Alpha Theta Phi Chapter - Phi Theta Kappa - LaGuardia Community College

by Marie Brewer Recently, five members of the Alpha Theta Phi officer team attended the NY Region Honors in Action/Leadership Conference at Suffolk County Community College (SCCC). We had three jam-packed days of speakers, seminars, and even some fun activities to keep us going. There were numerous opportunities for fellowship and connections with neighboring chapters were made. After we arrived on Friday, we headed right to SCCC for registration and the first general session and opening keynote speaker. Opening the first general session was NY Regional President, Amie Bernstein. She took the podium confidently and introduced the other regional officers. Soon came roll-call (which I am told is very exciting at the International Convention!) where each chapter is announced and someone (in this case me) stands up to share how many officers, members, and advisors are in attendance. During her introduction, Amie spoke briefly about the Honors Study Topic, “Frontiers and The Spirit of...

                                                                                                  by Rachel Chambers Being an active member of Phi Theta Kappa comes with a lot of benefits and one of those in particular is having an opportunity to attend different conferences or County, Long Island at the Suffolk County Community College Ammerman campus. conventions. This year, the New York Regional Conference was held in Suffolk hear a name like that you think it has numerous obstacle courses, tons of sweat One of the most informative but relaxing events was The Amazing Race. When you order to engage with other members of PTK and socialize as we should. The race and physical exercise. Funny enough, that was just only a small p...

                                                                                                                                  by  Elizabeth Reddy Over the weekend of October 15-17, our chapter officers of Phi Theta Kappa at LaGuardia Community College, Alpha Theta Phi, attended a conference at the Selden, NY campus of Suffolk County Community College. There were several events for us to partake in such as general sessions involving keynote speakers, fellowship events like visiting the SCCC planetarium, and a college transfer fair with a scavenger hunt included. The college transfer fair is not always an easy event to maneuver. For us students, we can be...

by Peter Kim Sometimes troublemakers appear in meetings and other social events. What should a chapter officer do in this situation? It is inevitable that will confront a troublemaker on some occasion. Are you going to fight with them? After attending an educational forum at the PTK International Conference on this issue, I have some ideas to help you.  What do I mean when I refer to individuals as troublemakers? An officer, who was elected but didn’t do anything during their term or a person who promised to do work but is always making excuses and being undependable are common types of trouble makers. Most people feel uncomfortable confronting strangers and don’t know where to begin because lack of skill can make a situation worse. Therefore, a willingness to take action or start talking is the hardest part of   confronting a troublemaker. Once you decide to take action then the following tips will help you. First, there is a power dynamic in every social relationsh...

by Peter Kim I believe every chapter officer wants to make their chapter strong and be competitive with other chapters.  I’m hoping that these tips will help you create a stronger chapter. General meetings are a way to communicate with members, and a perfect moment to explain chapter goals to fellow members. Now, how can you get more members or students to come to meetings?  Make the meeting time as convenient as possible and keep the meeting time consistent. Do not change the meeting time often, that will confuse students so a fewer number of students will appear. Set the general meeting agenda so that it is relevant to students’ needs such as providing transfer information or scholarship information with actual recipients’ stories. This will attract more members to attend the meetings. The Chapter needs to encourage more members to volunteer on the HIA and College Projects. If more members become involved in chapter activities, more information and ideas will be sha...

by Christian Glatz “Earth is the cradle of mankind, but one cannot live in the cradle forever” (Konstantin Tsiolkovsky).  We are destined to explore, when you observe a toddler the one thing he wants to do more than anything is crawl and go off to the unknown… and place anything he finds in his mouth, but I digress. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration was established on July 29, 1958. NASA’s main purpose is to conduct aeronautics and aerospace research, focused on better understanding Earth through space. During the Nerd Nation convention I attended an Educational Forum headed by NASA’s Director of safety and Mission Assurance from the Kennedy Space Center, he gave us a first-hand look at the risks and rewards of exploring celestial frontiers. So, have you ever thought “What does NASA do for me?” Well, do you like your polarized sun glasses? Or your cellphone? How about using GPS to navigate while driving? Or have you ever used Velcro??. In order for humans...

by Heebeom Yang As a future graduate student, I want to plan my future educational journey. This is why I attended the Top Transfer Tips education forum at the PTK International Convention in Orlando, Florida. This forum explained how to carry the success I have found at my two-year college with me as I transfer to my four-year college. Different people have different goals to achieve during their educational journey. It is true that two-year colleges act as a stepping-stone to a four-year college and a bachelor’s degree. If we want to take this path, we should make our plans ahead of time and ask questions to four-year college advisors because each college has its own requirements. The most important thing we can do to make the transfer process run smoothly is plan ahead. For example, Cornell University College of Agriculture and Life Sciences requires their transfer students to take Statistics, Calculus 1 and English composition. Also, they have an optional requirement to...