Finance Seminar

As Phi Theta Kappans, we have the tendency of taking the initiative whenever a dire issue presents itself, and... upon realizing the disastrous state of the economy due primarily to the lack of financial intelligence on the part of the citizens, we decided to take action. Action which not only addressed this socio-economic issue, but also nailed our Honors study topic ("The Paradox of Affluence: Choices, Challenges, and Consequences") right on the head. Furthermore, prior to the beginning of the semester we formulated an Honors study topic question which asked "Which is more true? a) Affluence breeds education in personal finance... or b) An education in personal finance breeds affluence". This finance seminar was somewhat of an experimental and discovery tool for the answer to these questions.
We invited a Bank of America representative (especially due to the fact that they are one of Phi Theta Kappa International's major sponsors) to speak to the student body on personal finance issues such as credit management and security, budgeting and financial planning for college students, saving, balancing accounts, and several other topics. Since the target audience was the entire student body, we had a decent turnout of non-Phi Theta Kappa students who were particularly enthused and grateful for the opportunity to gain outside financial knowledge.
We were also on point with our Phi Theta Kappa Operation Green initiation as we requested that the representative place particular emphasis on the elimination of excessive paper utilization through online banking.

The event was a success, and I was particular pleased with the vision and initiative behind the Finance Seminar. Our society needs a wave of financially stellar individuals who will lead a generation of recession-less living... it all starts here.

Habitat for Humanity

How awesome was being a construction worker for a day and building a house for a family?? It was beyond awesome... different...toiling, yet fun and ultimately fulfilling. We had a decent turnout of volunteers from our chapter, and even more people volunteered from the community to assist with the wall raising for the home. This volunteer outing was even more intrinsically beneficial due to the fact that the family who was going to actually occupy the home was on site. We even saw Mercedes Andrews (the soon to be owner of the home) walk through the newly raised, partially constructed doors of the house she will soon be living in.

My index finger is still not too happy, as I amateurishly introduced it to a steel headed hammer. Sorry finger, I did what I had to do for a good cause :(

The local Channel 13 News was also on site, and our project was featured on the local Channel 13 evening news... you can view the article and a video here....

http://www.cfnews13.com/News/Local/2009/11/14/muslims_christians_unite_to_put_roof_over_familys_head.html

A rather peculiar title but I guess that's just journalism at work.

I am happy we were given the opportunity to help someone realize their dream of owning a new home. It is a beautiful thing.

A self-consumed life is not worth living...

Second Harvest the sequel

Our second outing a Second Harvest was rather similar to the first one; however, this time we had twice as many volunteers and the Factory Floor Manager was not as belligerent. :) Our task was to arrange boxes of food for families in time for Thanksgiving, and since there were many efficiently working hands, we got the job done in a couple of hours.
I really appreciated the member turnout, especially due to the fact that we had to be there at 9am on a Saturday! A dedicated set of Phi Theta Kappans indeed.
Enjoy the crisp, professional looking pictures of the event below. :)

Induction

If I could ascribe the adjective of perfection, or near perfection to any event we have organized thus far, it would definitely be our Induction ceremony. Our Executive Board, along with a few volunteers planned and orchestrated the event practically all day to the best of our ability, and the results were pleasing to say the least. We had a very good turnout of parents, supporters, and Inductees alike... the ceremony itself went smoothly as we had thoroughly rehearsed. We had Valencia's Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Joyce Romano as the guest speaker, and she sure delivered with humor, wit, leadership encouragement, and empowerment. The Inductees took the Phi Theta Kappa society oath which officially welcomed them into our society to the obvious delight of their supporting families.

After the actual ceremony, we had catering from Tropical Smoothie... absolutely delicious! (especially the wraps, I had about 8 of them :)

To encourage the Inductees to hang around and enjoy the post-ceremony food and fellowship, we had a ticket drawing for a door prize of Phi Theta Kappa goodies (shirts, various memorabilia etc.).

The parents and well wishers were very pleased with the ceremony and very proud of the inductees. Snapshots... hugs, kisses and all.

The hard work of being there the entire day paid off in the end.

Congrats again Inductees!! Endless possibilities are now open for you. Welcome into our Phi Theta Kappa family :)

Pie-a-Professor

Yes, we actually did it... we pied the professor with the most nominations as promised! In the FACE! :)... Thanks to all of you who donated... I won't tire you with my incessant wordage, or my boorish adjectives and figures of speech, I'll just let the pictures speak for themselves.

Much Thanks to Brian Macon for offering his face... so we could pie it!! Muhaha








It was fun indeed... a fun fundraiser... I mean, you don't necessarily get to take out your frustrations or see those frustrations taken out by another for you on a professor everyday (confusing sentence). So it was pretty cool... and we raised some money for our chapter in the process. I say it was worth it :)

New Inductees

Member recruitment went relatively well given the fact that the recession has made us all miserly and students find it much more difficult to fork out a penny, much more eighty bucks. We practically achieved our recruitment goal, and we have our Official Induction ceremony coming up next Friday, November 6 at 7pm in Bldg 8.

Congratulations to all of our New Inductees, welcome to the Phi Theta Kappa family, and prepare to be blown away by the opportunites which will be made available. You have made a stellar investment into a much brighter future.

So come on out to our Induction ceremony and make it official... you have earned it and you deserve it. :)

Member-of-the-Month

We have selected our first Member-of-the-Month for the semester... and the winner is [drumroll please]... Mr. Hardeley Butler.

A deserving recipient indeed... Mr. Butler has practically participated in all our events, getting involved as the opportunity presents itself. For the month of September, he was ever-present with our chapter's endeavors: he volunteered for the Light the Night Lymphoma and Leukemia Awareness walk, he was present at all our Phi Theta Kappa Meetings, he assisted with Member Recruitment by manning our promotion table on campus in place of our officers, and he was present at our first Second Harvest Food Bank volunteer effort.

Hopefully all our members will make every attempt to get involved as much as Hardeley and our runner up Ann Gabele (She did a lot too... got slightly edged out). They are what thePhi Theta Kappa concept of service and leadership are all about... people who believe in activism and take the necessary steps to demonstrate it.

The winner received a free Phi Theta Kappa T-shirt, along with extra member points and recognition.

Congrats Hardeley!!