Attending the Eta Gamma Officer Retreat are (l-r) Tristan Zavala of Elk City, Kan.; Jacob Asbridge of Andover, Kan.; Michael Frazier of Coffeyville, Kan.; Rebecca George of Denison, Kan.; Andrea Hamersky of Wichita, Kan.; Lauren Cox of Wichita, Kan.; Zack Hershey of Coffeyville, Kan.; and Eta Gamma Advisor, Linda McFate.
The officers of the Eta Gamma Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa at Coffeyville Community College recently traveled to Weston, Missouri, for their spring semester officer retreat held at the Benner House Bed and Breakfast. The students were the guests of innkeepers Sheri and Mitchell Guthrie. The Benner House is an exceptional example of Queen Anne architecture and was built in 1898 by George Shawhan, who owned what we know today as the McCormick Distillery. The home was purchased in the early 1900s by Charles Benner and it remained in his family until it was converted to a Bed and Breakfast in 1986. The home features a hand carved oak and beveled glass entrance with open, wrap around porches on both stories. The agenda for the week-end’s business meeting included eight new business items including the International Convention in Seattle and the Kansas Region Convention in Topeka. The Chapter will be assisting with the Rotary Mardi Gras and Kansas Lobby Day. On Friday evening, the officers ate at America Bowman Restaurant, Weston’s oldest restaurant that is an incongruous maze of six rooms, connected by a labyrinth of halls, passageways and a tunnel. Following dinner, the students listened to the music of Reverse Cowboy at O’Malley’s 1842 Irish Pub (built to a height of six stories) entirely underground. The cellars were originally the lagering cellars for the Weston Brewing Company, which began in 1842. There is tri-level seating in the twenty-foot-high bottom cellar, 60 feet below ground. Much of the Officer Retreat was spent working on the chapter’s 2011 Honors in Action Project. The officers viewed two films, The Lottery and The Cartel with a third film, Waiting for Superman to follow. All three films deal with issues of public education in America. In The Lottery, American filmmaker Madeline Sackler follows four children through the highs and lows of a life-changing lottery, where the prize is a spot in one of New York City’s best charter schools. When presented with a chance to pull their youngsters out of a failing system, some parents dare to be cautiously optimistic, knowing full well there are hundreds of thousands of kids in the pool. In The Cartel, people and their stories offer and unforgettable look at how a widespread national crisis manifests itself in the educational failure and frustrations of individual communities. The officers did a work sheet on each film listing its main points and relationships to issue 5, education in the Phi Theta Kappa Honors Study Topic Guide. The officers also discussed service or “action component” projects, various possibilities for scholarly research on the project as well as leadership activities and collaboration with others on the project. During the Saturday morning portion of the officer retreat, Pam Howe from the Wyandotte County Extension Office presented two service projects to the chapter officers. The first, Operation Military Kids, helps to create networks of people, organizations and other resources to support the families of deployed soldiers. One specific aspect of Operation Military Kids is with Hero Packs, backpacks that are filled with mementos and items designed to help connect kids with their deployed parent. The second project presented was the CureSearch Walk Saturday, April 30, in Arrowhead Stadium, Kansas City, Missouri. The CureSearch Walk celebrates and honors all those whose lives have been affected by children’s cancer, while raising funds for lifesaving research. Before returning to campus, the CCC students took a tour of historic Weston that began on the covered patio of O'Malley’s restaurant where they saw one of the world’s “largest ball of twine” and historic murals on the wall of the building. The tour also included the brewery and wine cellars. After being buried many decades ago, the “secret” fourth lagering cellar at the Weston Brewing Company was opened and included on the tour. Weston’s amazing history provided plenty of stories for those taking the tour. Tales of Lewis and Clark, Daniel Boone, Ben Holladay, Abraham Lincoln, Buffalo Bill Cody, and many others are all part of Weston’s past. Officers taking part in the retreat were: Jacob Asbridge, Tristen Zavala, Michael Frazier, Zach Hershey, Pam Howe, Rebecca George, Andrea Hamersky, Lauren Cox, and advisor Linda McFate.