First of all, happy Friday! To recap our last meeting, Jen Cooper and Bill Barber from Kraft Foods gave a presentation about what kind of organization Kraft is and what we should look for when browsing companies to intern or work for. After presenting information on Kraft, Jen and Bill talked more specifically about the benefits they receive by working for the company. Jen’s piece of advice was to look at more than the salary, such as the 401k policy, insurance benefits, and PTO. Bill agreed that Kraft really takes care of its employees, and he has had a positive experience because he can balance his work and his personal life by having a home office, PTO, and a company car and phone. In summary, ask what training programs a company offers to develop yourself, think about work-life balance, and find something you enjoy! Kraft still has a few open internship spots for this summer so contact them at jen.cooper@kraft.com and bill.barber@kraft.com if you’re interested in pursuing that route further.

An updated Constitution was approved by the members with a few changes made during the meeting.

York College in the City/Spring into the City is happening tomorrow, and it’s not too late to sign up to go or to help out! Contact Mary Kate Heinemann or Kayla Holdridge for details.

Our SIFE-filled weekend rolls over into Sunday with Cut Your Hair, Show You Care. You don’t have to get your hair cut, but if you would like to, your $10 donation will go to our Relay for Life team. Vicki and I are also good with scissors but none of you can afford our services! Admission is $5 for food, fun, friends, games, music, you name it! The event will be held at Tom Dignacco’s house at 304 Jackson. Thanks Tom for opening your home to us! Also at Cut Your Hair, Show You Care, we will be tie-dying our shirts if the weather isn’t too terrible. If you already got yours, bring it! If you haven’t gotten it yet, bring $5! If you missed the sign up for them, we have a few extras.

Since we have an “in” with the York Revolution, Mike has brought to our attention a possible fundraiser for this year and next year. We would be watching over the playground during the games! Personally, I will be constantly “aww”-ing at the cute kiddies! If you’ve never been to a Rev’s game, it’s a great atmosphere, and by helping out with this, you will get to see the game FOR FREE! Our first game will be April 23^rd, which is over Easter break, so if you are local or are planning on sticking around, please help out. We need ten people! Faculty advisors included :) It’s the easiest way to get $250 in the history of fundraising!

Sign up for our annual formal with Chelsea at cpavelch@ycp.edu before April 18^th. The formal will be held on April 29^th at the Yorktowne Hotel, and it’s going to be a great time! Business attire only please.

Well, that’s all, folks. If you’ve never listened to Rebecca Black’s song “It’s Friday” (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CD2LRROpph0) Don’t! But for those of you who have, can I just say *we so excited* about SIFE!

Xoxo,

Kara

I hope this post finds you enjoying the first week of April! At our last meeting, guest speaker Jolynn Varano from the Career Development Center gave a presentation on the importance of social media outlets such as LinkedIn, Twitter, and Facebook. Her main points included:  create and maintain a complete LinkedIn profile, be weary of what you post on Twitter and Facebook (profile pictures included!), and be sure to use proper online ettiquete, since there are no laws against employers looking up potential job candidates, and they will google you! In addition to her presentation at our general meeting, Jolynn also took the time to support us all the way in Philadelphia as she cheered us on as we were crowned Regional Champions in our league for the third year straight! Special thanks to Jolynn for becoming a part of our organization.

In case you missed how we did at Regionals, WE WON!!!!! Everyone who attended the competition (including our faculty advisors!) was on their A game and together our passion for SIFE filled the room as we showed the judges what York SIFE is all about. Our win qualified us to be eligible to attend and present at the National competition in May, held once again in Minneapolis, Minnesota. We are preparing to once again exhibit the efforts of our entire team, this time on an even bigger scale! Start thinking about speaking on next year’s team or being a part of the script writing, critiquing, or tech aspects of the presentation. From my participation on this year’s team, I can honestly say it gives me the best feeling in the world to share with others all of the great results we have produced and all of the lives we have touched.

Prior to our success at Regionals, SIFE won the Jody Appel Award for being the most outstanding community service organization on campus. This allows us to win a few extra bucks and to keep our office for another year, in addition to the pride that comes along with the award! We have so many things to be proud of.

If you’re lookng to get involved with another project, check out Project Clean Plate by contacting Tiffany Raybin at traybin@ycp.edu. This project is drawing a lot of attention both on-campus and off-campus. Here’s a link to the news coverage the project recently received: http://www.fox43.com/news/wpmt-york-college-operation-clean-plate,0,4204011.story. Also going on right now is Spring Into the City, York College in the City’s new baby brother—Spring Edition!). This is the first time for this project so take the opportunity to do something great for your campus! We need members to help sign-up students at tables in the Student Union in the days leading up to the event, and we also need help at the day of the event. Even if you don’t help out with the project, I strongly encourage that you take the tour on Saturday, April 16^th. Not only will you get a free T-shirt and lots of discounts and samples, but you will also get to see firsthand the city that we do so many of our projects in. Contact Mary Kate Heinemann at mheinema@ycp.edu or Kayla Holdridge at kholdrid@ycp.edu to help out/attend! Follow Me Socially with Joe Bortner is still taking on new members to help with social media at local businesses. This is a great project to get involved with if you want experience that could land you an internship dealing with social media! Joe’s email is jbortne1@ycp.edu.

Keep selling those You Know You Go To YCP When Shirts and Cloister Carwash Coupons!!!!!!!!! Contact Duval at dwilli12@ycp.edu  or stop by the SIFE office if you need more of either!

We’re currently fundraising for Relay and it’s not too late to sign up! Contact Chelsea at cpavelch@ycp.edu with any questions! Another date to keep open is Sunday April 17^th for our big Relay fundraiser—Cut Your Hair, Show You Care! From 11-3pm at 304 Jackson St, $5 will get you access to food, games, and music, and don’t forget to bring a friend or two! If you need a haircut, $10 is all it costs, and the best part? All proceeds go to Relay! Please come out for a day of fun and feel free to invite non-SIFE members!

On April 29^th, we will be hosting our annual SIFE formal once again at the Yorktowne Hotel from 6-9 pm. SIFE members can go at no cost but must sign up with Chelsea at cpavelch@ycp.edu. If you’d like to bring a non-SIFE date, the cost will be $20 (This covers the meal). If you sign up and don’t show up, you will pay!!!! At the formal we will have a delicious dinner, an awards ceremony, and lots of socializing/time to dance! Don’t forget to dress up!

If you’re considering being a Team Leader for next year, please notify myself at ksnyde10@ycp.edu and the current Team Leader so we can set up a time to talk about what the position entails. If it’s still something you’re interested in doing, we can go from there!

Current Team Leaders, please contact Mike Foster at mfoster@ycp.edu to set up a time to get your project audited so we can begin planning for next year!

The summer retreat is planned for the weekend of June 11^th-12^th. All current and incoming E-board and Team Leaders are strongly encourage to attend, and anyone else who is interested is absolutely invited!

Our next meeting is at 7 pm this Sunday in LS 302, so please plan to attend!

Kara

I hope you all found time to enjoy the warm weather this week!

To recap last Sunday’s meeting, guest speaker Matthew Randall, Executive Director of the Center for Professional Excellence, started out the meeting by asking “How do other people experience you?”. After some soul searching, Mr. Randall shared two steps to improve how others view us. The first of which is to differentiate yourself, and the second is to develop your personal brand. If you remember back to last semester, Mr. Randall gave us a whole presentation dedicated to developing our own personal brand. There are four steps one can take to do so: discover, create, communicate, and maintain. In the discovery process, establish who you are and what you are passionate about, and identify and sharpen your skills and expertise. To “create”, package yourself, by making a resume, a cover letter, an elevator speech, a LinkedIn profile, a business card, and a portfolio of your work. All of these add to your personal toolbox which you will be able to draw from as needed. The third step is to communicate, meaning to be your own spokesperson and get to individuals with interests similar to yours. Finally, maintain! Keep updating those tools you’ve created as you develop your skills and your expertise grows. Find that thing that gets you out of bed in the morning, because your passion is your “X” factor!! It could be the key to setting you apart from your peers post-graduation. Mr. Randall left us with two things to remember: ALWAYS bring a pen, and make that LinkedIn already!! It is your personal professional destination, and you should join the conversation. If you’d like to continue hearing ways to become your best self, Matt Randall and the CPE are hosting two seminars, one of which is this Tuesday, March 22^nd at 3 pm in the CPAC, featuring Dr. Joshua Landau, called “Can texting and Facebook limit your success?” and the second which is called “Exemplifying Professionalism” on April 27^th. If you would like the Powerpoint that Mr. Randall presented, please email me at ksnyde10@ycp.edu. He also is willing to follow up with any SIFE members about their personal branding efforts (mrandall@ycp.edu). A special thanks to Mr. Randall for continuing to help our cause.

************************************************************************************               

The first order of business that you need to know is that this Tuesday, March 22^nd at 5 pm, we are competing for the Jody Appell community service award in the CPAC, which we have won the past two years. The award comes with honor and pride, as well as a plaque for all to see, a monetary prize, and the office that I love so much. As always, we’re up against some pretty tough competition, and this year there is one new criterion in particular—YOU!!!!!!!!!!! We need to have as many members as possible to be there showing their support, even if you aren’t able to stay for its entirety. This is a very prestigious and meaningful award, and we CANNOT do it without you. So please, please, please, come out on Tuesday to support SIFE. You will receive hours for attending and I will forever owe you one!! Honestly I’ll buy you ice cream or something. It is not mandatory but Senate will be very impressed (aka it will increase our chance of winning) if we are all dressed up in business attire. Thank you guys so much for all of your support already this year, and I reeeeealllllyyyy hope to see you Tuesday! Remember, you just have to sit there and look good!! Please come! Please!! Be there or be square..or Vicki and I will be very sad and nobody wants that ;(

^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

 Next, reminder that we have two on-going fundraisers—the T-shirt sale and the Cloister carwash coupons. If you need more of either, get in contact with an E-board member, Duval in particular, or catch us at the SIFE office. If you missed this past meeting and would like this year’s York SIFE T-shirt for a one-time payment at the low price of only $5.00, no S/H, please let Vicki know your size ASAP so you can be sure you will get one. It’s not too late to sign up for Relay for Life! Last year we were the top fundraising team-some big shoes to fill this year!! Please direct any questions to Chelsea Pavelchak.

Team Leaders: please remember to send me hours for your project members, as well as contact Mike (Foster) to set up a time to meet and discuss/audit your project. Keep in mind he works until 6pm so it will have to be an evening you both have free and the longer you wait, the less likely this will get done right.

Hats off to this week’s Super SIFEr winners: Mike Crane, for spending his break on the JR’s Fries Sustainability paperwork, and the entire El Salvador team for their efforts towards making this year’s trip a success. The Head of the Business Department, Gerald Patnode, and his wife, adjunct professor, Nancy Stouffer presented the group with individual certificates from the University of El Salvador. Both joined John Barteld as faculty advisors on the trip of a lifetime.

The meeting concluded with Elections for next year’s E-board. The E-board for the 2011-2012 school year is as follows: Kara Snyder-President (not to worry, my blog isn’t going anywhere—I know you were all concerned about that!), Vicki Bisio-Vice President, Tom Dignacco-Treasurer, Chelsea Pavelchak-Marketing Coordinator Extraordinare, Morgan Rynkiewicz-Social Activities and Fundraising Chair, and secretary….TBD!!!! Next meeting there will be a revote for this position, both Brittani Giamoni and Mary Kate Heinemann had the same exact number of votes. I think they tried it!!!

Thanks everyone for tuning in to this episode of Kara’s Corner!! Next meeting: 3/27 at 7pm in LS302…oh yeah, and I better see you at the CPAC at 5pm this Tuesday for the Jody Appell Presentations. I seriously know where you all live. Muhahah..the perks of being Secretary…

Til next time,

Kara

P.S. Remember you can comment on this blog about how great it is or other semi-important things like you have a LinkedIn and we should look you up. And by semi-important I mean top priority!!!!

Today Mike’s group headed back to the Junior College. We had an even better response today than we have ever had at this institution. For our class this morning, we taught 108 students. The two-hour session was so interactive that we were only able to cover half of the material we wanted to present to the group. It is amazing the difference we are having with this school, compared with last year’s group. This session we also got one of the professors involved with our activities.  He performed a shape drawing activity that stressed the importance of one-way and two-way communication channels.

The next portion was written by Michael Abbate:

“Wednesday we arrived at the school at the same time.  Since the day before was so wild we didn’t go into the day expecting a set amount of sessions and students.  It is no wonder that we ended up having only two sessions of forty-five minutes each with 45 and 90 students respectively.  For these sessions we taught about leadership and success skills.  Just like the day before we performed activities and an example was a game based on the decision making process.  We split all the students into teams of six and handed them the five steps of the process on small pieces of paper.  The steps were written in Spanish and each team competed to be the first to put the steps in the right order.  This activity was a success because it had all the students excited and created some competition.

After our teaching sessions we were in the auditorium and a group of students came in with instruments.  Being intrigued we decided to stay and see what was going on.  There were kids who had electric and acoustic guitars, an electric keyboard, a piano (which was already in the auditorium), and their vocal chords.  The kids proceeded to play us three different Christian rock songs.  The thing that struck us as a group as amazing was the fact that these kids were all on recess and didn’t have any supervision.  They were extremely organized and seemed to take this very seriously.  Not to mention that they were so good.  After we listened to the tunes, we went on a tour of the campus.  We went to the kindergarten building where all the little El Salvadorian children greeted us with smiles and hugs.  A class of 4-5 year olds sang a song for us in English.  The next classroom had another group of 4-5 year olds, who were on computers.  All of the children were learning computer skills.  For instance, the game that they were playing was set up so that letters dropped down the screen and the kids had to find the key on the keyboard before it dropped off the screen.  Some of the kids did so good and we were all amazed.  After that we went to an advanced English class where we met some students that we recognized from our class sessions.  For about thirty minutes, our group roamed around the classroom and talked to all of the kids.  The thing that was astounding was that they spoke basically fluent English.  They told us that they learned from our presentations and enjoyed having us at their school.  We also talked about subjects with the students such as: school, music, sports, and travel.  They made all of us feel so welcomed and we were so grateful to have that experience.

A lot of things happened just at the school within the last two days.  There are things that have happened that can’t be explained and things that have left us speechless.  As a group we can all agree that without the help of our translators we would all be “lost in translation” haha.  But seriously our translators who are University of El Salvador students and other El Salvadorians have done such a terrific job that it has made everything that we have done that much easier.  Although we live so far apart and live in widely different cultures we have all united as one to try and teach the young students.  There hasn’t been a time where we haven’t interacted with the translators and the UES students.  Since the time we have arrived we have been one big family who eats and spends endless amount of time in the busses together.  We have learned a lot from the last two days but it is safe to say that each of us has changed because although we are teaching these kids we are learning just as much from them.   The last two days in this school has shown us the differences in culture on a profound level but the differences have been positive in so many ways.”

At the end of the day, we all had the opportunity to explore Suchitoto (http://www.suchitoto-el-salvador.com/)! All I can say is wow! Cobblestone streets, a beautiful church, the works! We had about two hours to explore the town and I finally had the opportunity to pick up a pair of much needed sunglasses! $3 for a pair of Nike glasses. After we explored the town, we all headed to a lake! Breathtaking! Please look at the pictures all of us have, it was so beautiful.

Mike F.

Thursday

On Thursday the teaching sessions were set up differently than the rest of the week.  Mike Foster and Kevin Carullo went to a Co-Op to teach. The co-op served as a micro loan financing institution. The school we taught at supported the kids of customers, who took at loans at the co-op in hopes that these students will be able to help with the business operations of their parents. The co-op supports five schools and we were assigned the school that hosted the leadership program. We taught about 24 students at this institution and they even got us to dance! Check out facebook in the future for our dance moves!

The rest of the group stayed together and taught at Walter and Baptist.  We started the day off normally with breakfast at Wally’s.  It was about an hour drive where most of us got ready for the impending lesson.  We were excited though to be teaching in a bigger group and also being able to see how everyone teaches.  We weren’t exactly sure how many kids at the Walter school we would be teaching but we were ready for anything.  When we arrived at the school we pulled into the outdoor auditorium area and we saw kids everywhere!  At this point we thought that we would be teaching a large amount of students.  We met with the principal and she told us that we would be teaching only 90 kids and there was a sigh of relief although we could have taught 300 if we had to.  So we began our 2 hour lesson and it went remarkable.  The kids sat there intently and participated in all of our activities.  As a group we probably had close to 6 or 7 activities and every one of them went really well.  Everyone in our group was ready and we all presented so well that after the lesson we spent close to 15-20 minutes fielding questions and taking pictures with almost every student that was there.  There was a sense of pure excitement in the auditorium from the students and the team members respectively.  We then took a tour of the school and walked around the campus like we just got done performing a top-ten hit song.  We all know that isn’t the truth but that’s how it made me feel at least.

After the tour we talked to the principal about next year for a few minutes and then hit the road for the next school.  So as we have talked about all week is that the Baptist school was always a different experience.  We never go into that school having any idea what we would be doing.  When we arrived Jordan and I played basketball with a few of the students for five minutes.  That was cool on a personal level because I like to play basketball and I was able to talk to the kids that spoke English while we were playing.  After we got nice and sweaty we went into the auditorium and were told that we would be teaching a group of 90 students.  The only difference is that we only had 45 minutes to teach instead of 2 hours like we had at the previous school.  Like usual we adapted to the situation and put on another excellent lesson for the students.  One part of the lesson I wanted to exclusively talk about was the skit about the different types of leaders.  The point of the skit was to show how an enhancer, neutralizer, and diminisher are types of leaders.  The skit was set up where Vicki was the pupusa maker, Kara was the customer, and Morgan, Chelsea, and I were the three different types of leaders.  The reason that I wanted to talk about this was because Kara went above and beyond in her part that it had everyone in the whole auditorium laughing so hard it hurt.  Now she didn’t have to do this but at one point she was crawling on the floor asking for a pupusa because she was so hungry.  These types of things on the trip while small really went to show how far we would go to really connect with the students.

After our first lesson we went into a classroom that to those who went to Baptist all week found to be very familiar.  We had taught this class on Tuesday about goals and most of the kids were also in the Advanced English class that we went to talk to on Wednesday.  For most of us including myself this made us feel at home and not nervous one bit.  We proceeded to go through the lesson plan talking about leadership and success skills.  After the lesson, which went well again, we went outside the school with the class and took a class and team member picture.  Then we talked to all of them for about ten minutes about their lives and aspirations.  Although for the first two days of teaching we were split up into smaller groups today we were in a group of 13 or so including the translators and UES students.  We all worked together as if we had done it that way all week.  I would like to personally thank everyone for taking this trip and the teaching very seriously.  I think that it went extremely well in all aspects and for next year there is so much room to expand because of the relationships that we have built in the week that we were there.

Mike A.

This morning we had the opportunity to travel to the University of El Salvador. This is one of the largest universities in El Salvador and all of Central America. They have around 50,000 students and they are all commuters (We think parking at York is bad, no way Jose!). Our group met for the first time with UES students, three of which were returning from last year (We also had three returning as well). It was so amazing to be able to catch up with old friends, as well as make new ones.

We had three meetings with the administration: the SIFE advisor, the Dean, and the President of the university. All of them were so grateful for the relationship between York College and the University of El Salvador and what it has come to thus far. After our meetings, we were given a tour of the campus by the students. We visited their gym facilities, the book store, the theatre, and various other parts of the campus. The art work painted along the buildings was breathtaking.

To wrap up the day, we ended up going to the new location of the Ruta 3:16. The building is still going through some final construction, but the painting and finishing touches look awesome. Here we had lunch, conducted some icebreakers, and shared our projects from the past year. We all came away from the meeting with more knowledge about one another and felt a bond was starting to fall into place.

Tuesday March 1

Today we started our mission to share with students the foundations of leadership and personal success skills! We broke out into two teams: one led by Mike Foster and the other by Vicki Bisio and Chelsea Pavelchak. Mike’s group went and traveled to the ITCA Junior College, where we were greeted by the Director of the Entrepreneurship Program. He gave us a tour of the campus and we were even used for some publicity for the college. Mike was interviewed on camera and we hope we will be able to upload it in the future. Our session consisted of what the differences are between leading and managing, why it’s important to be a leader, and goal setting. We taught 106 students and got very positive feedback from students, professors, and the administration. In the future, ITCA Junior College would like to create a stronger relationship with York College.

Mike’s group then traveled to the Walter school, which we had the opportunity to teach at last year. We were in the teacher’s lounge and the English teacher came in and said “Hey, Mike how are you doing?” It was like I had been there all year and that us being there was part of their daily routine.  We went in and hit the classroom. The students in this class were mainly between the ages of 14-16. If you really want to see what we are doing down here, check out www.ustream.tv/channel/inwtd. In class, we had a total of 47 students. The next section pertains to Vicki and Chelsea’s group and was written by Mike Abbate.

We arrived at the school on Tuesday morning at nine o’ clock. We went to the school with the intentions of teaching four forty-five minute sessions with about 50 students. When we got there we were informed that we were going to be doing two forty-five minute sessions with 200 kids in each. So our first session was nerve-racking to say the least. The first session had a total of 190 students and we taught about goal setting and how to reach goals. After this session we were informed that we would be having another two session’s right after in a classroom with 45 students each. These sessions went much smoother than the first because of the ability to connect to the students on a more personal basis. In all of the sessions we ran activities such as a blindfold activity to teach how communication skills are important in reaching goals. All this time we were supposed to be having a lunch break around 12. With the adrenaline of teaching three consecutive classes and twenty minutes until the next and last session we as a group decided to just wait to eat after we were done teaching. It was pretty special because no one complained. We all thought it was the right thing to do. The final session had about 125 students and went smoother than the first session but not quite as well as the smaller groups. The consensus from all the group members was that smaller groups are more beneficial for getting our message across to these kids. Last year the El  Salvador team taught around 400 kids overall, our group taught almost 400 kids in one day!

Also, we have had a change of professors. John has left us due to a commitment in San Diego, CA and we are now joined by Professor Gerry Patnode, who is also the Chairman of the Business Department.

Mike Foster

Today was our first full day in El Salvador. We arrived yesterday, some of us more sleep-deprived from the plane ride than others! We met Wally at the airport, who helps to organize our entire trip from bus rides to meals. He treated us to the best pupuseria in the country and cokes in glass bottles–our first of many delicious El Salvadorian meals. If you don’t know what a pupusa is, it is the national dish here, and IT IS AMAZING! It resembles a pancake, but mixed in it is beans and cheese and chicken and all kinds of good stuff.  Then, on top you put spicy picked cabbage, carrots, and peppers, and tomato sauce. We all swear they’re the best thing we’ve ever tasted!

From there we went to our hotel, Hotel Good Luck (you have to love the name!), to shower and take a quick nap until it was time for dinner. Most evenings, dinner is served at Wally’s house. We met his wife, Judy, and their son, Chepe, who welcomed us into their home. After a nourishing meal, we got down to business discussing our itinerary for the week. Then we all headed to bed early to get a good night’s sleep.

In the morning, we returned to Wally’s house, to find a little surprise by the name of Chet Kresge. If you don’t know, Chet was the president of SIFE for the past two years. We were all so excited to welcome him back for his fourth time in El Salvador! After breakfast, we hit up the local market for some souvenir shopping and tested our haggling skills. We found all kinds of neat trinkets that will fit into our suitcases Duke and Harrison, friends of Wally, helped us translate and will be with us for other parts of the stay here in El Salvador.

Next up, we took a trip to a park with a volcano. Yeah, I said volcano! We hiked around and got some cool pictures. The weather here is very warm, but on top of the mountain it was nice and breezy. We are fortunate to have a great bus driver, who we call Jimmy, who can maneuver up mountains, on narrow roads, and the circles that seem to be on every block!

We headed back to Wally’s for lunch before grilling hot dogs for the people of Nehemias, an impoverished community where Wally helped establish a church. Before we served them lunch, we enjoyed a worship with lots of music and snapped a few pictures of the children hitting pinantas filled with candy. There are some future baseball stars in Nehemias! The people of Nehemias enjoyed El Salvadorian hotdogs, which are topped with ketchup, mustard, and mayo!! We really got to experience a different culture from what we’re used to back home. People here are never in a rush, which is a nice change.

Maria, who lives with Wally and Judy, cooked us another filling meal of chicken stew and cake for dinner. We are all really enjoying each other’s company while sharing our perspective on the culture here.  Tomorrow our day will begin with ziplining and end with a visit to a rock and roll church!

Thanks for reading our first blog, and we’ll be sure to keep you posted! Dulce suenos (sweet dreams!)

-Kara and the El Salvador crew

E-Board Announcements:

Regional Sign-Ups were last night..if you missed the sign-up sheet, contact Vicki ASAP and make sure you are registered on sife.org. The regional competition is held on Friday March 25th in Philadelphia, and it’s a great way to really see what SIFE is all about.

Team Leaders will be meeting with Mike Foster within the next few weeks to audit your projects. Look to an email send yesterday afternoon for more information.

I’m trying to get a final roster together to submit to the school, and if you’ve been getting emails from me, I’m missing information from you. If you haven’t already done so, please send me (Kara Snyder) your Student ID Number, your local address, and your phone number, in an email.

Since you’re on Facebook anyway, check out York SIFE’s page–Joe’s Orders!–and join it, like it, comment on it, you might even be able to poke it! Also, it only takes a simple click to share it with all of your Facebook friends :)

The T-shirt fundraiser has begun! Show off those shirts to everyone you know. They are only $10 and a must-have for any cool YCP student..Stop by the SIFE office to pick some up today!

On March 10th from 6-7 p.m and March 13th from 4-5 p.m. SIFE will be hosting EXCEL events. If you are interested in picking up an additional hour, please let me know. Also, if you attend any EXCEL event, please sign-in as a SIFE member because if our organization has the most attendees overall, we win money, and well, who doesn’t like money!?

What do the letters snaeb and snac have in common? Hint: 77 cents. (Read them backwards) BEANS, people!!! Soup, veggies, fruit, and anything else they stick in a can these days! Bring those cans you have collecting dust in your cabinets and put them towards a good, excuse me, GREAT, cause. We want 5,000!!!!! I want to be able to put the computer I’m using in the SIFE office right now on a desk made of canned BEANS..and then I want to feed those in need with them! Let’s do it..it’s going to take everyone! Drop them off in the SIFE office, stack them on my car, bring them to any SIFE related meetings..JUST DO IT.

Which brings me to my next point, a very thought-provoking conversation brought forth by our very own Faculty Advisor Jef Woodall on branding yourself. What does your package look like? ”You the brand” is made up of how you speak, act, look, dress, talk, write, and other ways you present yourself. Win that ”First Moment of Truth” when you make a first impression on someone. You CAN be your own best advocate. I, for one, did not wear my usual sweatpants today because they are not sending the message I want to portray to others. Thank you, Jef, for sparking the initiative.

Next up, nominations! Remember, if you want to nominate someone who is not on here, post a comment, or second another person’s comment to get them on the master list. All nominees are required to have been active last semester (see me if you’re unsure), have a 3.0 GPA, and have the attitude to do whatever it takes! Also, each nominee is expected to write a one-page letter of intent explaining why they are qualified for the position the Friday before elections, which are next meeting, March 13th.

Nominations are as follows, in alphabetical order (updated 2/15):

Presidential Candidates: MaryKate Heinneman and Kara Snyder

Vice Presidential Candidates: Vicki Bisio and MaryKate Heinneman

Secretary: Brittani Giamoni, MaryKate Heinneman

Treasurer: Tom Dignacco

Marketing Coordinator: Chelsea Pavelchak

Social Activities and Fundraising Chair: Morgan Rynkiewicz, Duval Williams

Presentation Coordinator: Tony Cichetti, Morgan Rynkiewicz, Kara Snyder

If someone is nominated for more than one position, they must notify the E-board by this Friday which it is they’re running for.

Transitions-our newest project-was announced by Mike Crane this meeting. We need people to sign-up to help high-funciting autistic individuals learn the skills needed for a happy and successful life. Sessions will be held Tuesday nights starting March 8th and continuing for the remainder of the semester. You can sign up for one, for them all, but do sign-up because it is a great cause and it’s a great way to get hours. Please let Mike Crane know ASAP, hopefully by February 25th, if you can help at one of more of the dates. Even if you have night class, you can still help out!

York College in the City 2 is in the final planning stages so start thinking about what you would like to do to help! Contact MaryKate Heinneman for more details.

YBA is taking place starting March 12th and following Saturday mornings to teach adult entrepreneurs basic business skills. His preparation meetings are held in Lib 112 from 4-6 p.m. on Sundays.

The Social Media project is looking for more members to expand its roots. If you are interested for interning at the Strand, contact Joe Bortner for more information. *This is one of the projects we need a new name for–Follow Me, Socially, anyone??

The Tech Ed project is meeting Thursday at 2 p.m. by Pura Vida. Contact Erik Dixon for more info.

Young Women’s Leadership and Young Men’s Leadership–sign-up with me if you’re interested! Girls, we will be making a trip into local schools to touch base with the girls on a more personal level. Guys, we will be planning next year’s Young Men’s Leadership Conference..our very first one!!!!!!! All are welcome to come to a meeting with me on February 23rd at 8 a.m. Contact me!

Danielle Dellecker is hosting two more Junior Achievement training sessions, so it’s not too late to get started! Contact her for the specifics.

El Salvador is meeting this Tuesday at 7 p.m. in the library. Look for an email from Mike Foster for more details. Remember your $10 bills! *Creative name, anyone?

****THIS JUST IN**** Project Clean Plate is taking off next week and we need volunteers. Help reduce food waste in the Dining Hall. A great way to get hours and improve YOUR campus! Contact Mike Foster if you’re interested.

Next Sunday we will be playing Lazer Tag at the Lazer Dome which is 30-40 minutes away. We’re meeting at 6 p.m. at the Student Union. SIFE hopefully can help pay for some part of everyone’s admission, but make an effort to sell shirts and donate cans this week!

Relay for Life sign-ups are now open!!! Contact Chelsea Pavelchak to join this year’s team. This is a really great way to both fundraise for a good cause and bond with everyone on our team :D

Lastly, please comment with more creative names for any project you can think of, specifically El Salvador and the Social Media project, whether you were at the meeting or not. If you missed the meeting, get in contact with any E-board member to make it up ASAP. I hope you are as SIFE’d after reading this as I am after writing it!!!!! As always, if you have any questions, please don’t hesitate to ask!

A head for business and a heart for the world,

Kara

717.817.5254

Spring Semester

January 30^th, 2011

7 p.m. in Life Sciences 302

Hello SIFEr’s, and welcome back to YCP for the start of the Spring Semester! My name is Kara Snyder, and I will be your secretary for the remainder of the school year. After each general meeting, look to my blog post for reminders on important dates, contact information, or to see what you missed. And it won’t hurt to put them in your calendar J If you are unable to attend a meeting, please get in contact with me prior to the meeting and we can set up a time to make up what you missed. In order to be considered an active member, you shouldn’t miss more than two meetings and you need to make any missed meetings up with an eBoard member. We understand issues may arise that can prevent you from being able to attend every meeting, but we want to ensure that everyone on our team is on the same page as much as possible.

That being said, for those of you who came out to our first meeting, I hope you had as much fun as I did! It was so refreshing to see old friends and new faces. We hope you bring that level of enthusiasm to everything you do with SIFE. I am so VERY excited to get to know each of you and work towards achieving our goals this semester. If you’re new to SIFE, or need a reminder, this is what we’re all about: Students In Free Enterprise (SIFE) is an international organization that spreads the concept of free enterprise throughout the community. With York SIFE, students are able to volunteer their time to improve the community, while simultaneously gaining valuable real world experience. And did I mention it’s fun, rewarding, AND you meet some amazing people along the way?!!

So what’s not to love? With so many projects to choose from, I’m confident you’ll find your niche in York SIFE. Please look around the website to get familiar with the different aspects of our organization and find which parts you’d like to be a part of. Here is a list of our current projects, team leaders, and contact information. Please don’t hesitate to contact us about anything!! Try any project that appeals to you—you’re not limited to just one!

York College in the City 2–Mary Kate Heinemann mheinema@ycp.edu

Young Women’s Leadership Conference (Spring Follow-Up)/Future Young Men’s Leadership Conference—Kara Snyder (that’s me!) ksnyde10@ycp.edu

Boy Scouts–Paul Cyphers pcyphers@ycp.edu

El Salvador–Mike Foster mfoster@ycp.edu

JA(/Biztown)–Danielle Dellecker ddelleck@ycp.edu

Tech Ed–Erik Dixon edixon@ycp.edu

e-York–Pedro Diaz pdiaz@ycp.edu

VITA– Mike Abbate mabbate@ycp.edu

YBA–Tom Dignacco tdigancc@ycp.edu

Autism–Mike Crane mcrane@ycp.edu

Sam’s Club Environmental Sustainability Challenge/Project Green Plate

—Mike Foster mfoster@ycp.edu

Feel free to email the Team Leaders of projects you are interested in, but talking to them at the meeting is even better!! Also, if you have an idea for a project, don’t be afraid to approach an eBoard member on how to make it reality.

At the end of each school year, we take everything that we’ve done and present it to judges in a competition against other schools in our region. This Regional Competition is coming up quickly—mark your calendars for March 25^th…YOU DO NOT WANT TO MISS THIS!! I can’t say enough good things about it..free stuff, job and internship opportunites, and unforgettable memories.

Also put in your calendars these dates for general meetings: 2/13, 3/13, 3/27, 4/10, 5/1. And on February 20^th, we want to do some type of social activity (snow tubing, anyone??). Keep a look out for a possible SIFE Social in the near future as well.

FYI: Our new eBoard is as follows..

Vicki Bisio-President (previously VP)

Mike Foster-Vice President (appointed this meeting)

Kara Snyder-Secretary (new this semester)

Mike Crane-Treasurer/WebmasterExtraordinaire (you may also recognize him as Mike’sPickz…)

Joe Bortner-Marketing Coordinator (the guy who makes the cool posters you see all over campus!)

Duval Williams-Social Activities and Fundraising Chair (accepting ideas for FUN activities of YOUR choosing)

If you missed the meeting, Rob Donatelli, a YCP ’10 Graduate and York SIFE alum, came back all the way from Pittsburgh to give a motivational speech to start us off for the semester. Thank you Rob for continuing to inspire us to help others!!

We had breakout sessions on marketing strategies, social activities, and fundraising ideas as well. If I may say so myself, we have quite the innovative bunch!

Keep in mind that this Sunday’s meeting is at 7p.m. in LS 302, and of course you don’t want to miss it! If any of you would ever like to discuss your SIFE goals with me, please do not hesitate to ask.

Til next time,

Kara

717.817.5254

Matthew Randall

Center for Professional Excellence

Presentation:

Personal Branding: All About You

• Company branding – all associations, expectations, memories, and desires associated with a product or service
  • Ex: logo meaning: Coke, Toyota, Disney, Nike
  • Personal brand – summation of all the associations, expectations, and memories stored in the minds of others about you
  • Why care about personal branding?
  • Trends that make personal branding for career success:
    • Globalization and an increasingly competitive society
    • Project-based work
    • Career management
    • Five things to consider when building your personal brand:
      • Be authentic, be yourself
      • Be a specialist, not a generalist
      • Develop a network, it’s about what you can give
      • Regularly google yourself
      • Be open to getting feedback
      • Key principles:
        • Strong self-knowledge in order to promote unique strengths
        • Find a niche
        • Learn how to promote yourself regularly
        • Everyone has a personal brand:
          • It is shaped by others or
          • You can carefully manage it

We also watched a portion of a presentation from last year’s World Cup

Other announcements:

• Congratulations to three of our graduating seniors:
  • John Roman
  • Sue Taylor
  • Steven Barnshaw
  • Social Media project will be having a meeting Wednesday night at 9:30 in the SIFE office
  • Presentation team tryouts will be held Friday at 2pm in BA207

HAVE A GREAT BREAK!!!!!!!!!!!