend and catch the spirit!

We hope you agree that these are goals worth working toward and help us.  We want to also hear from you and benefit from your experiences in these areas .  John. F Kennedy once said, “Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other” and we will all become more effective leaders for Phi Theta Kappa and in other areas of our lives if we learn and grow together.  We are working together to live up to our responsibilities as scholars and servant leaders, and we hope you will share your ideas,  thoughts, challenges and successes concerning the vision and the goals we have set.  This blog can be our “idea bank” and our virtual meeting place where we collaborate to see the vision become reality!   Please comment today, and visit often to see what others are contributing.

Sincerely,
Edgar Romero

International President

As the summer goes along many chapters have taken time during this hot season to lay out their upcoming plans. One of the best ways for your chapter to start the academic year is by having the dates of projects and events marked in your calendar as early as possible. As Phi Theta Kappa members we tend to have a hectic schedule, and we all want to make sure we are giving the very best of ourselves to our chapter’s activities.

There are many ways that your chapter could achieve excellence and be among the most successful chapters. In the spring of 2008, when I attended the 90^th Convention in Philadelphia, I learned for the first time about Phi Theta Kappa and I saw how many chapters are achieving excellence - they are putting “Honors in Action.”  Since then, I have learned about key resources and programs that contribute to our success.

If by now your chapter has already started to work, or is about to finish their programming plans, then this can serve as a helpful reminder of the benefits your chapter may receive by participating in Phi Theta Kappa programs that can take you and your chapter to the next level: The Membership Campaign support materials can help you convey the benefits of membership so eligible students don’t miss out on valuable opportunities - for scholarships, to enhance their academic experience, and to develop as leaders in service to the college and community - and to help the chapter recruit more members who may participate;  the Five Star Chapter Development Program is a road map or blue print for building a strong, active chapter and your chapter will be recognized for its participation locally, regionally, and internationally; the Honors Program Guide will help your chapter put Honors in Action; the Hallmarks Awards Program is your opportunity for added recognition at the international levels; and Every Dollar Makes a Difference is your chapter’s opportunity to leave a legacy by contributing to a $2,000,000 scholarship endowment to benefit future Phi Theta Kappans.  Let me explain a bit more about these things and provide you with the links to learn about them completely:

• Strong chapters encourage the involvement and growth of members - and the groundwork for the chapter to become and stay strong happens in your membership campaign.  Do you know what percentage of those eligible for Phi Theta Kappa membership become members at your college?  When you realize how many people are missing the opportunities to enhance the college experience, it can be motivation to reach and serve these eligible students so they have the recognition for their academic excellence and can access these opportunities to grow, and the benefits like the millions of scholarship dollars they will have opportunities to apply for, and the amazing tool, “CollegeFish.org,” to assist them with the transfer process.  Active members serve others by making them aware of the benefits of membership and welcome those eligible students to be part of our Phi Theta Kappa Experience. Resources for your Membership Campaign are available online .  Give interested students the opportunities to participate in the activities that have made us grow; a true leader is one who fosters leadership in others.  Phi Theta Kappa’s Pinnacle Program recognizes chapter achievements in reaching eligible students:  for each 5% increase in new members over the previous year, a chapter receives a scholarship to fund the international member fees, and can achieve up to five of these scholarships!

• If your chapter is having difficulties determining “what and when” and organizing the overall programming for the year, then the Five Star Chapter Development Program will become your best friend.  The Five Star Chapter Development Program serves as a guide for developing a strong chapter and for earning local, regional, and international recognition, so even if your chapter is already a strong one - you should be participating and achieve the recognition!  In this program, chapters do not compete against one another. Every Chapter can and should set a Five Star Chapter Development Goal and receive this recognition! Participation encourages excellence and recognizes progress in the attainment of goals set by the chapter.

• If you apply the Honors in Action Model in your projects, then you will be covering all of the four Society’s Hallmarks: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Fellowship and ensuring that you are truly creating the Phi Theta Kappa Experience for chapter members. Start with the Honors Program Guide which is your comprehensive resource about Honors in Action. Exploring the Honors Study Topic in depth using the Honors Program Guide creates opportunities for chapters and individuals to integrate the Hallmarks in comprehensive, well-rounded initiatives effective in contributing to academic stimulation and student development.

• Once your chapter has set the goals, and has organized the programming with all appropriate deadlines, you will want to know all about the Hallmark Awards Program. This is Phi Theta Kappa’s competitive awards program that recognizes individuals, chapters, and regions for excellence in the Society’s Hallmarks of Scholarship, Leadership, Service and Fellowship.

• Last but not least you can participate in Every Dollar Makes a Difference.  With a gift of $1 per member your chapter can help Phi Theta Kappa meet the second Hites Scholarship Challenge goal of $350,000, which the Hites Family Foundation will match nearly two to one!  The Hites Family Foundation issued a first challenge at the 2008 International Convention, and we met the $350,000 goal ahead of schedule in less than one year; with the Hites match added to it, we established a $1,000,000 scholarship endowment.  At the 2009 International Convention the Hites Family Foundation issued a second challenge and when we meet it - they will again match a contribution at a two to one rate and our scholarship endowment will double to $2,000,000!  What an opportunity for this generation of Phi Theta Kappans to leave a legacy of financial assistance for countless future Phi Theta Kappans!

When I returned from my first International Convention in Philadelphia I certainly knew a lot more about Phi Theta Kappa, I became a much more active chapter member and our team achieved success - in our community, our region, and internationally.  If you haven’t been to an International Convention - don’t wait for April 2010 to learn and become active!  You can learn what you need to know right now with all the resources available to you.  Let us know right here with the comments feature for our blog, what you are doing or what questions you have or even how others might be involved;  we’d love to make this a space for communicating with you regularly and to connect chapters.

I had the distinct pleasure of attending the Phi Theta Kappa Middle States Region Thirteenth Annual Officers Academy and Fifteenth Annual Honors Institute (OAHI) last month.  The event was hosted at McDaniel College in Westminster, Maryland from June 11, 2009 - June 14, 2009.  The campus was gorgeous, the people were amazing, and the programming was outstanding.  What more could anyone want in a regional meeting? continue