The Mortar Board Hypatia Chapter, a senior honor society at The University of Alabama, will be hosting a fundraiser to subsidize study abroad tips for students on Thursday, Nov. 1.
Mortar Board and the UA Away program will be teaming up in an effort to help the campus community with a fundraiser for the scholarships. Between 4 and 9 p.m., Zoe’s Kitchen will donate 15 percent of their profits to the Mortar Board, which will in turn give it to UA Away. Both locations in Tuscaloosa will be participating.
Mortar Board seniors will be working with UA Away, a division of Student Affairs that helps undergraduate students participate in new experiences to enhance their time in college. UA Away also encourages students to serve others, whether within new cultures, job training or studying a special interest. The ultimate goal of the program is to raise a $1 million endowment, which will be based around program-specific scholarships meant for students who are participating members of UA Away.
The Mortar Board began in 1929 at the University as a female-only organization and began to allow men in 1976.
“My experience with Mortar Board this year has been amazing. It’s a strong organization of leaders from all across campus, all with the ability to make a big impact,” Mallory Flowers, the UA Mortar Board president, said. “We all hope to see a great group of juniors apply for membership this year.”
A.J. Collins, president of the Coordinating Council for Honor Societies, said honor societies are beneficial in terms of networking for leaders on campus.
“Their primary focus is to honor those seniors who have dedicated their undergraduate tenure to this university, and also have service, philanthropic, and social facets, which enrich and support the mission of each organization,” Collins said.
Susan Caples, the National President of Mortar Board and the UA chapter’s advisor, said the group has slowly increased over the past few years. “We have increased our membership; we were at 50 for years but as the population has increased, we have decided we wanted to honor more students because we have so many who are qualified,” Caples said. “We’re one of the biggest chapters in the country.”
Caples said the GPA requirement for joining Mortar Board is a 3.5 and that the current class picks the next class. There were more than 300 applicants last year to fill the 69 spots.
Charlie Bice, the Treasurer of the UA Mortar Board, encouraged juniors to apply in the spring.
“As long as you have the grades and the leadership roles that we desire in a member, we’d love to have you,” he said.
