Ideas needed please!!!

KDAngel · #1 06-14-2003, 05:03 AM

Hey I just wanted to post and get some ideas from everyone on the boards. My chapter is having a really hard time with GPA. We're not die-hard party girls, just everyone's into procrastinating and our GPA is going nowhere fast and we're now have the lowest sorority GPA on campus. Our sister in charge of academic programming just graduated and she didn't really have too many ideas to start with and we really need some help. I know my chapter's full of bright, able students, we just need some sort of structure and incentive.

So please please please, give me ideas with what things we can do to turn our GPA around!

-Liz

astroAPhi · #2 06-17-2003, 10:23 AM

We do a study hour system. It used to be that all sisters below the sorority average (was around a 2.8) were required to do 4 study hours in either the library or in the chapter room. After we had a bad semester, they raised it to 3.0. If you haven't done your study hours, your voting privledges are revoked and you can't attend mixers until you catch up. I also think that for every hour you miss, you have to do 2 more in place.

dakareng · #3 06-28-2003, 06:11 PM

One of our chapters submitted an idea that I think is great. They have a point system for all members under 3.0... it includes points for study hours ( proctored, unproctored), going to study groups, meeting with TA/ professors, tutoring sessions, getting As/ Bs on test/ papers/quizzes. Members must earn a certain number of points to go to formals, etc. but there are plenty of opportunities along the way. This chapter also has regular recognitions at meetings for academic success.

If your chapter is full of procrastinators then they need to be rewarded for steps taken along the way. I'm a procrastinator myself and have to set 'mini-deadlines' or I'll wait until the absolute last minute.

If structure is what they need, you may have to help them develop it. In other words, the scholarship chair may need to meet individually with those ladies and go through syllabi with them. Call it spoon feeding if you want, but it helped me to have a sister structure my studying for me (raised my GPA from 2.3 soph year to 3.3 jr year)

You might want to contact your International Scholarship Chairman... that's what she's there for!

jharb · #4 06-28-2003, 06:20 PM

Our chapter has a study tables system that has worked pretty well. Our chapter GPA has risen since implementing it!

Everyone who has above "Pi" or 3.14 is a proctor and they proctor one hour a week in our dining room. The proctors usually do their homework during this time and make sure that those studying in the dining room are actually studying and not just talking or reading magazines.

If you have below a 3.14 then you are put on a certain number of proctored study hours that correspond to your GPA. It starts with 2 hours and goes all the way to 10 hours if you are as low as a 2.0! These hours must be signed off by the proctor for that time slot or if there isn't a proctor scheduled for that time slot then they are signed off by an Exec member. This makes sure that you are actually studying and it's not just your roommate saying um...sure you kinda studied.

By having the proctor system it ensures that everyone is doing at least one hour of structured study time a week. If you miss a week you are given one week to make up the hours but if that doesn't happen you are sent to our Angel Support Board (standards board) for more stringent consequences. I personally like the system, staying off of study tables is enough to keep my GPA up!

Jess

DeltaGammaWolf · #5 07-02-2003, 02:14 AM

We also have a study hours system based on GPA. I think that it will work out a lot better when we move into our house this fall. That way, things will be more structured. Each sister was assigned a "study buddy" who was in their major or a closely related major so that they could use each other as a resource as well as get their work done.

We have also come up with special awards for those who are doing well in school. This past semester, our director of scholarship would hand out two awards at chapter--the "Smart Cookie" award and the "Seat of Knowledge." The "Smart Cookie" was homemade cookies, and the "Seat" was a toilet seat that she bought and everyone who received it got to keep it for the week and sign it. These awards were good ways of motivating people.

Canadian AOII · #6 07-14-2003, 03:36 PM

I'm VP Academic Development for my chapter this year and all the ideas I've read so far are AWESOME, if there are anymore PLZ post them but two questions: How do I motivate/excite everyone abt some kind of study program and two, exactly how do you guys enforce it?! If they don't come there really isn't anything I can do.....?

rocketaxid · #7 07-14-2003, 08:03 PM

These are great idea's but in the past we've had problems with all of them. Study buddies didn't work out because some people would sign off on thier buddies b/c they were good friends. And study hours haven't been very sucessful either. At first we had to do them in the library and everyone spent the entire time chatting and playing games online. So then we moved them to the house and everyone complained that they "can't get anything done at the house" Basically this is a cry for help! Please send ideas and suggestions!
Sarah

astroAPhi · #8 07-15-2003, 04:10 PM

Well, we enforce it by not allowing people to attend social events or Formal if they haven't completed their study hours. They can also lose their voting priveleges.

However, rocketaxid sounds like she has a bigger problem. Is there a quiet area in the house where no one can be disturbed? We have a pretty small house and even then we have found a room where people can study and not be disturbed, but the girls can still carry on in their usual manner.

Really, I would hope that the motivation to do well with your study hours would be that you will not be on them the next semester, but some people are funny sometimes...

SLUadpi · #9 07-15-2003, 04:23 PM

i have the same problem rocketaxid... even though we are not struggling as a chapter with grades, i personally hate to do study hours at the library with a group...it always becomes a big social gathering and no one gets anything done...i have heard of orgs. giving cash prizes of $20 or more dollars to a sister that makes for example a 3.5 and above. i don't know if that would help though....has your chapter been put on academic probation? maybe that would motivate some girls...

rocketaxid · #10 07-15-2003, 04:24 PM

We don't really have a quiet area because we share our house with a fraturnity. Before you go nuts let me explain. On our campus we have seven houses with forteen housing units (housing units= imagine a house cut down the middle with the exact same roomson each side and an elevator dividing the two). Ideally you have either two sororities or two fraturnities in a house, but there is an uneven number. So we are paired with a fraturnity. Basically it depends on how roudy they are if we have "quiet" or not!

absolutuscchick · #11 07-15-2003, 04:47 PM

RocketAxid,
I can't tell if the problem is that the reality of having to do work in college to succeed later on in life hasn't fully sunk in, or if the sisters generally need some sort of help like tutoring. I know for me, it was definitely a little bit of both, however, I believe that it not only takes time, but also effort on their part.

Are these new girls that are having the problem? (I know freshman year, the fact that you are away from your family and free to do whatever you want can sometimes be very liberating, and work can go by the wayside!) If so, I think that this next semester should definitely be better, as these girls have experienced a year of college. If this is the case, when school starts, you need to make it very clear the possible ramifications of not studying. For example, the sorority could be kicked off of campus if the GPA dips too low, or some other consequence. I think that it is important, as others have said, to be sure to have an individual meeting with each girl.
Also, is there a minimum semester/cumulative GPA for the girls in the house? If not, one should be implemented. If the girls' GPA's drop too low, they could be on probation and not able to do any activites, or worse, kicked out of the organization (although this is something that I *hopefully* doubt would ever happen).

Another suggestion is providing the girls with information about where to get tutoring, and requiring that if a GPA dips below a certain amount, they need to be going to tutoring. I think it is also important that every girl realizes that one of the ways PNM's will pick what GLO organization they are involved in is the GPA of that house.

As for a quiet area, obviously this is something that is hard to come by, but try reserving a study area in the library. If the girls are getting too loud, one possibility is to have a girl who is in charge of standards and make it clear that such behavior is unacceptable.

I'm not sure if these suggestions are too harsh or if they will be the trick to making the house a more study oriented group, but I wish you the best of luck in your pursuit!!