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:

• 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

• 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.

• 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.