Student
Honors Council Meeting Minutes
9/4/2003
Student Honors Council Meeting Minutes, Thursday,
Sept. 4, 2003
The meeting was brought to order by SHC President
Luis Franco at 6:36 p.m. A sheet was passed around for members to verify
their contact information.
Members present were:
Luis Franco, SHC President; Stephen Rogers, SHC Vice President; Sejal
Dixit, Treasurer; Horace Agossou, Historian; Joaquin Davis; and Steve
Moffitt, Secretary. Also present were Dr. Joanne DiGeorgio-Lutz, SHC
Faculty Advisor, and Paula Elliot, Honors Secretary.
The first order of
business was number of members. Luis said that as soon as we get
verification from all current members as to whether they plan on remaining
active members, we will determine whether we have space available for new
members. Per our constitution, our membership cannot exceed 17.
Every other Thursday,
6:30 p.m. will be our regular meeting time from now on. Luis said he made
a calendar list of pertinent dates for the SHC.
He then asked if we
wanted new t-shirts. Steve M. asked if we should vote on it. A vote
followed, and by consensus it was agreed that we should design new
t-shirts and have them made. Dr. DiGeorgio-Lutz suggested long sleeve
shirts since winter is coming.
Luis stressed the
need for fundraising and said that he would be working with Sejal, as
treasurer, and Ashleigh Vaughan as Events Coordinator.
Upcoming Events
Luis gave Paula
Elliot the floor to talk about the first upcoming event, the Honors
Program Open House. She announced that it would be held on October 15th
from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. in the Heritage House. She suggested altering
this year’s menu so that we do not end up with a lot of leftover food like
last year and save money. She suggested modifying the size of the platters
we ordered instead of completely eliminating them. The stuff that did not
get eaten last year was the most expensive, such as the fruit and the
cheese. After discussion, it was decided that we would order mini muffins
and brownies, sandwiches, a small cheese tray, a small veggie tray, a
medium fruit tray, and punch. Paula also said she would need help with
the nametags. A sign-up sheet was passed for everyone to put whether they
could help with the open house or nametags. Dr. D suggested putting out
fliers and chalking to advertise the Open House, as well as contacting the
East Texan. Paula suggested sending invitations to all the deans’ offices.
Paula also announced
that work has begun on the Honors Program website and that there would be
a section just for the SHC on it. She needs the membership list, calendar
of activities, pictures, and the constitution to put on the website.
Luis announced that
the first event we would be involved in is the Merchant’s Fair on
September 10. Anyone who can help needs to sign up.
Dr. D asked who has
the SHC promotional material. Luis said that Gilbert does. Dr. D said we
need to make new promotional material. Paula suggested getting a bi-fold
made especially for Honors. Dr. D said we would leave it up to Paula to
find out how much it would cost to have one made and then determine if we
could afford it. Paula said it would most likely cost no more than
$150.00
The next event
discussed was the upcoming Food Drive. Dr. D has been in contact with the
Northeast Texas Food Bank. The Food Drive will take place from September
15th to October 31st. There will be a box placed
outside the Honors Office for the food to be put in. The food bank has a
specific food list because it wants nutritional food to give t the
families, Dr. D said. We will contact Alpha Chi to see if they want to be
involved. Fliers will be posted and information updated as the drive
progresses.
Luis mentioned a
tutoring program with Mr., Frank Perez in Mach III. They want volunteers
from the Honors Program to participate in it.
The last event
mentioned was the Relay for Life. Luis worked very hard to secure the
SHC’s involvement in this event, which raises money for the American
Cancer Society. It will be an overnight event, lasting from 7:00 p.m. to
7:00 a.m. and will involve fundraising, entertainment, education, and
community service. The Student Honors Council is the responsible party for
the whole university’s involvement in the Relay for Life. Luis explained
that there will be eight committees. We will get shirts for participating
and the SHC gets to design them. Dr. D mentioned that this event is highly
endorsed by Dr. McFarland. The goal is to raise between $50,000.00 and
$70,000.00 There will be fifty teams. We will want to involve community
organizations, the fire dept., and also work with Breakout Entertainment
and the MSC. The Relay for Life will be held on Good Friday night but it
was the only date we could get. We will be in competition with A &
M-College Station as they are holding one also and have set a higher goal.
SHC members have first dibs on the chair positions over the eight
committees. HON members are eligible also. Chairs will meet bi-weekly to
report their progress. Dr. D said it will be very important to delegate.
She asked Luis to e-mail everyone the list of what the eight committees
would be. He also said to make sure and contact the East Texan and Mary
Lou Hazal in Campus News Services for help with publicity. Luis stressed
that the Relay for Life is a very serious commitment and a great honor to
be responsible for; therefore it will require the SHC members to be very
committed.
The next event Luis
brought up was the Leadership Conference. Luis has already been selected
to attend. It’s done by lottery. Luis had asked Kelly and Stephen if they
wanted to go but they can’t. Luis asked Steve M. and he said he could go.
The conference will be on October 17th and 18th.
Paula asked if anyone
wanted to come and decorate the Food Drive box.
She also asked if we
wanted to decorate the Honors Office door for Homecoming.
Steve M. announced
the Plano Balloon Festival, which will be on Sept. 19th, 20th,
and 21st. He said it was a good service project. They need
volunteers and anyone who volunteers gets a t-shirt, a 3-day pass to the
festival, and free parking the day they volunteer.
Since there were a
couple of people present because of their interest in joining the SHC,
Luis announced that anyone interested in membership should let Steve M. or
Stephen R. know so they could get an application.
Steve M. mentioned
that no one but Olga Yeremenko had contacted him regarding their status as
active members. Stephen mentioned HON (Eta Homicron Nu) the honors service
fraternity he is president of, and said that HON would like to work with
the SHC cooperatively. Dr. D said that HON could possibly become the
service component of the Honors Program and the SHC could be the governing
component. The first HON meeting will be held on Thursday, Sept. 25th
at 6:00.
The meeting closed
after this discussion. The next meeting will be on Thursday, Sept. 18t,
at 6:30 p.m..
Steve Moffitt
SHC Secretary
9/8/03
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Student
Honors Council Meeting Minutes
9/18/2003
Submitted by
Secretary Steve Moffitt
The meeting was opened by President Luis Franco at 6:35 p.m.
Members in attendance were Horace Agossou-Aguenou, Joaquin Davis, Sejal
Dixit, Stephen Rogers, Luis Franco, and Steve Moffitt. Also in attendance
was Dr. DiGeorgio-Lutz.
Luis asked Steve M. who had contacted him about maintaining their active
membership. Steve stated that only Olga Yeremenko and Jennifer Franks had.
Luis added that Gilberto Hernandez had contacted him and that he had
indicated he would like to still support the SHC but would not be able to
attend meetings.
It was then discussed whether we should let all the members who were not
attending the meetings retain active member status. Luis said he would
write letters to all current members who have not notified he or Steve M.
about their membership. He added that we should then decide how many
openings we have for new members.
Luis said that the SHC constitution needs to be revised. We should have
an associate level of membership (i.e. Student Honors Association) for
those who cannot make meetings and be involved in SHC activities. He also
said that membership in the SHC would be a level of merit.
The new t-shirt was discussed and it was decided to go with the Edward
Munch “Scream” design with the Ralph Waldo Emerson quote, “Sometimes
a scream is better than a thesis.” Dr. D said we needed to have
“Student Honors Council” in big letters so people can see what we
belong to. Everyone agreed that “Student Honors Council” would go in
big letters on the front of the shirt along with the TAMU-Commerce logo
and that the “Scream” design would go on the back. Steve M. was asked
to make the design in black and white from an original picture of “The
Scream.”
Luis brought up the need for a fundraiser, something other than a bake
sale, since everyone else does those.
The next SHC meeting will be October 2nd.
Steve M. needs to e-mail the Open House volunteers some time before the
event to remind them.
Luis then discussed the chairs and committees for Relay for Life. There
will be a training session for committee chairs on October 25th
in Fort Worth from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. Steve M. and Luis are going to the
Relay for Life Leadership Conference in Dallas on October 18th
and 19th.
The committee chairs are as follows: Joaquin – Recruiting, Horace –
Logistics, Sejal – Luminary, Steve M. – Publicity and Marketing, and
Stephen R. – Team Captain Coordinator. The committees that still need
chairs are: Underwriting and Sponsorship, Registration, and Entertainment
and Activities.
Luis said that the committees should meet at least once a month during
the fall semester and then more often during the spring semester.
Luis said we will need to decide how much to charge the teams for
entering Relay for Life. It can be as low as $10, but we can go as high as
$20 or $25, depending on if they want t-shirts or not.
Luis said we need to have our committees recruited by October 2nd,
the time of our next meeting.
We will be meeting either October 6th or October 9th
with the lady from Relay for Life, so she can go over our responsibilities
with us.
Luis handed out the committee packets to each of the SHC members who had
taken a chair position.
The meeting closed at 8:00 p.m.
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