My First Trip This Semester ~ Jeremy Mathis

            Hello, this is your Division IV International Vice President, Jeremy Mathis. Last month on September 16 and 17, I had the privilege of attending the Colorado Region’s Fall Leadership Conference in Fort Collins, Colorado. Colorado is my home region and I was very excited to see what they had in store for everyone.

I had a great time playing People Bingo, and meeting all the new members while trying to figure out who was born in the same month as I was and who could recite the alphabet backwards. We ended the weekend with a version of the game Scategories, which they called Phi Theta Kappagories. For this game, the Co-host Chapter made a list of categories that were inspired by the issues in the Honors Program Guide. They rolled the big 26-sided dice and each team had 5 minutes to come up with a word that corresponded with the category that started with the letter from the dice. It was very creative and lots of fun. This weekend, however, was not all games. We were thoroughly educated by the Colorado Region’s V.P. of Communication on how plan and write Honors in Action project essay. The Colorado Regional Vice President did an excellent job in educating everyone on the rubrics for the College Project, and the Colorado Region’s President spoke on properly researching the Honors Study Topic in order to determine your Honors In Action project.

The Regional Team also invited some prestigious guests to speak at their conference. Jared Lish, the Area Coordinator for the Health Professional/Law/Graduate Student On-Campus Living Experience at Nova Southeastern University, spoke in length on directions in leadership and the various effective leadership styles. Then for lunch, they held their first etiquette luncheon and invited Marie Hornback of H.M.S. Protocol & Etiquette Training in Windsor, Colorado. Ms. Hornback gave a marvelous presentation over the various forms of etiquette for a formal dining experience.

I had a wonderful time attending the Colorado Region’s Fall Leadership Conference. I cannot wait to be back on March 2^nd and 3^rd for their Spring Conference, where they will elect new regional officers and present the regional awards. Their region’s website is www.ptkcolorado.org. My second trip was to the Nebraska/Wyoming Region...stay tuned for my next blog entry and entries from the other I.O. Team. 

:-)