S3E36: Seattle Colleges Conversations with! International Students of Phi Theta Kappa

In this our thirty-sixth (36th) episode of Season 3, Seattle Colleges host Evan Franulovich interviews a panel of international students who talk about the organization Phi Theta Kappa and why you might want to consider joining it if you can!

1:19 - Meet our panel - current Seattle Central PTK President and regional officer Thomas Chen (Taiwan), Tai Wei Zhe 'Joe', and current Seattle Central PTK VP of Public Affairs Sojung 'Sofia' Jun (South Korea)

Visit the Phi Theta Kappa website for more information: ptk.org

Copyright © Seattle Colleges International Programs 2023. All rights reserved. For more information about being an international student at Seattle Colleges, please visit intl.seattlecolleges.edu

The theme music 'Bounce' is an audio file pursuant to the Pixabay License as defined in the Pixabay Terms of Service available at https://http://pixabay.com/service/terms/

Also, connect with us on social media (Facebook, Instagram, YouTube, TikTok) at
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Transcript

Evan Franulovich  0:05  
Welcome to Seattle Colleges International Programs and our show 'Conversations with!', where we talk to people that help you understand how you too, can be an international student in the United States and why Seattle Colleges should be your first choice. We'll talk to students and staff and agents and government folks, all kinds of people about what you can expect when you're getting ready to apply or travel here, what you'll experience while you're with us, and how it can all lead to an amazing life. Don't forget to check out the Seattle Colleges International Programs website at intl.seattlecolleges.edu where you can find a treasure trove of information about the school, the programs here and best of all, fill out and submit your application. Again, that's intl.seattlecolleges.edu.

Hey everybody! Welcome back to Seattle Colleges. Wow, we've got a room full of students today. What's going on? Well, let's find out who are you guys. Why are you here? Can we just get maybe who you are, where you're from, how long you been in Seattle Colleges, and tell them what we're doing here?

Tai Wei Zhe  1:26  
So my name is Joe Tai, and I'm from Taiwan. This is my second year in Seattle Central, and I'm doing a major in Environmental Engineering. And we're here to introduce you the PTK, Phi Theta Kappa in our school.

Thomas Chen  1:42  
I'm also from Taiwan, and I actually graduated last quarter, around month ago, and I'm the current president of our honor society in our school, Phi Theta Kappa. 

Evan Franulovich  2:01  
He's the president.

Sojung Jun  2:05  
Hi everyone. My name is Sophia. I've been in this podcast before, but again, I'm a business major student. This is my first year, and I'm a VP of public affairs of our great Phi Theta Kappa. Nice to meet you.

Evan Franulovich  2:19  
Phi Theta Kappa. Those are three Greek letters that all go together. How long has Phi Theta Kappa been around? 

Sojung Jun  2:26  
Whoa.

Thomas Chen  2:27  
They actually started one year after this college has been founded. 

Evan Franulovich  2:33  
Yeah? 

Thomas Chen  2:33  
And originally, the headquarter of Phi Theta Kappa has been founded in 1918. 

Evan Franulovich  2:43  
Right. Another big question is, what is it? What is Phi Theta Kappa? 

Sojung Jun  2:50  
Yeah, the Phi Theta Kappa is a non profit organization for two year community college students, we call it honor society. So in our Phi Theta Kappa, we have scholarship opportunity, leadership role opportunities and research projects, college projects, which is about community service. And also, we have a lot of networking opportunities with other chapters, which means other colleges in our region, and also just nationally.

Evan Franulovich  3:25  
Yeah, I've heard there's actually a national convention.

Sojung Jun  3:30  
Conferences.

Evan Franulovich  3:32  
Where's the next one at? 

Thomas Chen  3:34  
Maryland. I actually went to the current one. 

Evan Franulovich  3:36  
You did? 

Thomas Chen  3:40  
Almost a month ago, April 2 to 6, in Kansas City, Missouri. 

Evan Franulovich  3:48  
It's not Los Angeles. 

Thomas Chen  3:55  
People are nice. We have around 5000-6000 people. 

Evan Franulovich  3:58  
Oh, my Gosh. 

Thomas Chen  3:58  
All gather around from the all states in the US. We call it Catalyst, the National Conference for PTK, where we celebrate all the chapters from every single schools and their achievements. And it was wonderful.

Evan Franulovich  4:16  
That is amazing! I don't want to spend too much time on Catalyst. But what you learn there? What was one of the biggest takeaways from the conference?

Thomas Chen  4:29  
Well, I feel like if you become a PTK member and you actually go to a Catalyst, one of the best way to gain real experiences and meaningful available experiences in the Catalyst is definitely international president or officers, because you are going to give out speeches and answer questions from 5000-6000 people on the stage, which is crazy. You'll learn so many things. And that's probably the best way to engage in the Catalyst. 

Evan Franulovich  5:06  
Did they just sent you? You decided to go. Did they send you, or did you pay for your own way? 

Thomas Chen  5:12  
They sent me, because I'm not only the chapter president, I'm also the regional officer. And I didn't go with the chapter team. I actually went with the regional team, and they pay for my flights, all my hotels, all my food, everything.

Evan Franulovich  5:31  
But if somebody wanted to go to that, could anybody go as a member? 

Thomas Chen  5:35  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  5:36  
Okay, so it's open to everybody. You don't have to be an officer. Cool. Well, before we get I want to keep going down the Phi Theta Kappa rabbit hole. But before we do, let's just get to know each of you a little bit. Let's start with you. You've been here a year? 

Tai Wei Zhe  5:54  
This is my second year. 

Evan Franulovich  5:55  
Second year, okay. And why did you decide to come to Seattle?

Tai Wei Zhe  6:02  
Because I was an exchange student when I was 16 and I went to Alaska. 

Evan Franulovich  6:07  
What?! 

Tai Wei Zhe  6:08  
Yeah, and after a year, I thought there's only two ways to go, where I go back to my country and finish the high school there, but the year in Alaska does not count. Or I can continue in the US. Washington State is the only state you don't need to have a high school diploma. So I just kind of came here, yeah.

Evan Franulovich  6:34  
So are you doing the High School Completion Plus Program? 

Tai Wei Zhe  6:37  
No, just the degree. Just associate. 

Evan Franulovich  6:41  
Because you can request at the end of those two years, once you get that diploma, you can request the US high school diploma if you want.

Tai Wei Zhe  6:47  
Oooh! 

Sojung Jun  6:47  
Oooh! 

Thomas Chen  6:48  
Oooh! 

Tai Wei Zhe  6:50  
I don't think it's gonna do anything.

Evan Franulovich  6:53  
Something you put up on your wall, I suppose. 

Tai Wei Zhe  6:55  
Oh, yeah? 

Evan Franulovich  6:56  
Might be kind of cool, since you're doing it that way.

Thomas Chen  6:59  
It actually might do something.

Evan Franulovich  7:01  
So I'm blown away you went to Alaska. Did you pick Alaska, or did you just get sent there?

Tai Wei Zhe  7:19  
Well, when you apply as a exchange student, you kind of get picked. 

Sojung Jun  7:25  
Just randomly assigned. 

Tai Wei Zhe  7:26  
I was notified that I'm going to Alaska. And I was like, where is Alaska?

Evan Franulovich  7:32  
It's way up there. 

Tai Wei Zhe  7:33  
And I didn't want to go, because I was thinking I might go to Seattle or somewhere. But I ended up liking it, because it's different. The nature, the moose, you can see the moose on the street. 

Evan Franulovich  7:51  
Yeah. 

Tai Wei Zhe  7:51  
And it just natural.

Evan Franulovich  7:57  
I assume you were in Anchorage.

Tai Wei Zhe  7:59  
No. Well, close, Wasilla. It's about an hour drive from Anchorage. 

Evan Franulovich  8:05  
I used to live in Palmer. 

Tai Wei Zhe  8:13  
Oh, nice. 

Evan Franulovich  8:10  
And I lived in Chugiak, and I lived in King Sam, Alaska. I'm a big fan of Alaska, but I don't recall ever seeing exchange students when I was there. 

Tai Wei Zhe  8:18  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  8:19  
That's awesome that you got to go. 

Tai Wei Zhe  8:20  
I'm the only exchange student. And I felt like new species. 'You're Asian? Oh, wow.' They are like, 'Wow, you're different.' 

Evan Franulovich  8:33  
Yeah. 

Tai Wei Zhe  8:33  
And then I was like, 'Yeah.' 

Evan Franulovich  8:37  
Absolutely. That's so cool. Um, so you spent the whole year? 

Tai Wei Zhe  8:43  
Yes.

Evan Franulovich  8:44  
So you got to get experience winter? 

Tai Wei Zhe  8:46  
Well, yes. I don't like it, because you don't get sun. You get three hours of sun. And I had to take melatonin just to sleep. 

Evan Franulovich  8:56  
Right, right. 

Tai Wei Zhe  8:57  
And it was cold. I had to wear four or five layers of hoodies just to go to school. 

Evan Franulovich  9:02  
Right, right, right. 

Tai Wei Zhe  9:03  
And the gym teachers thought I was fat, and after I took off all the jackets. 'Oh, Joe, I didn't realize you lost so much weight.' Yeah, that was great. 

Evan Franulovich  9:15  
That's very cool. So yes, you came here via Alaska, but always had Seattle in mind. You didn't look at any other cities? 

Tai Wei Zhe  9:25  
Well, I would love to go to any city other than Alaska, because it's just cold.

Evan Franulovich  9:34  
Wasilla is not interior Alaska, so it's not too bad. 

Tai Wei Zhe  9:38  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  9:39  
I mean compared to Tok for example, it will be -50 degrees out there. Palmer, Wasilla, is not too bad. 

Tai Wei Zhe  9:50  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  9:51  
So what did you do? What was the most memorable experience you did? Did you go dog mushing? Did you ride the sleds with the dogs?

Tai Wei Zhe  10:03  
That cost 200 per hour, so I didn't do that. I went to a cabin, my host dad cabins, and they was a bear passing by and I saw him through the window.

Evan Franulovich  10:23  
Black or brown bear? 

Tai Wei Zhe  10:24  
Oh, they were grizzly. 

Evan Franulovich  10:25  
Grizzly, okay. Where was the cabin out? Which part of Alaska? 

Tai Wei Zhe  10:29  
I actually don't know. But I saw my host grabbing the rifle out. 

Evan Franulovich  10:37  
Oh, sure, yeah. 

Tai Wei Zhe  10:38  
But the grizzly just ran away. 

Evan Franulovich  10:41  
Yeah, interesting. Wow, that's amazing. That's so cool. Well, great, you got here, then you applied to Seattle Colleges and got accepted. Did you have to convert your visa then?

Tai Wei Zhe  10:57  
Yeah, I was on J-1, and I convert into F-1. 

Evan Franulovich  11:02  
Okay. 

Tai Wei Zhe  11:02  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  11:03  
And how was that process? 

Tai Wei Zhe  11:04  
It was easy. 

Evan Franulovich  11:06  
Was it? 

Tai Wei Zhe  11:07  
Yeah. I feel like in Taiwan, it wasn't that straight compared to other south eastern countries. They give you a year, and you had to renew every year. 

Evan Franulovich  11:14  
Okay. 

Tai Wei Zhe  11:14  
For Taiwan, they give five years. 

Evan Franulovich  11:18  
Do you remember how long the process took to convert it? Was it a month, three months, six months?

Tai Wei Zhe  11:24  
It's been a while, but I don't think it's that long. Probably just two months, I guess.

Evan Franulovich  11:29  
Oh, that's pretty fast then. 

Tai Wei Zhe  11:30  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  11:31  
We have people ask about it quite a bit. So if you're out there, you're on a J or B visa, or whatever you want to convert it to an F visa, this is an example how that might work. So that's really great. 

Tai Wei Zhe  11:43  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  11:44  
Okay, so you came here from Taiwan as well. 

Thomas Chen  11:46  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  11:46  
Did you come via High School as well? 

Thomas Chen  11:49  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  11:49  
Tell us about that experience. 

Thomas Chen  11:51  
So I went to Arizona in my senior year of high school as an exchange student, just like Joe.

Evan Franulovich  11:55  
Yeah. 

Thomas Chen  11:56  
And I was on F-1 actually, so I could choose the place. 

Evan Franulovich  12:00  
Awesome. 

Thomas Chen  12:00  
I was thinking, where should I choose? And I was like, oh, I love the heat. So I should probably go to Arizona. I actually love it very much. The weather is so nice, even though it's kind of super dry actually, this is desert. But people there are super nice. I was probably the very few Asian there, so I'm forced to speak English. 

Evan Franulovich  12:20  
Of course.

Thomas Chen  12:21  
Yeah, yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  12:22  
So when you arrived, was your English poor?

Thomas Chen  12:24  
Oh, super. 

Evan Franulovich  12:25  
Really? 

Thomas Chen  12:26  
I was so bad.

Evan Franulovich  12:27  
Oh my gosh. How about you? 

Tai Wei Zhe  12:29  
I was terrific as always.

Evan Franulovich  12:32  
'My English was awesome.'

Tai Wei Zhe  12:34  
Well, the thing is, I was always being able to speak, but the slang I don't understand that. I met those people. They like, 'What's up?' And I was like, 'The silly.' But you know, as you kind of talk to them, you learn their slang, you understand how they talk. 

Evan Franulovich  12:53  
It takes a bit. And what city in Arizona? 

Thomas Chen  12:59  
Sierra Vista, which is military town. 

Evan Franulovich  13:01  
Which is close to Tucson. 

Thomas Chen  13:03  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  13:03  
Did you go check out Tucson? 

Thomas Chen  13:05  
I went to check out Tucson, Phoenix, almost Mexico, because we are super close. 

Evan Franulovich  13:09  
You're really close, yeah. 

Thomas Chen  13:10  
But there was a gunshot every single day. 

Evan Franulovich  13:15  
Yeah, too bad. 

Thomas Chen  13:16  
Yeah, not too bad, I guess. 

Evan Franulovich  13:19  
Well, the nice thing about Sierra Vista is it's a little higher than Tucson, so it is a little cooler. 

Thomas Chen  13:25  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  13:25  
But it is still a desert out there. 

Thomas Chen  13:27  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  13:28  
So Seattle, big difference.

Thomas Chen  13:30  
And I was kind of amazed, because when I was in Arizona, it snowed. 

Evan Franulovich  13:35  
Yeah. 

Thomas Chen  13:35  
And in Seattle, it doesn't really snow. 

Evan Franulovich  13:38  
Not too much. 

Thomas Chen  13:38  
Not too much at all. Oh, interesting, because we are high up here, they are down here. They are in the desert, but they snow, we don't snow. 

Evan Franulovich  13:47  
So did you go skiing or snowboarding while you were there? 

Thomas Chen  13:50  
No. 

Evan Franulovich  13:51  
So what was the most memorable thing you did while you were in Arizona? Did you go to the Grand Canyon?

Thomas Chen  13:57  
Oh, yeah, that was awesome.

Evan Franulovich  14:02  
It's a great road trip. You don't have a car?

Sojung Jun  14:06  
I don't have a car. I don't have driver's license.

Tai Wei Zhe  14:08  
I don't, and I don't have a license. 

Evan Franulovich  14:11  
Get your liecense. The great American road trip, go to Grand Canyon. 

Tai Wei Zhe  14:15  
Do you know you can actually jump from the helicopter? 

Evan Franulovich  14:18  
Really? 

Tai Wei Zhe  14:18  
Down to the Grand Canyon. 

Sojung Jun  14:19  
Wow.

Tai Wei Zhe  14:21  
You can hike there, it's so awesome. I really want to do that when I went there, it was during winter vacation. 

Evan Franulovich  14:29  
So your host family took you up there to take a look around and everything. Very cool. And then you decided to apply to Seattle Colleges of all places?

Thomas Chen  14:40  
Well, I was thinking about California. And some other colleges, community colleges in Arizona as well. But for Arizona, I was like, if I go to UofA or ASU? 

Evan Franulovich  15:04  
Yeah. 

Thomas Chen  15:04  
Those are now schools that I really want to get in. 

Evan Franulovich  15:06  
Yeah. 

Thomas Chen  15:07  
So I was thinking about California or Seattle, and I was like, Seattle's public transportation is so good. I don't have to buy a car, I don't need to have extra liabilities. 

Evan Franulovich  15:18  
That's great. And did you only apply to Seattle Colleges? 

Thomas Chen  15:19  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  15:24  
Fantastic. Cool! And of course, if you haven't watched her episode, definitely get on and watch her episode. She's telling you all about herself, but in case you don't go there, give people a little bit of your quick pathway to get here.

Sojung Jun  15:39  
Okay. Well, I would say my path was quite different from Thomas and Joe's. So I went to a Korean High School, it was a foreign language high school, and then I had to drop out because of my health issues. Then I took GED in Korea so I got high school diploma earlier than my peers, and I'm here.

Evan Franulovich  16:02  
Right. I can't remember, Is the GED you took a Korean version of the GED? 

Sojung Jun  16:07  
The Korean one. 

Evan Franulovich  16:08  
So similar to ours, where it has different subjects. 

Sojung Jun  16:12  
Yeah, yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  16:13  
Really cool. All right. Well, great. They're all part of Phi Theta Kappa. So the big question I always get is, do we offer scholarships? What kind of activities are there available? Well, Phi Theta Kappa actually satisfies both those areas. So, I want to get first to scholarships, because that's what a lot of people are interested in. How do you get into Phi Theta Kappa? Because you can't apply unless you're a member, right? So, how do you even get in? 

Sojung Jun  16:47  
We have a GPA requirement. 

Evan Franulovich  16:50  
You do, okay. 

Sojung Jun  16:51  
For our chapter, it is 3.3 but for other chapters, it might be a little higher, might be a little lower. 

Evan Franulovich  16:58  
Oh, really? 

Sojung Jun  17:01  
Yeah, I heard North Campus GPA requirement was 3.50.

Evan Franulovich  17:07  
I had no idea. 

Sojung Jun  17:09  
I think it just varies, depends on other chapters. But for us, it's 3.3. In order to be a member, you need to take more than 12 credits college credits. 

Evan Franulovich  17:27  
Which you need for your visa anyway.

Sojung Jun  17:30  
Yeah, exactly. Once you satisfy all the requirements, we will send you an automatic invitations to your email. But the other way you can do is that you can submit a form on our Instagram that is called membership registration form, so that we can just check it right away.

Evan Franulovich  17:58  
Yeah. So we know we have it at North. We know we have it at Central. Does South have a chapter as well? 

Sojung Jun  18:02  
Yes, of course. 

Evan Franulovich  18:03  
Okay, great. So no matter which campus you're at, you can go ahead and get in there, but if you have a 2.9 you're not going to get in, right? 

Thomas Chen  18:13  
Probably not.

Evan Franulovich  18:13  
Get that GPA up. Let's say I have a 3.3, and I get in, but then the next quarter I drop down to a 3.2. Do you guys watch their GPA quarter after quarter? 

Thomas Chen  18:30  
That's actually such a good question, because I think we have members who had 3.3 and then it dropped, but then somehow they are not out of the system. I think they are not kicked out. But I believe maybe there are some people that got kicked out. 

Evan Franulovich  18:49  
All right. Well, so there's this application that they have to fill out, it's online? 

Sojung Jun  18:54  
Yeah, it's just a Google form that just requires your name, email, and that's it. That's quite simple.

Evan Franulovich  19:04  
But I heard that there's actually an application fee. How much is that? 

Thomas Chen  19:10  
So, $75 for our campus. 

Evan Franulovich  19:13  
Okay. 

Thomas Chen  19:15  
The reason why it's so not expensive, because $75 really not that expensive, but you know, is because our headquarters make profit on it.

Evan Franulovich  19:26  
But it sounds like they use that money for good.

Thomas Chen  19:29  
Right. You know, to cover the travelings and all those kind of stuff. 

Evan Franulovich  19:33  
Right. 

Thomas Chen  19:33  
Our research projects and whatsoever. So $60-65 goes to the headquarter. 

Evan Franulovich  19:43  
Okay. 

Thomas Chen  19:44  
And for our campus, we only have around $5 to $10. And we also use that profit to waive the fee for the students.

Evan Franulovich  19:56  
So if a student is having challenges financially, they still want to get into Phi Theta Kappa.

Thomas Chen  20:01  
Exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  20:02  
Is there a box they check on the application or something that requests that?

Thomas Chen  20:06  
So we open up a fee waiver in winter quarter. 

Evan Franulovich  20:10  
Okay. 

Thomas Chen  20:11  
And waive the fee for around 15 students. We open up application process where they can fill it out, and explain their situation to us. 

Evan Franulovich  20:20  
Gotcha. 

Thomas Chen  20:21  
Because we just want to acknowledge if they are actually low income students, and they really can't afford a fee.

Evan Franulovich  20:26  
It's important to note that Phi Theta Kappa, isn't just for international students. So of the members that you have at this chapter, what percentage of them do you think are international students. 

Sojung Jun  20:42  
20-30. 

Evan Franulovich  20:43  
Oh, that's quite a bit.

Sojung Jun  20:45  
Yeah. I mean, even for our HIA project, the HIA stands for Honors in Action. It's our research project. And for our research project, we have seven people joining, participating, and I would say five or four of them are domestic and three of us are international. 

Evan Franulovich  21:08  
Well, that's cool. 

Sojung Jun  21:09  
Yeah.

Evan Franulovich  21:10  
Do you interact with those domestic students after you're done with those projects? Do you make friends with the domestic students? Are they interested in who you are? Are they friendly? 

Sojung Jun  21:23  
Yes, they are.

Evan Franulovich  21:30  
Right now, we see so much stuff on the news about how things are, but I think people are pretty friendly, right? 

Sojung Jun  21:35  
Yeah. And also, he is the Vice President of all scholarships. 

Tai Wei Zhe  21:40  
Yeah, I was doing a research project for Phi Theta Kappa. We have two main projects. One is college project, which is something we're trying to do to benefit students for good. The other one just research focus, it's like a research paper like HIA, which is our Honors in Action. We write about an issue, and then we're trying to find the alternative and actually do an action, because they have the action component in it.

Evan Franulovich  22:09  
So do you guys get college credit for this project? 

Sojung Jun  22:13  
No. 

Tai Wei Zhe  22:14  
No. 

Evan Franulovich  22:14  
It's just extra work on top of your school. 

Sojung Jun  22:17  
But it's super fun. 

Evan Franulovich  22:20  
Can you give me an example of the kind of research we're talking about?

Tai Wei Zhe  22:23  
This year, we decided to find the paper usage in the classroom.

Evan Franulovich  22:29  
How much paper is being used? 

Tai Wei Zhe  22:30  
Yeah, professors have the tendency of printing out our material instead of using PDF, so students don't have to pay for that. We're trying to find that data and actually write a research about it.

Evan Franulovich  22:44  
Interesting. 

Tai Wei Zhe  22:45  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  22:45  
Is this an idea you guys just came up with that you wanted to see, or did the national office say, 'Hey, your chapter needs to do this.' 

Sojung Jun  22:53  
No, we choose. 

Evan Franulovich  22:54  
You choose. 

Sojung Jun  22:55  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  22:55  
Well, you guys just nominate topics, and then you guys pick from the best one. 

Tai Wei Zhe  22:59  
Yeah, pretty much. 

Evan Franulovich  23:01  
That's pretty cool. 

Tai Wei Zhe  23:02  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  23:03  
So normally, an academic year kind of starts fall and it goes through summer. Do you guys go all year round?

Tai Wei Zhe  23:12  
Not in the summer. 

Evan Franulovich  23:13  
You guys take a break in the summer. Gotcha. So do you guys only intake new members in the fall, or do you do it anytime? 

Tai Wei Zhe  23:22  
Anytime. 

Evan Franulovich  23:24  
And do they have to be here for a certain length of time before they'll even be considered, or just have grades from their first quarter?

Sojung Jun  23:33  
Just the grades and their credits. 

Thomas Chen  23:36  
Just the 3.3 GPA requirement, and also the 12 college credits. 

Sojung Jun  23:40  
That's it. 

Evan Franulovich  23:42  
If I just arrived in the fall, at the end of fall, I get my first 12 credits, and I get a 3.5 GPA, I'm qualified. 

Sojung Jun  23:50  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  23:51  
Cool. So I don't have to wait. 

Tai Wei Zhe  23:52  
You don't have to wait.

Evan Franulovich  23:54  
Cool. So yeah, if you're a current student, or if you're a future student, keep that in mind. You can start whenever you want. So you can join in the winters, join in the spring.

Thomas Chen  24:03  
Yeah. 

Sojung Jun  24:03  
We always have a meeting at the starting of the quarter maybe in like week two or the first week. So yeah, you're always welcome to join our meetings. 

Evan Franulovich  24:15  
And do you guys have your own room, your own offices here in the building? 

Thomas Chen  24:20  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  24:21  
Oh, you do?

Thomas Chen  24:22  
We share the office with Associated Student Council in the leadership building.

Evan Franulovich  24:27  
Oh, so you're right across the street. 

Thomas Chen  24:29  
But where we normally host our events is in B406.

Evan Franulovich  24:31  
Okay, gotcha. So if you're here, and if you don't know where that building is, you go right across the street. It's next to the mat, so next to where you go to work out. Used to be a bookstore next to it. But then the 'B' Building is here, it's Broadway. Okay, well, now we've talked about joining pretty extensively. Anything else you want to talk about, as far as applying and getting in?

Tai Wei Zhe  24:59  
I would say that you don't have to be a member to participate in any of the events, HIA college project. 

Evan Franulovich  25:07  
Oh, you don't?

Tai Wei Zhe  25:08  
And we currently doing the workshop, and you don't have to be a member to join our workshop. You just show up, and you don't have to pay for anything. 

Evan Franulovich  25:17  
So, if somebody want to see what Phi Theta Kappa is all about, they just show up and go to some meetings. 

Tai Wei Zhe  25:23  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  25:23  
It's not like a secret organization. 

Tai Wei Zhe  25:23  
No, no. 

Evan Franulovich  25:25  
Turn off the lights and chant. Okay, cool. So everybody's welcome, so come on down, and check it out. If you're not really sure what this is all about. 

Thomas Chen  25:39  
Right. 

Evan Franulovich  25:40  
Cool. Do you have many people to do that?

Thomas Chen  25:42  
Yeah, quite a few. 

Evan Franulovich  25:43  
Really? 

Thomas Chen  25:44  
Yeah. And a lot of people think that we are exclusive, but we are actually not. And the reason behind we lower down the GPA from 3.5 nationally to 3.3, and also open our workshops and everything, every events, projects, research, to all the students, is because while we want to make sure that we are inclusive and we are taking and helping as much students as we can, not just the members. And what's the question that you asked?

Evan Franulovich  26:15  
Well, we were just talking about anybody can come. So these projects that you do do,  when you're done, you get your associate's degree, and you want to transfer, if you don't have some sort of a Transfer Admission Guarantee already, and you want to apply, say to UW Seattle, because that's not a tag partner about this. Do they give more weight to people that have been in Phi Theta Kappa that have done these research projects is that, like an extra bonus on their application? 

Tai Wei Zhe  26:46  
For being a member, your transcript will automatically show that you are a Phi Theta Kappa member. But as for research, you don't get any on the transcript or anything. But it's kind of like an experience, and if you do it well, you might get published. 

Evan Franulovich  27:04  
Wow. Does Phi Theta Kappa have its own publication? 

Tai Wei Zhe  27:10  
I think so. 

Evan Franulovich  27:11  
It's like a magazine that comes out? 

Tai Wei Zhe  27:14  
I think it's like a PTK award, a hallmark award. 

Evan Franulovich  27:23  
Cool. So you might get published, that's pretty awesome. Yeah, that would definitely look good on a CV, right? Okay, cool. So there's all these great reasons to join PTK. We've talked about getting in maybe some kudos on a publication or something, but most people want to know about the scholarship, so let's get right into it. How do they apply? How often is the scholarship offered? How much can they get? What's the minimum, maximum, those kinds of things?

Thomas Chen  27:55  
Right. So for the scholarships, there are two different parts. 

Evan Franulovich  27:59  
Okay. 

Thomas Chen  28:00  
The first part is the scholarships that we collaborate with different universities. So basically you will collaborate with, for example, Seattle University, Boston universities, UW, or a lot of other schools, where if you are PTK member, for example, Boston U if you are PTK member, and you transfer to Boston U, you get $2000-5000, I'm not sure the exact number, per school year. 

Evan Franulovich  28:32  
What?!

Thomas Chen  28:34  
Yeah. And the other part is the part where you actually need to submit an application. Do you want to talk more about it? 

Evan Franulovich  28:44  
Kind of like the Foundation Scholarship?

Thomas Chen  28:47  
And for this one, it's very hard to get, it's very competitive. 

Sojung Jun  28:52  
Yeah, I have this one friend, his name is Matthias. He recently won the scholarship, which is incredible. It's called the Coca Cola scholarship. 

Evan Franulovich  29:12  
From the company? 

Sojung Jun  29:13  
I think so. 

Evan Franulovich  29:15  
Are they the sponsor or something? 

Sojung Jun  29:16  
Yeah, I think so. And I think it's covering about $5000. 

Evan Franulovich  29:21  
That's great. Is it just one award, or do they give out multiple? 

Thomas Chen  29:28  
Multiple awards. And they also give out the awards in the Catalyst.

Evan Franulovich  29:36  
So if you're an award winner, you go to Catalyst. 

Thomas Chen  29:38  
They pay for you to go out there, and then extra. You got $5000 and you also got a flight.

Evan Franulovich  29:45  
That's awesome.

Sojung Jun  29:46  
Free traveling. 

Evan Franulovich  29:48  
So what's on the application? Do they have to write an essay? Do they submit their transcripts probably? 

Sojung Jun  29:53  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  29:54  
Anything else that they need to do to apply for that? And what is the application letter? 

Thomas Chen  30:01  
So just like any scholarships, for example, foundation, right? You need to write essays. You need references. 

Evan Franulovich  30:08  
Right. 

Thomas Chen  30:10  
Letters of recommendation and transcripts sometimes. And I talked to Matthias, student of Catalyst, and he mentioned that the essay is just three questions. One is about the experiences that he had about community service, and the second one is how he dealt with actually, I forgot. 

Sojung Jun  30:41  
It's personal stories.

Evan Franulovich  30:45  
What makes them the most qualified to receive this award? 

Thomas Chen  30:48  
Right, exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  30:50  
So I'm guessing they consider your life experiences, maybe your need base a little bit, like you come from a poor family, but you're doing so great at university. And then how many awards do they give out total? Is it one per chapter? 

Sojung Jun  31:07  
No, it's not one per chapter. I think it's about 20-30 people nationally.

Thomas Chen  31:18  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  31:19  
And the window of opportunity to apply, when does it open for application? When do you have to have your application in?

Thomas Chen  31:28  
This year it's late December, early January, around that time. And I'm really not sure when it's open.

Evan Franulovich  31:48  
Okay. 

Thomas Chen  31:48  
I didn't apply it myself. 

Evan Franulovich  31:50  
How come? 

Thomas Chen  31:51  
Yeah, I was too busy.

Evan Franulovich  31:53  
It does take time to get these applications in. 

Thomas Chen  31:56  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  31:57  
You said you applied for the foundation. How long did it take you to fill out your Foundation Scholarship application? 

Tai Wei Zhe  32:08  
I actually did it two hours prior to the application closing. 

Evan Franulovich  32:13  
You can do it quite quickly. 

Tai Wei Zhe  32:14  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  32:15  
You don't have to spend days on it or anything. 

Tai Wei Zhe  32:17  
Yeah. 

Evan Franulovich  32:17  
Probably the same thing for the Phi Theta Kappa Scholarship.

Tai Wei Zhe  32:20  
There's not much questions. Except for, I didn't have to reference, so I didn't turn in. 

Evan Franulovich  32:25  
Oh, gotcha. 

Tai Wei Zhe  32:29  
 I think they open annually, so every year you have the opportunity to apply for that.

Evan Franulovich  32:36  
I know Phi Theta Kappa has a website. 

Sojung Jun  32:37  
Yes. 

Evan Franulovich  32:38  
So there must be a link for the scholarship on there, and then you guys can go on and read all about it on their website.

Thomas Chen  32:46  
Yeah, and also, if you become a member, you go to our website, it's gonna show different things. Not only that, you can see directly of what scholarship is open for PTK, but you can also search for the schools that you desire to transfer, and then see if they offer any scholarships for PTK members. 

Evan Franulovich  33:06  
Oh, that's great.

Thomas Chen  33:08  
So we have kind of like a searching engines, just like Google. 

Evan Franulovich  33:11  
Right, right, right. 

Thomas Chen  33:12  
Within our own website, if you become a member,

Evan Franulovich  33:15  
I've looked at the website, it's a really great website, so check it out. We've been saying Phi Theta Kappa over and over here. But if you are a second language user, English is not your first language, they might not know how to spell Phi Theta Kappa. So can you guys spell it out for them?

Sojung Jun  33:38  
Okay, let's spell Phi Theta Kappa. 

Evan Franulovich  33:39  
There you go. 

Sojung Jun  33:40  
Okay, so Phi is spelled with P-H-I.

Evan Franulovich  33:43  
I'm even saying it wrong, and I'm an English speaker.

Thomas Chen  33:48  
Theta is T-H-E-T-A. 

Tai Wei Zhe  33:55  
Kappa is K-A-P-P-A. Just search ptk.org is pretty easy. 

Evan Franulovich  34:05  
If you don't know how to spell it, just look for ptk.org.

Sojung Jun  34:11  
And also we have our chapter name, which is Alpha Chi Zeta. 

Evan Franulovich  34:17  
Oh. 

Sojung Jun  34:17  
Yeah, it's our own chapter.

Evan Franulovich  34:21  
I didn't know that. So when they apply for the scholarship, do they have to put down their local chapter? 

Sojung Jun  34:27  
I think it's just our college name. 

Evan Franulovich  34:29  
Okay. 

Sojung Jun  34:30  
I don't think it's necessary to type the chapter name.

Evan Franulovich  34:34  
Cool.

Tai Wei Zhe  34:35  
I will say this, I think people should utilize PTK membership as in library. Think of it as a library, you don't become smart when you walk into the library, right? You have to look for the book. It's not like when you get into PTK, there's scholarships. You have to really look into that, and don't expect to just get it from 'Oh, I joined PTK Thomas Western scholarship. How can I get that?' 

Evan Franulovich  35:02  
Right. 

Tai Wei Zhe  35:03  
So definitely look into what PTK has to offer. For example, there's edge courses, which is like courses that can serve as a pre req in the university, different universities accept different classes on PTK. Also, there's scholarship, but you had to really work into that, not just walk in, you know? 

Evan Franulovich  35:32  
Sure do. 

Tai Wei Zhe  35:33  
We also have leadership prograrm, two quarter long. 

Evan Franulovich  35:41  
You serve for two quarters in a position? 

Sojung Jun  35:43  
It's like a course.

Evan Franulovich  35:48  
And do you get credit for that course? 

Tai Wei Zhe  35:51  
You do get credit depending on the university. Some Universities accepts edge courses. Some don't. But for UW, I don't think so. Seattle U, no. But also for a scholarship, I believe if you're a Phi Theta Kappa, and you have 3.5 GPA, you get 15k, I'm not sure. For two years, it's like a Transfer Scholarship. Really look into that. And I think once you get 3.6 you get plus 2k or something. But like I said, do your research. Join PTK, if you think you can actually get that scholarship. 

Evan Franulovich  36:33  
Well, right. No, I think that's a really good point. First of all, I don't think most international students that come to the United States have ever heard of a Phi Theta Kappa. And it's funny, because I'll talk to students that are already here, a lot of them don't even know about it. So just getting familiar with it and then knowing, why do I want to join? Well, you've already talked about scholarships to an extent. You talked about the research stuff. We talked about the networking opportunities. For example, do you do events? Can you give me an example of an event maybe you guys have put on? 

Sojung Jun  37:13  
Yeah, we are currently going on with Tigers Closet, which is a clothing donation project. And other than that, we have workshops, we have first meeting of the quarter, and we have unity fair. 

Evan Franulovich  37:28  
Oh, that's right. 

Sojung Jun  37:29  
Yeah, we do a lot of tabling as well, and a lot of fairs with other departments or with other clubs. 

Evan Franulovich  37:36  
Students that haven't arrived yet, if you're already here, you may know what Unity fair is, but can you kind of give the listeners a quick idea of what Unity fair is?

Tai Wei Zhe  37:45  
So we're collaborating with them. We're not hosting, just to clarify. I think this year we're trying to do is kind of like a carnival. 

Evan Franulovich  37:55  
Yeah. 

Tai Wei Zhe  37:56  
We have a food truck, and then we have games and different clubs, they will host different activities. The weightlifting club last year they did a big huge tire. You had to lift it to get... 

Evan Franulovich  38:14  
It was big. 

Sojung Jun  38:20  
It was huge.

Evan Franulovich  38:22  
It's super heavy. I saw a couple of our international students. Last year you said food trucks. It's true. They had an ice cream truck.

Sojung Jun  38:43  
Chicken tenders and fries.

Evan Franulovich  38:49  
The theater group was there, international club is there, everybody sets up tables, it's really cool.

Tai Wei Zhe  38:58  
We were there last year, donating our clothes at the Unity fair. It's a clothing donation, when we give our clothes for free.

Evan Franulovich  39:08  
Cool.

Thomas Chen  39:09  
We gave to more than 200 students. 

Evan Franulovich  39:11  
What?!

Thomas Chen  39:12  
Yep. 

Evan Franulovich  39:12  
So where are you getting the clothing from? 

Thomas Chen  39:14  
We collected it. It's all second hand clothes that we collected. It's actually more than 1500 pounds last year. 

Evan Franulovich  39:20  
1500 pounds?! 

Thomas Chen  39:21  
It's crazy.

Sojung Jun  39:23  
And it's all washed. 

Evan Franulovich  39:24  
Yeah, I would hope so. I can bring you my dirty laundry. But if someone's out there listening and they want to donate close to you, do I just look you guys up? Or who do I talk to? 

Thomas Chen  39:37  
Our VP of service, she's the person who is responsible for this. 

Evan Franulovich  39:42  
Okay. 

Thomas Chen  39:43  
She's currently not in her position right now because she's focusing on her last quarter. 

Evan Franulovich  39:49  
Nice. 

Thomas Chen  39:49  
To transfer to hopefully UW. 

Evan Franulovich  39:52  
Right. 

Thomas Chen  39:52  
And we are trying to find a person to take over her position. The application is open. 

Sojung Jun  39:58  
The application is open now. 

Thomas Chen  40:00  
Now the applications is open.

Evan Franulovich  40:03  
Domestic or international, I don't know who out there is listening. Check it out. 

Thomas Chen  40:09  
Right. About that, because so for next year's position, I mean for this year, for this current quarter, we can still the position is still open to all domestic and international, but because we are facing a drastic budget cut from $3500 to $400 because of that, we can't really guarantee that we are going to hire International students anymore. 

Evan Franulovich  40:41  
Right, right. 

Thomas Chen  40:43  
Even the domestic students, they can only be paid if they receive financial aid, so they can write requests for work study. 

Evan Franulovich  40:53  
So a couple episodes ago, I interviewed one of our alumni, who's from Tunisia. She was a PTK member, and she talks a lot about it in that episode. She did get a job with PTK and was paid. But it sounds like for the next couple years, because of some budget shortfalls that that's going to be reduced. But you know, if you don't arrive for another year or two, you know, start asking around again, maybe they'll open it back up, because things do change. A lot of great reasons to join PTK anyway, even if you're not in a paid position. Lots of great networking opportunities. Anything we missed so far? I mean, we've talked about research, we've talked about events, we've talked about scholarships. What else? 

Sojung Jun  41:37  
Yeah, one thing I want to add is we also have income upcoming induction, which is a free dinner for our academy achievement and other achievement as well for our members. It's the only event for members only. 

Evan Franulovich  41:52  
Okay. 

Sojung Jun  41:52  
Yeah, so if you want to come to our induction free dinner, it's not at the atrium, it's at the different restaurant.

Thomas Chen  41:59  
No, it's in One Way restaurant. 

Evan Franulovich  42:02  
Great, yeah. 

Thomas Chen  42:03  
And I actually sent out to you guys. If you guys receive it, please accept it as soon as possible, so I can give you guys the graduation stalls ready and everything. Yeah, it's gonna help us a lot. 

Evan Franulovich  42:15  
What's the date? 

Thomas Chen  42:16  
May 1. 

Evan Franulovich  42:17  
Oh, they won't hear this episode until after it's already passed. But next year, look forward to this induction. Good to know.

Sojung Jun  42:27  
Yeah, and also all the information, including scholarship, hiring, induction, all other events are going to be on our Instagram. So please follow our Instagram, it's @PTKSeattleCentral. 

Evan Franulovich  42:41  
Is there @PTKNorthSeattle? What's their Instagram? 

Sojung Jun  42:46  
I don't think they have one yet. 

Evan Franulovich  42:48  
They don't have one. North, come on! You know, if south has one? 

Thomas Chen  42:56  
Probably not.

Evan Franulovich  42:58  
Have you guys ever done it all campus activity where you get together in North and South?

Thomas Chen  43:05  
That's our plan. 

Evan Franulovich  43:06  
Yeah, it's a good plan.

Thomas Chen  43:07  
For the mass. 

Sojung Jun  43:10  
Yeah. 

Thomas Chen  43:12  
We are currently collaborating with other student leader programs, and hopefully they'll join as well. 

Evan Franulovich  43:22  
Yeah.

Thomas Chen  43:22  
PTK in South and North.

Evan Franulovich  43:24  
Yeah. So last week, I was at North for an unrelated event, and I met the PTK guy from Australia who was there, and I said, 'Hey, you should come be on this podcast.' And then it just didn't work out, because I had to change my the date of the interview and stuff. But,  they're out there, and be nice to get together with those guys. But at any campus you're at, you can join. It's a good organization. I went to a community college, but I didn't know about Phi Theta Kappa. I wish I would have joined back in the day, because it was around.

Sojung Jun  43:58  
It's the only organization that celebrates our academic excellence. Also, as an international student, I feel like the other clubs are really specialized in their interest. 

Evan Franulovich  44:14  
Right. 

Sojung Jun  44:15  
Such as weightlifting, maybe film clubs, walking clubs. It just gives me a question of, am I really interested in this as much as I join a club and maybe try to get the leadership role? But for Phi Theta Kappa, the great opportunity is that it's open for everything. And just like our research project, we can choose our own topic. 

Evan Franulovich  44:47  
If you have the time, you can actually join multiple clubs. You can have this as a option. You can be on the weightlifting club, and you can do as much as you like. A lot of people wonder if they come to a community college if they're gonna have opportunities to be on clubs and have those extracurriculars like you would if you went to a regular university. You guys have found that to be the case? 

Thomas Chen  45:08  
Yeah, exactly. And I'll say actually, PTK is the best. It's the best way for you to get those extracurriculars on your resume if you enroll in a community college instead of four years one. Here's the reason why, because we got research projects that no other programs can provide. We also have college projects where you can literally come up with idea and then just propose it to the school administrator, get approval, and then make it become a reality. That's what we did for the Tigers closet, the clothing donation project this year. The workshops is an idea that I came up with, it didn't exist before. You can just make any ideas that you have, become reality, and you will have the resources from PTK to help you.

Evan Franulovich  46:07  
Well, it's been really great. I've learned a lot so far. We've been here 45 minutes, and I have about 1000 other questions, but I do need to wrap it up. So normally, the way I would wrap up a podcast, we talk in their language and stuff, but we don't need to do that. Let's just go with your final thoughts. You know, maybe I missed something that you want to make sure the listener knows? Or maybe you can just share some advice that you have for someone interested in PTK or whatever it is you want to talk about. Let's go ahead and start with you. What do you think? 

Tai Wei Zhe  46:37  
What I think? 

Evan Franulovich  46:38  
No pressure. 

Tai Wei Zhe  46:39  
No pressure. I feel like just what we covered so far, serve this PTK as a platform. 

Evan Franulovich  46:46  
Yeah. 

Tai Wei Zhe  46:46  
Just utilize it. You can be a member without participating in any event. You just want to have that on that transcript, that's fine. You want to be actively involved, join our event and trying to put in your resume on joining our research project, that's good. Just really depends on you, use it as a platform. If you need that for your transcript, just get that. And then depending on your major, do different things, like Thomas said, you can do anything. 

Evan Franulovich  47:23  
Yeah, cool. I like that. All right, save the president for last.

Sojung Jun  47:32  
Okay, yeah. So the last thing I would say is, it truly is a lot of opportunity, and don't forget to follow our Instagram.

Evan Franulovich  47:44  
That's really good idea. 

Thomas Chen  47:46  
Awesome outreach. I'll say the final thing about PTK is, it really like Joe saved it's what you make out of it. PTK is what you make out of it. If you are interested in research, we have research. If you're interested in other stuff, we have other stuffs. If you put in a work, you'll get a result. 

Evan Franulovich  48:04  
Right. 

Thomas Chen  48:05  
Just like everything else in life. 

Evan Franulovich  48:07  
I was gonna say, like everything else in life. 

Thomas Chen  48:09  
Just like everything else in life, PTK is what you make out of it. So definitely, if you can be a member and do nothing, but you can also be a non member, but do everything. 

Evan Franulovich  48:22  
Sure. Maybe you could be somewhere all along that spectrum, from the first day you join an event or a meeting, maybe you just want to go and kind of be quiet and just watch and observe, learn a little bit more. But then later you're like, 'Okay, I'm ready to step up and be a leader.' 

Sojung Jun  48:40  
Exactly. 

Evan Franulovich  48:40  
You're going to be here, usually two years at the community college. Take a couple quarters to just kind of feel out, network, get to know the people involved, and then later on, you can step up and do leadership, learn from the best here, that's a really good thing. I'm super happy you guys came on board. Thank you for suggesting it. We do offer scholarships, Foundation Scholarship, Phi Theta Kappa is an example. We also have the LewerMark. But there's so many other great reasons to get involved. You guys did a beautiful job outlining those reasons. Thanks for coming on the show. 

Thomas Chen  49:19  
Thank you. 

Evan Franulovich  49:19  
Thank you guys for joining us every Wednesday, right here on 'Conversations with!' Don't forget to like, subscribe, share with everybody you know. Share with the domestic students. You guys can let them know that this will be going it'd be good for everybody to listen to. Maybe we'll put it on your Instagram. 

Sojung Jun  49:36  
Yes, sure. 

Evan Franulovich  49:38  
I'll let you know when it publishes. Guys, take care. Have a good one. Bye, bye! 

Sojung Jun  49:45  
Bye, bye!

Evan Franulovich  49:45  
'Conversations with!' is painstakingly crafted for you by the Seattle Colleges International Programs department and supported by the lovely folks here on our campus. This show is produced and edited by me, Evan Franulovich. We welcome your emails and questions about coming to Seattle Colleges. Please reach out to us via our website or just give us a rating and a review on Apple podcasts as this helps others discover the show. Also, don't forget to follow us on Instagram, Facebook, TikTok or YouTube at Seattle Colleges Intl, that's Seattle Colleges Intl. And be sure to check out all of the shows here on 'Conversations with!' Thanks for listening, and we'll see you next week.