Notes From Above…Far, Far Above
Greetings citizens and HPSA members. The end of the year is fast approaching, and you're probably asking yourself, "Self, what has HPSA done been up to lately?" Well thank your lucky stars that you hold in your hands another ever-informative (and entertaining) copy of HPSA Happenings, courtesy of everyone's friend and pal, Joey. Let's give Joey a round of applause.
Now that I've gotten through the obligatory ego-stroking, I move onto the more relevant issues. Sure, we have relevant issues. We also have a certain number of irrelevant issues to bring to light. To tell you the truth, I think the most important thing ahead of HPSA right now is the upcoming elections for next year's officers. Hopefully some of you will rise up to the challenge and nominate yourselves, or be nominated for any one of our available positions. From the utter despotic control you can achieve as President (believe me, I speak from experience) to the busy, but fulfilling office of Social Chair, with HPSA, there's probably a place for you to flex your interest in making the honors experience better for everyone participating. That sure was a long and drawn out sentence. I tend to do that a lot though, as it comes with the job. This time around, I figure I'll spend my "column-space" giving you a quick overview of what each office entails. If that's not enough for you though, talk to the current officer and see what they think of the position they've held for the past year.
First off is President. That's my job. I pretty much represent our organization, as well as the honors program to the rest of campus, while at the same time working with our advisor and fellow officers to help bring out about decisions for the group. Next comes Vice-President, as filled by John Mayfield. Essentially John takes control of the organization should anything happen to me (assassination attempts, etc), and basically assists me as necessary. The next position is aptly named Third Member, as filled by Ryan King. He basically acts as parliamentarian for the group, making sure we're sticking to our constitution, and has traditionally picked up the roll of the court jester. He's a big winner. The Secretary, Joey Isbell, keeps minutes at our meetings, and maintains a monthly newsletter, as well as helping maintain our website and keeping the members informed as to what's going down. The Treasurer, Jenny Williams, manages HPSA financially and collects and doles out the cash as necessary. The Librarian, Arthur Ward, maintains our library and computer resources, which include the email list as well as the webpage. Our Historian, Emily Smith, maintains a photographic record of all our events and activities, which she compiles into a scrapbook at the end of the year. The Information Chair, who is currently Randall Minor, keeps us informed of all unrelated events of interest to HPSA. The Sports Chairs, as filled by Damon Sutherland and Amity Moncrief, maintain HPSA's presence in on-campus intramural sports. The Social Chair, Kana Ellis, is in charge of the planning and organizing of all our social functions. Finally, the Service Chair, Cliff Stewart, organizes all the service projects in which we participate.
Whew. Now that was a mouthful. So if you think you've got what it takes to fill any one of those positions, step up to the plate and give it a shot. We'll start nominations at tonight's March meeting, and let those run a couple weeks, after which we'll hold elections at the final meeting in April. The last couple of things worth mentioning is HPSA's upcoming trip to the Alabama Shakespeare Festival on Saturday, March 21st, where we'll get to see the classic tragedy Julius Caesar. The deadline for ticket payment is tonight's March meeting, after which we plan to go ahead and order the batch of tickets. Also on our plate is the design contest for next years styling HPSA t-shirt. Hopefully someone other than me will have something to present to the membership. Shirts should run about $10-13, we'll post all that to the list as we find out, and hopefully have those shirts by the final meeting of the year for delivery. The end of the year also marks a couple of other special honors events, the first of which is the "Graduating Student Panel," where all of you rising juniors and seniors can ask questions and get some sound advice from some of our top soon-to-be graduates. Also, the Honors Program plans to host an event during Honors Week, so keep your eyes peeled for both events. Finally, I'll wrap things up by letting all of you know that last week, a few HPSA members and myself (as well as a ton of rad folks from Tuscaloosa) made it out to Athens, Georgia for a Weezer show, which, to put it lightly, rocked hard. I just feel the need to let that be known, not so much to rub it in as to….well, I take that back, I am rubbing it in. I got to see Weezer, and you didn't! Ha, how's that for something official and presidential to say? I love this job sometimes…
-Raman Sehgal,
President, and treading on thin ice.
ramanx@aol.com