Three Members of Honor Society Travel to Utah for Leadership Workshops
The University chapter of the First Year National Honor Society, Phi Eta Sigma, attended a conference in Salt Lake City, Utah to learn and discuss different ways to improve their chapter.
Three members of Phi Eta Sigma, senior Lori Muelle, junior Amanda Kruzynski, and junior Rebecca Groom attended the convention. Once inducted into Phi Eta Sigma, the student remains a member for life. Although Phi Eta Sigma is a first year society, the member does not lose their place as they advance in college. To meet the standards to be inducted into Phi Eta Sigma, freshmen must maintain an overall GPA of 3.5 their first semester of college.
According to their website, Phi Eta Sigma was founded to promote and recognize high academic accomplishment among members of the freshman classes. All active chapters were invited to come to the conference. The convention is a chance to meet and discuss ways to improve their societies by seeing what the other chapters are doing and learning.
The conference included two days worth of workshops and a tour of Salt Lake City. Their advisor Dr. Golam Mathbor, Associate Dean of School of Humanities and Social Sciences, accompanied the trio.
Mathbor has been the advisor of Phi Eta Sigma since 2005 and has attended a number of conferences in the past. “I have been attending these biennial leadership conventions since 2006. I have also been to conventions in 2008, 2010, and 2012,” said Mathbor. The convention occurs every other year, so there will not be a conference this November. The next convention Mathbor will advise will be in 2014. He explained why these conferences were beneficial to the members who attend. “Students learned substantially about leadership, ethics, and what other chapters are doing to keep Phi Eta Sigma in their respective institutions effective. They also learn a great deal about service projects to be initiated,” said Mathbor.
“The convention helped reinforce why I decided to get involved with Phi Eta Sigma,” said Groom, Phi Eta Sigma Treasurer. “The ideas that were shared over the weekend of how to improve your chapter and how to help your members would not have happened without the different experiences from every chapter involved,” she said.
Kruzynski, Phi Eta Sigma Vice President, found the conference to be very insightful and beneficial. It was the first time Kruzynski attended the conference. She said, “Being at this convention I took away how to improve this society on campus and realized how much we have to be proud of for this chapter. It was a great experience being able to learn how to be a better leader on campus as well as making connections from across the country.” Kruzynski added, “We were among many other colleges including Florida State University, St. John’s University, Texas A & M Commerce, St. Ambrose, Brigham Young University, Drexel University, and University of Maryland.”
Kruzynski shared an example of one of the workshops offered at the convention in which she co-chaired a committee entitled “Future Directions.” Kruzynski said, “For the ‘Future Directions’ committee I helped lead the discussion for what Phi Eta Sigma chapters need and want to do in the future to improve the society and then presented in front of the entire conference what we discussed in this committee.”
Mueller, President of Phi Eta Sigma, reflected on the benefits of attending multiple conferences. “Having attended two conferences, I can honestly say that the experience is like no other and the Monmouth University chapter of Phi Eta Sigma utilizes everything possible that can be taken away from this experience,” said Mueller. “I couldn’t be more proud of this chapter, its officers, and the future inductees and I’m excited to use what we have gained from these experiences both this semester and next,” she said.
PHOTO COURTESY of Amanda Kruzynski