Scholarship Chair

[kappa2]

Let's compile some good ideas here for the upcoming year!

* Host Educational Speakers (professors, visiting lecturers, alumnae) to help Kappas broaden their educational horizons.

* Once a year, have a mandatory "study class" that teaches study tricks, aids, and methods.

* Have a test/note file for sister's use

* Make study groups of women who share the same classes or majors.

* Create a "smart cookie" program where a department chair is given a plate of cookies for his/her department and asked to fill out a form that hangs in the eating area of the house (a copy for each table) for that week. Questions can include "What do you wish students of XYZ Unviersity knew?" or "What is your number one study tip?" When you deliver the cookie platter, include a note of gratitude from the sorority for the entire department.

* Have a way that members can privately ask for help or tutoring at the first sign of trouble. As privately as possible would be best.

* Have a monthly study night at different spots on campus so that everyone can familiarize themselves with resources available to them.

* Take Juniors/Seniors on the Dean's list and match them up "Big Owls/Little Owls" with struggling freshmen to be study partners.

* Go around campus on the weekends and if you see a sister studying, give them a treat bag for catching them working hard.

* Have a hoots & salutes time at weekly meeting where anyone who gets an A gets a prize, a raffle ticket, or a treat.


That's my 10 favorites. What else has worked for you?

[ISUKappa]

Always, always recognize and reward sisters for jobs well done, academically.

We had a "Cookies for A's" envelope in our chapter. Whenever you received an A (on a test, quiz, paper, etc...) you put your name and what kind of cookie you wanted in the envelope. At the next chapter meeting, the VPAE would hand out the cookies (from a super yummy local bakery). We loved it when there were tons of cookies to hand out!

Have a scholarship banquet and have girls invite professors. Hand out awards for various things (highest GPA, most improved GPA, highest pledge class GPA, dean's list, etc...)

Have each chapter member write down their academic goals at the beginning of the semester. Check up at midterms to see how they're doing.

Hang tips on test-taking, studying, class attendance and academics in the bathroom stalls. Change weekly/bi-weekly.

It's especially important the new members who are just making the transition into college academics get lots of support, not only from their Key Sis but from the VPAE, her committee and the entire chapter.

[TrueBlueKappa]

I was VPAE of my chapter last year. Here are a few things my committee and I implemented. (We jumped from 8th to 2nd place among sororities on campus in GPA in one semester! And the next semester, we made 1st place!)

-A Box and No Skippy Jar: We passed these around during chapter, and girls submitted their name o the A Box for each A they received that week and submitted their name to the No Skippy jar if they attended all their classes that week. I then drew out a name from each jar and they got small prizes.

-Professor Appreciation: Each sister nominated 1 professor to be recognized. One semester we gave those new M&Ms that have "thank you" printed on them, and the next semester we bought inexpensive bud vases ($1 at Wal-Mart) and gave them an iris, accompanied by a "Kappa appreciates all that you do" note. These were a big hit among faculty.

-Word of the Week: During recruitment, many girls were misuing their cognitives, so we defined a new cognitive each week so that everyone would use them correctly.

-Study Challenge: Every woman kept track of the hours she studied on a pre-made template I passed out. She received a point for each hour she studied, with double points for studying with another Kappa and triple points for tutoring a sister. We also gave points for attending scholastic events on campus (such as workshops put on by the Academinc Resource Center, etc). At the end of the semester, the points were tallied, and the top 5 or 10 received prizes.

-Recognition: We recognized in chapter girls who took the GRE, LSAT, etc as well as those inducted into Honor Socieites and Order of Omega.

-Study Buddies: At the beginning of the semester, girls signed up on one sheet if they needed help in a subject, and signed up on another sheet if they were able to give help in any subject. I then matched up everyone, and if there were sisters who needed help in a subject that no one could help them with, I found on-campus resources for them to look into.

-Scholarship Pearls: Were given out for achieving a 3.8 or above GPA.

-Emails: Our chapter has a Yahoo Group account, and I CONSTANTLY emailed out opportunities for scholarships, on-campus workshops, important academic dates (such as add/drop, withdrawal deadline, when intent to graduate forms were due) and other interesting things. I emailed to the point that I am sure the entire chapter was sick of seeing my email address in their inbox, but every time I sent an email out, I got at least 2 or 3 "Thank you! I didn't know about that!" emails back.

-Finals survival kit: I made little goody bags for each sister. They contained a pencil, a pen, a highlighter, an herbal tea bag, some Smarties, and a few other small items. The Dollar Tree is good for this project. I also had massive amounts of Scantrons, pencils, and highlighters and passed those out through the semester.

-Test bank: Sisters donated their study guides, notes, and everything they had for their old classes to help others study for tests. We had a check-out system, and the girls could take 1 file for 1 week at a time.

There are just a few of the things that I did with the chapter... I could probably go on and on!