Description
Mortar Board, Inc. is a national honor society that recognizes college seniors for distinguished ability and achievement in scholarship, leadership, and service. Members raise funds for the annual STRIVE scholarship, which stands for Seeking To Recognize Individual Visions of Excellence. This scholarship is awarded each spring to local Kearny High School seniors who exemplify the Mortar Board ideals of scholarship, leadership, and service. Through donating you help support local high school students pursue their future academic goals and receive a cookbook which holds previous and current chapter members' most beloved secret family recipes.
Donations are applied to...
These funds are raised for the annual STRIVE scholarship, which stands for Seeking To Recognize Individual Visions of Excellence. This scholarship is awarded each spring to local Kearny High School seniors who exemplify the Mortar Board ideals of scholarship, leadership, and service. This year we have decided to increase the amount of scholarships we will be rewarding from two to six in hopes to give more local students the opportunity to pursue their future academic goals.
Personal Message
Mortar Board, Inc. is a national honor society that recognizes college seniors for distinguished ability and achievement in scholarship, leadership, and service. Mortar Board began in 1918 as the first national organization honoring senior college women. When the Society opened its membership to men in 1975, the organization maintained a tribute to the founders and its heritage by strengthening the Preamble to the Constitution by including a commitment to the advancement of the status of women.
While it is an honor to be selected for membership in Mortar Board, it is the commitment to continue to serve that differentiates an honor society from an honorary. Accepting membership means accepting the responsibility and obligation to be an active participant in chapter activities. This commitment is an agreement to support actively the ideals of the society.
The Mortar Board is a symbol of ancient honor and distinction that carries with it grave responsibilities. In the earliest universities, student adopted the clerical or monastic robes as a sign that they were devoting their lives to the profession of learning, in recognition of which they received certain privileges. Such recognition is ours, and such responsibility is our privilege. We, too, wear a distinguishing sign, the mortarboard.
"Scholars who Enjoy Rewarding Volunteerism and Involvement in the Community through Educational leadership." (SERVICE) This is the personalized mission statement for the University of San Diego Mortar Board Chapter. This idea was created at the first annual Mortar Board retreat.
The purpose of Mortar Board is best stated in the preamble of the organization's constitution:
"To facilitate cooperation among senior honor societies, to contribute to the self-awareness of its members, to promote equal opportunities among all peoples, to emphasize the advancement of the status of women, to support the ideas of the university, to advance a spirit of scholarship, to recognize and encourage leadership, to provide service, and to establish the opportunity for meaningful exchange of ideas as individuals and as a group."
Why are donations necessary?
Your donations are necessary because they help fund our STRIVE scholarships which we award to local students at Kearny High School, which is just a short 5 minute drive up Linda Vista from USD. These students are selected based on their exemplification of Mortar Board's values of scholarship, leadership, and service. Your contribution is more valuable now than ever since we have decided to increase the amount of scholarships we will be awarding from two students to six. Our chapter believes we can play an important role in supporting our local community to empower these students to pursue their educational goals and dreams as scholars and leaders through service.