Revitalizing Your MEP – Pt. 2: Becoming Familiar with the National Guide to Membership Education

by Nicole Burdick, Ph.D., National VPCM, TBΣ |

[dropcap style=”font-size: 60px; color: #0099FF;”]T[/dropcap]here are several resources that are available for our chapters to use during their daily activities.  These include our  National Constitution, Chapter Operations Handbook, and Guide to Membership Education.  However, many of our members do not know that these resources exist – or more – what information is in them.  In my last Podium article we discussed what information should be included in your chapter’s Membership Education Program.  Continuing with the series on enhancing your membership education program, this article will describe and discuss the details that should be included in your chapter’s Membership Education Program, which is outlined in our National Guide to Membership Education which you can download at: http://www.kkytbs.org/forms/TBSGuideToMembership.pdf.

The National Guide for Membership Education is exactly what the title states – a guide to help membership candidates through the process of learning about our Sorority, its history, Ideals, and framework as they continue on the path to become Active members in our organization.  While the Guide to Membership Education does not contain all the information that you will want to teach your candidates, such as district and chapter history and traditions, it contains a bulk of the basic information that your membership candidates (and active members) should learn and know, as well as where to find information that is not listed in the Guide.

The first section includes an overview of the Membership Education process, including all of our National Policies (which should be included in every membership education program; p 7-11).  This section also includes information on a suggested program of study (outlined week by week; p 4-6).  It also includes a section on Post-Membership Education, which is an activity that every chapter should participate in at least once a year, if not more often (p 12).  We’ll discuss post-membership education in a later article.

One of the last items in the first section lists ‘What Every Member Should Know’ (p 14-16).  These three pages outline the information that every Tau Beta Sigma member should know – and where to find it.  Not sure what the seven categories of membership are?  Well, that is listed on page 30 of the Guide to Membership Education.  Need to learn what the Fall Activity Report is and when it is due?  That is in the Chapter Operations Handbook on page 31.  These three pages, as well as the ‘MEP Guidelines and Template’ that follow should be the backbone to developing your Membership Education Program.  Here is a summary of information included in this section:

  • National Policies
  • National History
  • National Facts
  • Other Interesting Facts
  • National Headquarters
  • National Intercollegiate Band
  • National Awards
  • National Officers
  • National Headquarters Staff
  • National Requirements
  • Sorority Jewelry
  • Ideals to Understand
  • District History
  • District Officers
  • Chapter History
  • Chapter Officers
  • Band History
  • Alumni
  • Meetings
  • Kappa Kappa Psi Information

While the first section outlines the basic information that should be included in your Membership Education program, the remaining sections in the Guide to Membership Education include the content outlined in the initial section.  These include the Foundations of the Sorority (Purposes, Vision, Mission, Ideals, and Sorority Symbols), the Organization of the Sorority (National Leaders, information on the National, District, and Chapter levels, colonization information, membership categories, National Headquarter information, and the Tau Beta Sigma Alumni Association), National History, Traditions, and Programs (Sorority History, National Presidents, National Programs and Awards, the National Shrine, National Songs, the Greek Alphabet, and a Directory of Tau Beta Sigma chapters), and Kappa Kappa Psi National History, Traditions, and Programs (Mission, Vision, Purposes, History, National Leaders, and Directory of Kappa Kappa Psi Chapters).

The Guide to Membership Education is updated every biennium so if you haven’t checked it out yet this year – you should!  The MEP Guidelines and Template was added, and our Sorority’s History (p 44-45), Mission, and Vision (p 22) were also updated.  Reviewing the Guide to Membership Education annually helps to make sure your candidates are learning everything they can about our Sorority throughout their membership education process and it also helps to make sure current active members remain knowledgeable, too!

 

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