I second both Joe and Kim's posts!!! (including I love Joe Eulo =)~ )

Good luck to all of the candidates and win or lose... don't let this be the last of your Phi Theta Kappa Experience.

On September 26th, 2009, as part of the Great American Clean-up effort, our chapter participated in an annual beach clean-up sponsored by our sister chapter, Beta Alpha Phi, in Belmar, NJ. We worked with REAL, an environmental club on our campus to rally up volunteers. In total, our chapter brought over 17 people which made up about a quarter of the total volunteers.

Our team worked alongside the other chapters for two hours in which we collected 75 lbs of garbage and debris. Among the items that we found were cigarette butts, a shotgun shell, clothing, and a dead seagull that was entangled in plastic- which is proven to be directly related to the death of many birds and sea life.

We have also participated in many other community clean-ups this year sponsored by Beta Alpha Phi, including the Belmar beach clean-up in the spring and we have been involved in the various projects at Liberty State Park in Jersey city including the shoreline clean-up and the gardening program.

During our summer planning meetings, we discussed the option of volunteering abroad. It would be exciting to actually go somewhere across the world and contribute firsthand. However, when Alpha Theta Theta presented their Walk for Hunger project, we decided that it would be a better idea to work together than apart.

The Hunger Walk was great. There were 108 people that came at some point or another. Alpha Theta Theta ended up raising $2028 dollars- in which our chapter contributed 26% of that amount.

Joe- after seeing this site, I am convinced... you truly take the crown- you are the #1 certified official GEEK!!! But you know I love you man!!

One of our primary focuses were collecting cigarette butts to display at our student picnic in a few days. We will ask people to guess just how many we found so I can't tell you the number yet! (Yes, we counted all of them!!) ... but you wouldn't believe how many there were... thirty of the volunteers even expressed that they were unaware that so much trash, debris, and cigarette butts could accumulate on campus. Just about all of the 60 volunteers strongly agreed that they would make better decisions in the future when they are faced with a choice that will affect our environment so that is a significant impact all by itself!

At the end, we all gathered to have pizza and everyone stayed for awhile. It was nice. I gave the other chapters that were there a packet- "Steps for a Cleaner Campus"- including the steps that we took to make this event happen and the instructions that we gave out to the group leaders. Everyone found them useful and thought that they may follow this template if they decide to host a clean-up on their campus. We will follow up with them in the future.

We also wanted to promote leadership and team building by splitting everyone up into these groups. There were about 12 people and one individual was chosen to be the group leader. That person was resposible for relaying the instructions to the others and for the supplies.Though a majority of the groups worked well together, 80% of the volunteers felt that from their experience today that they have learned valuable lessons when it comes to working together in a group

We originally intended to clean the campus for 2 1/2, but due to heavier rain half way through, we decided to pack it up at 11am. But in 1 1/2 hours, many things were found that just didn't seem to belong. Among these items were porcelain plate, a tie rim, used condoms(!), a real estate sign, and much more! ... (see next comment again!)

So the event finally happened and despite the fact that it rained, we had a great turnout! There were 60 volunteers in all- including President Crabill and 5 other members of the Executive Board; faculty member; the REAL club; other students; Alpha Epsilon Pi members and members from 2 other chapters- Iota Xi from UCC and Alpha Epsilon Phi from Bergen. Lots of fellowship!

Our officer team arrived at 7am to set-up and prepare the campus grounds for the event. Initially we had planned to create 10 zones, but due to the weather, we reduced it to just five- focusing primarily on the areas with the heaviest flow of traffic. To mark off the zones, we used small colored flags which corresponded to the color that each volunteer recieved. Assigning groups promoted fellowship among our campus community as well as other chapters. In fact, 92% of those that attended our event met people that they intend to keep in touch with and get to know better .... (see next comment)

How do you like it now!? So much more beautiful with your work!!