It's quite scary how quickly the mid-semester break has come and gone! Here at QUT Golden Key Headquarters we've been busily preparing a range of exciting community service, academic and social events for the rest of semester 2 and beyond. So if you're keen to get involed, meet some awesome people, broaden your horizons and give back to the community, then QUT Golden Key is the place for you.
Starting off the semester with a bang, QUT Golden Key put on a sausage sizzle at Gardens Point to raise money for the Umoja Orphanage in Kenya. Thanks to everyone's fantastic efforts we were able to raise $472, which will go directly towards supplying stationery and other school equipment to the children of the Umoja Orphanage.
A cheap meal with a social conscience- what’s not to love about that?
More information - Umoja Orphanage has been single-handedly founded and operated by a Queensland school teacher who currently donates her working wages, and many of her fellow teachers to feeding, housing and educating orphans in Kenya.Orphans in Kenya are often shunned from their families, and sent to live on the streets, often living in extreme poverty, with no education.
Official website - http://umojahome.com/
For the first three weeks of the semester, several Golden Key members donated their time to visit Inala State School to participate in a reading buddy program. Each volunteer assisted two to three children with reading for two hours each Wednesday from 8.30am to 10.30am.
“Education is not preparation for life; education is life itself” – John Dewey
This was a great opportunity for Golden Key members to help model good reading practices to younger students in the local community, as well as help the students gain confidence in their reading abilities and encourage them to gain a greater love for reading in the future. Thank you to everyone who was involved in this wonderful program.
Griffith University, Queensland University of Technology and the University of New England Golden Key Chapters provided GK Alumni with an opportunity to network and socialise with not only members of their own university but with members of other university chapters. This was a great opportunity to meet new people and catch up with old friends from university.
An information session for incoming members was held on Friday August 24, from 6 -7pm in the Gibson Room (Level 10, Z Block, Gardens Point campus). Complementary refreshments were provided on the night. Chapter President Lauren Crome addressed the attendees about the benefits of becoming active members of the society. The Social Directors, Community Services Chairs and Professional Development Officers also spoke about their roles and what Golden Key means to them.
Monday September 24 marked the day when hundreds of new members were welcomed into the QUT Golden Key Chapter at our annual New Member Reception. It was held at the Kelvin Grove campus F Block Auditorium room 509 with celebratory drinks and nibbles provided at the conclusion of the ceremony.
QUT Golden Key President Lauren Crome presents Cate Campbell with her Honorary Membership
Our guest speaker was Cate Campbell, QUT's very own Olympic swimmer who won Gold in the Women's 4 x 100m Freestyle relay at the London Olympics. Cate spoke about her journey to both the Beijing and London Olympics and the obstacles she had to overcome along the way, including a significant illness. She made an interesting point that although there is no 'I' in team, there is an 'I' in win, meaning that one must have personal, individual drive to succeed, even in a team environment. She explained that her relay team would not have won Gold if it weren't for the individual drive for victory that each member of the team had. Cate is very humble in her success and congratulated the students in the room on their acceptance into the Golden Key Honour Society and for being the best in their field. She also remarked that high achievement, whether it be in the sporting or the academic arena, takes hard work, motivation and determination; a statement that resonated with the students in the room.
Three honourary members were inducted into the QUT Chapter based on their contribution to the wider community. We were proud to announce Cate Campbell, Michael Booth and Margaret James were this year's recipients. Michael Booth is a senior academic in the QUT Business School and is currently researching financial viability in not-for-profit organisations. He is a pro-bono Treasurer for Micah Projects, a medium-sized not-for-profit organisation which focuses on homelessness in the wider Brisbane community.
Margaret James has an extensive background in linguistics, bilingual education, language acqusition and music. Her work has led her to the realisation that ignorance of Aboriginal English was a contributing factor in school failure of indigenous learners, which led to the creation of the Honey Ant Readers resource: aboriginal English and ways of story-telling which can improve literacy of Aboriginal students.
Other highlights of the night included addresses by members of the 2012 Exectutive Committee and an address by Professor Carol Dickenson on behalf of the university.
Summer is almost upon us so we thought we'd bring in the change of season with style! Despite dubious weather conditions, QUT Golden Key hosted a spring picnic at New Farm park on Sunday 30 September 2012. It was a pleasant, relaxing day and provided a great chance for new members to mingle with other members. The turn-out was much higher than expected and it was great to see so many new faces!
On Wednesday 3rd October we were privileged to have engineer Nick Byrne come and talk to us about his experiences with working with not-for-profit organisation Engineers Without Borders and his own start-up, The Bridge Fellows. Nick gave an insight into what it's like to escape the corporate sector and do something more meaningful and enjoyable as a career. It was great listening to such a passionate and engaging young individual.
"I passionately believe that the business paradigm should be working for us to enrich people's lives and enhance innovation to solve the problems of the day. There are two movements which I have a tremendous amount of respect for: social innovation and corporate responsibility." - Nick Byrne.
If you're thinking about running for a position on the Golden Key Executive Committee for 2013 or just want to get more of a feel about what the society does, then come along to our AGM on Friday 12th October. To nominative yourself for a position you must fill out a nomination form which was emailed to you and send it to secretary@qutgoldenkey.org. If you did not receive a nomination form email then please email the above address requesting one if you are interested. Applications are due at 11.00am Friday 12 October 2012. The Executive Committee Positions are as follows:
Good luck to everyone who applies, we look forward to seeing you there!
Golden Key believes in rewarding its members for their academic, leadership and service excellence. Annually, the Society offers more than USD$500,000 in member-only scholarships and awards. Most of these scholarships and awards are administered by Golden Key Headquarters and require a formal application. A new list of scholarships and awards are now available on the Golden Key website. Remember to check these scholarships and awards listings regularly as they are being updated. Register your scholarship application now!
In July 2012, Golden Key held their International Conference in Atlanta, Georgia. The conference provided an excellent opportunity for over 600 members from around the world to converge on Atlanta for three days of networking, leadership training and mentoring. QUT decided to provide a small scholarship for one of its members to help fund attendance at this conference. This year’s recipient was David Alexander. He is in his third year of his PhD investigating melt processes within New Zealand glaciers.
David is a member of the Executive Committee and has attended two Asia-Pacific Golden Key conferences previously. He enjoyed every minute of this opportunity to experience an International Conference for the first time and looks forward to sharing the experience with several others from the QUT Chapter of Golden Key.
By Rosie Attwell
From the 27th to the 29th of July 2012, Lauren Crome, Rosie Attwell, Maija Bicevskis Jodie Lee and David Alexander went to the International Golden Key conference in Atlanta, Georgia. Attracting 600 students from all over the world, these five Golden key affiliates represented the Queensland University of Technology chapter.
Beginning with an opening ceremony, the group dressed in green to represent the Asia Pacific Region with their fellow delegates from Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Over the course of the weekend, the group participated in career building workshops, service activities and were taken to the world’s largest Aquarium for the concluding gala dinner.
The time I spent building a compost heap at the refugee community garden was one of the most memorable. I was working in a team with people I’d only just met and doing something to help the Live Love Foundation. I became known as the “Raker Girl” because I was on top of the pile of mulch and raking it down for all the people shoveling the mulch. Although we were all tired, sweaty and thirsty by the end of it, we all felt like the work we did contributed in some small way to the refugee community.
If you didn’t come to the TGIF (Thank God I’m Free) clubs and societies mixer then you missed out on an EPIC night! I was on the door (that’s me on the right) and it was great to see so many Golden Key members showing up to celebrate the end of a successful Semester 1. Hopefully we’ll see the same astonishing turnout at the end of Semester 2 bash! Stay tuned for those details in an upcoming newsletter/email. Remember, these events are held for our members, so come out and support your Golden Key chapter!
With students’ specially matched industry/study discipline colours to correspondingly coloured industry professionals, networking was made so much easier in this event to help secure a dream grad job!
Our annual Corporate networking evening, the “Wine and Cheese Appreciation Night” was held on Monday 23 April at the IBHI Building, Musk Avenue, Kelvin Grove. The invitation was extended to QUT GK members, students from various disciplines and QUT student bodies with approximately 150 people in attendance.
Our special guest speaker was Mr Tom Potter, Founder of Australian-owned Eagle Boys pizza chain. Tom spoke of his passion for working in the food business, loving food just like his father and grandfather.
Our audience was presented with an entertaining video about Eagle Boys. In his address, Tom recounted his early career and entrepreneurial journey in both food and non-food industries. Along the way, Tom spoke of business models, market dynamics and research, the importance of organisational culture, brand positioning, competitive advantage, and customer service, as well as customer relations and one’s own business acumen and skills. Tom also spoke of his current plans in the food industry, as well as business expansion, including the success the famous pink eagle has found in New Zealand. Tom has also studied at Harvard University and been named the Australian Young Business Person of the Year.
Tom was a very entertaining speaker, peppering his speech with funny anecdotes here and there and memorable stories of people he has met along the way, however also speaking seriously of the challenges associated with the food industry and running a business in general. Some of the many memorable tips Tom gave were the need to change with the times and getting comfortable with making changes to your thinking. The need to think like your customers and go out to the front line and see what’s happening was also noted.
Tom brought along books for autographing, as well as giving one away to a lucky member of the audience. Members had a chance to ask some very interesting questions, including how the origin of the Eagle Boys business name came about!
Everyone had the chance to learn from each others’ perspectives, build valuable networks and mingle in a classy venue with the melodies of a live jazz band whilst sampling the carefully matched wine and delectable cheeses.
Many students also attended the Networking Skills Seminar held earlier in the year to learn how to make the most out of the Corporate Wine and Cheese Appreciation Night.
QUT Golden Key would like to thank everyone for attending this event and making it a great success.
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| Paul Wiseman, Ibi Repcik and Jodie Lee |
