MU's Feature in the National Awarded: Student Speak
See it for yourself: http://www.ieanea.org/media/10-Oct-studentspeak.pdf
T h e S c o o p C o n t i n u e d . . .
T a k e a L o o k a t M i l l i k i n
They say that change is inevitable, and at this point, I can’t say that I disagree. Millikin University’s IEA program is in the current process of re-engineering our chapter. MU’s chapter was struggling to keep people involved and lacked a sense of direction. This year’s new executive board is changing all of that around.
At the beginning of the year we focused on membership. We went to each one of Millikin’s education classes and gave speeches to them talking about the many benefits that the IEA Student Program can offer them. We had a great turn out for our first meeting and provided icebreakers for people to become more comfortable with one another. Since then, we have put in place a revolutionary incentive program for our members. For every meeting they come to and for every two service or fellowship events they attend, they are entered into a raffle for a $75 gift card to be drawn at our end of the semester celebration party. At this event we will be rewarding those members who have been active in our chapter with a certificate of involvement to be placed in their portfolio and they will also receive the additional chances to win free prizes.
In the meantime, we have at least one fellowship event (a chance to get to know one another and just hang out) and at least one service event every month. So far, we have had a service project with Big Brothers Big Sisters, where kids who had not yet been paired with a mentor came and played games and had a healthy snack with our IEA members. This allowed us to work on the community outreach pillar. Our fellowship event for last month was kickball on the quad. We all had a great time and it was a free event open to campus.
This week we will be working on the IEA SP pillar of political action. Members will be hosting a phone-a-thon for IEA sponsored state senate candidate, Tim Dudley. He will also be coming to speak to our chapter in early October. We are learning more and more that political involvement is necessary for our future careers. Money is always an issue, but with teachers retiring and college graduates not being hired, class sizes are growing and education quality will be affected. Not to mention all of the IEA students that are currently preparing for a job in education will be hoping for jobs that are not available.
We’ve come a long way already, but the work is not yet finished. Our goal is to simply
keep busy and keep involvement up. We have two large events in the process of being implemented. In mid-November we will be hosting an “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader” competition. Decatur Public Schools will be asked to come and be involved and proceeds will benefit a non-profit organization to be determined at a later date. This will be an opportunity for our members to have some fun and network with current teachers, while raising money for a cause. Next semester we will be hosting a fancy dinner for outstanding teachers. We will have a speaker and give appreciation to our favorite teachers who have inspired us to do great things.
For Millikin, all that was needed to build our chapter was involvement and an exec board ready to be open to new ideas. If your chapter is struggling, set new goals, get people involved, set up opportunities that you would want to go to. Try out new ideas. If you don’t hope for better, if you don’t plan for more, you’ll never get any better. Start today with an open mind and make a new ending. You can’t change the past, but each day is an opportunity to start over again.
Whitney Vanderspool-Snell– Millikin IEA Chapter President
T h e S c o o p C o n t i n u e d . . .
T a k e a L o o k a t M i l l i k i n
They say that change is inevitable, and at this point, I can’t say that I disagree. Millikin University’s IEA program is in the current process of re-engineering our chapter. MU’s chapter was struggling to keep people involved and lacked a sense of direction. This year’s new executive board is changing all of that around.
At the beginning of the year we focused on membership. We went to each one of Millikin’s education classes and gave speeches to them talking about the many benefits that the IEA Student Program can offer them. We had a great turn out for our first meeting and provided icebreakers for people to become more comfortable with one another. Since then, we have put in place a revolutionary incentive program for our members. For every meeting they come to and for every two service or fellowship events they attend, they are entered into a raffle for a $75 gift card to be drawn at our end of the semester celebration party. At this event we will be rewarding those members who have been active in our chapter with a certificate of involvement to be placed in their portfolio and they will also receive the additional chances to win free prizes.
In the meantime, we have at least one fellowship event (a chance to get to know one another and just hang out) and at least one service event every month. So far, we have had a service project with Big Brothers Big Sisters, where kids who had not yet been paired with a mentor came and played games and had a healthy snack with our IEA members. This allowed us to work on the community outreach pillar. Our fellowship event for last month was kickball on the quad. We all had a great time and it was a free event open to campus.
This week we will be working on the IEA SP pillar of political action. Members will be hosting a phone-a-thon for IEA sponsored state senate candidate, Tim Dudley. He will also be coming to speak to our chapter in early October. We are learning more and more that political involvement is necessary for our future careers. Money is always an issue, but with teachers retiring and college graduates not being hired, class sizes are growing and education quality will be affected. Not to mention all of the IEA students that are currently preparing for a job in education will be hoping for jobs that are not available.
We’ve come a long way already, but the work is not yet finished. Our goal is to simply
keep busy and keep involvement up. We have two large events in the process of being implemented. In mid-November we will be hosting an “Are You Smarter than a Fifth Grader” competition. Decatur Public Schools will be asked to come and be involved and proceeds will benefit a non-profit organization to be determined at a later date. This will be an opportunity for our members to have some fun and network with current teachers, while raising money for a cause. Next semester we will be hosting a fancy dinner for outstanding teachers. We will have a speaker and give appreciation to our favorite teachers who have inspired us to do great things.
For Millikin, all that was needed to build our chapter was involvement and an exec board ready to be open to new ideas. If your chapter is struggling, set new goals, get people involved, set up opportunities that you would want to go to. Try out new ideas. If you don’t hope for better, if you don’t plan for more, you’ll never get any better. Start today with an open mind and make a new ending. You can’t change the past, but each day is an opportunity to start over again.
Whitney Vanderspool-Snell– Millikin IEA Chapter President