William Jewell's Book Drive.

Reading IS leading! Check out the update below from William Jewell...

The Mortar Board Chapter of William Jewell College hosted a Book Drive Competition to raise money for Mortar Board’s national “Reading is Leading” Initiative. The chapter spent two weeks during the month of February to raise money and awareness for the program. The chapter raised a grand total of $760 from students and campus faculty. The competition was trying to see which dorm could raise the most money for the cause in order to win food for the entire residence hall. The Book Drive was successful and allowed for the chapter to buy around 375 books for children.

The Last Gavel Exchange - MU and Nebraska.

For the past fifteen years, the Mortar Board chapters from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln and the University of Missouri have met during the football season to exchange a historic and hefty gavel. Both schools love their football, so the tradition was a great fit for these two competitive schools!

It started with the beginning of the Big 12, and this past fall was the final exchange between the two groups. Nebraska is leaving the Big 12 for the Big 10, so Missouri is hoping to start another tradition for their Mortar Board chapter!

This year's exchange took place in Lincoln, Nebraska. Besides being a tradition between the two chapters, it was a great way for Missouri members to bond over a road trip to see the game!

Missouri president Andy Kiehl says that the best part was getting to know members of the Black Masque chapter and learning how they operate. Both chapters will miss this tradition in future years!

Wichita State at the Memory Walk.

Wichita State is off to a great start this year. Many members raised money and participated in the Memory Walk in early October to raise money for Alzheimer's research. The same weekend members also went to KC for the Section Project. More on that later!

A Surprising Start to the Year at Stephens College.

On September 2nd 2010, the women of the Athena Chapter at Stephens College, Columbia, MO., inducted President Dianne Lynch in Mortar Board at the new school year’s Opening Convocation. Athena Chapter President Lainey Hughes described Dr. Lynch as “the role model so many students have been denied throughout their lives“. Hughes went on to say that Dr. Lynch was not just a leader, “she is an ally, a teacher, a friend, an intellectual, and an inspiration“.

Dr. Lynch was tapped and initiated into Mortar Board by Co-Vice President Laura Kline. Dr. Lynch expressed her pride at being tapped into Mortar Board as “an honor”.

Pictured is Lainey Hughes during her speech to the campus and also pictured is Dr. Lynch thanking Mortar Board for the honor. She clutched her framed certificate throughout the Convocation, saying she was never going to put it down.

The Athena Chapter would like to thank our chapter advisor Courtney Cothren; our section coordinator, Victoria Luhrs; Assistant Executive Director of Mortar Board, Megan Stevens; Mary Cay Kuder of Mortar Board; the VP of Academic Affairs, Dr. Mary Hassinger; the VP of Marketing, Amy Gipson; VP of Student Services, Deb Duren; Tiffany Spradling and Ann Taliaferro for all of their help in making this event happen.

Our members for 2010-2011 are: Lainey Hughes, Amanda Visser, Lauren Eye, Brianne Arvin, Erin Hanson, Paige Burton, Courtney Hafenstein, Laura Kline, Lauren Holman, Jami Flesner, Rachel Gaynes, Tae’lor Jones, Kara Hinshaw, Bridget Peter, Stephanie Chapman, Natalie Stezovsky, Miriam Gossett, Shannon Stein, Codi Husak, Kristin McCowan, Valerie Fehringer, Jordan Lilienthal, Lauren Friday, Brigid Flynn and Jennifer Massey-Brown.

Third Annual Harvesters Service Project!

Our section is full of great chapters who do wonderful service in their own communities all the time. But in October of 2008 and 2009, our chapters came together to serve the greater Kansas City community at Harvesters. Here's are photos from the two events!

Mark your calendar for this year's event on Sunday, October 3 from 1 to 4 pm. We're hoping for another great turn out and a service activity that always proves to be fun. Hope your chapter can represent! For more information, contact your chapter president or section17 (at) mortarboard.org.

Hey There Section 17!

We went to conference in Chicago, and we had a tremendously good time. Meet some of our awesome leaders from section 17! They cleaned up nicely for the Candlelight Banquet on Saturday night.

Check back soon for more updates from our chapters. Viva la Mortar Board!