The Forum Winter 2013 : Page 6

On Campus Berea College The Alpha Sigma Chi chapter is at it again! Each fall, the president, first lady and members greet incoming freshmen by handing out ice cream at the President’s Ice Cream Social. Alpha Sigma Chi members serve at the President’s Ice Cream Social. Monica Leslie, Advisor California State University Channel Islands The Four Pillars chapter kicked off the year with members attending a fun BBQ at the chapter president’s home. Throughout the fall, the chapter was busy promoting Mortar Board on campus and building a firm chapter foundation that truly embodies the Ideals of scholarship, leadership and service. Members also participated in the campus involvement fair featuring various campus involvement opportunities. In the coming months, the chapter plans to be involved in The Campus Reading Celebration, the Children’s Reading Celebration and will be hosting a Faculty Appreciation Luncheon. We plan to see great things from each of our members throughout their time with Mortar Board and after graduation. Kevin VanCura, President Clemson University The Order of Athena chapter held its annual President’s 4.0 Drop-In event in October. Students who earned a 4.0 during the fall 2011 or spring 2012 were invited to a reception on President Barker’s lawn. Hors d’oeuvres were served, and guests were able to meet the president and first lady! Chapter vice president Emily Moore did a fantastic job coordinating with the president’s Freshmen take part in trust exercises at the Skiff chapter’s Emerging Leaders Retreat. assistant and chapter members to plan a very successful event! Also in October, we had a Halloween party with the children at Clemson Child Development Center and began the preliminary planning for our annual Miss Clemson Pageant February 2. Emily Martin, President The University of Findlay President and First Lady Barker. This semester, our chapter has worked hard to promote ourselves on our campus. We hosted a corn hole event in late November for students to take a study break and win helpful study supplies for finals. We hosted a book drive for Reading is Leading during finals week and collected close to 100 books from our members alone! We are preparing to welcome Dating Doctor, David Coleman (Bowling Green State University, 1982) back to our campus for a third year in February. Our new member applications have been sent out and we are excited to select the next chapter here at the University of Findlay! Laura Nelson, President University of Hawaii The Hui Po’okela chapter is known for busy weeks! In October, we dedicated time giving back to our alma mater by working at the Free Garden at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. The garden grows papaya, bananas, and other plants that students and faculty can enjoy. Later in the week, members volunteered Drury University The Skiff chapter partnered with the Community Blood Center of the Ozarks to begin the semester with our annual blood drive. Our goal of 85 donors was surpassed with 106! Our executive board, along with Drury’s Leadership and Development Office, organized an Emerging Leaders Retreat for freshman and sophomore students. This one-day retreat focused on skills for use in future leadership positions and included team-building exercises and Mortar Board-member-led presentations on leadership, finance and communications. The chapter and the Leadership Development Office are planning a second retreat for senior students to prepare for “real life.” Amanda Combs, Director of Communications Chapter president Emily Martin with 6 Mortar Board Forum | Winter 2013

On Campus

Berea College The Alpha Sigma Chi chapter is at it again! Each fall, the president, first lady and members greet incoming freshmen by handing out ice cream at the President’s Ice Cream Social. Monica Leslie, Advisor California State University Channel Islands The Four Pillars chapter kicked off the year with members attending a fun BBQ at the chapter president’s home. Throughout the fall, the chapter was busy promoting Mortar Board on campus and building a firm chapter foundation that truly embodies the Ideals of scholarship, leadership and service. Members also participated in the campus involvement fair featuring various campus involvement opportunities. In the coming months, the chapter plans to be involved in The Campus Reading Celebration, the Children’s Reading Celebration and will be hosting a Faculty Appreciation Luncheon. We plan to see great things from each of our members throughout their time with Mortar Board and after graduation. Kevin VanCura, President Clemson University The Order of Athena chapter held its annual President’s 4.0 Drop-In event in October. Students who earned a 4.0 during the fall 2011 or spring 2012 were invited to a reception on President Barker’s lawn. Hors d’oeuvres were served, and guests were able to meet the president and first lady! Chapter vice president Emily Moore did a fantastic job coordinating with the president’s Assistant and chapter members to plan a very successful event! Also in October, we had a Halloween party with the children at Clemson Child Development Center and began the preliminary planning for our annual Miss Clemson Pageant February 2. Emily Martin, President The University of Findlay This semester, our chapter has worked hard to promote ourselves on our campus. We hosted a corn hole event in late November for students to take a study break and win helpful study supplies for finals. We hosted a book drive for Reading is Leading during finals week and collected close to 100 books from our members alone! We are preparing to welcome Dating Doctor, David Coleman (Bowling Green State University, 1982) back to our campus for a third year in February. Our new member applications have been sent out and we are excited to select the next chapter here at the University of Findlay! Laura Nelson, President University of Hawaii The Hui Po’okela chapter is known for busy weeks! In October, we dedicated time giving back to our alma mater by working at the Free Garden at the University of Hawai’i at Manoa. The garden grows papaya, bananas, and other plants that students and faculty can enjoy. Later in the week, members volunteered Time cheerleading and cleaning up at the walk for NAMI (National Alliance on Mental Illness) Hawai’i. Not done, on Sunday, members helped at the Honolulu PetWalk and also volunteered at the Zen Pet Massage booth, the Pet and Pet- Parent Photobooth, and managing parking for 3,000 pet-parent participants! Finally, the chapter ended its week recruiting at the Homecoming Fair. Members provided props and a photobooth for students to retrieve personalized Homecoming photos on our Facebook page. Caroline Amelse, President Lake Erie College The Laurel chapter has been making progress since the start of the semester. In October, we hosted a Mortar Board table at the Alumni/ Homecoming Tailgate at the Kiwanis Recreational Park prior to the football game. We received donations from alumni and hope to have them involved more in the chapter as the year goes on. The chapter also ran a book drive during November. Members collected books and raised funds to purchase new books for local charities! Sarah Wojciechowski, President University of Louisville Our chapter volunteered at the Douglas Community Center Rollout in September. The event allowed disabled members of the community to see many different sporting events available to them, including power soccer, basketball, rowing, and discus throwing. Many paralympians were there to give demonstrations of their skills, and observers were invited to participate after the demonstrations. Mortar Board members helped to set up and Clean up for the event, and we also helped pass out T-shirts to the participants. The event was a rewarding experience for the community members who attended and for us as well. Chelsea Vaal, Director of Communications Mississippi University for Women The Star and Scepter chapter decorated a Christmas tree at our campus as part of the university’s annual Festival of Trees. We used school supplies for decorations and then donated them to HEARTS, a children’s kindergarten K-8 home that emphasizes reading and helps to improve the grades of their students. Brandy Feltman, President University of Nebraska at Kearney The Xi Phi chapter has been busy brainstorming upcoming events, fundraisers and group activities for the fall semester! We greatly enjoyed “Booseum” at the Kearney Area Children’s Museum, where members dressed up in Halloween costumes and participated in a slime-making science project with children. In November, the chapter hosted a Faculty Appreciation Dinner and also set up a booth around Veterans Day for UNK students to write letters to troops. All 25 of our members are excited to participate in even more projects to promote our chapter and the Mortar Board Ideals of scholarship, leadership and service. Katie Swett, Director of Communications Ohio Wesleyan Our chapter has been busy with some exciting work! At the end of November, we raised money for Reading is Leading through the “Turkey for a Day” fundraiser. OWU students, faculty and staff donated in name of the faculty or staff member they wanted to see dressed up as a turkey for a day in honor of Thanksgiving. The lucky winner, Dr. Kyle Smith, wore the costume in his social psychology class and also in the Student Center, where Mortar Board gave a speech on the importance of Reading is Leading. We are looking to make this an annual event. Additionally, we had an ice cream social at the beginning of the year, and many of our members participated in Trick or Treat Street, where kids from, surrounding community get to trick or treat through the student residential facilities. Tammy Winkler, President San Diego State University The Jane K. Smith Cap and Gown chapter started off the year refreshed from the summer months and ready to get back into gear. In September, we volunteered at the Reality Changers’ College Festival. Reality Changers is committed to providing the means for youth in low-income areas to become first-generation College students. Members, sporting Mortar Board shirts, had conversations with children 10 years old to seniors in high school about the possibility of earning a college degree. The most gratifying moment came in an email we received from Reality Changers after the festival. The kids were asked to write feedback about the festival on a card. Many cards mentioned Mortar Board. The kids wrote about learning something new and wanting to go to college and join Mortar Board, too! If even only one child realized his or her dream because of us, the hot day of lifting tables and chugging water was more than worth it! Allison Gower, Director of Communications University of Arizona The Pi Sigma Alpha chapter has had a very busy semester! Besides consistently volunteering at Special Olympics events and elementary school reading programs, we also were active in campus Homecoming festivities. Mortar Board is in charge of selecting the top five Homecoming King candidates every year, so it was a blast hosting mixers and interviews and getting to know the remarkable candidates! We also held our annual Mortar Board Alumni Breakfast during Homecoming weekend. It was great to mingle with our alumni! Finally, we also hosted many social events, such as Mortar Board Thanksgiving, to strengthen Our bond as Mortar Boards. Our chapter is so thankful for the opportunities Mortar Board has given us, and we can’t wait to begin recruitment for the next Pi Sigma Alpha Mortar Board class next semester! Sarah Hamre, President University of Redlands The W.E.B.S. chapter is currently working on planning several of core activities for the year. In January, we will announce our 2012-2013 Professor of the Year award, which recognizes exceptional and innovative teaching at the university. In March, we will celebrate the chosen faculty members at our Professor of the Year High Table Dinner. During Mortar Board Week, we plan to set up a display case informing students about Mortar Board to raise awareness and recruit members for next year. The W. E.B.S. chapter is also working closely with Big Buddies, an oncampus mentoring program, to schedule an event where we can make bookmarks with children to encourage reading. We are also planning a book drive at one of our Free Krikorian nights, which allows students to see a movie at the local theater for free, asking students to bring a book to donate in order to receive a ticket. Jacqueline Yaeger, Director of Communications University of San Diego Alcalá Senior Honor chapter members are changemakers! At our Fall Retreat mid September, members discussed their role as changemakers. They reviewed the history of Mortar Board and concluded that Mortar Board members have always been changemakers! The discussion began because the University of San Diego has earned the rare distinction of being designated an Ashoka U Changemaker Campus–one of only 19 universities nationwide–and the first on the West Coast–to be awarded this special honor. Our enthusiasm for serving as changemakers led us to quickly gather for a group photo to mark the occasion! Glennie Leshen, Communications Director University of Tulsa The Senior Staff chapter has a strong presence on campus. The chapter was involved in several community service activities, fundraising events and educational talks during the fall semester. To fulfill “Reading is Leading” chapter minimum standard, members have taken turns reading in classrooms at a local elementary school. Members also volunteered at World Homeless Action Day in October, volunteered at the Tulsa Food Bank, mentored high school students wanting to attend college and sponsored a book drive on campus. Our main fundraising event was our 50/50 raffle. Tickets were sold during lunchtime in the Student Union. In addition, the chapter has partnered with a local florist to sell flowers during both fall and spring graduations. The Senior Staff chapter’s main event is the Last Lecture Series, and we hosted two of our four lectures during fall semester. Audrey Buxton, Historian Western New England During Homecoming Week, the Pynchon chapter got a start on fundraising for books to donate to elementary school students in our area. One important part of childhood reading is the imagination that it instills, and although we did not have storybooks, we gave out something that promotes imagination and creative minds. We sold coloring books, which came with crayons as well as bubbles. Each coloring book contained pictures of important parts of our campus as well as mazes and other kid-friendly activities. Children of alumni present at Homecoming had fun coloring while seeing where their parents spent their college years. On top of all of the great things that came directly from the coloring books, indirectly those sold earned money for the purchase of story books. This fundraiser was repeated at the Family and Friends Weekend on campus. Anneliese Lake, Historian University of South Alabama The Azalea chapter honored favorite faculty with our annual Top Prof banquet in November. Members and faculty alike look forward to receiving invitations for Top Prof. Each member was asked to select the professor who had influenced her or him the most, and were then able to honor each selection. With more than 115 in attendance, the University of South Alabama’s Faculty Clubhouse was full of excitement, joy, and a few happy tears as each member told all present what it truly means to be a Top Prof. Ashley M. Trinh, Communications Chair Drury University The Skiff chapter partnered with the Community Blood Center of the Ozarks to begin the semester with our annual blood drive. Our goal of 85 donors was surpassed with 106! Our executive board, along with Drury’s Leadership and Development Office, organized an Emerging Leaders Retreat for freshman and sophomore students. This one-day retreat focused on skills for use in future leadership positions and included team-building exercises and Mortar Board-member-led presentations on leadership, finance and communications. The chapter and the Leadership Development Office are planning a second retreat for senior students to prepare for “real life.” Amanda Combs, Director of Communications The Ohio State University The Mabel G. Freeman chapter has had a busy first semester! We hosted Dr. Mabel Freeman at our October meeting, where we learned about Mortar Board’s history at Ohio State. Our membership participation rates have been excellent and we have had socials at the Columbus Zoo, Lazer Kraze and the Columbus Greek Festival. So far, we have held a book drive for a developing school in Ghana, volunteered at the Clintonville Resource Center, and raised more than $1,700 for the chapter. Our application went live in November and is due in January. We are currently in first place in Association of Ohio State Class Honoraries tournament and are excited to kick off second semester! Ben Hemmelgarn, President

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