My Experience as National Student Parliamentarian

Jensen Amens | Theta, Alumni, Life Member, Immediate Past National Student Parliamentarian

This spring I was chosen by (now immediate past) President Evan Thompson to be the national student parliamentarian for the 2019 National Convention in Stillwater, Oklahoma. I was thrilled for this opportunity as I love parliamentary work and I felt that it was a great way to help serve the national chapter by doing work that I am passionate about. I was told I would be working with Dr. Malinda Matney, who was the first female president of Kappa Kappa Psi and I was absolutely thrilled to work with such an amazing lady in our fraternity. Before the conference, she called me and we went through the schedule and planned out all the things that we would be doing, where to be, and when. She was very helpful and answered all of my questions and helped me feel confident going into convention.

When I got to convention I was greeted with open arms from all of the members of the national leadership. I swear, most of that first hour was Malinda walking me around and introducing me to everyone. When the seating of the delegates began, that’s when things got crazy. It was a lot to coordinate where proxies went and how that process worked, but it was fun to help with that. For the most part of convention, Malinda and I walked around and visited all of the committees. We mostly just popped in and told them to contact us if they needed anything. We helped jurisdiction committee parse through a suggestion made by the previous jurisdiction committee. Even though I was busy with Malinda, I still was able to participate in the keynote addresses and the Western District caucus. Another cool experience during the convention was getting to sit in the front with all of the past presidents and governors. It was really cool getting to know them all.

At the end of convention was elections and voting on jurisdiction changes. This was the major part of my work as parliamentarian. To begin, I had to count all of the delegates and make sure we had the right numbers of chapter delegates, district delegates, and past presidents. Jurisdiction voting was a bit rough, but we made it through. Thankfully, election voting was by paper ballots. Various national leadership members helped me collect the ballots for each election and we went into the back to count them and I got to deliver the winning ballot to Evan for him to announce it. After election voting was done, I was done for the convention! I was so happy for the elections, the voting went well, and I was proud that I did a good job as parliamentarian.

After my job as parliamentarian was over, the extra fun parts of convention was what I was looking forward to do. I was lucky enough to have been gifted a life membership in Kappa Kappa Psi. It was one of the most amazing moments of my entire life and I will never forget it. Later that night was the banquet which was really fun and I got to take pictures with and spend time with some of my favorite brothers. The next day was the centennial celebration and it was such an amazing experience to visit the shrine, national headquarters, and the graves of our founding fathers. If you ever have the opportunity to visit these special places, take it.

Overall, it was a wonderful experience that I am so thankful for. I am so thankful for Evan for choosing me for this role and to Malinda for supporting me during it. I strongly suggest going to NatCon if you are able to in the future. It is so full of brotherly love and support and it is awe inspiring. Thank you Theta for supporting me as I was an active. Your help and kindness helped to get me to where I am today.