PHS Meeting Minutes 9/6/2007

To kick off the meeting, new PHS President Whitney Sperrazza welcomed back new members and old members alike. Whitney then introduced PHS advisor and Assistant Dean of Undergraduate Studies, Dan Smith.

Dan Smith discussed a scholarship essay contest: The Elie Wiesel Prize in Ethics. He encouraged all of our members to enter, as there is a $5,000 prize for the winner. A link to this essay contest can be found here:

Dan Smith also encouraged our members to show their school spirit and to try and attend our school’s sports games whenever possible. Lastly, Dan Smith also mentioned the ongoing Presidential Search; in the near future, students will have the opportunity to meet the candidates selected for the new President of our university.

Our second speaker of the night was Dayna Zabransky Carbo. Dayna is looking for students to help publicize “Birth”, a play that is being performed at the Russell Sage campus in Troy. Students can earn community service hours by helping Dayna chalk and flyer the podium at 9:00am on Tuesday, September 11th. Please contact Whitney for more details at:

Our third speaker was Ray Bromley, Vice Provost for International Education. Ray Bromley is looking for students who would like to spend some of their time with the international students on campus who may not be familiar with the United States or have many American friends. You can earn community service hours by volunteering with the International Education office. You can contact Ray Bromley to find out more at:

Our final speaker was a PHS alumnus from 2001, Kevin Grossman. Kevin lives in Albany and is the scout leader of a Boy Scout troop. The Boy Scouts he works with all come from low income families and none of the Boy Scouts have fathers. It is important, then, for these boys to have positive role models in their lives. Kevin is hoping that PHS members will be able to “adopt” a troop or and really get involved with the kids. There are a number of ways to get involved; Kevin’s troop meets every Tuesday night downtown, but if enough people want to get involved, he can move the meetings on campus. The troop also needs students to come on camping trips and students to help fundraise for the troop. Students will receive community service hours for any of the above. For more information, please contact Whitney at:

After our guest speakers, the new E-board members were introduced and each introduced their own volunteer projects.

Nick Fahrenkopf, Vice President for the 2007-2008 year will be volunteering with the AIDS council of Northeastern New York book sale. This sale will be taking place on Monday, September 17th at 6:00pm; members will be meeting at the science library bus stop. Basically, PHS members will be helping the AIDS council set up the book sale. For more information, contact Nick at:

Secretary Katie Reed will be keeping track of all your community service hours. If there is an error or a problem, you can see her during her office hours MWF 11:30-12:30 or you can email her. Please remember to enter your hours online at our webpage and fill out all the information!

Katie will be organizing the “Give it Up” campaign; the campaign will be asking students to pledge to give up one simple luxury; be it a cup of coffee, a candy bar, or a manicure, that the students enjoy on a regular basis, and instead save that money and compile it with other students to create real global change. For example, let’s assume there are 1,000 students on campus who have a cup of coffee daily and that they each spend $1 on the coffee. If those students were to give up 3 cups of coffee a week at $1 each and instead put all their money together, they would have $3,000: enough to build a library for a primary school oversees. Katie would like to make this campaign big on campus and needs some volunteers to come to an initial planning meeting to help her plan it out. You will earn community service hours at the meeting and will have the opportunity to sign up for additional tasks, such as creating posters, tabling, etc. The initial planning meeting will be on Monday, September 10th at 6:30; as an informal meeting it will be held in either the Community Building on Empire or her apartment on Empire; please email her for more details at:

Jaime, our group’s Treasurer reminded everyone that dues are $10.00 per a semester, and if they are not paid by the midterm point, will increase to $12.00. All new members will receive a PHS T-shirt once they pay their dues.

Jaime Tedesco will be working with the Glamour Girls and Habitat for Humanity this semester, so look for volunteer opportunities in the future with Jaime and those groups. Glamour Girls, for those who do not know, is a group that goes to nursing homes to visit with elderly women who may not have families visiting; Glamour Girls also will pamper the women by giving them makeovers. For more information, contact Jaime at:

Our long time project coordinator Jennie leads a group of PHS students to Homeward Bound every Saturday from 10am-1pm. At Homeward Bound, students can interact with animals in a shelter, from playing with kittens and puppies to walking dogs. Jennie also attends MS walks and events throughout the year and raises money for MS. If you’re interested in Jennie’s projects, please contact her at:

Lastly, Whitney wants all of our members to know that in order to remain in PHS you must do at least 15 hours of community service each semester. If you cannot do all of your community service during the fall semester for some reason, you may complete the hours you missed in the spring, plus the spring’s hours. You will have the whole year to complete 30 hours of community service; we will be reviewing records and those who do not complete this requirement risk being dropped from the group.

PHS is also looking for project coordinators, someone to fill in the social chair position, and someone to compose a monthly PHS newsletter. If you are interested in any of these positions, please contact Whitney at