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In This Issue:

Race to Feed the Needy 1

H.E.R. Concert 2

Leading the Way 2

Empowering Children 3

Apocaleadership 3

Relay for Life 4

Remembering 9/11 4

Fellowship Summer 5

Finding Opportunities 5

Follow the Leader 6

Feeding the Future 6

Leaders in Training 6

Family Fun Day 7

World Book Night 7

Do you know how many people on your campus are hungry? Do you know how many people are uneducated about their health? On February 29th, our chapter worked with our

campus Student Government Association to put on a “Leap into Health Day”. Not only did we organize a 5K run to raise funds and collect canned food for our community food bank and pantry on campus, but we also accepted donations weeks prior to the event

around campus. We had no idea that the amount of students starving or struggling had such a strong and growing presence on our cam-pus. Several businesses donated prizes for the winners; gifts from GNC and Running Zone were provided among others. While we highlighted the importance of controlling and knowing your health and remaining active, we brought a growing, under-the-radar issue into the spotlight. The community really responded; the donations literally overflowed the pantry! Despite having such an overwhelm-ing response, the problem still exists. As we continue to battle hunger on our campus, we encourage every chapter to follow in our footsteps; some of your fellow Phi Theta Kappans could be strug-gling!

A Race to Feed the NeedyBy Alivia Dandurand - Alpha Alpha Kappa Chapter

September 15, 2012

CORRECTION to the July 2012 Issue:“A Food Revolution” on page 5 was written by Gabby Dublin

from the Alpha Alpha Kappa Chapter. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience.

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In an attempt to fulfill our individual goals, we tend to forget about the world. Thus, we become self-centered and unhappy, and our life, empty. This scenario perpetuates until we accept that we are human beings, part of a bigger group, a community that needs our time and efforts for the betterment of all its members. Until we realize this, it can be difficult to appreciate life. Joseph O’ Neil embodies this set of principles. Joseph is a dedicated leader who has been helping and influencing others to do right. As president of his chapter, he organized recruitment seminars and worked with orphanages and schools in the community. Joseph has not

Leading the Way – A Profile of Joseph O’NeilBy Louben Dorval - Omega Phi Chapter

always been that altruistic. He stated, “Prior to becoming a Phi Theta Kappan, my life selfishly revolved around myself and was not very fulfilling.” After joining the Omega Phi Chapter of Broward College, he understood that any problem can be solved when we help each other.

He became immersed in the community, learning and teaching day after day. The product of this experiment is a great leader who has won prestigious awards. He has realized he is an exemplary leader but promises to stay humble and focus on life.

Phi Theta Kappa-Mu Epsilon joined the S.A.I.D. student organization (Students Aiding International Development), the Student Government Association, and the HEAL Africa (a global non-profit organiza-tion), in hosting the H.E.R. (Heal, Empower, Rebuild) Concert for Congo. This charity event was held on March 30, 2012 at the MDC/Kendall Campus. The purpose was to “Heal, Empower, and Rebuild” the rape victims and their families in the Democratic Republic of Congo. The U.N. estimates that a stag-gering 200,000 women and children have been the victims of rape or sexual violence during the last 15 years. Through participation in this event, Mu Epsilon incorporated the four hallmarks of Phi Theta Kappa. The members of Mu Epsilon actively recruited stu-dents and the community to support the event

The H.E.R. Concert for the CongoA Party with a PurposeBy Aileen Meneses and Yannel Celestrin - Mu Epsilon Chapter

(leadership and fellowship), participated in seminars on critical global issues (scholarship), and sold food at the concert to fundraise (service). The numerous concert perform-ers, including the Jacob Jeffries Band, donated their

time to the cause. The student organizations offered to the hundreds of students and com-munity members in attendance a variety of food, games, and other fun activities, such as henna tat-toos, a dunking tank, and video

games using a Wii console. This successful collaborative event raised more than $20,000!

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Junior Achievement World has been helping to educate elementary and middle school children in Broward County since it opened in 2009 at Broward College’s North Campus. JA World’s goal is to teach children the importance of personal finance and home economics. The Omega Phi Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa on the North Campus of BC has been regularly volun-teering with JA World in an effort to fulfill its mission. Matt Turchiaro, an Omega Phi member, worked with smaller kids in the Comcast section at JA World. Matt said, “Economics and busi-ness are what they learn about. They focus on how they are intertwined and linked. Everyone needs to be in a

Empowering Children at JA WorldBy Renzo Burga - Omega Phi Chapter

cooperative and competitive mindset.” Fabiola Belami, another Omega Phi Member, worked with eighth grad-ers at Finance Park where each student is given a life scenario and is supposed to develop a budget based

on their income. She stated, “As a volunteer, I helped students do the math to help them figure out how they could better spend their money.” One benefit of PTK Omega Phi Chap-ter members working at JA world is that they receive various service hours every time they volunteer, which greatly

increases the likelihood of their receiving scholarship awards.

How often have you heard: “I like living in Flor-ida”? Exactly, but because of recent “apocalyptic events,” I’d say that more and more Floridians, maybe just young adults, are saying that they love living here. Remember the guy found eating another guy’s face in the news? Zombies in Miami?!?! Florida, represent! So what do zombies have to do with Florida Region PTK chapters? During one of our meetings we struggled to plan something fun for the fall semester. We found ourselves reminiscing about Regionals; remember the “Alien Abduction: A New Twist on Teamwork” hosted by Delta Omicron? We’ve decided to take advantage

Apocaleadership Workshops - Survive the Apocalypse!By Alivia Dandurand - Alpha Alpha Kappa Chapter

of this zombie incident and make our leadership work-shops for the fall correlate with the hype: the apoca-lypse! Through a series of workshops revolving around the madness, we will focus on strengthening teamwork and leadership skills chapter- and campus-wide. Par-ticipants will not only have to fight for survival, they will also have to save others along the way. I’d like to quote Dr. H. William Brands, an Honors Institute speaker, when he said, “The culture of competition is the same thing as the culture of cooperation.” After all, it is the year 2012. We are hoping that the theme will spark interest rather than anxiety!

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Phi Theta Kappa’s Mu Epsilon chapter participated in the American Cancer Society’s fundraising event to support cancer treatment and research. The “Relay for Life” event was held on March 23rd at Miami Dade College’s North Campus. The relay began with the Sur-

vivor Lap where all participating cancer survivors and patients completed one lap around the relay track. Later on in the evening, the Luminaria Ceremo-ny was held. During this special activity, people wrote on paper bags the names of their loved ones who are currently battling cancer, or who have succumbed to the disease, and the bags were placed around the track. Candles were then put inside the bags and lit for a pe-riod of contemplation and remembrance. While people walked laps, the student organizations held bake sales,

Relay for LifeBy Paul Vila - Mu Epsilon Chapter

To honor the upcoming anniversary of September 11th, our chapter is helping prepare a September 11th remembrance event. Four-foot flags will be displayed, one for each of the 2,977 people that lost their lives on that day. Not only will a flag be placed for each indi-vidual, but each flag will represent the nationality of each person that lost their life. This event was brought to life by our campus president, Dr. Kathleen Plinske,

Remembering 9/11By Daylyn Snyder - Alpha Phi Zeta Chapter

who was a part of a similar event that was done previ-ously at another college.

On September 11th, a ceremony will be held with all the flags in the background to remember all of the victims. Many of our local emergency response work-ers will be attending this ceremony as well as our stu-dents. We hope to continue to do this event yearly to commemorate the September 11th victims.

hula-hoop contests, and other fun activities. Mu Epsi-lon’s Vice President of Communication, Felix Contre-ras performed selections on his acoustic guitar. In 24 hours, fifteen student organizations, along with more than 150 volunteers, raised $3,500! Although this was the first “Relay for Life” event hosted at Miami-Dade College-North, the campus community looks forward to hosting other similar events.

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While the majority of college students are spending

their summer at the beach or on vacation, Kappa Nu was

hard at work promoting fellowship and hosting a fund-

raiser. Alpha Zeta Phi, from Santa Fe Community Col-

lege of Gainsville, Florida, joined our chapter in Ocala

Kappa Nu Takes On Fellowship This SummerBy Alexandria Beasley and Kelly Simms Graham - Kappa Nu Chapter

for a day of fun. Together, we spent our Saturday host-

ing a car wash and selling discount cards that included

coupons for local businesses. Kappa Nu hosted their

car wash at Advanced Auto Parts, which is one of the

businesses included on the discount card. All the funds

raised were donated to Tools for Teaching, our Honors

in Action Project for this school year. After the work

was finished,

Kappa Nu and

Alpha Zeta Phi

continued to en-

joy their fellow-

ship over some

frozen yogurt.

Students should always maximize their college educa-tion. A great place to start is through gaining knowledge of the opportunities offered at Broward College and Phi Theta Kappa. The Mu Mu chapter impacted the lives of over 2,000 incoming students by providing valuable information at the BC New Student Orientation. We as-sisted the campus Student Life office at the event by en-suring that students would establish a relationship with prospective PTK members and become active members while maintaining academic excellence. PTK members assisted the students by passing out bags, collecting/counting evaluation cards, and helping direct students to get their Student ID’s and Decals. Our Chapter’s VP

of Public Relations, Jessica Figueroa, assisted in writ-ing and producing the script for a well-received Student Ambassadors video.

This event is a great example of the types of opportu-nities in which we as honors students are encouraged to get involved in and network with other organizations. These events allow us to gain a well-rounded experi-ence while in college. Although academic excellence is expected from Phi Theta Kappans, we also strive to go above and beyond as we give back to our community. This is what makes a college student in PTK have a fulfilling experience.

Finding Opportunities at HomeBy Mu Mu Chapter

Melissa Brady, Steven Motely, Alexandria Beasley, Daniel Aiuto

David Durkee, Amber Gray, Alexandria Beasley, Daniel Aiuto

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On August 15, 2012, the Alpha Alpha Kappa chap-ter experienced how important it is to have food for our community’s children. Unfortunately, many children are forced to rely on school lunches for the bulk of their meals each week. While most children eagerly await the weekend, many dread the thought of going with little or no food for two days. The Children’s Hunger Project is an organization that aims to improve the lives of elementary school children by providing them with weekend backpacks filled with nutritious food when

Fun, fun, and training in the sun! The Valencia Col-lege PTK Advisors from all campuses hosted the annual Summer Retreat in Daytona Beach, FL on Friday, June 29th-Saturday, June 30th training the new and returning officers for their upcoming positions in the 2012-2013 year, and preparing for writing the Honors Study Topic. The two day weekend began with an ice breaker led by West Campus advisor Tullio Bushrui, who engaging all four chapters in fellowship. Later on students and advi-sors were given a PTK 101 lesson on what Phi Theta

On July 29, 2012, our Senator of Leadership hosted a team-building activity at Lake Parker Park. For this activity, Phi Theta Kappa members had to pair up and complete an obstacle course consisting of exercises like squats, jumping jacks, toe touches and even a quick game of patty cake. Sounds easy enough, right? Wrong. The twist was that each member completed the obstacle blindfolded as the other team member led them to each obstacle and explained what to do. While most teams chose to guide their partners by grabbing their arms or shoulders, our over achievers guided their partners sim-ply by word of mouth. Through this activity, we learned

Feeding the FutureBy - Alpha Alpha Kappa Chapter

school lunches won’t be an option. We were amazed not only by the amount of food that the organization was able to pack for the children, but by the kindness and determination of our fellow volunteers. The small rooms we worked in were full of people of all ages, from middle school to business professionals happily chatting, packing, organizing, and opening boxes. Af-ter hundreds of food trays for the night were wrapped together, everyone beamed at the sight of a room fully stocked and ready to deliver to kids that really needed it. Such an experience made our chapter even more de-termined to help our community through our Honors in Action Project.

Kappa was all about, what to expect from it, and what advisors and general members expect from this year’s officers for the 2012-2013 year. The chapters then broke out and played a Murder Mystery team building activ-ity, where each chapter had to quickly solve the mys-tery. After business the chapters went out on the town and experienced Daytona Beach Pier. The next day the chapters were back to business in the early A.M. with three different sessions. Even through busy business sessions, the officers and advisors all fellowshipped in the name of scholarship, service, and leadership in or-der to serve Valencia College with a memorable and successful 2012-2013 year.

Leaders in TrainingBy Chacoryia Burns - Chi Epsilon Chapter

Follow the Leader By Xi Pi Chapter

how to lead and trust one another, overcome fear, and cooperate as a team. At the end of the day, this was a fantastic team-building exercise that brought everyone “including our advisors” closer together.

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According to the Spina Bifida Association, spina bifida is the most common, permanently disabling birth defect in the United States. Spina bifida oc-curs when a baby is in the womb and the spinal col-umn does not close all of the way. Every day, about

eight babies born in the United States have spina bi-fida or a similar birth defect of the brain and spine. The cause is unknown, though scientists believe that genet-ic and environmental factors act together to cause the disorder. Upsilon Eta was honored to continue an over thirty year chapter tradition by hosting “Spina Bifida Family Fun Day” on August 18th at Florida State Col-lege. Officers, members and advisors volunteered for an extremely inspiring day. The moment the families

Spina Bifida Family Fun DayBy Upsilon Eta Chapter

from Spina Bifida of Jacksonville arrived the room was filled with smiles, hugs and laughter. The day started with healthy snacks, and then imaginations quickly ran wild as pottery was painted. While the kids painted, the parents shared stories as these group outings serve as an excellent support system. Everyone involved had a great time. As a chapter, we are truly inspired by these remarkable kids and we look forward to working with them in the future.

and appreciated these new additions to their library. We could see their dedication and keen interest in educa-tion. One of the teachers stressed his appreciation for our donation and told us how much the books would help their students. It was amazing to see young people that loved learning so much!

World Book NightBy Alpha Gamma Omega Chapter

As a part of our Honors in Action service project last year, we had collected $1,800 to donate ten Nook tablets to a few students of Evans High School, selected through an essay-writing competition. On the 28th of August 2012, a few of the officers from our chapter Al-pha Gamma Omega of Valencia College – East Cam-pus, along with our mascot Alex G. Otter, went to May-nard Evans High School to donate books to the school library. The books were graciously provided to us by the Barnes & Noble bookstore chain, as part of World Book Night. Upon our arrival at the school, the officers received a warm welcome. A few of the students were allowed to take a break from their classes so that they could accept the books on behalf of the school. Both the students and the teachers were extremely thrilled