Tag Archives: District Officers

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!

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