5 things to do the day after a conference

I just returned from the Phi Theta Kappa international convention, also known as Nerd Nation. 

And it was, in a word, epic. 

But, it always is.

Conferences have a way of imbuing a sense of hope and possibility. 

Connecting w/ my readers @ conferences inspires me to keep going.

Some people are able to take the knowledge and excitement they get from a convention and apply it to their lives, while others enjoy the event but somehow find themselves coming down hard back to "real life" and can't figure out how to translate the convention excitement and motivation into the daily grind.

Do not let that conference excitement you're feeling go to waste. It's very real and can be important fuel for your future if you know how to use it. 

Here are five things I do the day after every conference that I hope help you make the most of your post-conference motivation:

1) Journal
Before you do anything else take a moment and reflect on the conference experience. What did you learn? What was your favorite part? What do you want to change? Who do you want to be? What are you inspired to do?

2) Translate notes into action items
Hopefully you took some notes during the conference when an idea struck you or a speech caught your attention. Translate each note into an action item on your to-do list so those ideas do not get lost. 

3) Follow up with all your new friends
Get all the business cards you collected and/or check your social media channels for all the new friends you met. Reach out with an e-mail or a message reflecting on your conversation and following up on any action-items you both discussed. Schedule a call to talk more with anyone you really clicked with. 

4) Take a walk
Take at least five minutes to walk outside - whether it's on campus or outside your home, just get outside and move. Conferences are highly stimulating and you have so much swirling around in your sub-concious. A walk is a great time to let that knowledge settle and then connect into good ideas.  

5) Do one big thing
After your walk come back to the action items you wrote down in step #2 and choose the one item that could have the biggest impact on your life and DO IT IMMEDIATELY.

Seriously.

Now. 

Why are you still reading this? 

Go!!!!!


;) 

Throwback Thursday: 5 reasons to join PTK

One of the most popular posts on my blog is 5 reasons to join Phi Theta Kappa, and I thought today it would be the perfect Throwback Thursday post because I am at PTK Nerd Nation (their annual conference) right now!

I can't help but think about my first time attending the conference in 2007 as a sophomore in college. I was the president of my PTK chapter. And it was the very first time I rode on an airplane.

I can't believe I'm here again, this time as an alum, to do a book signing. It's crazy and I'm so thankful for all the opportunities community college offered me. 

I hope you enjoy this Throwback Thursday post, and I hope to see you at a PTK Nerd Nation event one day!

Me in 2007 @ PTK in Nashville!

5 Reasons to Join Phi Theta Kappa

I just returned from San Jose, CA after attending the International Phi Theta Kappa* convention; it was epic. 

It also inspired me to share with you why PTK is so awesome, especially if you have never heard of it or have gotten your letter and are still trying to figure out if you should join. 

*PTK is the premier honor society for community college students. Students are invited via letter when they reach the eligibility requirements, which include a GPA standard.

I speak to colleges around the country and many students come up to me after my speech (in which I mention my amazing PTK experience) and tell me they'd been invited into the honor society but hadn't accepted because they weren't exactly sure what it was (e.g. you do have to pay a small one-time fee so it can be scary when you've never heard of it before).

I also recently wrote an article to help you better tell which honor societies are scams and which ones are well worth the investment. 

The good news is, they tell me after hearing my speech that they are definitely going to join. 

I really do think joining PTK is a tremendous opportunity for you and I wanted to share why for my readers who haven't heard me speak yet. 

I also hope that if you are a current PTK member you can send potential members to this blog post for more information. I'd also love for you to add the reasons why PTK has been beneficial to you in the comments section!

Here are five reasons why I think you should join Phi Theta Kappa the second you get your letter :)

1. "Money money money monnney"
When you join PTK you are able to apply for over 37 million dollars in scholarships that are only available to members. On top of that, they announced at the convention that the majority of Jack Kent Cooke Undergraduate Transfer Scholarship winners are Phi Theta Kappans (i.e. $30,000/year for your undergrad and $50,000 for graduate school). We could pretty much stop here because this alone makes membership worth it. (Note: I was a JKC scholarship winner and owe a lot of that to being a part of PTK).

2. Transfer universities will notice (and want you)
Yale recently signed up with CollegeFish.org (PTK's Gates Foundation granted program to connect community college transfer students with the right university and scholarship opportunities) to recruit PTK students. All PTK members have access to CollegeFish.org. 

Being in PTK will make you stand out, and will up your chances for scholarships. Some universities even offer full tuition scholarships to PTK students. 

3. Rockstar conventions
Being a part of Phi Theta Kappa gives you and your chapter a chance to attend the annual international convention (next year it will be in my home state of Florida!!!). The annual convention is unlike anything you've probably ever seen before. The best description I've ever heard is "a mix between a rock concert and a political rally." It's energizing and amazing and, well, you just have to see for yourself. 

The conventions also bring superstar speakers to the stage. I'll never forget what it was like to be in the same room with Malcolm Gladwell.

4. Leadership opportunities
Accepting PTK membership is one thing, but to really get the full benefits, you should get involved. And wow are there some amazing ways to do that.

In addition to being an officer in your chapter (check your student life office or your college's website to find out when the next chapter meeting is and how you can attend), you can also apply to be a regional officer, and even an international officer (in my opinion one of the most prestigious things you can do in community college).

I can only imagine how many full ride scholarships international officers can get by being in such a prestigious position. This is where you want to be, and trust me, you can do it. (I was president of my PTK chapter but graduated before I would have had time to try to be an international officer - get involved as early as you can!)

5. Good friends
When I got involved in Phi Theta Kappa it was the first time I had worked with a solid group of positive people who wanted to make a difference and do something exciting and meaningful with their lives. 

Surrounding yourself with good people is vital if you want to be successful, and PTK offers you a way to connect with others who want to get good grades and succeed in college. It will rub off on you.

And by getting involved, you will rub off on them too. You'll also be amazed at what you can all accomplish together, how you can positively impact your campus, and how you can change the lives of the students around you. 

Never underestimate the power of surrounding yourself with good people. 

Learn more about joining PTK on their website.

Eight full-tuition community college transfer scholarships

The most common question I get at advice@communitycollegesuccess.com is students asking if they really can transfer to a good four-year university if they start at community college.

The truth is, not only will wonderful four-year universities accept community college transfers, they want them! Or rather, they want YOU! So much so that many offer incredible full-tuition scholarships for the top community college transfer students. 

I owe a huge thank you to Phi Theta Kappa's Ron Filipowicz and Sarah Reynolds for sharing this information with me, so that I could share it with you.

You'll see that most of the scholarships look for a 3.5 GPA and PTK membership. It's a great reminder that working hard in community college will (literally) pay off. However, if you aren't PTK eligible yet, don't worry. You can do it (and my hope is that CommunityCollegeSuccess.com can help you get there). 

Below is scholarship information (current as of September 2012) for eight quality universities that offer incredible scholarships for community college transfer students. 

1. Bloomfield College

Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship
This scholarship is available to full time transfer students from two-year colleges who present a grade point average of a minimum 3.5 and are members of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. GPAs are calculated based on all colleges previously attended. Students must have earned an Associate in Arts or Associate in Science degree and must be admitted to Bloomfield College and enrolled immediately following receipt of their degree from the two-year college. 

Renewal of the scholarship for up to 3 years (6 semesters) requires a minimum 3.0 grade point average while remaining a full-time student. Non-U.S. citizens, part-time students, and students with previous bachelor’s degrees are not eligible. A letter of recommendation from a Phi Theta Kappa advisor and/or a copy of the membership card or certificate is required, plus proof of the Associate Degree graduation date.

College Contact
Nicole Cibelli, Director of Admission
nicole_cibelli@bloomfield.edu

2. Columbia College

Phi Theta Kappa Honors Scholarship
Awarded to one Phi Theta Kappa member every fall semester. The scholarship covers full tuition for the subsequent fall and spring terms and is renewable for one year pending a 3.6 CC GPA and 30 semester hours are earned per academic year. Students must be transfers from community/junior College with a minimum 3.5 cumulative college GPA and an associate in arts degree, associate in science degree or at least 60 transferable hours to be eligible to compete. 

Students must submit a letter of recommendation and be admitted to Columbia College before being eligible to compete for the award. Transcripts, a resume and documentation of Phi Theta Kappa membership are also required. Part-time students and students with a previously earned bachelor degree are not eligible.

College Contact, Stephanie Johnson
Associate Director of Admissions
sgjohnson@ccis.edu

3. Cornell College

Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship
An unlimited number of renewable $8,000- full tuition Dean's scholarships per year. Part-time students and students with previous bachelor degrees are not eligible.

Fine Arts Scholarships
Just as it has traditions of academic excellence and extracurricular involvement, Cornell has a tradition of excellence in the fine arts. Talented students in art, music, and theatre may be awarded a fine arts scholarship of $2,000 to full tuition per year. The College also offers fine arts awards of up to $2,000 per year.

William Fletcher King Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship
A limited number of renewable Full Tuition WFK Scholarships per year will be awarded to All USA Academic Team Members. Part-time students and students with previous bachelor degrees are not eligible.

College Contact

Sharon Grice, Director of Admission Operations

sgrice@cornellcollege.edu

4. Mississippi University for Women

All-USA/All-State Academic Team Scholarship
An unlimited number of full tuition scholarships and a $600 book stipend (plus out-of-state tuition, if applicable) are available to members of Phi Theta Kappa who are selected for the All Academic Team (National First Team, Gold, Silver, Bronze or Finalists) with a minimum 3.25 GPA and 48 transferable hours. 

Students must also meet transfer admission requirements and provide verification of Phi Theta Kappa membership. The award is renewable for up to two years if a minimum 3.0 GPA is maintained. Students who will be enrolling part-time at MUW and those with course-work from a four-year college or university are not eligible.

College Contact
Maeghan Tilley, Admissions Counselor
mtilley@admissions.muw.edu

5. Northern Arizona University

All-Arizona Academic Team Scholarship
All-Arizona Academic Team members are eligible for full tuition scholarships.

College Contact
Paul Orscheln, Director of Admissions
undergraduate.admissions@nau.edu

6. Rockhurst University

Phi Theta Kappa Full Ride Scholarship
Phi Theta Kappa members are eligible to compete for one full ride tuition scholarship for the Fall of 2013. Application deadline is 4/1/2013. Scholarship competition interviews to take place in late April 2013.

College Contact
Nathan Elliott, Director of Transfer Admissions
nathan.elliott@rockhurst.edu

7. Texas A & M University, Commerce

Full Tuition Scholarship
Texas A&M University-Commerce will provide two full-tuition scholarships for the Fall 2013 semester. The scholarship is available only to Phi Theta Kappa members with a minimum of a 3.75 GPA.

College Contact
Dimitri P. Lyon, Senior Admissions Recruiter
dimitri.lyon@tamuc.edu

8. Truman State University

Phi Theta Kappa Competitive Scholarship
One state and one national scholarship will be awarded covering up to full tuition, room, and board. This scholarship is competitive and is based upon academic record and membership in Phi Theta Kappa.

College Contact
Jeremy Brinning, Admission Counselor for Transfer Program
admissions@truman.edu

Keep working hard and your efforts really can lead to you finishing your baccalaureate degree for free. Search for these scholarships early at your desired transfer institutions and make it your goal to be eligible for them. You can do this!

Why Phi Theta Kappa is a worthy aspiration for every CC student

Phi Theta Kappa changed my life.

The end.

Okay, there’s more. It can change yours too.

Phi Theta Kappa is the largest honors society in higher education with 1,275 chapters across the world. And their goal is to “recognize and encourage scholarship among two-year college students.”

To be invited to Phi Theta Kappa you don’t have to have a perfect HS GPA or great SAT scores. You just need to earn a 3.5 GPA with at least 12 credits towards an associate degree (and attend a college where there is a PTK chapter).

And while that may seem like a lot – I promise you can do it.

When you do, you’ll receive a letter inviting you to this honors society. But of course, like every great opportunity in college…

It’s up to you to accept.

And you should definitely accept.

Because accepting this honor opens you up to an incredible array of opportunities and benefits, such as:

• access to over 37 million dollars in scholarships
• access to CollegeFish.org – the incredible program funded by the Gates Foundation to help match you with great transfer universities, programs, and scholarships.
• recognition at your College’s induction ceremony and regalia to wear at graduation
• opportunity to be an officer in PTK in your chapter or as an international officer
• opportunity to attend the amazing international convention (being held in Nashville, TN this week!)
• connect with the network of over 2.5 million scholars
• and so much more…

Those benefits are cited on PTK's website and many of them I'm sure on the invitation letter. However, I'm amazed at how many students still timidly come into my office and ask me if they should accept. I also saw a student on Twitter yesterday asking if anyone else got a PTK invitation letter because they didn't want to accept alone. 

Accept. Go to the meetings. Join PTK's Facebook. Interact on their website. Be an officer. Go to convention. Engage. And watch your life transform. You are worthy of it, and I hope it's something to which you'll aspire. 

For me, Phi Theta Kappa directly led me to:

• winning the $110,000 Jack Kent Cooke Scholarship
• meeting the most incredible friends (i.e. my fellow chapter officers)
• developing the confidence to lead (i.e. being a chapter president)
• going on my first airplane to the international convention

I am so thankful for the opportunities I was given through Phi Theta Kappa, and am constantly amazed at what Phi Theta Kappa students are doing every day to improve their campuses, their communities, and the lives of so many fellow students.

I would love to have you in the PTK family if you aren’t already. I encourage you to make it your goal to get invited to Phi Theta Kappa before you graduate community college.

And if you’re already past that point in your life, you can still be a part by donating to the Oberndorf Lifeline to Completion Scholarship, a scholarship to help students complete college for whom unpredictable and overwhelming life circumstances got in the way. 

The goal is to reach $125,000 by this week, as the money raised will be matched by Lou and Rosemary Oberndorf dollar for dollar, up to $125,000. As you know, any small amount, even if it’s only a few dollars, can make a difference when you’re struggling to make ends meet. 

Thank you so much for your support.

Why you should read The Other Wes Moore

As you will soon read in my book, there are people you will meet in your life who will serve as your mentors and change your life forever. There are also people who will do this that you will never meet - they are called non-fiction authors. If you want to be successful in your life then you must get into the habit of reading beyond what is required in your coursework. Listen to audio books in the car. Download them on your kindle or nook. Check them out for free at the library. Find whatever works for you – and read. 

The authors I’ve "met" in non-fiction books have changed my life for the better. I am grateful to so many of them, and I want you to share in that same growth and discovery and success that comes from reading.

Thus, to help get you started I am going to start sharing with you some of the most life-changing books I have come across thus far in my life. 

The first book I want to share with you is the NY Times Bestseller The Other Wes Moore by Wes Moore. 

In short, this book helped me better understand both the world that we live in and helped me understand a world I’ve never known. The first world is the one where the environment you are born into and the daily choices you make can chain you to a life you would never have chosen if you had really known you had a choice. And the second is a world of drugs and violence that I’d only seen in movies and heard about in rap songs. This book elucidates these two worlds from the very real lives of two men, both named Wes Moore. Both men grew up in Baltimore, MD. One Wes Moore wrote this book, is a Rhodes Scholar, and an absolutely incredibly successful man and role model. The other is serving a life sentence in jail.  

The book’s tagline says it best: “One name, two fates. The chilling truth is that his story could have been mine. The tragedy is that my story could have been his.”

Books like this could never be fully captured in a review, so I highly recommend you buy it and read it as soon as possible. For me, the best memoirs are the ones that make me forget it’s a memoir. They make me feel like I’m reading the most vibrant, literary, exciting, terrifying, chilling, and intense fiction book and then every few pages or so say to myself wait, this really happened? Whoa. The Other Wes Moore is that kind of book. 

It is a story that will have you on the edge of your seat, wondering what will happen next. But what is most important about it, is that it’s a true story. It’s a memoir. It elucidates real life lessons about pain, loss, choices, fate, hope, and the power role models and mentors can have in our lives.  

I was deeply and personally impacted by reading this book and I know you will be too because it illuminates realities that are often brushed away in dark corners.  

There are a lot of reasons that can be deduced about why these two men who grew up near each other and even had the same name had such different life outcomes. I cannot pretend to know. But what struck me most of all was the people they had in their lives to look up to. What seemed to be the most powerful influencer in their young lives (especially as neither grew up with their father - one passed away, one uninvolved) was their friends and the older men in their lives. Unfortunately, not all of the role models were positive ones.

It really made me think about the people in our lives and what the word "role model" really means. It make me think about how quickly a life can go astray without love and support from someone who believes in them. 

The good news is, however, is that it works both ways. Lives can be saved when people are given that love and support in their lives. Too many kids do not have people in their lives who believe in them, and it breaks my heart. That is why this book meant so much to me.  

The Other Wes Moore dives into this issue in an important way, and I highly recommend reading it with an open mind, an open heart, and a commitment to do something about the issues it elucidates after you read it. Tell a friend what you think they are capable of. Be a positive role model for someone in your life. And do whatever you can to find positive role models in yours. If you don’t know any right now, I can recommend one. His name is Wes. 

Wes Moore was recently named the Phi Theta Kappa Distinguished Alumnus for 2012 and got his start at a two-year college: Valley Forge Military College. He also hosts a really cool show called Beyond Belief on OWN.You can buy The Other Wes Moore on Amazon.com.