Beta Delta Chapter Wins 3rd Place

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Beta Delta Chapter of Phi Upsilon Omicron Receives 3rd place in Nation   

     The Beta Delta Chapter of Phi Upsilon Omicron describes the professional project that the chapter completed: With the amount of success we experienced with our project last year, our chapter was eager to expand on that project and proceed to even further fulfill the objectives that reflect our national theme “Building Traditions, Developing Legacy.” We examined the theme, to ascertain its meaning. The word ‘tradition’ means “the handing down of statements, beliefs, legends, customs, information, etc., from generation to generation, especially by word of mouth or by practice.” ‘Legacy,’ refers to “anything handed down from the past, as from an ancestor or predecessor.” Both words have a similar meaning, “handing down.” We wanted to “hand down” that which we considered significant. We decided that it is was important to focus on traditions and legacies that would be most meaningful to those who follow us in our chapter and our community.

     The Beta Delta Chapter chose as our primary focus: “Continuing a Literacy Legacy, as well as Caring, Service, and Support Legacies.” As our primary objective, we chose to focus our efforts on engaging in a literacy program for underprivileged preschool children in our community, giving them an opportunity to develop skills which will facilitate their future success. Research shows that early literacy plays a key role in enabling the kind of early learning experiences that are linked with academic achievement, reduced grade retention, higher graduation rates, and enhanced productivity in adult life. All of the factors of a child’s development—physical, social-emotional, cognitive, language, and literacy—are interrelated and interdependent (Nieer, 2006).

     The program we chose, The Dolly Parton Imagination Library (DPIL), is managed by United Way of Southern Kentucky. Typically, the DPIL provides each registered child an age-adjusted book each month for a year with a $35 registration fee. They also provide a parent education packet to facilitate preschool children’s learning and so their parents become excited about the books and reading together. United Way raises funds, promotes the program, registers the children, and enters the information in the database. We approached United Way about the feasibility of our members continuing to work directly with a group of underprivileged children in our community. The Executive Director of United Way was able to arrange with the Jones Jaggers Elementary School Head Start program for our members to read to and interact with the children, in much the same way their parents would, using the DPIL books. We would also raise funds for registering children in the program.

     In addition to using the DPIL books, our chapter decided to also include a book written and published by one of its own members in order to expand the project to also include health literacy. The book is entitled The Truth about Type 1 Diabetes: The Myths Exposed and includes information about the day-to-day management of type 1 diabetes, as well as myths that are associated with it. This book was written as an educational tool for the peers of children with type 1 diabetes.