Mortar Board Week help for chapters
Mortar Board Week, held February 12 - 18, 2012, is a great time to hold events and celebrate the founding of Mortar Board. Depending on each chapter's size and local campus activities, a group may choose to hold one event for the week or host daily activities. Below you will find assistance with both planning and publicity for the week, including an incredibly helpful Visibility Resources Folder.
Planning help
Mortar Board Week is the perfect time to hold a chapter event and spread the word about Mortar Board on your campus. Events or activities exemplifying all or any of Mortar Board's three key ideals (scholarship, leadership and service) should be planned.
Recruitment
Depending on your chapter's individual selection and recruitment schedule, the application deadline for membership may have passed. If the deadline falls after the end of Mortar Board Week, this can be a perfect time to promote Mortar Board. Here are a few ideas for incorporating chapter recruitment into your Mortar Board Week plans:
- Create a detailed Mortar Board display in the student union or popular campus location. Many chapters include certificates, awards, T-shirts, brochures and posters in display cases on their campuses
- Post fliers or posters (if permitted) in the student union, residence halls, dining halls, classrooms, sorority and fraternity houses, athletic or fitness facilities, or club meeting rooms
- Encourage members to show their pride by wearing their Mortar Board pins throughout the week
- "Chalk" sidewalks on your campus (if permitted) with information about Mortar Board Week
- Have chapter members staff a table at the student union and provide informational brochures and applications to potential applicants. Providing giveaways (such as candy or coupons) is an effective tool to draw visitors to the table.
- Contact the National Office to help create a business card-size design with at-a-glance recruitment information such as the link or address where Mortar Board applications can be found. These cards can be printed quickly at a low cost and are easily distributed to prospective members.
- Hold a dessert reception, mixer, karaoke night or other social event where potential members can attend to learn about the society, get to know current members and enjoy a fun time.
Campus service projects
Honoring Mortar Board's ideal of service is a great way to commemorate the Society's founding. Here are a few service projects, large and small, that a chapter can do to serve its alma mater.
- Sponsor a study refresher for second-year students to help them through the "sophomore slump."
- Hold a recognition progam for academic advising staff that highlights their work and describes Mortar Board.
- Work with your director of admissions to hold a thank-you breakfast for admissions staff who work hard to enroll the best students. This is great visibility for Mortar Board!
- Attend a women's athletic event as a chapter.
- Take a "thank-you" flier to every advisor of a student organization to hang on the advior's door knob
For additional help, see more service ideas.
Social events
Mortar Board Week can be a great time for chapter members to bond and celebrate the Society's founding. Whether events are open to all students, alumni, prospective members or active members, social activities can be a great way to promote Mortar Board.
- Hold a karaoke night on or near campus
- Reserve lanes at a local bowling alley
- Join for a potluck dinner or around-the-world type meal, where a few different courses are served at various members homes
- Host a dessert reception or wine tasting with prospective members or alumni
- Provide refreshments and invite current and prospective members to mingle and learn about Mortar Board
- Plan a retreat or lock-in for current members
Publicity/visibility help
During Mortar Board Week, each chapter should try to spread awareness of the organization on and around their campus. This can include making underclassmen aware of the society and enhancing a relationship with faculty and staff.
Gain campus visibility
- Create a Mortar Board display in the student union or popular campus location.
- Encourage current Mortar Board members to wear T-shirts or pins to classes.
- Post fliers or posters (if permitted) in the student union, residence halls, dining halls, classrooms, sorority and fraternity houses, athletic or fitness facilities, and club meeting rooms.
- "Chalk" sidewalks on your campus (if permitted) with information about Mortar Board Week.
- Have chapter members staff a table at the student union and provide informational brochures and applications to potential applicants.
- Use campus electronic message boards or social networking sites
Some audiences a chapter should try to reach for maximum visibility:
- The campus and surrounding community including students, faculty, staff and chapter alumni
- Campus media such as the student newspaper, university communications office, university news office, student radio, campus magazines, etc.
- Local media outlets such as local newspapers, television and radio stations
Feel free to direct campus and local media to the Mortar Board Week fact sheet available online. Using these, media outlets can obtain a great amount of useful information to understand Mortar Board Week and your local chapter.
Visibility Resources Folder
Mortar Board has provided a helpful compressed folder of materials that can help. The Visibility Resources Folder contains:
- Mortar Board Week logo - The official event logo is available in a variety of resolutions in both color and black and white.
- Posters - Designs available in both color and black and white for 8 1/2" by 11" paper 11" by 17" size fliers. These are great for posting in classrooms, dining halls, and residence halls.
- E-postcards - Pre-made e-postcards ready to be filled with your chapter's event information can be sent to campus media or students to help promote the week's events.
- News release help - Mortar Board has provided a template for Mortar Board Week news releases, a sample release for a fictional chapter, a handy Mortar Board Week fact sheet and a useful Mortar Board Stylebook for writing consistency.
Instructions for downloading the Visibility Resources Folder
- Click this link to download the Visibility Resources Folder.
- A window will prompt you to open or save the folder.
You can do either.
- "OPEN" option
- Click the "open" option
- A window will pop up. On the left side of the window, you will see a "folder tasks" section with the option to "extract all files"
- If an extraction program is installed, the Windows Extraction Wizard or other program will open. Click "next."
- Use the "browse" option to select the location on your hard drive where you would like to save these files, such as "My Documents."
- Select the box to show extracted files and hit "finish."
- "SAVE" Option
- Select the location where you would like to save the the file on your hard disk, such as "My Documents."
- After the file download is complete, navigate to the location where you saved the file.
- Double click on the zipped file to open it.
- You can either click on "extract all files" at this time or drag and drop the files elsewhere from the zip window.
- Note: Some versions of Windows may require that you install an unzip tool first.
- Questions can be directed to the national communications manager at 800-989-6266 ext. 106 or mbforum@mortarboard.org.
