Author Archive: ZacVPSA

Feedback for the National Council

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Happy New Year Brothers!

I am excited to announce that you can now submit feedback to the National Council in a fast and easy way. Currently it is via a google form found here. Going forward we will be working to integrate it into the national website. As our annual Winter Council Meeting is happening in a week, now would be a great time to submit any questions, comments, or concerns you have for the Council’s review.

Are you curious about the status of the Membership Education Curriculum Pilot program? Maybe you want more information on the upcoming National Convention? Is there a recurring question regarding the National Constitution that is vexing your chapter? These are all examples of items that could be submitted.

While the form asks for identifying information like name, chapter, and email, the only required field is your question, comment, or concern. This is another way the Council is looking forward to hearing back from you, our Brothers!

AEA,

Zac Humphrey
Vice President for Student Affairs

Student Advisory Committee November 2016 Report

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Brothers,

Below you will find an outline of what took place during the November Student Advisory Committee meeting on November 6, 2016. Kylie Wolfe and Shanon Rubin of the NED took notes for the meeting. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. You can reach me at zac@kkpsi.org or the whole committee at StudentAdvisory@kkpsi.org.

Keep Striving!
Zac

—November SAC – Minutes 11/6/2016—

  • Introduction/Attendance
    • Midwest: no representative
    • North Central: Jeric Tumang – President & Abigail Johnson – VPM
    • Northeast: Kylie Wolfe – President & Shanon Rubin – VP
    • Southeast: no representative
    • Southwest: George Ishii – President
    • Western: Si Si Ni – Secretary/Treasurer
  • District Updates
    • Midwest: n/a
    • North Central: Jeric reported that their next district event takes place January 21st. The district council is currently working on the district publication, the Arpeggio. The council will be conducting a survey about what keeps brothers from attending district functions as well as what gets them to come to events. Abigail also shared that she is starting a VPM blog.
    • North East: Kylie reported that they had their first District Day-EA (get it? AEA, lol) and the theme was leadership. The goal of this program is to encourage chapters to post their activites on social media that will ultimately help form the district scrapbook. Each day will center around a different pillar of the fraternity and will help play a thematic role in district convention. Currently, the council is working on their district convention schedule. Shanon has been working with the district VPMs, setting up one-on-one video chat sessions.
    • Southeast: n/a
    • Southwest: George reported that there wasn’t really anything new to report since our previous month’s meeting had been moved so close to this one.
    • Western: Si Si reported that the joint councils had selected a location for the Western District Leadership Conference in January and that announcement is forthcoming. The officers are finishing up their presentations for that and have begun planning for district convention in Boise, ID.
  • SAC Topic #1: What are the district officers looking for from the national council in planning their conventions?
    • Who’s coming to them?
      • Zac: Jack is waiting on the finalization of the dates as at the time of the meeting, the NED was still figuring their location out due to leaving convention without a host.
    • How can we use national council members?
      • Zac: they can be used as workshop presenters, committee advisors, general meet and greet type folks, reading band conductors. The national council members can be as involved or uninvolved as you want them to be. Once the assignments go outreach out to the members who are assigned and get specific with them.
    • Si Si asked about corporate donations to help cut costs for events in general. Zac shared that when he was district president, he worked out a deal with Sam Pilafian where since Sam was affiliated with Jupiter Music, they were able to cover some of the cost for him to come and do a breathing gym workshop and help out with reading band. But with donations of any kind, it is always good to check with national headquarters to make sure no one violates the fraternity’s 501c3 standing.
    • Zac shared that the only explicit requests from the national council at this time was to schedule time for the town hall and also some time for the curriculum development committee.
    • George asked about whether the national level had any plans to encourage brothers to go to national convention. Zac explained that other than the publicity materials that headquarters creates, there isn’t any actual program that does this. Zac shared so ways for the district councils to encourage their brothers to start saving for national convention in Florida and also shared some ideas, such as chartering buses like Texas A & M – Commerce did for the Lexington convention.
  • National Council Updates
    • The colonies at University of Texas – El Paso and Alabama A&M are going to be installed in the coming weeks.
    • The Month of Musicianship is in full swing and people are sharing their activities on social media. The fraternity is also sharing multiple times a day a variety of posts relating to musicianship and the fraternity. Make sure to take a listen to the kickoff podcast!
    • Upcoming podcast features student award winners!
  • District Feedback/Concerns
    • The Western District feels a bit stagnant in the way the host their DLC and asked for some advice on how to spice it up as it is largely an event that is predominantly attended by new members.
      • Some of the suggestions from the members in attendance:
        • Utilize social media and promote it in new ways
        • promote new ideas, come up with new formats and structures, make it fun, don’t be afraid of using gimmicks to hype it up
      • They did ask about national council participation, but due to it being the same weekend as the national council winter meeting, this was unfortunately unlikely.
  • Announcements and Wrap up
    • Keep encouraging participation in the Month of Musicianship
    • The Pennsylvania higher education strike didn’t have a huge impact of chapter activities.
    • Deadlines are quickly approaching for the Fall Activity Report! (hint: it’s December 1st!)
    • Encourage your chapters to get their candidate forms and dues in within 30 days of initiation to avoid a late fees!

Student Advisory Committee October 2016 Report

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Brothers,

Below you will find an outline of what took place during the October Student Advisory Committee meeting on October 28, 2016. Abigail Johnson, from the NCD, took notes for the meeting. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. You can reach me at zac@kkpsi.org or the whole committee at StudentAdvisory@kkpsi.org.

Keep Striving!
Zac

—October SAC – Minutes 10/28/2016—

  • Introduction/Attendance
    • Midwest: no representative
    • North Central: Abigail Johnson – VPM
    • Northeast: Shanon Rubin – VP
    • Southeast: no representative
    • Southwest: George Ishii – President
    • Western: Si Si Ni – Secretary/Treasurer
  • District Updates
    • Midwest: n/a
    • North Central: The NCD successfully hosted Membership Education Retreat, which is the first district event of the academic year. They flew in Jessica Lee to present. They are about to release new Arpeggio publication. Abigail is in the process of meeting with VPM’s and convention plan is coming along. They are now starting to get into planning spring district events.
    • North East: Shanon is Skyping 1-on-1 with VPM’s in the district and setting up times to Skype with MC classes post-2nd degree. He reported that they are not sure about Convention (in the hands of governors and counselors), and that there is a Pennsylvania University system-wide faculty strike. Member at Large is starting theme days next week (first one is leadership) for chapters to organize events pertaining to certain pillars
    • Southeast: n/a
    • Southwest: George reported that convention plan’s are coming together. Now they are taking up submissions for New Alto (publication). They are also working on plans for district service project and fundraiser.
    • Western: Si Si reported that DLC is quickly coming up. They are meeting regularly as a joint council. The joint vision is focusing on leadership stories when they are planning for convention. The District Presidents are meeting to finalize State Days dates, the VPM is meeting VP’s. Working on Southwest Airlines proposal: For every dollar spent by brothers on SW Air, they get 50 points instead of 1 or 2.
  • SAC Topic #1: Month of Musicianship (MoM), pros and cons, what would you like to see out of this national push?
    • Marco joined the conversation for the discussion re: Month of Musicianship.
    • Still have work to do as a fraternity to make Month of Musicianship part of peoples’ minds and lives for November.
    • Goal is for November to be part of the chapter’s culture, something you’re thinking about and excited about.
    • Program started under Derrick Mills as VPP (2005-2007), last year’s participation was really good.
    • Suggestions:
      • Examples of things chapters have sent in before, not just suggestions but actual past submissions.
      • Not quite sure what they’re looking for (community vs. university, what types of things to send in, etc.).
      • What would be the difference between normal chapter musical activities and MoM participation?
      • Highlights reel or feed or something as a daily update/reminder to keep it in people’s minds. Part of making it part of the culture.
      • What does the wrap-up look like, where do we go, what did we learn? Is a bigger questions than can be answered at the end of one month. Want to make it a little more year-round and cultural than an event with an end date.
      • A hashtag would be cool
    • Marco
      • It’s not like turning in an MEP or giving a grade, it’s not mandatory. “What makes this special” is a really good point. MoM started as recognition that for the majority of chapters, musicianship focus was not the norm.
      • Hashtag: #MonthofMusicianship or #NationalMonthofMusicianship
      • The difference between music and musicianship is something nationals talks about a lot – focusing not only on individual musicality but also awareness and appreciation and how you spread that love of music to others.
      • Want to raise awareness of different possibilities for musicianship (chapters utilizing recitals, etc.) and development outside of band class.
    • Zac
      • MoM also evolved as a way to share before social media made that so much more possible. Opportunity to share the great things they’re already doing. Participating in a conversation. “Like an extended twitter chat but in real life”
  • National Council Updates
    • Zac wants DO’s to have an opportunity to take some ownership over, responsibility for, and contribute to the organization through this Committee
      • Want to do things to make our voices heard and give opportunities to share experiences and knowledge and enthusiasm
      • Excited about Podcasts, 1300 downloads, wants them to continue evolving.
    • Marco working on website and MoM
    • Evan has been working with chapters who are piloting the new MEP’s, colony investigation stuff
    • Jack has been planning for NatCon, working with hq on a bunch of things
    • HQ is being rented out by the city of Stillwater to be part of their holiday train tour
  • District Feedback/Concerns
    • Would it be possible to promote the website more? A lot of people don’t know what’s on there or how to find it.
    • Marco has been working with Robert at HQ on the updating the website and ways to promote it.
    • Si Si had a question for the rest of the officers as well as the national council. Professors have office hours. She is thinking about posting a link to a Google hangout during the hour before meetings so she can have open communication with brothers, it would be good for accountability and making officers seem less intimidating.
  • Announcements and Wrap up
    • Month of musicianship is coming
    • Try to share MoM conversation with other officers and with your chapters
    • Sending out Doodle Poll for next month’s meeting
    • Encourage everyone to fill it out!

What’s the National Council Up To?

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Brothers of Kappa Kappa Psi,

Before I get into my National Council update, the Chapter Personnel Report is due in a few days, September 30th. Be sure you have it and dues submitted by then if you don’t want your chapter to incur a late fee! Call HQ with any questions you have, as they are ready and willing to help you in any way they can. They can be reached at 405-372-2333. HQ is open Monday through Friday, 8am to 5pm central time.

With that reminder out of the way, last week your National Council met for the first of our monthly check-ins for this school year. During the call, each officer gave a brief update on the work they have been tackling over the past few months. These calls are largely informal, and serve as a way to stay connected and focused.

– Jack Lee, National President, gave us an update about some of the ongoing work he is doing in relation to planning for the biennium including work on the Leadership Development Initiative. He also gave us an update on some ongoing conversations regarding higher education funding as it relates to our chapters and the Director of Band/Sponsor structure we utilize on campuses across the country.

– Evan Thompson, National Vice President for Colonization and Membership, has been working hard with the current colonies at Alabama A&M University and University of Texas at El Paso. He has also been working with the curriculum committee and the pilot schools who are using the work the committee has put forth during the membership education processes this fall.

– Marco Kcratovich, National Vice President for Programs, has been working on coordinating awards presentations for the fall. He has also been working to promote awards submissions and upcoming programs along with coordinating updates to the website with National Headquarters.

– I, myself, your National Vice President for Student Affairs have been putting a lot of effort into the Fraternity’s podcast Kappa Kappa Psi Presents. As of today, 12 episodes have been released and you can find them wherever you go to listen to podcasts. It is exciting to see the growth in listeners over the past few weeks. I have also been working with your district leaders, beginning with the establishment of regular meetings of the Student Advisory Committee. This committee is made up of current elected district officers. The conversations have been excellent and I look forward to tackling some of the pressing issues facing our membership this year.

– Your National Vice President for Professional Relations, Dr. Doug Stotter, has been putting in a lot of work in preparation for the upcoming National Intercollegiate Band that will happen at our National Convention in Orlando, Florida in July 2017 in coordination with Beth Bronk, Tau Beta Sigma’s National Vice President for Professional Relations.

– Board of Trustees Vice Chair, Adam Cantley reported that the board’s upcoming Life Membership Drive (which happened on Friday, September 23rd) was being promoted across all platforms. He also gave an brief update on the ongoing work of the board.

– Alison Beidler, the Chair of the Alumni Board of Directors reported on the status of the board and the ongoing work being done in coordination with local alumni groups across the country. Currently they are in a reporting phase of their own and things are proceeding smoothly.

As always, if you have any questions regarding the National Council or work being done on the national level, please don’t hesitate to ask! I am here to help and I always look forward to chatting with you. You can reach my at zac@kkpsi.org.

Keep Striving!
Zac Humphrey, National Vice President for Student Affairs

Student Advisory Committee September 2016 Report

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Brothers,

Below you will find an outline of what took place during the September Student Advisory Committee meeting on September 11, 2016. Notes for the meeting were taken by Sarah Person from the MWD. If you have any questions, do not hesitate to ask. You can reach me at zac@kkpsi.org or the whole committee at StudentAdvisory@kkpsi.org.

Keep Striving!
Zac

—September SAC – Minutes 9/11/2016—

  • Introduction/Attendance
    • Midwest: Sarah Person – Secretary/Treasurer
    • Western: no representative
    • North Central: Abigail Johnson – VPM
    • North East: Helen Landers – HAAL & Shanon Rubin – VP
    • Southeast: Evan Schlameuss – VPP
    • Southwest: Arjun Jeetan – MAL
  • District Updates
    • Midwest: District Day at CU Boulder – Mountain themed with focus being on goal setting and planning
    • Western: n/a
    • North Central: Work on planning and logistics for member education retreat!
    • North East: District planning, trying to set up KKPsi and TBS meeting times. District promoting pictures!
    • Southeast: Psi 85, bring the chapters along route 85. Planning for the year and prepping for an upcoming council meeting. Working on side projects and with district VP’s.
    • Southwest: Selected team for the Alto (Newsletter). Have more articles that aren’t convention themed. Working on new ‘Badges for brotherhood”. Little badges for the different chapters for making different tasks. Had to CLC’s – east and west. Looking to have it in the north and the south next year to have it more balanced. Working on speakers for conventions, schools for workshops, service event (Penny drive), etc. New colony at University of Texas El Paso
  • SAC Topic #1: What do DOs/students want to get out of the SAC?
    • SAC Overview
      • Year-long SAC aims toward providing a way to get input and have a greater student voice
        • Email the SAC email with things that come up!
      • Shannon – Committee is most beneficial when we are all in contact with each other – also bring student voices up to the national level
      • Providing opportunities for them to question programs
        • Look into talking to Marco to try and get more of the programs broken down in ways that are easy to understand and apply for
        • Use social media more to get the news out there
          • Put out more announcements for “ask me questions” reminders
        • Sometimes saying “Come to me with your questions comments and concerns” is very vague and can be hard to get interaction that way
  • National Council Updates
    • Jack has been working on getting committees set up for National Convention
      • Nominations committee will be set by the middle of October
      • Ritual Performance and Education Committee
        • This committee will…
          • Work on recommendations for ritual logistics
          • Provide clarifications and suggestions
          • Provide CMEP kinds of things that will tie into the national curriculum
        • Next National Council meeting on the 20th of Sept.
          • If you have any questions you would like to be brought up send them to Zac (zac@kkpsi.org)
        • National MEP Curriculum is being cleaned up
          • National Headquarters is being cleaned out to be rented
            • An exciting opportunity for revenue to the nationals
            • Doing a lot of upgrades to the building from the citiy!
        • Podcasts are live!
          • Weekly on Tuesday mornings
          • Listen to them! Spread the word!
          • Send Zac your genuine comments! Good or bad.
          • Zac wants to interview national award winners in the future. He is scheduling interviews with these winners.
            • One episode a semester to provide recognitions to winners
          • Wants to provide more workshop based episodes once the get to know the national leadership episodes are finished.
          • Arjun’s podcast suggestion: Podcast on each of the district conventions as they are having
            • See the differences between the districts
            • Zac wants to do ‘Story Corps’ like bits during convention
            • Also wants to do convention recaps
        • Life membership drive on September 23rd
          • Discounted life memberships – spread the word
          • Zac will send a flyer out to everyone on SAC to spread the word
        • National Student Awards
          • Spread awareness how these awards are picked
          • Looking to have student becoming a part of the selection process
          • Keep your eyes out for potentials of these awards
          • Have questions? Marco (VPP) would be happy to talk as well as any National Officers
  • District Feedback/Concerns
    • Arjun – Lack of participation in student awards, specifically AEA scholarship and J. Lee Burke Student Achievement Award. As District officers try to spread the word about these awards so there is a bigger pool of applicants.
      • Bring more awareness – Zac will work with Robert at HQ to come up with flyers or things to spread on social media
      • Marco’s work putting it on the website is helpful – now it is on District Officers to spread the word
      • Moving forward look into ways to help the District Officers put the word out there
  • SAC Topic #2: What would you like to see the Ritual Performance and Education Committee do?
    • Due to the sensitive nature of this topic, a complete account of this part of the conversation will not be shared here. If you would like to get a record of what was discussed, you can contact Zac Humphrey, VPSA (zac@kkpsi.org) for that information.
    • The first meeting of this new committee will take place on September 25th, 2016 at 8pm ET. If you have questions, comments, suggestions, or concerns, please send them to Zac.
  • Announcements and Wrap up
    • Give the national council your perspective!
      • Nationals want your honest input both good and bad!
      • Don’t hesitate to bring your frustrations to Zac or others on the council
      • Everyone wants you to be having fun as a member of the district council, but if you have them bring your concerns to someone

Student Advisory Committee Announcement & Summer Report 2016

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— Student Advisory Committee Announcement—

Last year, as part of my work as your Vice President for Student Affairs (VPSA), I met with your district officers on a monthly basis. During these online meetings, officers would provide updates on the work being done in their districts and I would provide updates on the work of the national council. Coming out of the national council’s winter council meeting in January, I started tinkering with the idea of rebranding this meeting and transforming it into an ongoing Student Advisory Committee (SAC). This committee has historically met only during national convention, but the current national council is looking to leverage our students as resources throughout the coming year in the lead up to the 2017 national convention in Orlando, FL. Per the national constitution, the committee will be made up of current district officers. I want to introduce the current members of the Student Advisory Committee for the 2015-2017 biennium:

CHAIR
Zac Humphrey

MWD
Floyd Pierce
Tenea Fabray
Sarah Person
Jordan Burgin
 
NCD
Jeric Tumang
Abigail Johnson
Danielle Francis
Justin Jensen
 
NED
Kylie Wolfe
Shanon Rubin
Miranda Cook
Emily McPeake
Helen Landers
SED
Michael Bradford-CalhounSAC
Ariel Marissa Clouse
Jerome Hall
Evan Schlameuss
 
SWD
George Ishii
Robert Morris
Jayden Goeringer
David Cox
Arjun Jeetan
 
WD
Mitch Mikuchonis
Alyssa Maher
Shi Ya Ni
Jake Rocco

The committee will meet at least once each month to have ongoing work sessions. During these online meetings, at least one member from each district will be required to attend with the rest strongly encouraged to attend, if possible. Each month, a different district will be charged with drafting a report that will be shared with all Brothers via the website. Each session will include a brief update from each district. Following these updates, there will be conversation on a topic submitted by the district officers/active students. Following that first conversation, the VPSA will provide an update on the work being done by the national leadership. The meeting will wrap up with a conversation based on a topic provided by the national council. The session will end with final comments and announcements. These will happen monthly until national convention next summer where a final report will be submitted by the district officers of the 2017-2018 school year. Due to the overlapping nature of bienniums and academic calendars, the makeup of this committee may change due to who is elected in the spring of 2017 to district office.

— Summer 2016 SAC Report —

Brothers,

We held the first official session on Thursday, July 7th, 2016. The following committee members were in attendance: Sarah Person of the MWD, Abigail Johnson of the NCD, Shanon Rubin and Miranda Cook of the NED, Michael Bradford-Calhoun of the SED, George Ishii and Arjun Jeetan of the SWD, and Shi Ya Ni of the WD.

During the conversation, after initial updates by the districts, there was discussion on the upcoming Kappa Kappa Psi Presents podcast as well as the current state and functionality of the national website, www.kkpsi.org.

The conversation surrounding the podcast was both exciting and appreciated. This is a new endeavor, and one in which I am learning a lot. Feedback largely revolved around length and content. The committee members liked the content and were interested in what other areas/topics were in the pipeline for upcoming episodes. As the initial set of episodes erred on the long side, once the podcast rolls out on a more regular schedule in the fall, the goal will be to keep each episode to 20-30 minutes. We ended the conversation by saying that this won’t be the last time this topic is addressed as the growth and development of the podcast will be organic and ongoing.

Regarding the national website, www.kkpsi.org, the conversation was extremely productive. It provided a great look into how our active members make use of the website. Most of the issues brought forward centered largely on technical aspects of the website’s design: dead links, circular redirecting links, blank pages, and non-working aspects of the mobile interface. Content wasn’t an issue and when provided with a brief update on the goals of National Vice President for Programs Marco Kcratovich relating to upcoming content, the committee members expressed approval regarding the future of the website. As with the podcast, this will not be the final conversation as the national council is wanting to create a website that will be a useful tool for our brothers, both active and alumni, advisers and faculty, and the public.

I, as your VPSA, am looking forward to the work that is going to be done throughout the year. If you have any questions, comments or concerns or if you would like to submit something for the SAC to discuss, please do not hesitate to reach out to myself at zac@kkpsi.org or the whole committee at studentadvisory@kkpsi.org.

AEA,
Zac Humphrey
National Vice President for Student Affairs

Kappa Kappa Psi Presents goes live!

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Good evening Brothers!

We are excited to announce that the first episodes of the new Kappa Kappa Psi Presents podcast are available on iTunes, Google Play, and Stitcher. If there are other platforms we should be posting to, let us know! These initial episodes act as a teaser for what is to come once the school year gets underway. The episodes highlight a couple of the different ways we’re looking to create content, focusing on educational topics as well as interviews with members of the fraternity.

We look forward to hearing your feedback as well as your suggestions for future episodes. You can get in touch by either emailing the podcast email, kkpsipresents@kkpsi.org or zac@kkpsi.org.

AEA,
Zac Humphrey
National Vice President for Student Affairs

kkpsi-presents-itunes

March National Council Update – District Convention Edition!

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Who else is gearing up for district convention? I know the Northeast District had an amazing convention a few weeks back, the Southeast District is gearing up for a great weekend to come, and the rest of the districts are following on soon after. Convention is a great experience because it is a jam-packed weekend filled with music, fellowship, and membership development. And make sure to make a new friend or twenty. Those personal interactions are one of the best things about being a brother of Kappa Kappa Psi and we always look forward to it. The National Council wants to wish everyone safe journeys as they make their way to convention in the coming days and weeks.

AEA,

Jack Lee, National President
Evan Thompson, National Vice President for Colonization and Membership
Marco Krcatovich, National Vice President for Programs
Zac Humphrey, National Vice President for Student Affairs
Doug Stotter, National Vice President for Professional Relations

—-

SPRING 2016 PODIUM

Our Publications Manager, Robert Bratcher, has shared with us a link to the Spring 2016 edition of The Podium and now we are sharing it with you! Be sure to check it out!

COUNCIL MEETINGS

Since our last in-person meeting, the national council has gotten together via the fraternity’s OmniJoin online meeting room. During our meetings, we have shared updates on the work being done on an individual basis. These have been a great way to touch base and get caught up on all of our individual projects. It also helped get us focused ahead of district conventions. We are also in regular communication via text and phone working through the day to day, month to month business of the fraternity.

COLONIZATION AND MEMBERSHIP

Evan kept busy over the past few months coordinating installations as well as debuting the new colonization process at the University of New Haven. In the middle of March, Marco installed the Nu Xi Chapter (#326) at The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. This is the third installation of the biennium. In addition, Evan has been working with many chapters and their advisors on addressing membership education related concerns. He has also been working closely with the Curriculum Development Committee in preparing their presentation on the work they have been doing for the upcoming district conventions.

Jack and Evan, along with members of the National Headquarters staff have been reviewing Chapter Field Representative applications to narrow down a list of finalists who will be brought to National Headquarters in Stillwater, Oklahoma for in-person interviews as part of the process to select the next brothers who will serve in this role. Thank you to all brothers who submitted applications for this position – your dedication and passion for the fraternity are greatly appreciated. Best of luck to all who applied!

PROGRAMS AND AWARDS

Marco has been continuing his work on updating the awards process for Kappa Kappa Psi. As part of this work, he is working on having sample applications for each award so that chapters can have better guidance on what they should be preparing for submission. He is also looking at ways to update the Guide to Membership, since a lot of the awards section of the guide will now be online. He also has been working with the Data Team to develop the convention feedback surveys that convention attendees will fill out (or have filled out in the case of the NED) following their district’s convention. These surveys are essential because they help the National Leadership Team as well as your district councils learn and grow from year to year and help provide better programming for next year’s conventions.

STUDENT AFFAIRS

Zac has been working diligently on laying the foundation for the Kappa Kappa Psi Presents podcast. He has been working with members of the National Leadership Team to get episodes recorded and ready for release and distribution. This has been a big undertaking and learning experience, but it has been a lot of fun as well. The aim is to debut this school year with a handful of episodes and then get on a regular schedule as we move into a new school year this fall.  More concrete information on the launch day will be forthcoming.

Zac has also begun planning out events for the incoming district officers. This year has been filled with lots of great conversations between Zac and your district leadership and he wants to capitalize on what he’s learned and expand that collaboration going into next year by hitting the ground running.

And this next announcement comes from our Executive Director, Steve Nelson. As Kappa Kappa Psi is a 501c3 non-profit organization, he wanted us to remind our membership and alumni that that designation means that we in no way can participate in election activities. What does this mean? Part of being a brother is being passionate in defense of our ideals, even with political campaigns and candidates. You can support a candidate or cause on your own, but chapters CANNOT participate in any partisan activity, this includes volunteering time or donating money in the name of the chapter or offering your chapter’s support in some capacity. This also includes wearing our letters to rallies or other volunteer related activities. Doing any of these activities could cause Kappa Kappa Psi to lose its non-profit status, be fined, or worse. Be passionate, make sure you vote, but always follow the law.

TRAVEL, DISTRICT CONVENTION, AND NATIONAL TOWN HALL

As we mentioned up top, we are in the midst of district convention season. The National Council is looking forward to getting face time with the active membership over the next couple of weeks. Please don’t be shy and be sure to say hi!

With the NED kicking off the district convention season, Zac and Marco for the national council, Adam Cantley, Danny George, and Eric Morson for the board of trustees, Mike Napolitano, Ali Beidler, and Daniel Miller for the Alumni Association Board of Directors, as well as the CFRs attended representing the National Leadership Team. They introduced the new format for the Kappa Kappa Psi Town hall session, which allows students to submit questions to the national leadership team via Twitter and Google forms. While many topics were discussed, many more were not due to time constraints. The national leadership team is looking at ways to tackle the unanswered questions and work to get that information to the brotherhood.

This has already been publicized, but posting it again will not hurt anything. The National Town Hall has been a staple of district conventions for the past handful of years and this year we were looking for ways to make it easier for brothers to participate and ask questions, as there has been some issues in the past with incorporating questions into the overall event. To that end, we have created individual online question submission forms for each district convention. Please feel free to leave the Kappa Kappa Psi National Leadership Team a question, comment, or concern by following the link for your respective convention. We will try to address as many as possible during the Town Hall segment of convention. Your name, email, and chapter are optional, but feel free to leave it for follow-up purposes. In addition to the district-centric Google form, we are also promoting a hashtag for each district convention so that questions can be submitted via Twitter as well. Either of these options can be done now, in the lead up to convention, or while you are at convention.

DISTRICT-CENTRIC TOWN HALL GOOGLE FORMS AND HASHTAGS

MWD: MWD Town Hall Google Form and #MWDTownHall
NCD: NCD Town Hall Google Form and #NCDTownHall
NED: NED Town Hall Google Form and #NEDTownHall (NED already happened and it was awesome)
SED: SED Town Hall Google Form and #SEDTownHall
SWD: SWD Town Hall Google Form and #SWDTownHall
WD: WD Town Hall Google Form and #WDTownHall

Kappa Kappa Psi Presents Announcement

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Taking into account feedback received following prior Kappa Kappa Psi Presents sessions, coupled with conversations had with students and alumni since national convention in Lexington, I am happy to announce the transformation of Kappa Kappa Psi Presents into an ongoing podcast. Episodes will be similar in structure to the sessions from the fall where I along with a guest or two get together and talk about a topic. The only difference being instead of an hour or hour and a half session once a month, we are aiming to deliver a 20 to 30 minute episode weekly. In addition to chapter operation related topics like finances, the OMRS, and recruitment, we are also aiming to provide snapshots in time of our organization by bringing you interviews with current active and alumni members, as well as current and past members of the national leadership team.

While I am still in the process of recording the first handful of episodes and investigating the best way to disseminate the podcast, I wanted to share this exciting announcement with you (especially since I let the cat out of the bag at the Northeast District Convention this past weekend).

Now, you are probably wondering how you can actively participate in this project. For starters, I have created a google form where you can submit ideas, questions, and topics to be covered during future episodes. In addition, please feel free to tweet your questions using the hashtag #KKPsiPresents. Or you can email us directly at kkpsipresents@kkpsi.org. Despite the pre-recorded format of of the episodes,we are still aiming to have this be a collaborative conversation. We even plan to do some live twitter chats where we will take questions and record our conversation during the chat and then post the recordings later.

In addition to general suggestions for ideas and topics, we are aiming to create episodes on the topics covered in the fall as well as the one that was postponed due to scheduling. If  you have anything you have always wanted to know regarding the OMRS, chapter finances, continuing membership education, or recruitment, please follow the links to the associated google form for those topics specifically.

OMRS: http://goo.gl/forms/w0KnJWSjr4

Finances: http://goo.gl/forms/PaMMlvX4Nq

Continuing membership education: http://goo.gl/forms/kNraF0ZYm3

Recruitment: http://goo.gl/forms/RFIv5UYTxr

Suggestions: http://goo.gl/forms/Mq0dihdHM0

I’m looking forward to continuing the conversation as we embark on this exciting new project together!

AEA,

Zac Humphrey, National Vice President for Student Affairs

Kappa Kappa Psi District Convention Town Hall Update!

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The Kappa Kappa Psi Town Hall has become a tradition of the annual district convention experience. This year, the National Leadership Team is looking for ways to make it easier for brothers to participate and ask questions, as there has been some issues in the past with incorporating questions into the overall event. To that end, we have created individual online question submission forms for each district convention. Please feel free to leave the Kappa Kappa Psi National Leadership Team a question, comment, or concern by following the link for your respective convention. We will try to address as many as possible during the Town Hall segment of convention. Your name, email, and chapter are optional, but feel free to leave it for follow up purposes. In addition to the district-centric Google form, we are also promoting a hashtag for each district convention so that questions can be submitted via Twitter as well. Either of these options can be done now, in the lead up to convention, or while you are at convention. We want to make it as easy as possible to get your question out there.

We hope you all are getting excited for district convention season to kick off! We look forward to seeing you all in the coming weeks.

AEA,
Zac Humphrey, National Vice President for Student Affairs

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Google Forms and Town Hall hashtags

MWD: MWD Town Hall Google Form and #MWDTownHall
NCD: NCD Town Hall Google Form and #NCDTownHall
NED: NED Town Hall Google Form and #NEDTownHall
SED: SED Town Hall Google Form and #SEDTownHall
SWD: SWD Town Hall Google Form and #SWDTownHall
WD: WD Town Hall Google Form and #WDTownHall