Plan Your Year and Work Your Plan
Energize Your Chapter with Phi Theta Kappa Resources
International Vice President Brandon Marsh is the 2004-05 International Vice President for Division III, which includes the Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Kansas, Michigan, Minn-Wi-Kota, Missouri and Oklahoma/Arkansas Regions of Phi Theta Kappa. A business administration major, he attends Butler Community College in El Dorado, Kansas.
About a year ago, our chapter set out to become a Five Star Chapter
for the first time. We had a whole new officer team, a relatively new
advisor, and a recently elected regional vice president at the helm.
Linda McFate, long-time chapter advisor at nearby Coffeyville Community
College in Kansas, gave us some magical advice: “Plan your year and
then work your plan.” It sounds simple enough and really, it is very
easy.
First, we pulled out the Five Star Chapter Development Guide and checked
off everything we accomplished over the summer. We were amazed to find that
we had already achieved the one star level! In order to meet our Five Star
Goal, we outlined our year in a chapter calendar, and planned the activities
required, focusing our efforts on the Hallmarks of Scholarship, Leadership,
Service and Fellowship. We borrowed ideas from the Golden Key Newsletter and
the monthly Chapter Officer eNewsletter, which provides information on
upcoming deadlines, links to registration and reporting forms, new ideas
for implementing programs, leadership tips and links to online resources.
For example, to implement the Honors Study Topic, we subscribed to
the Satellite Seminar Series and brought in speakers to facilitate
discussion at each Seminar. The Butler Student Nurses Association on
campus got the word out to student nurses, who found the Seminars a
great supplement to their classes. In fact, nursing classes still use
the videos about end of life care and the United States "ill"
care system - as Dr. Jocelyn Elders called it at the 84th International Convention in
Anaheim, California. The Satellite Seminars allowed our chapter to offer
interactive seminars with experts in many different fields, at a very
affordable price, and gave us a starting point for building our
comprehensive Scholarship program.
Once you have the outline of your year, see what events you can put
together to implement more than one hallmark at a time. Working with a
sister chapter at Labette Community College in Kansas to host a
Leadership Conference was the highlight of our Leadership and Fellowship
programs.
On the Chapter Officer Conference Center
(http://forums.ptk.org/~chapoff),
I learned about a chapter who sponsors an Honors Study Topic-themed
photography contest every year. A silent auction raises money for the
International Service Program, and the chapter even added a bake sale to
the event to earn funds for chapter expenses.
The year was not all that we planned it to be. Not every speaker worked
out. Not every event was stellar, but we still accomplished much more than
we would have without the plan and the resources offered through Phi Theta
Kappa. Throughout the year, we often referred to the website, www.ptk.org,
for quick information about programs and answers to all of our Phi Theta
Kappa questions. Officers can also download and print their own copy of
the Chapter Resource Manual at
www.ptk.org/chapters/resources/.
Other awesome resources are available for Orientations and Inductions
- the "Good as Gold" DVD is worth its weight in gold! Our
chapter inducted as many people this spring as they did all of last year,
after successful, organized use of the DVD and Good as Gold posters.
A quote that I saw recently on a billboard sums it up nicely: "I don't look busy. I did it right the first time." If you do it right and work the plan after planning the year, your chapter can achieve its goals and you will find members more enthusiastic about joining your chapter events. You may also find more time for those "fellowship events that seem so elusive these days....
Have a great and successful year!
Contact Brandon.
