KAPPA PSI
Pharmaceutical Fraternity, Inc
 

Michele Jurkovic

 

I am so excited to get involved in the upcoming pledging season this fall. I had so much fun pledging and getting to know my pledge brothers. We were given many opportunities to work on projects and do fun activities together to grow our bond. I want to be as hands-on as possible during this upcoming pledging season. I want to interact with the pledges, help them through the process, encourage them towards their goals, and inspire them to put care and passion into the pledging process. Being a part of a brotherhood like Kappa Psi is such an honor and a privilege, so I hope that the incoming pledge class has a respect for that and are willing to travel outside of their comfort zone to become a better friend, student, and professional during the pledging process. If I am elected Pledge Mom, I am super excited to collaborate with the other new E-board members on projects, ideas, and plans. I am so passionate about getting involved and making a difference in the upcoming pledge season.

 

"I take every opportunity available to me to get more involved in Kappa Psi. I love being involved in the fraternity and working on projects with my brothers towards a common goal. We all work so well together because we were taught to be professional, brotherly, light-hearted, flexible, hard workers during our pledging process. Being involved in Kappa Psi outside the required GBMs is one of my top priorities in school. Not only does it help me develop my leadership and teamwork skills, but it also gives me the opportunity to be social and have fun with my brothers on a regular basis. I have already gotten involved in the Pledge Evaluation Committee, the Greek Week committee, I applied for the Social Chair’s committee, and I try to make it a point to reach out to current e-board members to see if they need any help with their projects. I love getting a group of brothers together to volunteer for professional points because we get to give back to the community while also having fun together.

 

I am very skilled at juggling responsibilities and time management. During my first semester at UIC COP, I maintained two jobs, homework, studying, pledging, a flooded apartment, a broken-down car, and so much more. No matter what life threw at me, I was always able to stay on top of my responsibilities and get all my tasks done on time. For example, after my apartment flooded, I still came to skit night and had fun with my epsilon group on stage, entertaining the active brothers. I made a commitment to my group that I would be on stage with them and I took that commitment seriously. I want all the incoming pledges to have the same commitment to their brothers and passion for getting involved in their fraternity.

In terms of the structure of my family growing up, I am the eldest sibling and the eldest cousin, so I am very comfortable taking on leadership positions and taking charge of situations; it comes naturally to me. I have had research experience with patients in the hospital, research and work experience in wet laboratory, and work experience in retail pharmacy. I can speak to many of the medical practice settings that incoming pharmacy students may have questions about. I took two gap years which have left me with a lot of work and life experience."

 

If elected to this position, I would want to encourage the incoming pledge class to get as close to each other as possible. When I was pledging, the active brothers stressed the point of us getting to know each other on a deeper level over and over again. As P1’s, starting school and maintaining the rest of our responsibilities was stressful and time-consuming, so had we not been encouraged to get to know each other, we may have let it slide to the wayside. As pledges, we went through so many challenging experiences together and it made us grow together and develop a brotherly love for each other. I want to facilitate that in the incoming pledge class. It’s so important to me that each pledge class is just as close, or closer, than the last. The support group of your pledge class facilitates your success in school and out in the pharmacy setting. As Pledge Mom, I would facilitate more opportunities for pledges to get to know each other better as soon as possible in the pledging season.

 

 

Joann Huynh

 

When I was an undergraduate at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, I was a Resident Assistant for 3 years. Despite how physically and mentally exhausting the position was, it was incredibly rewarding to see closed doors gradually turn into sharing personal stories, having shared experiences with each other, and lending each other a hand when the going got tough. When I pledged, I saw that same tight-knit community build over the span of 8 short weeks. We could not have grown as much as we did, both individually and as a class, without the Pledge Parents, who reminded us of the purpose of preparing for Professional Presentations in the midst of midterms or getting scolded at Chi Council despite how much time we spent memorizing facts, and above all else, that we were going to get through it together, as one pledge class.

 

The Pledge Parents served an integral role in turning a group of 34 random P1s into the Sigma class, and I know that they learned much about themselves and us in the process. I want to serve as Pledge Mom to advocate for the Fraternity to prospective pledges, and help those pledges become my Brothers, having been in their shoes not too long ago. I want to build bridges with the future pledge class, and help bring out the potential in others just as the Pledge Parents saw the potential in myself and my class to become their Brothers. Joining Kappa Psi has undoubtedly been the most notable aspect of my P1 year, and I have grown as an individual and pharmacy student in doing so. I hope to return the favor by showing prospective pledges what Kappa Psi has to offer, with the understanding that each pledge has their own unique experience ahead of them, and that is what makes rushing, pledging, and crossing that much more meaningful.

 

In addition to being an RA at UW-Madison, I have served as a Camp Counselor and Residential Mentor for a handful of summer enrichment programs. This past Fall semester, I was a Student Ambassador. Through these experiences, I have come to recognize the time and effort that needs to be invested in mentorship. I was responsible not only for administrative tasks including sending weekly emails and organizing events, including budgeting and publicizing for such events, but also collaborating with my peers and networking with campus staff and faculty. Most importantly, I learned to give people the space to grow individually and collectively. Whether it be coordinating rush events with GCDs and PDC, advocating for Kappa Psi to future pledges, or encouraging that one pledge to finish strong, I wanted to be involved in the process given how much of a positive impact joining Kappa Psi has had on my P1 year alone.

 

This semester, I have served on the Greek Week Committee, and am on the Pledge/Rush Evaluation Committee. My involvement has given me valuable insight into the behind-the-scenes efforts of organizing such events, and I hope to incorporate the feedback that the Sigma class and actives provided about the rushing and pledging season for next year. I have met with Yoko and Michelle to reflect on their experiences being Pledge Mom, with the understanding that each year brings unique challenges. I look forward to new challenges and coming up with ways to involve the pledges and actives to discuss and address those challenges as they arise. In April, I will be attending the MAP Spring Assembly, and intend on networking with Brothers to learn about the operations of other chapters and being involved in Kappa Psi on a larger scale.

 

If I were to become Pledge Mom, I would work to incorporate the feedback provided by the Sigma class and actives to the best of my ability, with the understanding that it is up to the GCDs’ discretion and how we implement these changes as a chapter. I would continue to help organize diverse pledge events ranging from social- to professional development-focused events, and send emails to recap the previous week and preview the upcoming week of pledging. After talking with Michelle, I hope to continue the rush evaluation forms to have a tangible document and facilitate more meaningful conversations during the bidding process.

 

I would like to discuss with the chapter ways to improve the transition from Know the Chapter to Chi Council i.e. having more rooms similar to the “E-Board Room.” I would remind pledges about the exam schedule for P2s and P3s, since their timing to get sigs should not be focused solely on their own exam schedule. I would encourage socials for immediate and extended family lineages to facilitate community building amongst the classes. For Loomis Street Night, if time allowed, it would have been nice to have a social activity but also talk about the history and traditions of the Fraternity to put more meaning behind the facts that we memorized. Brothers from the Pi and Rho classes suggested having the Pledge Parents encourage more introverted pledges to talk to actives, and I would definitely incorporate this into next year’s pledging season, whether this means encouraging them to start off getting a sig with a close Pledge Brother of theirs or connecting them with an active who has shared interests. I would also discuss as a chapter what expectations we have of each other when giving a sig or discussing upcoming pledge events with pledges to reinforce what values we share. Lastly, I would stress not only to the officers, but the entire pledge class, the significance of having a night to share personal stories with each other since that night really marked the transition from being friends to Pledge Brothers. In going about planning for rushing and pledging, I would keep one goal in mind: by the time they become Brothers, I want the pledges to truly understand the significance of “One for All, All for One.”