The Journey
A newsletter for chapter advisors, chapter officers, and regional officers.

Leaders Wanted:
The Invaluable Role of Our Chapter and Regional Officers

Ari Disraelly is the 2001-02 New England/Middle States Vice President and a computer systems technology major at Norwalk Community College in Norwalk, Connecticut.

Congratulations on stepping up to the challenge of leading others.Now it's time to help others discover their leadership potential and the rewards of holding office.

Many of our chapters face their most exciting and trying times ahead. New member recruitment is again upon us, and that means orientations as well as inductions. Chapters participating in the Five Star and Hallmark Awards Programs are rushing to meet deadlines. And before we know it, we will be in Nashville for the International Convention. So much goes on in Phi Theta Kappa chapters and regions, it's a miracle so much is accomplished.

And those miracles have names. Officers.

Regional and chapter officers are the true leadership of Phi Theta Kappa. They are responsible for setting goals and making sure those goals are reached. They take that responsibility very seriously, and they give us the motivation we need to get things done. Without them, our Society would accomplish very little.

When we ask our officers to lead us, we ask a lot. They work long, hard hours, with little recognition and not enough appreciation. But they also know that serving as a chapter or regional officer is an amazing, rewarding experience.

Having served as both a chapter and regional officer, and now an international officer, I have been surprised by how much I have learned. I knew holding office was a great opportunity, but I had no idea of the experiences it would lead me to or the understanding of my own abilities I would gain.

One of the biggest opportunities in becoming a Phi Theta Kappa officer is the chance to grow as a leader. As an officer, one gets to develop personal skills, make new friends and help others. One gains valuable experience in putting together teams, and working with them to set and achieve goals. This will help you in the future, training you for experiences in a four-year school or the workforce, not to mention the fact that it looks great on your résumés and applications to get you there. However, these benefits do not compare with the opportunities to help others.

In these positions, you have the ability to touch the lives of the people in your community, your school and your chapter. You can choose meaningful projects to focus on, and hopefully change the world, if only one person at a time.

I have had the opportunity to work at soup kitchens and shelters, participate in river clean-ups, and raise money to help people hurt by disasters. As an officer, you help channel the energy of your chapter, and get to see the smiles on members' faces after they've participated in a program that really made a difference.

As Phi Theta Kappa members we have all taken on the responsibility of the four Hallmarks: Scholarship, Leadership, Service and Fellowship. These ideas are wonderful goals by themselves, but to truly understand all four, you must eventually step forward and become an officer.

The secretary of my Phi Theta Kappa chapter, Angie Skoparantzos, sums up why she's contemplating a campaign for a higher office: "It just seems natural. I like being involved. It makes me feel good to lead and help people."

Chapter and regional officers are just like other members of Phi Theta Kappa. They work and they study. But there is something that sets leaders apart. The willingness to step forward, ask for responsibility, lead and grow. This is something we all have inside; the leaders have just tapped into it and embraced it.

It has been said that good leaders try to leave their organization a little better than they found it. With this in mind, another responsibility of being an officer is finding and nurturing possible leaders of the future. I encourage you to get involved in the search for your successor. Sometimes a fellow member just needs a little encouragement to run for office. Recruiting new leadership gives you an opportunity to watch others reach their potential as they develop their leadership skills. Witnessing this growth has given me some of my greatest satisfaction as a Phi Theta Kappa officer.

Questions and concerns? Contact Ari Disraelly.

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This page last modified -- Friday, 14-Nov-2003 11:00:21 CST (cwe)