Any GC'ers a member of Kappa Delta Pi?

[usfBROOKEusf]

Hi everyone,

I was recently elected President Elect for the Lambda Tau chapter of Kappa Delta Pi, which is a Co-ed Education Honor Society. I was wondering if any GC members were also members of KDP. If so, what does your chapter do to encourage membership participation? So far we haven't really done anything together as a group, and I'm supposed to take over the Presidency without my predecessor very soon. I'm really feeling intimidated. Any suggestions would be great, especially suggestions for getting members to come to meetings!

p.s. sorry if this is the wrong forum, but I wasn't sure if this fit in anywhere else!

[PhiPsiRuss]

Congratulations on your presidency!

Have you contacted the Kappa Delta Pi office? They may have a new officers and/or president's manual; particularly with regard to issues, like membership attendance, that honorary societies may face.

[usfBROOKEusf]

Since I haven't taken over the Presidency just yet, I've been using the current Pres. manuals. The problem is attendance is not mandatory for our chapter, neither is attending initiation. Which I plan on changing. We have the problem of people paying dues, but never showing up, so basically we have tons of cash sitting in the bank, but no active members to spend it on! I've also tried to spread the word about KDP, most Education majors don't even know KDP exists at USF, as soon as they hear about it they want to join. We've tried posters, flyers, and now a college of education listserve to attract members. Shirts were suggested but the actives didn't like that idea....they said it was too "social fraternity" like.....which I thought could actually help us attract members in the long run.

[FAUNikki]

I wanted to join KDPi at my school but I dont know if they accept undergraduate members or not. I know that it is not promoted at my school. Perhaps there is another chapter near you in Tampa, there are other schools there as far as I know.

[PhiPsiRuss]

Originally posted by usfBROOKEusf
basically we have tons of cash sitting in the bank, but no active members to spend it on!

"Free" pizza and/or buffalo wings at the next meeting usually works with college students. Also, you may want to informally poll your membership about what they would like to do. I would also ask faculty, in the Education department, for ideas.

[usfBROOKEusf]

Originally posted by FAUNikki
I wanted to join KDPi at my school but I dont know if they accept undergraduate members or not. I know that it is not promoted at my school. Perhaps there is another chapter near you in Tampa, there are other schools there as far as I know.

KDPi is open to all, including undergrads, as long as you have been accepted into a college of education or education program. That is a good idea, I am going to try and get in contact with the University of Tampa chapter and see if they want to do some social events or community service projects together. That could be a lot of fun!

Edited to add that Russell has a really good idea that I will bring up at next week's exec meeting!

[AOIIsilver]

I am in KDPi. I have not been active as an alum so I am not sure what they do anymore.....
Congrats on your election!
Silver

[Kevin]

My girlfriend is a member.

[cash78mere]

i'm a member. i never did a single thing with the chapter in college. it was just kind of go to initiation and that's it.

[polarpi]

I was a collegiate member of KDPi, but since graduation I haven't maintained my membership (at the moment, I'm no longer in the field of education). I was also the membership chair for a year and a half, so it was my job to get the applications out to students who were eligible for membership in KDPi. I don't know how your chapter finds out who's eligible, but once I got the list of eligible students, I sent them an application packet with an introductory letter about the organization and inviting them to the next meeting (none of our meetings were confidential). We would have Ice Cream socials, pizza, all the food type gatherings, as well as holding a book fair at least once a year (some times each semester) and donating the "book profit" earned to a local elementary school...we'd pick out the books and deliver them to the school. We also sent five of us down to the biannual convention my senior year to get some new ideas about teaching in general, and we came back and presented the information we got to others in KDPi who were unable to attend the convention. There's so much that you could do with the organization, and I wish you the best of luck!