February 2005
Dear Friends,
Perhaps it's my gray hair talking, but at the end of the day I find myself thinking more and more about "making a difference." Late one night, while walking to my car under the glow of soft moonlight, I turned to gaze at the white-columned entry of the Center for Excellence and wondered - what good work was done this day? Was one life made a bit easier or enriched through our work? As I closed my car door and watched the swaying silhouettes of trees before me, I paused and thought, "How would we know, really, if a life were made different through Phi Theta Kappa?"
Intuitively, we feel our work is important. In reality, we have had little more than anecdotal information in the form of life stories to suggest that students' lives are changed by their experience in Phi Theta Kappa. The gray hair speaks again - if lives are being changed, whose lives are they and how are they being changed?
Making a difference. How? Who?
As we think about the meaning of our existence, perhaps we should think about how we wish for it to be measured. For our work in Phi Theta Kappa, the measure of meaningful contribution must be "impact." Anyone supporting this organization, by word, time, or deed, should know the outcome of that contribution expressed in terms of impact. Driving away that night, I felt an intense responsibility to measure and reveal in quantifiable terms the "impact" this organization has made on lives. We must lift our thinking beyond the anecdotal to the known.
This past year, we began in earnest an attempt to quantify the impact that Phi Theta Kappa programs and services have had not only on members, but on advisors, the college and the community. What did we find?
Impact. Had any lately?
One book and one can of food at a time
In March 2002, Phi Theta Kappa adopted Project Graduation: Feed a Body, Feed a Mind as an initiative to alleviate hunger and illiteracy in our communities. This program created the opportunity for graduating community college students, their family and friends, administrators, staff, and faculty to give back to the community while celebrating the new beginning inherent in commencement ceremonies. Each was asked to bring a book or canned good item to the college to commencement, with the items to be distributed to local charitable organizations.
Impact: In 2004, 520 chapters, in 48 states, Guam, Canada, and Germany enrolled in Project Graduation. 107,383 food items were collected (a 100% increase over 2003) along with 110,682 books. Another important outcome of Project Graduation - 581,553 people were exposed to this grassroots effort to fight hunger and illiteracy in their communities.
A fight to the finish
In 2002, Phi Theta Kappa entered into a partnership with the American Cancer Society (ACS) to launch a major service program initiative, Conquering Cancer, which reflected the Honors Study Program focusing on Dimensions and Directions of Health. This marked the first time Phi Theta Kappa's Service Program and the Honors Study Program were integrated to promote the concept of service learning. This collaboration with ACS continues for 2004-06.
Impact: 602 chapters participated in the service program, 22,371 members served as volunteers, 273,484 hours of voluntary service have been rendered, 682,522 people have been reached through the program, and $732,969 has been raised by our chapters. This past month, ACS recognized Phi Theta Kappa at their annual Board of Directors meeting as the top collegiate organization in the country contributing funds and providing volunteers in the fight against cancer.
A little recognition goes a long way
The purpose of the All-State Academic Team program, begun in 1994, is to provide 1,600 nominees to the All-USA Academic Team recognition on a state level. Example: All-USA Academic Team nominees (two per campus) from the state of Mississippi comprise the All-Mississippi Team. A celebration is held in the state capital attended by political leaders, legislators, corporate leaders, community college and university presidents, higher education officials, etc. The local newspaper provides a full page of coverage on the All-Mississippi Team, just as USA TODAY provides for the All-USA Academic Team. The All-State program celebrates on a state level the quality of instruction provided in the state's two-year colleges. As part of this program, Phi Theta Kappa works closely with community college presidents to convince four-year colleges and universities to offer transfer scholarships to All-State Team members.
Impact: Thirty-five states now hold All-State Academic Team recognition ceremonies. Attendance at many All-State ceremonies exceeds 400. In some states, all members of the state academic team are provided tuition waivers to attend any public university in their state. In other states, full-tuition scholarships to senior institutions along with cash stipends, medallions and certificates are presented to All-State Team members. College presidents and state community college officials coordinate the All-State programs. This involvement has increased their ownership in and broadened their support for Phi Theta Kappa. Corporations are providing financial support to the program, including Honda of Ohio, which has contributed $100,000 to the All-Ohio program over four years. New chapters have been chartered at colleges due to increased awareness the program provides Phi Theta Kappa. Most importantly, $41,700,000 in scholarships will be offered to All-State Team members in 2005.
Connect? Who and why?
Have you ever wondered how four-year colleges and universities recruit community college students? Most high school graduates are recruited based on SAT or ACT test scores. Senior colleges purchase mailing labels of high school graduates based on these scores and other criteria. If the average age of a Phi Theta Kappa member is 28.9, how is a senior institution going to find this student to recruit? Test scores? I don't think so. A large number of community college students have not taken these standardized tests and if they did, it was a long time ago. Phi Theta Kappa began "connecting" senior institutions and Phi Theta Kappa members several years ago, but the sophistication of the connecting process has changed significantly. Senior institutions are not satisfied with simply identifying Phi Theta Kappa members; they want to whittle the recruitment search down to identifying students according to major field of study, gender, ethnicity, grade point average, current residence, and other criteria. In Phi Theta Kappa, 71% of members are female, 79% are full-time students, and approximately 34% are Pell Grant recipients. The top major fields of study in order are Business, Education/Teaching, Nursing and Liberal Arts. Through our Transfer Connection service we link senior institutions with Phi Theta Kappa members through technology.
Impact: In 2004, Phi Theta Kappa provided 305 senior institutions with 885,000 student and 90,000 advisor names and addresses for recruitment purposes. We have successfully connected just short of one million names of Phi Theta Kappa members with senior institutions. There exists a strong likelihood that a large number of our members would have thought attending a senior college was impossible until this connection took place.
Finally. Engaged!
Actually, Phi Theta Kappa has been promoting and providing opportunities for civic engagement for decades. Recently, as part of our Civic Engagement effort, we launched a pilot project with USA TODAY, establishing a newspaper readership program for community colleges. Such a program existed for senior colleges, but not for community colleges. Initially, 20 community colleges signed up to distribute USA TODAY newspapers free of charge to students in an effort to increase their awareness of current events, to help them make more informed decisions and to become more involved citizens in their communities. This past year, more than 630,000 newspapers were distributed to community college students. Studies show that USA TODAY has a pass through rate of 5 to 1, meaning each newspaper is actually read by five people. Thus, through this new readership program over three million community college students read an international newspaper as a result of Phi Theta Kappa's efforts. Studies show that students who participate in the readership program vote more often than those who do not.
Impact. What will it look like in the days ahead?
Early in 2005, we will launch our first comprehensive effort to track the academic and leadership performance of All-USA Academic Team winners, All-State Teams, Guistwhite Scholars and Leaders of Promise scholarship recipients. The data collected will attempt to quantify for the first time the performance of high ability community college students following graduation. Also, we will launch efforts to learn more about students who accept Phi Theta Kappa membership and those who do not. This data could help us better understand how to communicate with an audience whose demographics are changing dramatically and to understand their changing needs. We wish to raise the aspirations of all community college students to strive for excellence and consider the possibilities before them, such as completing a baccalaureate degree.
Listening to the voice within
We cannot be satisfied to simply hear the voice deep within the recesses of our minds that poses the question, "What impact does your life have on this world, really?" We must hear and we must listen. Listening is hearing and more; an attempt to understand with the hope of making life better…for someone.
Thanks for a taking a few moments to think with me about what we do at Phi Theta Kappa and why. I feel it is so important to provide for those who invest time and resources in Phi Theta Kappa, a clear picture in measurable terms defining the impact of their support. We simply cannot do what needs to do be done without your help. We are making progress, but the needs of our growing population of students seem to surpass our capacities in large ways. Please provide support as you can, knowing that at the end of the day, you have made a difference in the lives of many through your support of Phi Theta Kappa. Perhaps Emerson said it best, "…to leave the world a better place…. to know only one life has breathed easier because you have lived…. this is to have succeeded."
Let us hear from you.
Sincerely,
