Awards: Honorary Member Honorary membership is a unique recognition reserved for those individuals who have made a distinguished contribution over a period of years toward the advancement of the goals and purposes of Mortar Board and whose influence has extended beyond the university. The honorary member is considered a regular member and may participate in chapter activities as an active member if he or she chooses. For more than two decades, the Agathai chapter at UCLA has initiated many remarkable honorary members, including professors, administrative officials, and community leaders. A full list of our chapter’s past honorary member award recipients is available here. |
Awards: Pamela R. Cysner Award of Excellence Named after our chapter advisor, the Pamela R. Cysner Award of Excellence is dedicated to recognizing an exemplary Agathai alumnus or alumna who, like Pam, has continued to demonstrate Mortar Board’s three ideals of scholarship, leadership, and service beyond graduation. |
Awards: Tip of the Hat The Tip of the Hat Award is a unique recognition reserved for someone that we, as students, appreciate for going above and beyond their call of duty. Traditionally, this person holds an administrative or other non-academic position on campus. In the past, we have awarded many outstanding individuals, including servers in the dining halls, a custodian in the library, and many others. |
Chapter Fall Retreat
Before the fall quarter commences, Mortar Board members reconnect with one another after a long summer at the annual Fall Retreat. There is never a dull moment at this day-long event as members engage in fun-filled activities, including ice breakers, team-building activities, and relay races. The Chapter President present’s the overall vision, goals and expectations for the year, while each committee brainstorms their own ideas and plans for success. Each member receives a variety of goods, including a binder that serves as an introduction to Mortar Board and contains useful resources. In the past, the Chapter Retreat has been held at on-campus locations, such as UCLA’s Sunset Recreation Center, and at off-campus locations, including Dockweiler State Beach. |
Chapter Winter Retreat During the first week of the winter quarter, Mortar Board members reconnect with one another after winter break at the annual Winter Retreat. Similar to the Fall Retreat, members engage in fun-filled activities, including ice breakers, energizers, and team-building activities. The Chapter President reinforces the overall vision and presents the goals and expectations for the quarter, while each committee plans for success. |
Community Service Events In addition to actively promoting literacy development through Mortar Board’s national project, Reading is Leading, the Agathai chapter also addresses pressing issues that face the immediate Los Angeles community, including hunger, environmental concerns, and poverty. Mortar Board’s Community Service Committee collaborates with numerous service organizations, both on campus and in the community, to provide unique and exciting service opportunities to our members. More information about our community service events is available here. |
Finals Care Packages During finals week, Mortar Board members assemble and distribute over 200 care packages to busy students on Bruin Walk. To help alleviate the stress that accompanies finals week, our care packages contain a variety of items, including a blue book, a pen and pencil, snacks, and much more! Look out for Mortar Board members on Bruin Walk before your next final exam! |
Fundraising Events
Throughout the year, our chapter works collectively to raise funds to subsidize all of our projects, including our very own scholarship program. Our Funding Committee spearheads many initiatives to raise funds; those which include television tapings, restaurant takeover nights, fliering at on-campus eateries, and many more! |
Initiation Ceremony and Awards Presentation
As the academic year culminates, the graduating class welcomes new members, award recipients, and their families and friends to the annual Initiation Ceremony and Awards Presentation. At this formal event, newly selected members are initiated into the chapter by the President. During the Awards Ceremony, our Scholarship Coordinators present six scholarships to deserving students; our Honorary Member Coordinator awards our newly initiated honorary member(s); our Tip of the Hat Coordinator awards a faculty member for their service to the UCLA community; and our Alumni Relations Coordinator awards an outstanding Agathai alumnus or alumna with The Pamela R. Cysner Award of Excellence. Afterwards, those in attendance socialize over hors d’oeuvres and refreshments. |
Leadership Development Seminars In honor of Mortar Board's second ideal, Leadership, our Special Projects Committee offers interactive leadership development seminars and activities that are designed to provide effective leadership training with emphasis on personal growth and community involvement. Facilitated by the Bruin Leaders Project, the seminars offered throughout the year cover a wide range of topics ranging from Public Speaking, to self-realization, to conflict resolution. More information about the Bruin Leaders Project is available here. |
The Mortar Board Scholarship Program
The highly competitive Agathai Scholarship Program provides scholarships to six (6) exceptional students who embody the three ideals of Mortar Board – scholarship, leadership, and service. Among the six scholarship recipients, the Agathai chapter will reward two (2) graduating high school seniors, two (2) community college transfer students, and two (2) undergraduate students at the University of California, Los Angeles. The mission of the Agathai Scholarship Program is to strengthen America by advancing the college education of six deserving students at a time. Our Scholarship Committee recruits applicants from various underserved inner city schools and colleges throughout the Los Angeles community and we provide them with an incentive to pursue higher education. More information about the Mortar Board Scholarship Program is available here. |
Mortar Board Week Each year, Mortar Board members commemorate the February 15, 1918 founding of Mortar Board with a celebration: Mortar Board Week. The anniversary celebration is honored by chapters holding events that exemplify the ideals of scholarship, leadership and service on their campus. These range from community service events to leadership expositions. More information about Mortar Board Week is available here. |
National Conference
Each summer, nearly 300 chapter delegates, members, advisors, national leadership members, award recipients, staff and guests gather in Chicago for the three-day Mortar Board National Conference. Participants engage in ice breakers and team building activities, which are lead by The Dating Doctor himself, David Coleman, also known as “America’s Real-Life Hitch.” Conference goers also conduct organizational business and attend many professional workshops for leadership development, chapter training, networking and more. During the final evening, everyone gathers at the annual Candlelight Banquet, which is where the national organization issues numerous awards, including the coveted Ruth Weimer Mount Chapter Excellence Award. |
Newsletter At the end of each academic quarter, our Communications Committee issues a chapter newsletter to over 1,000 people including current members, alumni, campus administrators, and Mortar Board officials. The newsletter features our chapter’s accomplishments, event recaps, alumni updates, and more! The most recent issue of our chapter newsletter is available here. |
Project ⋮∙·∙· ·: Read
Each child who is blind deserves the opportunity to become literate in all the ways of which she is capable. Reading and writing are especially crucial for one whose world is narrowed because of vision loss. Literacy can enable such a person to exchange information and ideas, and develop relationships that would otherwise be out of reach. With this vision, the Agathai chapter has spearheaded Project ⋮∙·∙· ·: Read, a literacy outreach program that promotes the love of books and the spirit of imagination amongst children with severe vision loss. Members collect dozens of children’s storybooks in Braille and then bring the stories to life by recording themselves reading in animated voices. The aim is to allow the child’s fingers to meet his/her future written word as spontaneously and as early as possible. Thus parents are given similar opportunities for dialogues about the book and its elements, and about the structure and function of written language. The hope is that the blind child’s curiosity will be aroused, and that he/she will begin to ask questions about letters and words. |
Social Events While Mortar Board is devoted to scholarship, leadership, and service, another one of our goals is to plan fun and exciting social events to bring members closer together and to foster friendships that extend well beyond the regular business of the chapter. Some of our past social events include movie night, UCLA football game, pumpkin carving, Bingo, archery, pizza social, ice skating, bowling, Korean BBQ, BrewCo, Diddy Riese, and much more! |
Special Projects Throughout the year, our members participate in a variety of original projects that are special to the chapter. In the past, our Special Projects Committee has spearheaded many projects including a holiday donation drive for our troops overseas, a canned food drive for a homeless shelter, and a documentary viewing with an opportunity to donate funds to classroom projects across the country. |
UCLA-USC Cross-Town Show-Down Book Drive In the spirit of friendly competition, Mortar Board at UCLA competes against its neighboring chapter at USC by sponsoring a campus-wide book drive during Mortar Board Week in February. Both chapters drive for books at the same time, and then meet in “neutral” territory to celebrate and announce the winner. The winning university takes all of the books and donates them to its literacy-related charity of choice. |
Virtual Book Drive with First Book The Mortar Board Virtual Book Drive is a fundraising challenge in which Mortar Board chapters across the nation compete to raise funds in order to bring new books to local programs serving children from low income families. These funds will be available for use through the First Book Marketplace, where programs can choose from hundreds of high-quality titles at deeply discounted prices. Every $2 raised is a brand new book for a child who needs it the most. More information about the Mortar Board Virtual Book Drive is available here. |