he athenian - valencia...

August 2010 1

Check out your Florida Regional Website! www.flptk.org

LEADERSHIP CONFERENCESeptember 24-25, 2010

Stetson University, Deland, FL Hosted by Stetson’s Alumni Chapter and Alpha Delta Rho (Leader-

ship Chapter) LABOR DAY; CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE CLOSED

September 6DEADLINE TO REPORT RELAY FOR LIFE PARTICIPATION

September 15FRANK LANZA MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP

Application Deadline - October 15HONORS CASE STUDY CHALLENGE

Entry Deadline - November 1THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY; CENTER FOR EXCELLENCE

CLOSEDNovember 25-26

ALL-USA COMMUNITY COLLEGE ACADEMIC TEAMApplication deadline - December 1GUISTWHITE SCHOLARSHIP Application deadline - December 1

ADMINISTRATOR HALLMARK AWARDSEntry deadline - December 1

NOTA BENESubmission deadline - December 32010 PINNACLE AWARD

Deadline for reporting members - December 3 (Noon CT)FINAL 2010 FIVE STAR UPDATE FORM

Deadline for submitting- December 31

Members don’t forget to do your Five Star Competitive Edge!

my.ptk.org/edge

Planning to transfer? Go to CollegeFish.org

The AthenianDates to Remember

Florida Regional Honors Institute 2•

Homework Headquarters 3•

Stimulants for Studying 3•

Books for Africa 3•

It started with an idea…then things got hairy… 4•

Making an Impact at Lake Worth Beach 4•

From Florida with Love 5•

Service Hallmark Chapter 5•

Fundraising Splash in the Summer 6•

Inside this Issue...

2 August 2010


Honors in ActionThe Athenian

Chapter: Alpha Mu Upsilon, College: State College of Florida VeniceArticle Author: Jodi Johnson, President

Advisor: Stephanie Cook

On behalf of Alpha Mu Upsilon, I would like to send out a big Thank-You to everyone who attended our Regional Honor Institute. Your sup-port and enthusiasm made this a wonderful experience. We hope you enjoyed yourself as much as we did! A special thank-you goes out to our guest student speakers Joshua Ervin and Jessica Nisbett. We were honored to have you take part in our event!

FLORIDA REGIONAL HONORS INSTITUTESarasota

August 2010 3


ScholarshipThe Athenian

Homework HeadquartersChapter: Eta Nu Chapter

College: St. Petersburg CollegeArticle Author: Josh Ervin, President

Advisors: Steve Meier, Jessica Magnani Homework Headquarters is a website developed and maintained by Eta Nu to provide homework help our students by utilizing our members as tutors. It is unique because it is a project that can be accessed 24 hours a day, 7 days a week by any student who needs assistance in a specific subject. The chapter felt this service would be helpful in complementing the existing learning centers and other student services offered at St. Petersburg College. Once the idea was solidified, Eta Nu began the development stage where features and designs were developed in order to create a working website. We first presented the project to the Director of Student Life and Leadership. He then connected us with the Associate Provost for a meeting. Subsequent meetings were held with General Counsel, the Director of Learning Management Systems, and finally the Se-nior Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs. It took some time for these approvals, but our chapter’s perseverance encour-aged us to get the green light from the college. Our next step is to promote the site at the college level, working alongside college administrators to get a presence on all campuses with tutors from several clubs and organizations.

Chapter: Alpha Delta RhoCollege: Broward College

Article Author: Bazile Francois, VP of CommunicationsAdvisor: Barbara Evans Nightingale

Books for Africa is an organization that collects, sorts and ships new and used books to Africa; their goal is to end the book famine in that country. Learning more about what was going on in Africa really got our chapter more involved in helping to provide as many text books and reading books as possible. Always striving to bring the chapter together, we brought the idea to other clubs at our club council meeting. As word spread amongst the clubs, more and more students learned about what we were trying to do and with-in two months we collected 2,100 text books and reading books. In America, these books may be perceived as useless now that we are able to find everything we need on the internet. However, to thousands of students in Africa, a developing continent, the infra-structure is not always able to support the internet; these books are extremely valuable to people hungry for knowledge.

Books for Africa

Regional Officers

International Officers

Regional Coordinator: Connie LaMarca-Frankel, [email protected]

Executive Chapter - Xi Pi: Robert Gerber, [email protected]

Scholarship Chapter - Eta Nu: Joshua Ervin, [email protected]

Fellowship Chapter - Kappa Nu: Chad Mobley, [email protected]

Service Chapter - Alpha Xi Eta: Mark Lechak, [email protected]

Leadership Chapter - Alpha Delta Rho: Onaje LaMont, [email protected]

Regional Honors - Alpha Mu Epilson: Jodi Johnson, [email protected]

Awards Chapter - Alpha Zeta Epilson: Jessica Norris, [email protected]

Communications - Delta Omicron: Christina Plante, [email protected]

International President - Matthew Detweiler, [email protected]

Division I Vice President - David Seale, [email protected]

Division II Vice President - Jessica Nisbett, [email protected]

Division III Vice President - Natalie Myer, [email protected]

Division IV Vice President - Onjalai Flake, [email protected]

Stimulants to StudyingChapter: Pi Gamma

College: Florida CollegeArticle Author: Pi Gamma Chapter

Advisor: Mark Bingham

How can a small group of honor students contribute to the academ-ic atmosphere of an entire campus? By serving coffee and donuts, of course.Since Florida College is unique as a private residential college offer-ing the A.A. degree, the Pi Gamma chapter has the capability to pro-mote academic achievement among fellow students, most of who live on campus.Each semester, the College calendar includes an Exam Study Day between the final day of classes and the first day of exams. This past spring, Pi Gamma offered students complimentary coffee and donuts. Beginning at eight o’clock in the morning of Exam Study Day, we encourage fellow students to “Reward yourself for getting up early and make the most of Exam Study Day! Grab some energy and be ready to hit the books!”More than 10% of the student population, out of a total campus population of about 475, was served. While we can only hope that our morning “pick me up” made a world of difference in test scores, Pi Gamma is enjoying the sweet aftertaste of a successful event. We are planning to continue a new campus tradition that involves all four society hallmarks: scholarship, fellowship, leadership, and service.

4 August 2010


LeadershipThe Athenian

Making an impact at Lake Worth Beach

Chapter: Delta OmicronCollege: Palm Beach State College

Article Author: Donovan Ortega and Luana Goncalves, PresidentAdvisors: Joe Millas, Christine Bush

It’s eight AM on Saturday morning and Delta Omicron, the Palm Beach State College honor society, is trolling Lake Worth Beach with black garbage bags and picking up trash. Forty-five people came for the beach cleanup and they doggedly scoured the sand for litter. “We’re just trying to give back to the community today,” says John Carpino, “We’re finding mostly cigarette butts, plastic caps, and soda bottles.”After the beach clean up Phi Theta Kappa joined forces with various groups such as Greenpeace, the Sierra Club and Compass for Hands Across the Sands, a joining of hands across the beach in a peaceful demonstration on off shore drilling. Faith Proper, newly appointed Student Trustee and Phi Theta Kappa officer, sits underneath the pavilion and eats with her fellow honor students. She looks over the crowd pleased, because not only is the Lake Worth campus represented, but students from Palm Beach Gardens campus, Alpha Gamma Sigma, and Boca Raton campus, Al-pha Delta Iota, have made the trek as well. “I’m very excited for this upcoming year, we have a chance to get more networking between the campuses and events like these are a great opportunity to get to know people from all over Palm Beach County,” said Proper.On the beach the line of people stretches to the north and south of the pier, a dramatic and symbolic showing of unity made more poi-gnant with the oil that is gushing into the Gulf of Mexico. “I think all students have more power than they realize and when you take the time to partner up with others in the community who have the same goals, you’re going to be able effect some level of change,” said Proper.

Chapter: Upsilon Eta College: Florida State College at Jacksonville

Article Author: Sara Maginnis, VP of ScholarshipAdvisors: Mary James, Lisa Westberry

Upsilon Eta’s new officers wanted to make a strong statement right away. Trash clean-up was already a staple in the chapter’s sched-ule; bake sales seemed tame. Then an epiphany: help clean up the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico. It’s an environmental disaster that affects our entire state. Chemical dispersants are costly and create additional problems for the ecosystem. Absorbents make more sense, and hair, a natural alternative, has the ability to absorb up to six times its weight in oil. It was an inexpensive way for Upsilon Eta to take part in the clean-up effort. After adopting the idea, the “Show You Care, Share Your Hair” Drive came together in a matter of days. Flyers were created and mem-bers distributed them to local salons, pet groomers, and schools asking for the donation of any kind of natural hair. Upsilon Eta was able to gather 19 full boxes of hair to send to The Matter of Trust Organization. But Upsilon Eta is not going to stop there. The new officers have brought a renewed sense of service to the chapter; the hair drive is the first of many great projects planned to assist their community and state.

“It started with an idea… then things got hairy…”

August 2010 5


ServiceThe Athenian

From Florida with Love

Chapter: Alpha Zeta EpsilonCollege: Pasco-Hernando Community College

Article Author: Jessica Norris - Regional OfficerAdvisor: Connie LaMarca-Frankel

This past April, the members of Alpha Zeta Epsilon decided to pro-mote Operation Shoebox for a second time and raise awareness to support our troops. We collected items to send overseas. We titled our project “From Florida with Love.” We set up tables and tents with patriotic balloons and table runners. We handed out refreshments and gave a list of the items we were collecting to everyone who came. We encouraged students to also write a brief note of encouragement or provide a signature on a card that would be placed in the boxes we would be shipping. For those who were not aware of what Opera-tion Shoebox was, we explained that we were not collecting shoes, but rather snacks, toiletries and other items. We ended up collecting enough items to fill seven flat rate shipping boxes and in each box, we placed a huge card, filled with signatures and words of encourage-ment, with “From Florida with Love” scrawled across the front cover. Because of this project, we gave the soldiers who would receive these gifts a more personal message; that we, Alpha Zeta Epsilon and the students at Pasco-Hernando Community College, care and appreciate them and their dedication to our country.

Members don’t forget to do your Five Star Competitive Edge! my.ptk.org/edge

SERVICE HALLMARK CHAPTERALPHA XI ETA

REGIONAL SERVICE PROJECT

Like many Phi Theta Kappa chapters, Alpha Xi Eta has worked to develop a reputation for service in the commu-nity. When we learned from a guest speaker about the needs of the orphan children in Kaoma, Zambia, we real-ized that this was an opportunity for us to extend service to the global level. Working through the W.I.S.E. organization (http://www.wisezambia.org/) we were able to sponsor an orphan for a year. Thanks to your support at the last Re-gional convention, we were able to sponsor a second child. Additionally, one of our advisors recently traveled to Zam-bia providing firsthand knowledge of the physical needs of the orphan children. In Zambia, the average education stops at seventh grade. Most women are not allowed to own property and an es-timated 20% of children under the age of 17 are orphans, often due to AIDS. As the Florida Regional Service Chapter, we would like to implement support of the Kaoma Orphan-age. We have the ability to make a huge impact on the lives of these children. As Phi Theta Kappa members, we know the value of an education; by helping provide these children with an education, they can become leaders who can make improvements in their own communities. Please take our challenge to sponsor a child. You may want to partner with other chapters for sponsorship of a young child for a year at $360.00 or provide funding for a high school student to receive tuition and supplies for a year at $250.00. More information and additional ideas will be provided at the Florida Leadership Conference for imple-mentation of Project Zambia. If you have questions, feel free to contact Mark Lechak, [email protected].

6 August 2010


FellowshipThe Athenian

Fundraising Splash in the Summer

Chapter: Omega PhiCollege: Broward College

Article Author: Claudia Pongo, Vice PresidentAdvisor: Maria Hills

In the midst of high temperatures and rainy afternoons, a remark-able event took place on the North Campus of Broward College. With several weeks of organization and a clear sole purpose, the Omega Phi Chapter pulled off a fundraising event on July 12 that raised over a hundred dollars and unite five Student Organizations: Student Government, Sigma Kappa Delta, DECA, The Science Club, and Phi Theta Kappa. Ronald Bray, the current President of the Omega Phi Chapter, want-ed to throw a Game and BBQ event for the children of the SOS Chil-dren’s Village, but there weren’t any funds to buy the food and drinks for this event. Inspired by his own child, Ron contacted professors and administrators to volunteer for a fundraising event that involved them getting into a dunk tank. With the great collaboration of both Dr. Tunks, who wrote posters and got dunked by hungry students, and different organizations, Ronald and the Omega Phi Chapter suc-cessfully raised $174 that will cover the expenses of “The Game and BBQ Day for SOS Children’s Village” on August 28, 2010.

Members don’t forget to do your Five Star Competitive Edge!

my.ptk.org/edge

Planning to transfer? Go to CollegeFish.org

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