College of San Mateo- Eta

Location: San Mateo (Bay Area, 30 minutes south of San Francisco)      Chapter: Eta
 Meeting Time: Every Tuesday at 1:30PM                           
  Average Meeting Size: 45 Members                 Paid Members: 70 members
 Website: agscsm.org            Facebook: facebook.com/ags.csm

           ...Yeah, this entry is going to be totally biased. Because, to you guys, this looks like a random group of 30 diverse people but to me, it's a product of hard-work; sorta like the feeling you get when you take that first photo of your six-pack after 3 months in the gym. Slightly narcissistic, but so proud.

     Membership Requirements

     -3.0 GPA (or 3.5 out of H.S)
     - 20 Points              
    - $15/ semester

How 'Points' work

+1  every hour of comm. service (up to 3/event)
+1  every meeting
+3  every friend you invite
+4  being an executive
+2  being a chairperson
+3  being on Student Government





Executive Positions                                      

President
Vice President of Operations
Vice President of Services
Communications Officer
Treasurer
I.C.C Representative
I.C.C Alternate
Intercollegiate Comm. Officer

....Now to the stuff you can't find on a flyer

Meetings

Style: Round Table Mod
Agenda: Individual Copies

Bottom Left: Advisors David Laderman and Tim Maxwell

     One of the main goals of Eta chapter is to give everyone the opportunity to be a part of the governance and activities of their own club, while meeting each other.

      When you first walk in, you grab an agenda and chill out to the great music selection until the meeting starts. The agenda's are small quarter-page copies neatly printed from Kinko's with AGS's mission statement on the top and the goals of the meeting.

Gabriel Denham, President 2011-2012

The meeting usually re-caps the volunteering service events that happened over the weekend, as every weekend has a volunteering event.  Then Gabe, president of Eta, announces the upcoming volunteering events which are followed by sign-up sheets that are passed around. Special speakers come in on occasion to talk about special services on campus or certain events.

Then the interesting part is the break-off into sub-committees. Each one is led by a chair person, shown to the left. The committees cover all the topics AGS is about: Community service, fundraising, newsletter, Human rights and campus Service.  These chairpersons report back to the executives who report to Gabe to set the meetings.

When you pay for your membership, you are given a black folder with a calendar and by-laws, making you feel instantly part of the whole club.

Each chairperson guides members through the planning process, allowing each member to speak their mind on topics or to discuss new ideas. With the multitude of committees, a new member can choose a topic that they feel more passionate about, and cross-committee work is always encouraged. This also allows people to communicate with each other as well as allow bonds to foster between people.

The meeting is followed by discussion of the committees, and last-minute announcements by the executives.

Volunteer

Volunteer Organizations for 2011-12 year

Renew the Zoo - San Francisco
Habitat for Humanity- Daly City
Brisbane Derby - Brisbane
Brisbane Lagoon- Brisbane
SF Food Bank - San Francisco
Presidio Habitat Restoration- SF
 5k Run for SAFEty- SF
Community Grows- SF
Prisoner's Lit. Project- Berkeley

Also, another interesting note is that being heavily involved can get you a Member of the Month certificate. Gold stars and all.


                                       

 Fundraising

Most of the fundraising work that's been done has been through local restaurant take-overs, as well as the See's Candy. However, a great deal of money has been made through working with Macy's, who donated $1,500 dollars to the Eta chapter for their samaritan-ism and their participation in their Macy shopping day.

Campus Services

      One of the more interesting events that is held on campus is the Student Success Workshop, ran by Raphael B., the Campus service Chairperson. This event had faculty teachers gave speeches on how to be successful not only as a student, but also as how to find your profession and also to find your motivation. Also, Eta does a series of tabling so people can find out about the club.

Contact:

Name:                                         E-mail

Club E-mail                                ags.eta.csm@gmail.com
President                                  

Gabriel Denham                         gdenham415@gmail.com

Student Trustee

Niko Larot                                   norcalags@gmail.com

West Valley College-Gamma Iota

Location: Saratoga (Bay Area, 1 hr south of San Francisco)      Chapter: Gamma Iota
 Meeting Time: Every Wednesday at 3:30PM                           
  Average Meeting Size: 50 Members                
 Website: agswestvalley.com         Facebook: facebook.com/westvalley

Roof-raisin with Gamma Iota

  
               So I showed up to West Valley, and told em that they were the very first school in my tour. I told them why I was here, and then I said that they're the best school I've seen so far, which many were willing to pat themselves on the back about.  I love it when people pay attention.
    

Larger audience than many AGS's I've seen.

     Membership Requirements
 -3.0 GPA (or 3.5 out of H.S)
 - 30 Points      
  - $20/ semester (exception for permanent)

How 'Points' work

3 Categories (Service,Fundraising, General)
-minimum 7 points in Service and Fundraising
-30 points in all

+1 for hr of community service or campus events
+1 for hr of fundraising events for AGS
+1 for general meetings
- Exemptions for people with jobs, kids, allot of units etc.

For more information check out
http://agswestvalley.squarespace.com/points-information/

West Valley Executives

Officer Positions                                      
Publicity Coordinator
Fundraising Coordinator
Blood Drive Coordinator
Activities Coordinator
Conference/Convention Coordinator
Community Service Coordinator




Executive Positions                                     

President
Vice President
Treasurer
I.C.C Representative
Recording Secretary
Points Secretary

 

Meetings

                 Style: Multi-speaker Lecture  
                 Agenda: Projection

      I will say that they are to this day, one of the most organized and lively AGS chapters I've seen. The thing that makes these meetings are the coordinators and the executive board. They all contribute to the meeting with clean organization and a sense of humor. I didn't get a single sense that any of them were uncomfortable talking in front of the group.

    The meeting generally starts off with a short game that lasts for about five minutes, which is led by the activities coordinator, in this case, it was Simon Says. Simple games like this, although seemingly childish, helps break people out of their comfort zone and focused on the meeting. Afterwards, the president talks about the  main events that are coming up, and brings up the event coordinators to talk about their respective events, such as volunteering and fundraising. Many of the clubs functions are done online like registering points and signing up for volunteer events, freeing up time to focus on clarifying information for the students that are present.


 

Volunteer and Campus Service

         At the heart of their volunteering seems to be the blood drive they host with the Red Cross, where they bring in many donors from on and off campus. They actively search for volunteer events every week and they are posted on their main website. Here are a few that they listed to me.

Volunteer Organizations for 2011-12 year     

• Adult Scout Volunteer
• Hospital Volunteer
• Voting/Poll Worker
• Volunteer Sports Coach
• Church Nursery Caregiver
• AIDS Walk (Breast Cancer Walk, Leukemia Walk, etc)
• Volunteer Tutor
• Church Fundraiser
• Scouting Fundraiser 
• Soup Kitchen Volunteer
• AGS sponsored Blood Drive
• AGS sponsored Second Harvest Food Drive 
• AGS sponsored Teacher Appreciation Dinner decorating committee (design, set up, tear down, etc)

 Fundraising

Like many AGS chapters, they support themselves through take-overs, bake sales, and  the all-ever popular See's Candy.

Contact:

Name:                                         E-mail

                          
President                                 

Steven Cary                             President@agswestvalley.com
Jennifer Leman                        VicePresident@AGSWestValley.com
                                                 

Club Advisors

Tina Golaw                                  tina.golaw@westvalley.edu

Andy Kindon                               andrew.kindon@westvalley.edu

If any of this information on this blog is false or dated or you would like to add/delete info on it, please contact me,

Niko Larot
n_larot@yahoo.com
norcalags@gmail.com

Thanks!





agswestvalley.com