Conference Workshops did not present much new info. Sec/treasurer did not cover much new info. Both speakers for the chapter service project and the honorary member activities workshop were wonderful.

Workshops were the perfect length -- not too long, not too short. Food was great and speakers were good.

CSU-SAC did a terrific job with their workshops and presentations. Yi Li is an excellent presenter for Yoga.

GK brainstorming was wrongly put at the welcoming session. The "survey" is least effective because won't talk much trust of what they think about GK. It was not made anonymously. However, you guys really worked hard for this conference -- I really appreciate it.

Great job!!

Had a productive, and informative conference weekend.

I had a great time this weekend. Thank you for all the hard work, organizing the conference and making us feel welcome.

I had a lot of fun and learned a lot to take back to my chapter.

Very beneficial. I will take back a lot of new ideas to my chapter.

The most memorable moment from the Regional Conference was when Toby read what chapter officers had to say about their advisor. Once she mentioned all the things that sounded familiar to me and then mentioning my family, it brought tears to my eyes. I was completely unaware that I had touched their lives in such a way. It was an incredible moment for me.

I thought regionals was fun--it was my first time presenting (a workshop) and proved to be a great experience and good practice for presenting at internationals!!

It would have been nice if everything started on time so those of us who were on time did not end up waiting around.

The conference was great. I just wish that participants from different schools could lose their difference and embrace more on the fact that we are all Golden Keyers and we are here to support each other.

PSU did a great job to make all feel welcome.

Before the convention began, I walked through Downtown Portland for a while. I happened to pass by the filming location for an upcoming movie called " the Hunted" (or something like that), and I was able to see Benicio del Toro! (I, unfortunately, missed Tommy Lee Jones). Then, on my last day in Portland, I went on a walk near the bridge with another Davis chapter officer, and we passed by the location again! This time, we almost had the chance to be extras (because we smuggled in J); however, we had a plane to catch. BUT, it was very interesting to observe how films are made! So that is a very strong Portland Convention memory that I have.

Four of us attended the conference and we got some more ideas about how to improve our Chapter's success. We also presented a workshop on Icebreakers, which quite a few people attended. We created a "human knot" which we weren't able to untangle! We also enjoyed seeing Portland, since none of us had been there before. Thanks again to Oregon State for hosting the conference, you guys did a great job J.

I had an awesome time in Portland. This was my second GK conference, the first being International at Beverly Hills last August. The Sacramento State chapter put on a few workshops and ALL were awesome. I assisted in the General Health/Life/Martial Arts workshop and we had the biggest turnout by far. I would like to see more workshops of this nature. Not that resume building and wise investment workshops are not beneficial,, it's just that most people are smart enough to get help in those areas *when* they need it. When I attend a conference, I don't want to think *quite* that much, after all, it is a mini-vacation for most attendees. The most memorable moment occurred the first day we arrived and it started hailing. In Portland, it doesn't hail little frozen rain drops...no no no...it hails these huge boulders. The kind that make you use a loud profanity when you get hit by one in the head. So, that was the most memorable moment for me. Also, I like getting all duded up and fresh with my clothes and gold at a HUGE formal/semi-formal. BBQs are cool,, but I prefer those outdoors next to a lake.

Let chapters know that the conference is most beneficial to new officers.

Not horrible but disappointing. Speakers were mediocre, workshops a waste of time. Needed things to do during off time.

Officer transition was good, specific ideas, but need to give us time to ask questions and come up with own ideas. It felt like we weren't informed about what we needed. We didn't know that there was a dance, so didn't bring stuff to wear. Didn't realize how cold it is in Portland, did not know that we were doing a workshop so weren't prepared. Didn't even know which hotel shuttle. This info should be e-mailed to all officers directly instead of just one person. Also, did not know about boxer exchange, toiletries collecting, etc.

Thank you for accommodating my dietary needs as a vegan. The PSU students were very friendly and hospitable.

Thank you to Portland State for preparing the conference for GK, US. They did an excellent job.

Alumni Chapter Information 

For those of you who may not know, we are blessed to have an alumni chapter in the San Francisco Bay Area!  There are currently only 6 active alumni chapters (with 3 more developing chapters on the way), all of which are in the united states, and our chapter is the most recent– Our region is the best!!  J  I had the privilege of recently attending the kick off event in berkely, and I believe that this chapter has a lot of potential.  As the RSR, I want to congratulate all of our graduates and encourage them to join this alumni chapter.  If you are interested in joining, please visit this site:

https://goldenkey.gsu.edu/alumni/online/join.asp?chapter=BAY

This is an incredible opportunity to expand your network of personal and professional contacts, and you will have the opportunity to participate in service and social activities as well as provide assistance to conference host chapters on occasion.  New officer elections will be held in August, 2001 (contact Manny for  information).

AN INTRODUCTION FROM THE SF BAY AREA ALUMNI CHAPTER

Hello GK alumni,

Welcome to the SF Bay Area Golden Key Alumni Chapter! If you are a GK graduate, we have a lot to offer you. Just take a look.

The purposes of the alumni chapter are:

1. To provide lifetime GK members an opportunity to remain involved with the organization after graduation.

2. To provide networking opportunities.

3. To increase GK awareness in the community.

4. To assist local undergraduate chapters.

5. Other activities and networking opportunities.

As this is a new chapter, new members will have a lot to say about the direction this chapter takes. Please let us know what activities you would be interested in. We will send out info soon about nominations for officer positions.

Thanks for thinking about joining us! If I can be of further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact me. And remember, you can join online (see link to the left). J

Manny Chau sfbagkac@yahoo.com Organizing Committee co-chair

The Challenge to Lifetime Membership Kerri Hill, Portland State University

GK Involvement: Social chair, Regional Conference Committee Fundraising Chair, & Honorary Member Liaison

Education: AA General Studies, BA International Studies: Latin America, Current graduate student in Caribbean and African Studies

After our regional convention, which our chapter was fortunate enough to host, one recurring thought plagued me. Time after time upon hearing snatches of conversations in between sessions, meals, and awards ceremonies, one phrase made me wince: "until graduation." I'm an officer "until graduation." I'll be active "until graduation."

STOP! Remember that you worked to be invited to join and you did not pay only to be involved for the equivalent of induction until graduation, which at some schools is as little as a year. You, or someone who loves you, paid for a lifetime Golden Key membership. Perhaps the best way to persuade you to remain involved as a lifetime member is to share with you my GK story.

I received a GKHS (we weren't international then) invitation roughly the equivalent of my junior year. I didn't join because I had other things to do with my money and, as a non-traditional student, was already at the start of a second career and already had what I feel to be a pretty outstanding resume largely due to over ten years of extensive and exhausting work experience. Fortunately, my mom received a letter the equivalent of my senior year and paid the fee as a part of my graduation present. A normally very inartistic but still decent mom, she designed a very cute little card on which she traced the shape of a key and wrote simply, "Love, Mom." Later, upon demanding an explanation of the mysterious drawing (a new car perhaps?), she told me that the key to her happiness is seeing that I am eligible for things like this. She knew that I wouldn't think I could afford to join, but also that I couldn't afford not to.

I was inducted (with my beaming mom in attendance, of course) in November, and shortly afterward left for a study abroad program on the Caribbean island of Trinidad. Upon returning in March, I stumbled upon a meeting one evening while looking for an empty room to catch up on some reading assignments after my trip. I quickly became involved because the people were so nice, they had cookies, and we really needed some more active members in our chapter.

In the rush to graduate I don't feel that I was very involved for that 4 months although I did attend meetings and some activities. I went through commencement, my medallion sparkling more brightly on the rainy June day than those who had never attended any meetings, but still feeling a little disconnected. Then a classmate approached me and asked what I had done to get the medallion. I came back with a speedy, arrogant reply to the effect that my report cards rocked, but it wasn't until I packed up my graduation loot to write my thank you cards and came across the note from my mom that I thought more about what I had done to get the medallion. I realized I hadn't done enough to deserve it and wanted to do more, that I still didn't feel like I belonged to Golden Key.

Since I have graduated, (I will graduate a third time this summer!) even though I have to admit I am a graduate student and still on campus 2 days per week which fosters my participation, I find that I now have more desire to be involved with Golden Key. Perhaps I have even more time to devote as graduate assignments tend to be broader in scope and less frequent, though much more intense. I have, in the time since graduation, held another office, been on the regional conference planning committee, and attended more service and social activities than I did as an undergrad. My post-baccalaureate involvement with GKIHS feels good. I stay in touch with campus life and maintain the connections I have built with undergrad and other grad members, advisors, faculty, community and honorary members. I can encourage other graduating seniors, former advisors, faculty, and honorary members to remain involved by example. I can act in the capacity of graduate advisor if needed. I know the ropes and enjoy mentoring new members on how to navigate their way around reserving meeting rooms, planning activities, planning induction and conferences, not to mention day-to-day student crises that once held me hostage in those dismal undergrad years. I am a lifetime member and now feel like I am earning my medallion. I feel that even if I was not still a student I could find the time and dedication to attend at least some meetings and activities and would encourage you to do the same after you graduate. Even working 40+ hours per week you can always find one more hour to enrich yourself and the lives of your fellow members through your participation. If you are planning to attend grad school, I would encourage you to seek out the closest GKIHS chapter, or start one at your new school.

As a graduate, you have the post-graduation tools not only to succeed yourself, but also to help others to succeed. I realize that many of you had much more involvement as an undergraduate than I did and are probably burned out on Golden Key. Happy Graduation! Take a brief vacation and please come back--we need you and your experience on a new exciting level as a graduate student or alumni. If you can't open your schedule, open your wallet and make a small annual donation to help your local chapter fund activities or conference attendance, or sponsor a membership for a low-income member. As an active member you know that participation and budget are often the biggest challenges any group of officers faces.

Don't just let lifetime member be a word on your resume-resolve to be a lifetime member.

Chapter Highlights

UC Davis Submitted by Laura Ewing

One of the things I'm most proud of is the number of awards we recently received at the Student Awards Ceremony. Out of over 300 clubs on campus, the UCD Chapter of GK received the award for Outstanding Contribution to the Educational Mission of the University as well as the Kaplan Award for Excellence in Student Teamwork (awarded to four officers from the 2000-2001 school year who worked very hard at making GK an awesome club--Laura Ewing (President), Naileshni Singh (Community Service Chair), Tracy Childers (Secretary), and Jot Sandhu (Treasurer). Out of the four awards given to student organizations, GK received half!! We received a total of $1300 for these awards, and were even presented with one of the huge cardboard checks like they get on Super Lotto!! It was a wonderful night and we are so glad to be recognized for all our hard work throughout the year.

Some of the activities we have done, which stand out in my mind, are: Christmas Caroling for Senior Citizens--this was a great event--about 20 GK volunteers showed up to sing for a group of elderly--it was a merry time for all!!

We worked with Habitat for Humanity four times throughout the year and helped build houses for the poor--twice in the rain! It's actually really fun. I recommend the program to all!

We visited a few disadvantaged high schools and put on mini-college fairs to let the kids know about their options for college and the ins-and-outs of college life (how to fill out a FAFSA, how to pick a major, what the dorms are like, etc.)

We had several guest speakers throughout the year, including the Education Abroad Center, the Cross Cultural Center, a speaker who talked about what Men and Women Bring to Leadership, an academic counselor who spoke about how to ace an interview, and a few more.

UC Berkeley Submitted by Camille Keith

During the Spring Semester we had elections for next year and did some transition stuff. I think we have a pretty good group of officers for next year, so far! We have a close relationship with a local YMCA, and send tutors to their after-school program. I personally had a lot of fun working with the kids. We also took them on a tour of the campus and of the university art museum in February and Golden Key members walked around with them during Cal Day, which is our campus-wide open house.

We also participated in Eggster, which is a learning fair for local kids held before Easter. We helped out at different booths--teaching kids phrases from foreign languages, helping them draw pictures, etc. There were also Easter egg hunts where the kids could get candy.

I think it was a pretty fun semester over all, though we didn't do many activities by the end of the semester since most of our officers were busy with graduation.

CSU Sacramento Submitted by Eric Sulli

Our chapter of GK is focused on community service. We have a regular/annual event titled simply *graffiti abatement *. Once a year, we go out with the City of Sacramento and paint over graffiti scattered around town. This event is LOTS of fun, and our efforts are immediately realized with a clean wall. We have also done pumpkin painting for the kids at the UC Davis Med Center. I think we have done this more than once, so we'll consider this an annual event as well. One final community service activity that I have tried to regularize is volunteering for *A Change of Pace * www.changeofpace.com. They organize various runs throughout the year and our chapter of Golden Key has volunteered for them twice so far. We have assisted in site set up and registration.

SJSU Submitted by Faun Hammon

This was my first semester as president, and I had an awesome team of officers and advisors to help me. We participated in several events, but the most successful, I believe, was our annual Faculty Appreciation Dinner. We allowed students to nominate a faculty member via a submitted paragraph explaining the faculty member's qualifications for recognition, and then we presented the nominees with framed certificates, which also included the student's words of praise, at a catered dinner. The evening was a lot of fun, and the faculty members really enjoyed the fruits of their labors. J Some of the social events we did this semester were a Pizza Social and an End-of-Semester Picnic. I had a lot of fun, and I want to do even more next year, especially after hearing all of the good ideas from other chapters.

CALLING ALL DELEGATES TO INTERNATIONAL CONVENTION

Golden Key's International Convention will be held in Texas this year (but you knew that, didn't you? J). I am so excited to meet all of the other RSR's and regional delegates in August! We have the 36 delegates coming from all the following schools:

CSU Sacramento

Oregon State University

CSU Fresno

Portland State University

CSU Hayward

University of Alaska, Anchorage

SFSU

University of Nevada (Reno)

SJSU

University of Washington

UC Berkeley

Western Washington University

UC Davis

Thanks for helping to make our region awesome!!

We will miss the following: L CSU Chico, University of Oregon, & University of Alaska, Fairbanks Just something to keep in mind: If you are a delegate, please help me keep track of what goes on at the convention so that we can have the best newsletter of all regions, okay? J I need you to be my eyes and ears… take pictures, write stories… we'll show 'em that Northwest is truly the Best!

AND… we still need to work on a regional chant, so put on your thinking caps and send me a line, okay?

Prepare for Your Future!

Stacie Haro, SJSU

Everyone needs to prepare for his or her future. What better way than by attending Resume Writing and Job Search Etiquette Workshop. I presented this workshop at the Northwestern Regional Conference and it proved to be very helpful to many. A good resume is what will get you past the first mark to a good job. You need to have a resume that stands out above the rest in quality and content. The best advice I can give for this is proofread. The worst thing to have on your resume is errors. I suggest making a pit stop by your university’s Career Center to have your resume reviewed by one of the very talented career consultants. If you have not yet prepared your resume for review and need to know where to start, these wonderful people can also help you get started.

Another tip: create a simple one-minute commercial about yourself. You will need to become a number one sales person while searching for a job. You will need to sell yourself and your qualifications to your employer. When you are searching for a job, you are networking 24 hours a day. You need to always be prepared to present yourself in a professional manner. Practice your one-minute sales pitch until it is second nature so when someone asks you the all-famous question, "what do you want to do," you will be able to respond with a well-prepared answer.

As for job search etiquette, my first suggestion is to always remember a thank you card. Believe it or not, employers really appreciate the follow through. Let them know how much you appreciated them spending their time with you and sharing information about the company. Inform them that you will contact them in two weeks to check on the status of your resume.  My second suggestion: remember to make the call.  Mark it in your day planner and always follow through.

These few suggestions just scrape the surface of all there is to know about resume and job search etiquette.

Blood, Sweat and Tears: Being a Host Chapter

Beckie Tempel, PSU

2001 NW Regional Conference Coordinator

When Faun asked me to write an article about my experiences hosting the regional conference, the first words that came to mind were “blood, sweat, and tears.”  No, not the defunct ‘70’s band, but the actual physical manifestations of stress and hard work.  Okay, so the blood was from paper cuts, the sweat was due to the thought of public speaking, and the tears, well, the tears were both of joy and frustration.

Really, it was a memorable and fantastic experience.  Somewhere in the back of my mind I knew the weight of the commitment I was agreeing to when we were asked to host, but it didn’t really hit me until November when the first correspondence was due.  Then I realized that I had undertaken quite a large task, and that I had managed to talk my friends into sharing the stress.  Putting myself, not to mention the chapter, into such a position was probably one of the most daring things I have ever done.  Now that it is all over, I can also say that it was likely one of the healthiest things I have ever done as well.

Throughout the planning and execution of the conference, I learned a great deal.  Not just about how to organize an event, but about myself.  I gained a sense of confidence in an area in which I had zero experience, and I also discovered that nothing ever goes exactly as planned.  I had to figure out when to loosen up and when to stress.  The most difficult and most undeniably important lesson I learned was how to trust others.

I was raised as an only child.  There was only me.  If I wanted something to be done, I did it.  There were no options.  However, one person cannot plan a weekend event alone.  Not even close.  In hosting the regional conference, I had to learn to trust other people to do what they had committed to doing.  It was difficult at first, but I quickly became able to accept that each of the conference committee members was adept at unique aspects of the planning.  The conference would not have been possible if it weren’t for the incredible layout and design talents of Holly, Susan’s bookkeeping skills, Lynne’s steadiness (and provision of the meeting facility, AKA her living room), Kerri’s continuous flow of ideas and optimism, Heather’s PR skills, Amanda’s never-ending search for speakers, the support and presence of Ginny and the PSU chapter, Craig’s willingness to help out in any way, and all of the help we received from the various local companies and organizations.  And of course, none of this would have meant a thing without the continuous support, advice, and action of Toby. 

So, planning and hosting a regional conference is a challenge, both internally and externally.  I learned a lot about myself, about what goes into planning an event, and about the strength of our chapter.  If you are ever presented with the opportunity such as this, I fully encourage you to take it – you won’t regret it!

An Encouraging Word from our Regional Director

Dear Northwestern Region,

Howdy y'all! I hope that you are all set for Dallas, Texas (or are cheering on your delegate(s) that are attending). It should be quite an exciting time in the "Lone Star State"!

Please accept my heartiest thank you for working through a whirlwind of a year together. You have set a precedent for the region to follow. We had 16 successful membership drives, with almost half of our chapters exceeding their quotas. I hope that you all will continue to strive to exceed the quota for next year.

I have also been very impressed with the quality of service events that your chapters have displayed. Many of our chapters participated in either Make A Difference Day and/or America's Promise. San Francisco State University did a food drive for their Make A Difference Day Project. And University of California, Davis worked with high school students for their America's Promise project. Universities such as University of California, Berkeley and University of Washington have signature, repetitive projects such as Scholars at the Y and Teen Feed, respectively. Western Washington University and California State University, Fresno had the great foresight of collecting school supplies/canned food at their induction ceremonies. These are just the tip of the iceberg of what our region is doing! You all should be very proud and continue to keep up the good work!

Each year, Golden Key's Information Services Department awards one region with the most chapters' links to Headquarters' web page. I am pleased to announce that the Northwest region won the Golden Key web award for the 2000 - 2001 school year. We had the most schools linked up to the Headquarters site out of any other region in Golden Key! Congratulations on our very first regional award! (And don't forget to keep those web pages updated -- they are definitely being looked at!).

I look forward to seeing you soon! If you have any questions, feel free to contact me at 800-377-2401 ext. 5788 or at northwest@goldenkey.gsu.edu (note new e-mail address).

Best wishes, Toby

Important Regional Dates

10/13 Northwest Regional Summit

10/27 Make A Difference Day

11/1 SFSU Induction

11/3 CSU Fresno Induction

11/5 SJSU Induction

11/15 Univ of Alaska, Fairbanks Induction

11/17 Univ of Alaska, Anchorage Induction (Eric Sulli's birthday!!!!)

11/19 PSU Induction

11/28 CSU Sacramento Induction

11/29 UC Davis Induction (GK's birthday!!!)

1/16 Univ of Oregon Induction

1/18 Univ of Nevada, Reno Induction

The Following Schools Submitted Yearbooks this Year Good Job!!

CSU Sacramento

Oregon State

SFSU

SJSU

UC Berkeley

UC Davis

Univ of Washington

Western Washington