Upper Hudson PBK WEB Page _

Once you are initiated into Phi Beta Kappa—usually in your senior year of college—you become a lifetime member of the Phi Beta Kappa Society headquartered in Washington, D.C. The Society sends out annual solicitations for donations to provide advocacy for liberal education and to provide services to its Chapters and Associations. Their website www.pbk.org is an excellent source of information about the National Office’s services and activities. They publish The Key Reporter and The American Scholar for members.

Membership in the national Phi Beta Kappa does not automatically enroll a person in a local Association.

About 60 local Associations across the nation offer friendship and programs to members of Phi Beta Kappa and work to support the aims of the society. Membership in the Upper Hudson Association of Phi Beta Kappa is open to any person who was ever initiated into PBK. Susan Plank (518-439-4028, plankdse@earthlink.net), Secretary of the Upper Hudson Association would be pleased to welcome your membership. Annual dues of $35 support costs at our 3 dinner meetings, provide a modest stipend for our speakers and cover office and mailing expenses.

ASSOCIATION OFFICERS

UPPER HUDSON ASSOCIATION OF PHI BETA KAPPA, 2009-2010

OFFICERS AND BOARD OF DIRECTORS

President: Gloria Karin email

Vice President: Bob Schalit email

Secretary: Therese Broderick email

Treasurer: Loretta Parsons email

Past President: DeWitt Ellinwood email

AT-LARGE DIRECTORS

Susan Plank email

Carolyn Darkangelo email

Gerald Haines email

Chris Kelly email

Malcolm Sherman email

Advisor to the Board

Frances Allee email

The Upper Hudson ΦBK Scholarship Program: Process and Guidelines

In January of 2010, local high school principals will receive a letter similar to the following:

For over two hundred years, Phi Beta Kappa has championed outstanding academic achievement and a liberal education. The Upper Hudson Association of PBK will be awarding our 17th annual. Two $750 stipends will be presented to 2010 high school graduates from the region who is planning to enter college next fall. We will be grateful for your assistance in helping us do so.

We will accept applications only from seniors whom you and other principals in our geographic area will nominate. I am enclosing two copies of our Scholarship Application Guidelines, which should be given to the students nominated by the school. Application guidelines can also be found on our web site at http://uhpbk.org/. If you wish to nominate more than two students, please duplicate these guidelines for their use.

We know that a $750 award will not go far in meeting current tuition and living expenses. However, it is our hope that this modest stipend will help defray some college costs, recognize outstanding academic achievement in high school, and encourage future promise.

Of course, your school’s nominee(s) are not obligated to apply for the award, but we would appreciate it if you and the members of your faculty would encourage worthy seniors to do so. If you have questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail at plankdse@earthlink.net or via phone at (518) 439-4028. The two winners in 2005 were from Voorheesville and Shenendahowa High Schools; The 2006 winners were from Lake George and Niskayuna high schools. The 2007 winners were from Shenendahowa and Guilderland. The 2008 winners were from Queensbury and Troy.

Phi Beta Kappa has been dedicated to nurturing scholarship and encouraging and recognizing high academic achievement since its inception in 1776. Thank you for joining us in this important endeavor.

Click here to get a copy of the letter to high school principals and the scholarship guidelines.

Completed applications must be received by Upper Hudson ΦBK no later than March 6 2010.

Upper Hudson ΦBK Scholarship Winners for 2009

The Upper Hudson Association of Phi Beta Kappa is pleased to announce the 2009 winners of its annual scholarships for senior high school students. They are: Vivian Chen, a senior at Shenendahowa High School, and Pascal Garczynski, a senior at Saratoga Springs High School. These two students were chosen from among nearly ninety applicants from one hundred schools throughout the Greater Capital District region. Selection was based on a written essay, as well as academic achievements and extra-curricular activities. The students were presented their scholarship award stipends at the dinner meeting of the Upper Hudson Association of Phi Beta Kappa, held at Union College’s Old Chapel on Saturday evening, May 2, 2009. A special joint meeting was held in conjunction with Union College’s Alpha of New York Chapter of Phi Beta Kappa as they are celebrating the 192nd anniversary of the chapter’s founding in December of 1817, the first chapter of Phi Beta Kappa in New York State, only the fourth in the nation.

Vivian is a National Merit Semifinalist, the only qualifier in her graduating class, and is also an Advanced Placement Scholar with Honors. In her senior year she has received the President’s Volunteer Service Award and is the sole recipient of the Principal’s Leadership Award. Active in Future Business Leaders of America, she is the New York State Vice President and New York State Vice-Chair for Community Service this year. She is also Treasurer of the Shenendahowa Key Club and serves as Secretary for her class. Some of her other activities include working as a reporter for the school newspaper, serving on the Math Team for four years, as well as the Science Bowl and Quiz Bowl teams. She also has volunteered at the Sunnyview Rehabilitation Hospital for more than 150 hours since the summer of 2007. She is a member of Shenendahowa’s junior varsity outdoor track team as well. She plans to major in business after graduation, perhaps at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania.

Pascal will graduate with a “Regents with Honors” Diploma. While in school, he has been involved with the New York State Math League, the high school wind ensemble and symphonic band. He has been a member of the yearbook staff, the swing dance club, the rugby club and the book club. He has played baseball on various levels for the past ten years. He also plays basketball (through the YMCA League) and tennis and skis recreationally. He is climbing his way through the Top 46 Adirondack High Peaks. He is involved with church activities and volunteers for his local library and the Red Cross. He also works 20-35 hours per week as a front-end cashier and grocery clerk at Price Chopper.

Phi Beta Kappa is considered the oldest honorary academic society in the United States. It was founded at the College of William and Mary in Williamsburg, Virginia in 1776. Its purpose is to promote excellence in the liberal arts and sciences. Its distinctive emblem, a gold key, is recognized as a symbol of academic achievement as no more than ten percent of a college’s graduating class can be elected to a chapter. Union College’s chapter, founded in 1817, is the fourth oldest in the country. Regional associations, such as the Upper Hudson Association, are composed of Phi Beta Kappa members who have graduated and who meet socially to encourage scholarship and a lifelong love of learning in their local communities, while providing support for the goals of the national organization.

Scholarship Winners 2009

Vivian Chen Bob Schalit - Board Member Pascal Garczynski

Contributing to the Upper Hudson ΦBK Scholarship Fund

Donations to the Upper Hudson Phi Beta Kappa Scholarship are most welcome from any source and are fully tax deductible. Looking for unique birthday, or holiday gift? Looking for a donation to honor the memory of a special educator? Donations may be sent to the Upper Hudson PBK Treasurer (Loretta Parsons, 18 Majorca Lane, Clifton Park, NY 12065). A letter will be sent to acknowledge the gift and your support for a liberal education and outstanding scholarship.

History of the Upper Hudson Association of ΦBK

Phi Beta Kappa, the oldest Greek letter organization in the United States was founded at William and Mary College in 1776. After the War of Independence, chapters were started at other institutions, and in 1817 the Alpha of New York Chapter was chartered at Union College. As time passed, many Phi Beta Kappa alumni (and soon alumnae) sought ways of maintaining in their post-collegiate lives the personal connections and intellectual stimulus that their membership in the society had given them. Such was the impetus for the forming of regional non-campus-based Associations.

At the initiative of the Alpha of New York Chapter at Union College, the founding meeting of the Upper Hudson Association of Phi Beta Kappa was held at the Ten Eyck Hotel on February 28, 1914. Sixty-five Phi Beta Kappa men were in attendance, and another twenty-five expressed interest but were unable to attend the founding meeting. These ninety were declared the founding members. The pattern of three dinner meetings per year was adopted from the start and was interrupted only in November 1918 owing to the influenza epidemic that year.

As early as 1920 the Upper Hudson Association had undertaken a scholarship program aimed at encouraging high academic achievement in local schools, and by 1922 had spearheaded a New York State Association of Phi Beta Kappa that tried to reach all the secondary schools of the state. Indeed, the success of this activity provided incentive and model for the National Phi Beta Kappa Society to promote similar programs nationwide. The original scholarship program was an unfortunate casualty of the Great Depression. Our present scholarship program was undertaken in the 1991-1992 academic year by a new generation of members. Although modeled on the successful strategies of other Associations, the scholarship program represents a full-circle return to a commitment whose original inspiration came from the Upper Hudson Association.

By 1934, when Upper Hudson celebrated its 20th anniversary, membership numbered about 150, including Phi Beta Kappa women, who had been declared eligible to join. Meetings at that time were festive black-tie, long-dress occasions that offered intellectual stimulation and defied depression gloom.

The social and economic changes that followed World War II led to the more casual atmosphere common at our dinner-program meetings today. Nevertheless the impetus for and the character of our meetings have remained unchanged since the Association’s inception in 1914.

Web Page Updated 01/13/10

Questions? Contact Webmaster

Carolyn Darkangelo, email