Celebrate Phi Theta Kappa Week November 17-21
Chapters, do you want to enhance membership acceptance by promoting Phi
Theta Kappa's scholarships, honors programming, leadership development
and service learning opportunities? If so, plan to promote the Phi Theta
Kappa Experience during "Phi Theta Kappa Week," November 17-21, and Founders
Day, November 19.
Spread the word by scheduling activities
during the week that celebrate the Phi
Theta Kappa Experience and initiate student engagement through
Honors
in Action projects integrating the hallmarks of scholarship,
leadership, service and fellowship. Share the ways that accepting membership
can help students achieve their personal and professional life goals.
Share your ideas
in advance, and be recognized in the Golden Key News Briefs for your outstanding
"Phi Theta Kappa Week" activities.
Focus areas for
Phi Theta Kappa Week:
Raising awareness of member benefits
and opportunities, including:
* Scholarships
for associate degree and baccalaureate studies, worth thousands of dollars
*
Opportunities for personal growth through leadership
development, service
learning, new ideas and expanding academic horizons
*
Leadership experience in project planning by serving as a chapter officer
*
Networking and fellowship with community college students from around
the world, representing diverse cultures and backgrounds
Promoting
membership acceptance and increasing visibility on campus, using
the following strategies:
* Invite area colleges offering
designated Phi Theta Kappa transfer
scholarships to distribute information on campus
*
Ask professors (especially in honors classes) to mention the benefits
of accepting membership in their classes - or to give a member the opportunity
to do so.
* Wear Phi Theta Kappa shirts with buttons or stickers
reading "Ask me about Phi Theta Kappa!" and hand out Member
Benefit Brochures.
* Ask each member to bring one potential
member to assist with a Phi Theta Kappa Week activity.
* Observe
a chapter day on campus by setting up an informational table or booth in a
high-traffic area to display Phi Theta Kappa information.
*
Host a breakfast or reception for the college faculty, staff and administration
to promote Phi Theta Kappa; distribute Informative
Flyers for Administrators and Faculty
Awareness Flyers.
* Recognize all eligible students
at an evening reception and share the benefits of membership.
*
Write and perform a humorous and entertaining skit detailing the benefits
and opportunities for an audience of administrators, faculty, staff and
eligible students.
* Plan a visit to area high schools to distribute
information on your community college and Phi Theta Kappa, possibly at
a high school football game, where you could reach parents also.
*
Use campus video screens to show Convention or Honors Seminar highlights
videos.
* Serve a giant birthday cake or cupcakes to students,
faculty and staff.
Planning and organizing Honors in Action
activities:
* Invite the entire campus to view the final 2008
Honors
Seminar presentation, Archaeological Evidence for the Origins
of Affluence, by Dr. Michael Galaty on November 18.
* Sponsor
an essay contest, a panel discussion or a weblog featuring a study question
from the 2008-2010 Honors
Program Guide, such as "What are the consequences of not supplying
a quality education for the less affluent?"
* Conduct a tree-planting
ceremony at your campus to commemorate Phi Theta Kappa's 90th anniversary
on Founders Day, November 19. Contact your local nursery for help in selecting
the appropriate tree for your area, or consider becoming a member of the
Arbor Day Foundation,
which provides 10 free trees to new members.
* Start a "Lecture
of a Lifetime" series on your campus. Ask members of your faculty to present
lectures on the paradox of affluence as if these were the very last lectures
they would give. What wisdom on the subject would each professor share with
the audience if this was the lecture of a lifetime?
* Organize
a presentation by your college president about the comparative affluence
of community colleges and four-year institutions. How do different types
of colleges receive funding? From your research, write an article for your
college or community newspaper and/or prepare position papers for use
by your college administrators when they visit with local and state representatives.
* Organize a film series that focuses on the paradox of affluence.
Invite faculty members to suggest their favorite films on the topic and
have a chapter member work with each faculty member to develop a program
to introduce each film. Ask teams of faculty members and chapter members
to moderate discussions following the showing of the films.
*
Develop a Leadership Institute on your campus utilizing the Phi Theta Kappa
Leadership Development
Program. Research great local, state, national and global leaders,
those qualities that make them great, and those qualities that have led
leaders to abuse their affluence while in positions of power.
Phi
Theta Kappa, founded in 1918 by college presidents, this year celebrates
90 years of recognizing academic excellence and providing programs for
honors education, leadership development and service learning. Founders
Day, observed on November 19, commemorates the Society's official recognition
by the American Association of Community Colleges in 1929.
