Here's to a Great Year!!

Phi Theta Kappa, YOU DID IT! Thank you to everyone who donated to the Oberndorf challenge. Thanks to your generosity, on Saturday, April 14th during the convention, we hit our goal or raising $125,000.00 and the Oberndorf family matched us dollar for dollar. We now have $250,000.00 to endow this scholarship. But wait, there's more... The Oberndorfs have challenged us again. Raise another $125,000.00 and they will match us again, making our endowment $500,000.00. Hold on, there's still more... Due to the fact that even after a year of collecting interest on $250,000 there will not be enough to award enough Lifeline scholarships next year, Mr. and Mrs. Oberndorf have given us another $25,000.00 to enable Phi Theta Kappa to award ten $2,500 Lifeline to Completion Scholarships in 2013. So let's keep the momentum going with our fundraising.

Let's not forget those who helped us achieve our first matching challenge: GEICO is giving $10,000 if we get more quotes at www.ptk.org/geico , Wes Moore and his wife gave $10,000, many chapters and regions made pledges to give money soon to help meet the first challenge, hundreds (probably thousands) of you donated at convention and received a convention pin for your donation, and the Phi Theta Kappa Board of Directors stepped in and helped us out as well. Thanks again to everyone who donated.

If you were not able to make it to the convention, we missed you dearly! Here are some videos of what went on (they will play in order):




We had a record year. Phi Theta Kappa hit record numbers in recruitment and it showed when we had over 4000 members, over 700 advisors, and dozens of alumni, the most in all categories that Phi Theta Kappa has ever had in attendance at a convention. Congratulations!!!

Our speakers, Amy Chua and Malcolm Gladwell were amazing. We also heard from our Executive Director, Dr. Rod Risley, our International President, Tameka Wilson, Isa Adney who spoke at the ACA meeting, and Jon Acuff who spoke at the Academy.

Finally, congratulations to our 2012-2013 International Officer Team.
Ryan Palmore - President
Casey Romero-Tobia - Div I V.P.
Ryan Lake - Div II V.P.
Anthony Ames - Div III V.P.
Gail San Diego - Div IV V.P.

. . . we can't wait to here what you are doing and planning.

                      Incomming PTKIOTeam -----<Rod>----- Outgoing PTKIOTeam            

The Oberndorf Challenge

In 2009, at the Annual Convention in Grapevine, TX, Phi Theta Kappa answered the challenge to raise Money for the Hites Scholarship. In this video, at 2 minutes and 29 seconds, you see the big check representing the money raised just for the Hites Challenge.

We are here in Nashville, TN three years later trying to do something very similar. Thank you to everyone who has donated so far. We have already raised over $30,000 for the Oberndorf Challenge, but we still need your help. Please remember to continue supporting the Oberndorf Lifeline to Completion Scholarship Challenge. 


We will continue to maintain the site on www.causes.com/lifelinetocompletion, and you can still make a $10 donation by texting GIVEPTK to 50555 and responding yes. 


While in Tennessee, you, your chapter, or your region can donate money or pledge to donate to the Oberndorf scholarship at a time in the near future, AND purchasing a convention pin will add to the fundraising efforts.  Also, before this Friday, April 14, visit www.ptk.org/geico and get a free (no-obligation) quote and Geico will donate $10,000.00 to the Oberndorf Challenge if we get 2,012 quotes. PLUS, your Phi Theta Kappa region could win some cash. Please take a moment to go online and get a quote, but also try and share this information on how others can support our efforts without spending money out of their own pockets. Whether you are attending the Annual Convention or not, you can be a part Phi Theta Kappa history by helping us reach our goal of $125,000 for the completion scholarship. Who knows, you may find that you can save some money on auto or renter's insurance and then have a little extra cash to text in your vote ;-) wink wink. 


We hope you have a great time at the 94th Annual Convention in Nashville.


 Here are some more videos related to the Oberndorf Lifeline to Completion Scholarship and C4. 

. . . just for fun, here is another video the IO's did during our first trip to the Center for Excellence

Parting Words from the 2011-2012 Division IV V.P. Jeremy Mathis

This is where it all started for me. I had just started my first semester of college in the spring of 2008, and I was working toward my Associate of Applied Science degree in Radio and Television (Telecomm Production). The school was hosting Information Day and the RTV students had a booth to recruit high school seniors to our program. As I came in to the atrium to take my spot at the end of a long table I passed this at the other end. 

The person on the far right is Jennifer. She worked with me in the school records office. I saw her with her medallion and I asked her what she had won. She was the Public Relations Officer for the Alpha Gamma Alpha chapter, I learned. She graduated that spring and over the summer semester I took her place as the *P.R. Officer. 

Here is a photo of me at my induction ceremony. 

This is me and the other chapter officers during my first travel experience with Phi Theta Kappa. It was the very first Colorado Region’s Officer Boot-camp.

This is me getting sworn in as the 2010-11 Colorado Regional V.P.

Here is me a year later, swearing in my chapter president as the 2011-12 Colorado V.P.

A month later, here is Onjalai swearing me in as the 2011-12 Div. IV V.P.

What has Phi Theta Kappa done for me? I was only going to get my AAS and then get a job. Now I am transferring to Colorado State. Guess what I am studying . . . *public relations. I am also studying for the LSAT. That is something that I would have never even thought would be possible for me. Phi Theta Kappa has given me many other things, but the most important thing is friendship. I don’t think that this blog’s server has enough room to upload all the pictures of me with my new friends. Even uploading photos of me and my best friends would require a few pictures because we are rarely all in the same location at the same time.

One of the ways I have been able to make new friends is through travel. In some of my previous blogs I mentioned the travel I did in the fall of 2011. This spring I was asked to attend two regional conventions. The first was the Arizona Region, and the second was the Nevada/California Region. I wish I had the time to write about all the fun that I had during these trips—there was just so much! Spring is such a wonderful time for Phi Theta Kappa regional conventions. It makes me wish that I could have travelled to the rest of the regions in Division IV.  I did get to watch several students take on the challenge and responsibility of becoming new regional leaders, and to them I would like to say congratulations!  Through it all, I know the connections and friends I have made will extend through the rest of my life and well in to my professional career.

Here is me and the current and previous Arizona Regional Officers.

Here I am with the group of Regional Officers from the NV/CA Region.

Before I send my final salutations in my final individual blog as an International Officer, I want to inform you about one other opportunity I had. Also, you will learn about a great resource for you and your fellow students. If you read one of my previous blogs, you know that I attended the NCSD Annual Convention and helped Dr. Risely and our Phi Theta Kappa Deans give a presentation on C4. That presentation was nominated for an NCSD award and won. However, something else happened while I was there. I met a Phi Theta Kappa Alumnus named Isa Adney. She was a recipient of a $110,000.00 Jack Kent Cooke scholarship. She was also writing a book. Her book was released on March 15, 2012 and you can buy it on Amazon.com. It’s called Community College Success: How to Finish with Friends, Scholarships, and the Career of Your Dreams. Here is where I bring it back to my point. Because of Phi Theta Kappa, I had the opportunity to meet her and we later connected on Facebook. Since her book is about student success, she reached out to community college students to answer a questionnaire. I was one of the students she chose to quote in her book. I don’t want to give away any details because I want you to see it for yourself. Here is her Facebook page www.facebook.com//ccsuccess

So this concludes my last blog. Thank you all again for allowing me to serve as your Division IV Vice President this past year, and I hope you will come back to this blog as the new 2012-2013 International Officers post blogs here.

Sincerely,

Jeremy L. Mathis