Events and Activities

The Alpha Kappa chapter of AGS generally meets on the first Friday of each month  during the fall and spring semesters. Every effort will be made to alert members of meeting cancellations in advance via e-mail and this web page.

AGS chapter service projects are determined by the membership each semester. Chapter presence at OCC campus-wide and club events is also encouraged. Volunteer time dedicated to the chapter or for a campus or community service project will be recorded, and may help students compete for special leadership and scholarship awards.

Current and Future AGS Events/Activities

Spring 2012

Alpha Kappa Hosts the 2010 AGS Southern Regional Conference:
"Learning the Ropes"
Saturday, October 30, 2010
Our chapter hosted the 2010 AGS Southern Regional Conference on Saturday, October 30, bringing AGS members and advisors from community colleges all over the southern region of CA to our campus for a full day of presentations on a variety of topics that members found valuable and entertaining. There were demonstrations, a keynote speech, an opportunity drawing, AGS marketplace, and casual outdoor dining.

This was an outstanding event, and we are grateful to all of the volunteers from our chapter who made it the success it was!



Soles4Souls Shoe Drive for Haiti - AGS was thrilled to have collected over 3,000 pairs of gently used and new shoes to benefit the ongoing earthquake relief efforts in Haiti. Sudduth Relocations Services in La Mirada provided free transportation of our campus' donations to the warehouse in Las Vegas for further distribution to Haiti. Thank you ALL who raided your closets, rallied your church/temple/mosque members to contribute, and even went shopping for NEW shoes to donate! Wow! You all made this such a huge success!

Extra credit receipts were offered (extra credit was given at the discretion of the instructor and may not be available in all classes), which really helped to motivate students to get involved in contributing. Donations were dropped off at various campus collection sites: Watson Hall lobby, Lit & Lang lobby, Library, Computing Center. For extra credit, donations were delivered to the Honors Office - Watson Hall 287.

Swap Meet Book Sale - Fundraiser - April 24, 2010 - AGS partnered with Phi Theta Kappa to sell the books collected during the PTK book drive that did not qualify for their program with BetterWorld Books. AGS members helped staff the swap meet tables in the Adams Parking Lot on Saturday, April 24. Books were offered for sale by the bag for just a few dollars per bag. Fiction, non-fiction, and textbooks were available. The project generated virtually no interest; total sales for the day were $4.00. Clearly, a swap meet is not the right venue for this kind of project. In the end, PTK ended up placing an ad in Craig's List to offer the books for free to anyone who would drive to the campus storage unit and pick them up.

2010-11 AGS Officer Elections - May 4
Three new AGS officers were elected on Tuesday, May 4 at the next-to-last regular chapter meeting (Watson Hall 262 - 5pm). Each candidate had 3 minutes to address the members about their experience, qualifications, and vision for the chapter. Candidates had the choice of running independently or on a "ticket" that supported the election of particular others who shared common values and goals (no configuration of officers was guaranteed, however; each position was run independently and was filled by the individual receiving the most votes for that office). For a description of typical officer duties, please refer to the AGS chapter bylaws.

Elected officers all met good standing criteria as chapter members (i.e., paid dues in the past semester or were in an approved grace period). Following the recording of spring grades, the officers-elect were confirmed as being qualified for continuing membership and their elected positions, AND that they were enrolled in at least 6 units of coursework in the fall 2010 semester.

Alpha Kappa Chapter Volunteers at Abrazar Food Distribution Event 
    
In the left photo, some OCC AGS volunteers (l-r): Virginija Glaubitt, Terry Scarbrough (chapter advisor),
Mirek Mares (chapter president), Kenichi Kosaka, and Maimu Belheumer. On the right: a carload of food
on its way to making one family's holiday a little brighter.

Our experience with Abrazar, Inc. on Saturday, December 19, 2009 was fantastic! GWC alum and former AGS officer Alex Aldana is the Volunteer Coordinator at Abrazar, Inc. This year he recruited help from the community, local high schools, colleges, and even from the police department and an ambulance service.

Over the course of the day, volunteers helped to pack groceries into bags and grocery carts, wheeled the full carts to waiting cars that lined up for blocks at their pre-appointed times, directed in-coming traffic, and loaded groceries with an estimated value of $250 for each of 525 needy families in this annual outpouring of holiday compassion.

Families received fresh produce, dairy, meat -- including the choice of a medium-sized turkey or ham -- and non-perishable foods purchased with funds donated to Abrazar. Gloria Reyes, Chief Executive Officer of Abrazar, Inc. commented that this year set a record for the amount of food distributed and for the efficiency that got clients in and out with their groceries.

Abrazar provided volunteers with as much vitamin water as they could drink and some of the best freshly-made tacos ever! The entire event was well-organized and fun for the volunteers and so clearly appreciated by the families it served.

OCC AGS Permanent Member Maimu Belheumer took hundreds of photos and made short videos with the volunteers throughout the day. Look for more of these on our website in the future.

We hope to be even more involved with Abrazar in 2010! If you'd like to get involved as an after-school tutor or in one of Abrazar's community service projects, please contact the AGS advisor for details: ags@occ.cccd.edu

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The Fall 2009 AGS/Southern Regional Conference was held at Pasadena City College on Saturday, November 7th. This was an all-day event featuring short workshops and seminars on a variety of topics. An exciting keynote speaker from Apple (Jeff Monday -- visit his website at www.jeffmonday.com)spoke about "contribution" as the means to achieving our goals and making a difference; the AGS marketplace featured chapter logo items for sale; a group conference photo was taken (we hope to post it soon); and there were opportunity drawings as well as a nice lunch served as part of the registration fee.

Members who are interested in attending a future conference should attend an upcoming chapter meeting to obtain more details about these opportunities. You may also email the chapter advisor for more information: ags@occ.cccd.edu

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Seal Beach Clean-up was held on Saturday morning, October 24. Eleven of us donned gloves and carried reusable trash collection bags (both supplied by the host organization) to scour the sands for even the tiniest slivers of refuse. After a couple of productive hours, some group photos, fresh air, sunshine and exercise, we headed over to the California Pizza Kitchen for some well-deserved lunch. Yum! While we waited for our variety of pizzas and desserts, we discussed some of the ways that a beach clean-up can be used as a talking point in transfer and scholarship essays; seeing one's self as part of a bigger picture and expressing those ideas in an essay are critical components of using any experience well.