Rotaract Club of Middle Tennessee State University

General Meeting

Tuesday, February 2, 2010

University Honors College 116, 6:00 pm

Members Present

Latashia Cooper

Joshua Fryer

Kaitlyn Jones

Samantha Mallory

Alexander Smith

Lauren Walker

Anna Yacovone

Christopher Young

New/Potential Members

Matt Murray

Stuart Wright

Facilitator: Joshua Fryer, President

The meeting began at approximately 6:15 pm. Joshua started by welcoming and thanking the two potential members, Matt Murray and Stuart Wright. He briefly explained the purpose and past activities of the Rotaract Club of MTSU such as the Soles for Souls shoe drive, the CAIRS bake sale, our KIVA account, the Second Harvest food drive, breakfast Rotary Club meetings, and club movie nights.

We immediately moved directly into the four committees of the Rotaract Club: Club Service, Community Service, International Service, and Professional Development. Instead of breaking into groups as we did at past meetings, we discussed plans for activities as a group. The plans are as follows:

Club Service

· Replenish club account

· Hot Dog, Goodies, and Kool Aid Sale – February 23, 24

o Latashia volunteered her Sam’s Club card to assist with buying large amounts of items to sell

Community Service

· Boys & Girls Club of Murfreesboro Supply and Game drive – beginning immediately

· Possible Soles for Souls drive – date undetermined

International Service

· Haiti Relief Bake Sale – March 16

Professional Development

· Dr. Karen Petersen, Assistant Professor of Political Science and Rotaract Club of MTSU advisor, as possible guest speaker on preparing for graduate school

Following the discussion of project ideas, Joshua moved on to the required election of new officers in April. He and Kaitlyn Jones, VP, are graduating in May, so electing a new President and VP is pertinent. Possible officers include: Anna Yacovone, Samantha Mallory, Latashia Cooper, and Lauren Walker. Others may run for an officer position, also.

Joshua concluded the meeting by announcing that we will meet again on Tuesday, February 9, in UH 116, in order to create posters to promote the Boys & Girls drive. We adjourned at 7:05 pm.

Upcoming Events:

· General Meeting, Tuesday February 9, 6:00 pm, UHC 116

· Boys & Girls Club of Murfreesboro Supply and Game Drive, immediately, campus-wide

· Hot Dog, Goodies, and Kool-Aid Sale, February 23 & 24, KUC

· Haiti Relief Bake Sale, March 16, KUC

Website: http://mtsurotaract.wordpress.com

Facebook: Rotaract of MTSU

* NOTE: In our meeting I failed to mention that we need to start preparing for our 2nd annual Rotaract-International Students picnic, which we will host at the end of April.

Rotaract Club of Middle Tennessee State University

General Meeting

Tuesday, September 8, 2009

University Honors College 116, 6:30 pm

Facilitator: Joshua Fryer, President

The meeting began around 6:40. Joshua started off by briefly summarizing the mission and purpose of the Rotaract club. He recounted last year’s projects and accomplishments such as raising apx $500 last year through the hot chocolate and bake sales, assisting Read to Succeed, and organizing a picnic for MTSU’s international students. Joshua shared his projected goals for this year like hosting guest speakers for meetings, bringing in tutors to assist the seniors in passing the GRE, and devoting money to a possible KIVA account.

Joshua presented a powerpoint that restated and illustrated the above mentioned points. He also made a point to honor our sponsors (Murfreesboro Breakfast Rotary, University Honors College, College of Liberal Arts, and the Political Science Department) and to honor the Rotaract members who got the club off the ground: Nick Mackie and Sean Guffrey.

Joshua briefly discussed that our meetings will probably be held every other Tuesday in the same room and at the same time. One of the new members brought up the concern about dues, and Joshua quickly explained that dues are a yearly fee of $5. We then went around the room and had everyone introduce him/herself. This turned out to be quite hilarious.

Following the introductions, we broke off into the committee groups to discuss possible projects. We reconvened after about 40 minutes, and everyone shared and discussed ideas. They are as follows:

Community Service Committee

• Involve high school Interact Club in our projects
• Food drive for Second Harvest
• Toys for Tots – September 25-27 – sort toys for the Marine Corp Reserve
• Go into local schools to assist teachers

International Service Committee

• KIVA account
• International food sale
• Heifer International
• Sock Drive or something similar
• Obtain extra books from Barnes & Nobles to donate

Club Development Committee

• Hiking
• Movie night
• Dine at international restaurants together
• Salsa dancing
• Celebration of cultures on campus

Professional Development Committee

• GRE study group
• Money Matters workshop  with Mike Hazlett
• State Senator Jim Tracy as a guest speaker
• Campus-wide resume workshop

Joshua adjourned the meeting at approximately 7:55 pm.

Upcoming events:

• General Meeting, Tuesday September 22, 6:30 pm, UHC 116
• Toys for Tots, September 25-27, Smyrna – Contact Patrick McGinnis for details
• Celebration of Cultures, Saturday October 3, Centennial Park, Nashville

Rotaract Club of Middle Tennessee University

General Meeting

March 24, 2009

5 o’ clock pm – Walnut Grove

I wanted to bring everyone up to date regarding our meeting last week. While there were only a handful of people that showed up, we were able to discuss a variety of upcoming events.

We discussed having a food drive for Second Harvest Food Bank, a bake sale fund raiser, and an end of the semester picnic.

Second Harvest Food Bank:
We will meet at the Rec. Center parking lot at 10:30 am on Saturday, April 11. We will then caravan to an agreed upon neighborhood and begin knocking on doors around 11 am, asking for canned/dry food donations. We will do this until around 2pm, and I will take all the food back to Nashville to be dropped off at Second Harvest. PLEASE EMAIL ME ASAP IF YOU CAN TAKE PART.

Bake Sale:
We will have a bake sale on Thursday, April 16 from 10 am until 2 pm in front of KUC. I will be sending out a reminder email a few days before to remind everyone that can to bake cookies, brownies, and such to be donated to Rotaract for the fund raiser. PLEASE EMAIL ME ASAP TO SIGN UP TO WORK THE TABLE.

Picnic:
Mike Boyle has requested that Rotaract help promote the campus and its students to the English Learning Students studying english at MTSU. These students will be enrolling in U.S. universities, and the administration would like for them to feel comfortable enough at MTSU to enroll here. As part of our end of the year picnic, we will be hosting the English Learning Students, International Students, Murfreesboro Breakfast Rotary and the Society for International Affairs. This picnic is not open to all students on campus. However, you are welcome to invite other people. Let us know if you are able to attend ASAP, and how many people you plan to bring, because we will be passing out tickets to make sure we have enough food for everyone.

This picnic will be on Friday, April 24th. It will be catered by Bar-B-Cutie (Kaitlyn’s family friends own a couple and can get us a good price), and we will be playing volleyball and other games. The Political Science Department, Liberal Arts College, Honors College, and ELS school have suggested they all may be able to help with funding. More information will follow.

I hope everyone is having a great semester, and I hope to hear from everyone that is interested in these events.

Pending approval from the KUC, we will have our Hot Chocolate Fund-raiser next Thursday, Feb. 26 instead of this Thursday. I am also going to be submitting a request tomorrow to Aramark to possibly donate the hot chocolate and possibly coffee, so I will not have to use any of the funds I have collected thus far from dues.

If you offered to look over the table for this Thursday, I will assume you are able to watch it next Thursday instead, at the same time specified, unless you email me otherwise. I apologize to those that may have adjusted their schedules.

I will be in touch this week when I hear back from the KUC and Aramark regarding the sale.

We will also hold our next Rotaract meeting on Feb. 26. as well (in conjunction with Movie Night). Time and Location: TBA.

REMINDER: Tomorrow is the Read-to-Succeed book sorting project. For all those that can help, meet at the Linebaugh Library at 4pm.

Rotaract Club of Middle Tennessee University

General Meeting

February 5, 2009

7 o’ clock pm – PH Room 211

Facilitator: Joshua Fryer

The meeting started a few minutes after 7 pm, shortly after the delivery of pizza (donated by the University Honors College). Joshua began the meeting by presenting a PowerPoint presentation about the direction the club will be taking for the semester. You can view the powerpoint online: http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dd6tdqst_1686f7p2qnch . The presentation included suggestions from Joshua and Kaitlyn about four service projects to take on this semester: Read-to-Succeed, The Everything Drive, KIVA, and International Date Night, professional development, club development, and the MTSU Rotaract website.

Shannon Anderson described Read-to-Succeed, and mentioned an upcoming opportunity to help sort and shelve books for the organization at Linebaugh Library on Wednesday, February 18. Joshua then described the idea behind The Everything Drive, which would include placing donation spots around campus to collect clothes, food, shoes, school supplies, etc. Members of the club would then sort through and send items to the respective organizations that need these items (i.e. Second Harvest, Soles4Soules, Red Cross). Joshua then expressed his desire for the club to get involved with KIVA, an international micro-loan program. Finishing off the service projects is the co-sponsoring of International Date Night with Society for International Affairs, Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Sorority Inc, Lambda Theta Phi Latin Fraternity Inc, and the MTSU Salsa Dance Club. International Date Night is meant to spread multiculturalism through an array of international foods, music, salsa lesson, and dancing to benefit the SIA KIVA fund.

Moving on, Joshua began to discuss Professional Development. He suggested we try to host two speakers per semester to promote professional development, host a resume building workshop and GRE study groups, as well as promote internship opportunities for students across campus. Regarding internship opportunities, Joshua would like each college in the university be represented by one Rotaract member that will post a monthly list of internship opportunities for majors in that college. If you are interested in helping keep up with a particular college’s internship opportunities, please contact Joshua.

Next, Joshua discussed Club Development. He proposed having a hot chocolate sale on February 19th before it begins to get too warm. If you are interested in selling hot chocolate (even for a short time) during the day on Feb. 19th, please contact Joshua. He also suggested we sell barbecue (hopefully donated from Kaitlyn’s family-owned, Bar-B-Cutie) when it gets warmer and hold an iPod Nano raffle. Joshua also suggested we have a movie night once a month, and it was decided that it would be best to do this on a Thursday during the time the club would normally meet (since most people are available at this time). Lauren Walker offered to host movies at her parent’s house (which has an in-home theater). Joshua suggested that we tentatively set February 26th as the night for our February movie. More details about this will be forthcoming. He wrapped up the slide on club development by also suggesting we hold a club picnic sometime when it gets warm.

For those attending the Rotaract meeting for the first time, Joshua went over the MTSU Rotaract website, before finishing up his presentation.

Joshua also noted that dues for Rotaract are $5, and to try to get this to him or Kaitlyn as soon as possible.

Discussions following the presentation included working with other campus organizations, such as Word Up! or Amnesty International, on community service projects.

Following these discussions, the meeting was adjourned at approximately 7:45 pm.

Upcoming Events:

• Read-to-Succeed- Wed., Feb. 18, Linebaugh Library – (Email Shannon Anderson for details, and to sign up for a time slot)
• International Date Night – Wed., Feb. 18, 7 pm, JUB-Tennessee Ballroom – (Email Shayna Taylor to buy or sell tickets, or to help with the event)
  
• General Meeting – Thur., Feb. 19, 7 pm, PH 211
• Hot Chocolate Sale – Thur., Feb. 19 – (Email Joshua to sign up for a time slot)
• Rotaract Movie Night – Thur., Feb. 26, 6pm, TBA – (Email Joshua or Nichole Stude to suggest a movie)

PowerPoint Presentation link: http://docs.google.com/Presentation?id=dd6tdqst_1686f7p2qnch

I hope everyone is off to a great start this semester. At the end of
last semester, I asked everyone to send me your availability for the
Spring. According to the ones I received, it seems that the best time
for meetings will be 7pm on Thurdays. I would like for us to meet on
alternating Thursdays beginning February 5 in PH 211.

I would like for us to discuss tabling, as well as ideas on getting a
community service project off the ground rather quickly. Committee
chairs should feel free to get in touch with your committee members
for ideas regarding your committee responsibilities.

Please invite friends that have not previously been a part of
Rotaract, and feel free to announce this meeting in any of your
classes. I hope to see everyone there!

General Meeting: 7pm, Thursday, February 5, PH 211

Rotaract Club of Middle Tennessee University

General Meeting

November 25, 2008

6 o’ clock pm – UHC Room 117

 

Gina Spinale	Nichole Stude
Jonathan Wiley	Patrick McGinnis
Joshua Fryer	Rebecca McGrath
Roberto Velazco	Ruben Tavakalov
Kaitlyn Jones	Samantha Mallory

Facilitator: Joshua Fryer

 

                  The meeting started a few minutes after 6 pm with 10 members present. Joshua handed the meeting over to Nichole Stude, Chair of the Club Service Committee, to recount the discussions of the Club Service Meeting that was held on Thursday, November 20. Joshua agreed that hot cocoa would be a good idea for the table we plan to set up at the KUC at the start of next semester. Nichole expressed the need for volunteers at the table, so please contact her. Joshua expressed that a mass email would be best to round everyone together for a Christmas Movie Night at Nichole’s apartment before the break. Someone added that a movie night could be a part of the Club’s Monthly Get-to-Together, along with picnics and school sporting events. In regards to the Penny Wars, everyone agreed that it would be best to speak personally with the deans of each of MTSU’s colleges to gauge their interest. Joshua expressed that it would be good to check into the legality of a March Madness Pool before the plan is thoroughly implemented. Everyone agreed that gas cards and/or gift certificates would be excellent prizes for a Raffle. In regards to selling food, Kaitlyn expressed that she has personal ties to Bar-B-Qutie and could get food for a low price, if not free.

                  Kaitlyn stated that she, Shannon, and Ruben had participated in service to Read-to-Succeed. She said that the next service projects will be December 11^th and 12^th at 8 am. The location is unknown as of this moment.

                  Joshua presented a few of his volunteer ideas. Classroom in a Box provides basic school supplies to needy communities both locally and internationally through Red Cross. Roberto suggested putting boxes in local schools to encourage donations among youth. It was also suggested to check into donations from Target and Wal Mart or at least their allowance of placing donation boxes within their stores. Joshua also expressed interest in an international and local Book Drive and handwritten letters to Congress from MT students.

                  Kaitlyn suggested stuffing envelopes and leaving them in mailboxes. It was expressed that we should investigate Rotaract’s allowance of this and the extent to which we can do it. Rebecca brought up Heifer International, an organization that donates farm animals to poor villages. Everyone agreed, though, that Tabling at the KUC should be the main priority at the moment. Roberto even suggested hanging up large banners outside the KUC with information about our club.

                  The meeting was adjourned at 6:40 pm.

 

Upcoming Events:

·             Board Meeting – Thurs., Dec. 4, 1 pm UHC 117

·             Read-to-Succeed- Thurs., Dec. 11 and Fri., Dec. 12, 8 am, TBA

·             Second Harvest Food Drive – Sun., Dec. 14 and Mon., Dec. 15, TBA

I would like to congratulate everyone that came out to help yesterday in our latest community service project. All together we helped prep approximately 1300 books for Read-to-Succeed! Please know that with your help, these books will get distributed much faster than they otherwise would have, and you all have contributed to Murfreesboro’s literacy!

Thanks again guys, and remember, if anyone is interested in helping out this great organization on December 11th or 12th at 8:00 please let me know as soon as possible so I can get them a list of volunteers.

With sincere appreciation,

Shannon

Club Service Committee Meeting- Nov. 20, 2008

Chair - Nichole Stude

Only Nichole, Gina, and Nichole’s roommate Lindsey who is thinking about joining Rotaract were present for this meeting. The following were discussed:

 

Tabling:

-I found out who needs to be contacted in order to get a table in the KUC. His name is Stan McCloud and he is at the info desk on the 2^nd floor of the KUC.

-I thought tabling on a Tuesday or Wednesday would be best for the most traffic. We should probably table inside since it’s so cold outside.

-Originally I thought tabling from 10:00am-2:00pm would be best, but for the spring semester, both Gina and I get out of class at one. We’ll have to get everyone’s spring semester schedule to see when people are available to table.

-We thought it would be best to table in January instead of before the winter break because we don’t want people to forget about the club over the break, plus things get pretty hectic after Thanksgiving.

-Someone had suggested giving out hot chocolate while tabling. We thought this would be a good idea because we would have to have more people at the table in order to do so, and the more people that are involved with this, the better.

 

Christmas Party:

-I thought it was too short of notice to plan a Christmas party, but maybe the committee could get together and make goody bags for members. Gina suggested going to the dollar store and looking for party favors. Then we started discussing other things that could be given out at upcoming holidays, like those Necco hearts for Valentine’s Day.

 

Movie Night:

-The idea of a movie night has come up a couple times. Instead of trying to cram everyone into someone’s living room, I thought maybe we could use the movie theater that is at my apartment complex. At the Pointe in the clubhouse, there’s a small movie theater that can be used for residents, so if anyone would be in favor of a movie night, I can see if I can reserve it. I also thought maybe we could combine a Christmas party and a movie night by showing a Christmas movie sometime soon.

 

Monthly Get-Together:

-I thought it would be fun to have everyone get together once a month and spend time together in a way that didn’t necessarily involve Rotaract. Things maybe like a Valentine’s Day Party, a St. Patrick’s Day party, etc. And it doesn’t even have to be a party. It could be we all go out to eat together.

 

Fund-raising Ideas:

-Used clothing sale, like the denim sale that was in front of the KUC earlier in the year. If there’s no copyright infringement because that’s what Plato’s Closet does, everyone could bring in a clothing item they don’t wear anymore and we could have a used clothing sale.

-Penny War between the colleges. We could set up containers in front of the cafeteria and have a penny war between the college of business, the college of basic and applied sciences, and all the others. I’m not sure what the prize would/could be though.

-March Madness Pool. When March Madness comes around, we could distribute brackets where people fill in their predictions for winners. We could have a two dollar entry fee and the winner gets a $15 gift certificate to somewhere. I’m not sure how to calculate winners with those things though, so we’d have to find someone who does.

-Baked sale. If not while we’re tabling, we could have a separate bake sale.

-Raffle. Like the geology department did with the garnet necklace, we could allow people to buy as many raffle tickets they want for $0.50 or $1 and the prize could be a gift card or coupon.

-Car Wash. When it gets warmer, we could have a car wash. Usually places like Sam’s or Kroger will let you have a car wash in their parking lot, but if we wanted to do it on campus, we’d have to find a building with a hose connection to it. We thought maybe the Rec Center does, but we weren’t sure.

-Donations. It doesn’t hurt to ask. We could also ask whoever runs the concession stands at home games if we work a certain amount of hours at the concessions if we could get a certain percent of the sales.

-Carnations on Valentine’s Day. When I went to ETSU last year, the cafeteria gave carnations out to all the girls who came in. I’m not sure if MTSU does a similar thing, but if they don’t, we could sell carnations on Valentine’s Day, maybe to all the guys who forgot to get something for their girlfriends.

-Y.C.J.C.Y.A.D.- We write these letters on a big sheet of paper and hang them up. For a dollar, people can learn what it stands for. (It stands for “Your Curiosity Just Cost You A Dollar,” btw) The big issue with this though is what if one person buys it and tells everyone what it stands for. I thought maybe we could get their name and post office box and send them out, but then if the person doesn’t have a box on campus, we’d have to pay postage costs.

 

Rotaract Club of Middle Tennessee State University
General Meeting
November 11, 2008
6 o’clock pm – UHC, Room 117

Anna Yacovone   
Kaitlyn Jones
Gina Spinale
Natalia Kowolsky
Jonathan Wiley
Nichole Stude
Jonathon Feaster
Patrick McGinnis
Jordan Mynatt
Rebecca McGrath
Joshua Fryer
Samantha Mallory
Roberto Velazco

Facilitator: Joshua Fryer, President

    The meeting started a few minutes after 6 pm, with 12 members present and 1 new member, Roberto Velazco. Joshua began the meeting by asking the Secretary to briefly recount the Minutes of the Board of Directors meeting which was held Monday, November 3, 2008. Immediately following, Joshua gave everyone a brief tutorial of the Rotaract blog at http://www.mtsurotaract.wordpress.com.

    After doing so, Joshua filled everyone in on the issues of dues, asking if anyone would motion to require an annual due of $5, which would amend Article IV of the Rotaract Club By-Laws. Kaitlyn Jones motioned for this amendment, Jonathan Wiley seconded it, and everyone voted their unanimous agreement. Joshua also requested to remove the Finance Committee due to the club’s small number of members and lack of finances. This was motioned and seconded by many people and immediately followed by a unanimous agreement among the rest of the members. Joshua then expressed the Directors wish to add a Public Relations officer to the Board, which would amend Article I of the By-Laws. This was motioned, seconded, and approved along with the motion, second, and approvement to suspend the requirement for a secret ballot. Joshua then nominated Shayna Taylor, which was approved through a unanimous vote by the rest of the club.

    After the amendments, Joshua moved on to the issue of Committee Chairs, naming each one: Club Service, Nichole Stude; Community Service, Shannon Anderson; International Service, Natalia Kowolsky; and Professional Development, Jonathon Feaster. Joshua briefly explained the purpose of each committee at the request of Patrick McGinnis. He also expressed that each committee should opt to meet at least once every two weeks, and he would send out an email to the Chairs of each committee with further information.

    Having done that, Joshua then went around the room and asked each member to name the committee(s) he or she would be most interested in joining. The committee members, as of last night, are as follows:

Club Service:
•    Nichole Stude – Chair
•    Gina Spinale
•    Jordan Mynatt
•    Rebecca McGrath
•    Samantha Mallory
•    Kaitlyn Jones
•    Joshua Fryer

Community Service
•    Shannon Anderson – Chair
•    Gina Spinale
•    Jordan Mynatt
•    Patrick McGinnis
•    Rebecca McGrath
•    Kaitlyn Jones
•    Joshua Fryer

International Service
•    Natalia Kowolsky – Chair
•    Anna Yacovone
•    Patrick McGinnis
•    Roberto Velazco
•    Kaitlyn Jones
•    Joshua Fryer

Professional Development
•    Jonathon Feaster – Chair
•    Jonathan Wiley
•    Roberto Velazco
•    Kaitlyn Jones
•    Joshua Fryer

After the appointment of committee members, Joshua opened the floor to early project ideas. Nichole immediately raised her hand and suggested that the Club Service Committee set up a table in front of the Keathley University Center (KUC) to pass out information about the Rotaract Club in order to draw in new members. Everyone quickly agreed that this was an excellent idea. Joshua said that it would be further discussed in the following Board Meeting.
The meeting concluded at approximately 6:27 pm.

Upcoming Events:
•    Board Meeting – Tues., Nov. 18, 6 pm UHC 117
•    General Meeting – Tues., Nov. 25, 6 pm UHC 117