Fall Packet 2018 by Western District Publisher

Accent the

Fall Packet 2018

Fall is one of my favorite times of the year: the leaves change color, pumpkin patches appear everywhere, and it’s MARCHING BAND SEASON. Fall quarter is an important time to reflect on the past year, but also look forward and set goals for the upcoming school year. Many poets and artists see Fall as a transition time. However, for KKPsi and TBS, Fall is when we set expectations, have a greater need to serve the marching bands, actively recruit, and provide community outreach during the Holidays. This issue of the Accent is to introduce the Western District officers and explore what they have been up to, provide important dates and estimated costs for upcoming district events (whoo!), and shout-outs to brothers and sisters who deserve recognition. Next issue will be focused on what individual chapters have been up to and look at the WD Monthly Active Challenge. Stay tuned! If you have an idea for an article or would like to submit anything (photos, stories, articles, poetry) to the Accent, please send them to wdpub@kkpsi.org. I am here to represent YOU and tell your stories. I look forward to seeing you all at district events! Stay amazing! AEA, Emma “The Hero of WinΔs” Gracyk Kappa Kappa Psi - Iota Pi Western District Publisher wdpub@kkpsi.org

Table of Contents WD Update - November . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1 - 2 WD Update - December . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 - 4 Important Dates

.................................................... 5

Travel Cost Estimates

................................................... 6

Shoutouts! . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7-8 Officer Bios

................................................... 9-16

Social Media

...................................................17-18

Western District KKΨ - month of musicianship President: Andrew Kinsey • Submitted WDC Plan Draft to National President. • Working with WDC and DLC host chapters on planning events for Spring. • Communicating with workshop presenters for WDC. • Working on programming topics for DLC.

Vice President: Mitchell Schurz Hello Western District! School and the Oregon Marching Band have caught up with me, and I was unable to complete the resource for VPM’s, so I will be working on that. For a reminder, the resource will be one that VPM’s can use to get some FAQ from other VPM’s and the Curriculum Advisors! If you would like to submit a question, please send me a message and I will get you an answer, and place it into the document. Thanks! Have a great Month of Musicianship!

Secretary-Treasurer: Jensen Amens This month I have been working on making cost estimates for all of the travel to conventions for the year (including NatCon), so look for that in the fall Accent. I still need Treasurers to fill out the form for the fundraising database. Be on the lookout for an order form to order t-shirts for the winning design of the design-a-shirt fundraiser!

Member-at-Large: Kammie Dunnam • Working with chapter service officers for a district service project. • New District Award to be released soon! • Looking for KKY chapter Alumni Relations Officers! (Look for my post in The West) • Working with Historians to create a District project. • Month of Musicianship programming. Check out our social media for ways you can get involved! • Working on updating our social media channels • Set up a Service and Historian database 1

Update: november Tau Beta Sigma President: Lauren Streeter • Meetings with TBS and Joint Councils. • Prepping for WDC and Pre-Con Meeting. • Starting Chapter visits via video chat.

Vice President of Membership: Bree Cottle • Starting planning and communication for WDC ritual. • Working with and assisting chapter VPMs with implementing the Pilot Program for the new education curriculum.

Secretary-Treasurer: Jacob Curtis • Began work on organizing district scholarships for DLC/ WDC • TBS Pen Pal Program is ongoing! (Anyone can still sign up to join in at any time!) • Considering merchandise ideas for the district

Vice President of Special Projects: Lyndsee Vargas • MAC is focused on musicianship to help celebrate KKPsi’s month of musicianship with both organizations. • VPSP keynotes are centered on community this month and tips for how to start new projects • MAL and I are discussing joint service project plans soon for DLC. Be there!

Western District KKΨ President: Andrew Kinsey • Submitted WDC Plan Final Draft to National President • Completed DLC Schedule with Joint Council, working through reservations, final workshop/activity details • Following up with WDC speakers and presenters • Worked with Lauren on DLC Prep Checklist

Vice President: Mitchell Schurz I am working with Bree to create a great new Joint Experience for DLC. I hope to see a lot of new faces and at DLC in Boise! If you are a Brother and would like to give a shout out to a Sister, PM me!!! I will also be hosting an online discussion for chapter VPM’s in January (hopefully) including Nationals, other District VP’s, and your Chapter VPM! So, if you have any questions for any of the people who will be there, PM me or your VPM and I will bring it up in the group chat. Also, encourage your VPM’s to attend, because there will be lots of information distributed. It’s also a great opportunity for them to talk to me, other District VPM’s, and maybe some National Leadership. Have a safe and fun Holiday Season!

Secretary-Treasurer: Jensen Amens The fundraising database is still in the works! I need all treasurers to fill out the form with all of their fundraising projects. Be on the lookout for more fundraisers (like some super neat Calendars!) from the district for the rest of the month!

Member-at-Large: Kammie Dunnam • Working with ARO’s to improve alumni participation within chapters. • - Created the new Kappa Kappa Psi Western District Musicianship Award (to be released Dec 12!!!). • - MoM challenges across the district. • - Working with Lyndsee to create awesome service opportunities at DLC. • - Revising the Western District History.

Update: december Tau Beta Sigma President: Lauren Streeter • Continuing Marching Through Life 8 to 5 • Getting in contact with possible workshop presenters for DLC and WDC • Submitted WDC Plan to National Council - Meeting with Chapters via video call • Worked with Andrew on DLC Prep Checklist

Vice President of Membership: Bree Cottle Working with Mitchell to plan out an awesome Joint experience for the district at DLC!

Secretary-Treasurer: Jacob Curtis • Preparation for December’s Student Chat, featuring Martin Brenneman, North Central District Sec-Treas and me, talking about chapter finances/fundraising (Wed. 12/12, 6PM MST!) • Calculated travel costs for district events for TBS chapters to allow for better budget planning. • Sent out more Pen Pal conversation prompts, will work on greatly increasing the frequency of these. • Began drafts on district event travel scholarships.

Vice President of Special Projects: Lyndsee Vargas • Worked jointly with Kammie to plan the DLC Service experience. • MAC for December is Secret Santa to help spread love in the District! • VPSP Keynotes focused on building ties in your community. • Working to update award descriptions and applications.

Important Dates District Events

December 29: WD Webmaster application deadline January 1: AEA Scholarship Deadline District Leadership Conference | Jan 18 - 20 Boise State University hosted by Iota Kappa Western District Convention | April 5 - 7 Arizona State University hosted by Beta Omicron National Intercollegiate Band | Dec 1 - April 15 Applications may be submitted online or via hard copy

Recording should be unedited of you playing 5 to 10 minutes of you performing at least two contrasting selections on your instrument.

National Convention | Jun 16 - 20 Oklahoma State University Stillwater, Oklahoma

State Days Wagon | TBD Oregon State University hosted by Theta Arizona | TBD University of Arizona hosted by Omega Calivada | TBD San Jose State University hosted by Lambda Psi Utaho | TBD University of Utah hosted by Omicron

*prices listed as: $driving/flying

2018-2019 Convention Travel Cost Estimates

information gathered by Jensen Amens and Jacob Curtis

Chapter

DLC

WDC

NatCon

Gamma

$112/$240

$320/$375

$439/$435

Theta

$101$200

$272/$330

$427/$440

$190/$210

$84/$220

$315/$375

Alpha Alpha

$95/$150

$167/$230

$366/$450

Beta Omicron

$209/$250

Hosts

$232/$325

Gamma Kappa/ Alpha Chi

$192/$300

$33/$250

$210/$350

Zeta Xi

$230/$220

$88/$200

$254/$423

$162/$275

$134/$225

$343/$430

$67/$140

$276/$410

$403/$490

$66/$125

$167/$250

$259/$375

Hosts

$209/$250

$328/$375

Psi/ Epsilon Kappa

Iota Alpha/ Eta Omega Iota Gamma/ Theta Delta Iota Iota/ Theta Eta

Iota Kappa

(from GEG) (from SLC)

Iota Pi

$192/$275

$127/$300

$349/$450

Lambda Psi

$152/$275

$161/$250

$373/$450

Mu Pi

$101/$200

$263/$250

$427/$440

Mu Phi

$200/$210

$81/$220

$313/$350

Nu Epsilon

$53/$200

$186/$220

$275/$375

Nu Sigma

$196/$210

$78/$220

$309/$480

Omicron

$76/$112

$152/$241

$224/$408

Omega

$226/$270

$24/$259

9 $172/$422

(from SJC)

(from PDX) (from SNA) (from BOI)

(from ONT)

Siblinghood Shoutouts! Christopher Qiu

Psi, Kappa Kappa Psi Chris is this year’s Director of Band Activities and has done an amazing job so far with planning fun events for the entire band! Even when he was challenged by various things going wrong, he remained positive and hardworking. He’s an outstanding brother and officer! -Kerianne Brennan

Nora Joseph

Iota Pi, Kappa Kappa Psi After a couple of stressful weeks, Nora gave me cookies with a note that read “the world is a better place with you in it.” I cried Brittany Woolley

Elizabeth Raymond

Zeta Xi, Tau Beta Sigma I would like to recognize this person because she works so hard to keep our chapter going and has gone above and beyond to make sure everyone succeeds. She started out as president when the chapter only consisted of five people, and in one year, our chapter has tripled in size because of her dedication and hard work. She is the hardest working and most motivated person I know and I believe she really deserves recognition for everything that she does for this chapter. -Rianna Jarnot

Kathleen Oliphant

Epsilon Kappa, Tau Beta Sigma Shout out to Kathleen for always being an amazing sister who goes above and beyond to make sure that there are always sisters at events, the everyone feels included, and that there is always someone there to have your back. You’re the best Kathleen! Thanks for making the bond that much stronger!

Dylan Irvin

Omega, Tau Beta Sigma This year is Dylan’s first year as a Drum Major here at the University of Arizona! He has been doing such a great job even when this year all the drum majors are new. He has put his 110% effort into the Pride of Arizona and in Tau Beta Sigma. Dylan is also an outstanding student and I’m very proud of him. Mia Castillo

William Belden Brown Iota Pi, Kappa Kappa Psi

For always being there as a friend and confidant when I and other people need to talk the most, and also someone who I can let loose with when I come to town. I miss being 30 feet away from you! Micky Welther

Ashley Reed

Iota Gamma, Kappa Kappa Psi Ashley is an amazing brother and amazing president for her chapter. She always helps her chapter push toward their full potential.

ΚΚΨ

Andrew Kinsey WD President “Howdy Westside!” My name is Andrew “Armstrong” Kinsey and I am the KKPsi Western District President for the 2018-2019 term. I am from the Iota Kappa Chapter at Boise State University, and I am a Mellophone player in the Keith Stein Blue Thunder Marching Band, studying Electrical and Computer Engineering with an emphasis in Power Systems. This year, the Council and myself took a look at how we could make progress on the KKPsi WD Five-Year Goals during the year we have together, and came up a with a few specific areas in which we wanted to focus. These areas are: increased transparency and effective communication to the membership in the District, heavier musicianship focus in our District events and programs, and educating the District on our relationship with the Sisters of Tau Beta Sigma. To the end of effective communication, the Council and I, with the hard work of our Publisher Emma, have taken steps to create standing committees for creation of resources for the district as well as improvement of our WD website, as well as establishment of the Western District Update. Due to barriers to inclusion of membership into the aforementioned committees, we have refocused the work of these committees to be completed by members of the Joint Council, but maintaining the same goals of availability and accessibility of information for the membership of the District. The Update has established a regular schedule of release, beginning on a monthly basis at the beginning of the academic year. While there is still work to be done in determining the best way to disperse this information to the District, the Update has ideally provided a more explicit understanding of the month-to-month duties and activities of the District Council, while also allowing the District membership to keep up on announcements in a more organized manner than in years past. Toward the goal of a greater musicianship focus and Joint Education, much of the fruits of this labor will be seen during District Leadership Conference and Western District Convention in the spring, with a number of new and focused musicianship topics and activities included in these events. The Council is excited about a new two-part performance opportunity/competition for the membership for the District to participate in! The specifics of this opportunity will be sent out in the DLC registration information very soon, but it will be a neat opportunity to perform for your peers in music and Brother/Sisterhood. Joint Education is also an area which we will be including in the programming of one or more of these events, hoping to further our understanding of how we work alongside and together with the Sisters of the West, and will even include some National Leadership in these discussions! Some things that the Council and I are still at work on are the continued expansion of resources for the District as well as identifying how these can best be communicated to the members of the District. I am still working on meeting with individual chapters as well as the Chapter Presidents around the District in the coming months. While all this goes on, we have nearly completed planning of the lineup of District events for the spring. Expect information on DLC in the VERY near future, with States Days and WDC following closely behind! We are all excited to form closer bonds with you all at these events, and want to provide ourselves as resources to you whether in person or virtually at all times. Do not hesitate to reach out to myself and the other members of the Joint Council for anything you need! Keep striving! AEA+MLitB, Andrew “Armstrong” Kinsey

ΤΒΣ

Lauren Streeter WD President “Hello Western District,” My name is Lauren “Nala(_)” Streeter and I am your Tau Beta Sigma Western District President! I am from the Alpha Chi Chapter at Northern Arizona University in Flagstaff, Arizona. I am majoring in Music Education and currently student teaching in Phoenix, Arizona at Deer Valley High School and Highland Lakes School. My primary instruments are flute / piccolo and my secondary instrument is euphonium.

Goals:

One of the primary goals that has been set forth for this position is to increase transparency between the council and the district. This is important to not only myself, but to the rest of the council so that we can inform you of what is happening and gain as much feedback as possible. Myself and my counterpart for Kappa Kappa Psi, Andrew Kinsey, has been working on sending the Presidents emails once a month and posting on The West page to send updates on what has been happening. Another primary goal for office was to decide how to continue forward with the Marching Through Life 8 to 5 page in order to gain more participation. We decided to provide an award for the chapter and participants who have partake the most in this activity and will receive an award for their continuous efforts to march through life utilizing our eight essential factors and five qualities. It has also been a goal to keep up the efforts with posting something for the sisterhood to participate in once a month. Another goal that is currently being worked on is to provide quality over quantity when it comes to the District Leadership Conference (DLC) and the Western District Convention (WDC). The strides last term was awesome, especially with DLC to bring in leadership speakers. It has been decided to continue to grow within this concept by doing so again this year for DLC and for WDC. We are working on bringing in professional speakers knowledgeable in topics such as leadership and music to come in and discuss what they know so that our siblinghood may become

stronger leaders, musicians, and sisters/ brothers in the District. WDC is already set in motion through the attendance of Pre-Convention (November 11) and DLC through our Joint Council meetings. The last goal that was accomplished was to provide a Summer Training for all Presidents where we met throughout the summer to discuss topics about their office. This helped clear up any misinformation and guided them towards ideas they can bring back and establish within their chapter. Other tasks that are currently being accomplished are: having chapters complete their paperwork, visit chapters via video call, and leading council meetings. This is all to keep myself, the District Council, and the District accountable so that we may all serve the bands to the best of our ability. The Western District is such a beautiful district to be a part of and I am blessed for every single member I have met on this journey. I strive to keep doing what I need to do in order to do what is best for the District. Thank you to everyone for being amazing Sisters and Brothers. I cannot begin to express my deep love and gratitude for the members of Tau Beta Sigma and Kappa Kappa Psi. Always remember, I am here for each and every one of you if you need me. Feel free to email me at wdpres@tbsigma.org to contact me.

MLiTB, Lauren “Nala(_)” Streeter Alpha Chi Chapter, Tau Beta Sigma Northern Arizona University Go Jacks!

ΚΚΨ

Mitchell Schurz Vice President “Hi there!” My name is Mitchell “WaMna Talk AbPout It?” Schurz and I am the Western District Vice President. I am a third year at the University of Oregon majoring in General Social Science, Sociology and Ethnic Studies with a minor in Native American Studies and Music, along with a certificate for secondary education preparation. I became an active brother of the Mu Pi chapter in February 2017 and I’ve loved every single second of being a brother. I’m also in OMB Band Council, where I serve as the Recruitment Chair and ASUO Liaison. For my first two years, I’ve played the trumpet in the Oregon Marching Band, but this year, I’ve decided to mix it up a bit and play the mellophone and I kind of like playing it, but love the section! I’ve also been in campus band nearly every term, and I’ve played the oboe, clarinet, flute, and the trumpet throughout the different terms of campus band. With the remainder of my term as WDVP, I want to prepare the VPM’s to teach the Road to Wisdom and I want to create a resource for future VPM’s to use. I want to do this, by creating a frequently asked questions page and getting some questions that VPM’s have asked either me or their Curriculum Advisor. Since the Road to Wisdom is still somewhat new, and people are still getting the hang of it, I feel that it would be very helpful for current and future VPM’s to use. Other than that, I want to give a shout out to ALL of the VPM’s for being so amazing and more than capable to handle their positions. Y’all are killing it and y’all are perfect!!!!!

ΤΒΣ

Bree Cottle Vice President of Membership “Hello Western District,” My name is Bree “LumYnoL!” Cottle. I go to Fresno State and am in the Eta Omega chapter. I play piccolo and I’m the head drum major for the Fresno State Bulldog Marching Band. My major is Criminology with an emphasis in Victimology. My goals for this year are to increase joint relations within the district, continue summer meetings with chapter VPMs and lastly achieve western district participation with the National Tau Beta Sigma pilot program. So far I have held summer meetings with chapter VPMs prior to the start of the school year, working jointly with Mitchell on how to increase joint relations, the district secured multiple chapters implementing the pilot program through nationals and the help of Adrienne Rall!

ΚΚΨ

Kammie Dunnam Member at Large “Hello, friends!” My name is Kammie “Pegasus” Dunnam and I am the Kappa Kappa Psi, Western District Member-at-Large (and the current interim WD Webmaster). I am from the Iota Kappa chapter at Boise State University where I’m a senior Media Arts major with an emphasis in public relations. I play piccolo for the Keith Stein Blue Thunder Marching Band and Pep Band. So far this term I have worked closely with the service and history officers on separate and joint projects. I’ve created a service and history database for all the officers to collaborate and store their projects/photos and it has a lot of neat resources for each position. I’m starting to work with Alumni Relations Officers on improving alumni attendance and participation at events. Something I am very excited to have been working on is the new Kappa Kappa Psi Western District Musicianship Award. This award has been something I was looking forward to starting at the beginning of my term and I’m really excited to see what the Brothers of the West have been doing to improve their musicianship! Some of my upcoming goals/project I have for the rest of my term is updating the Western District History and creating a more interactive timeline for the members of The West, creating some neat programming for District Events, working with Lyndsee (TBS VPSP) to increase participation in the Monthly Active Challenge, and creating a new outlet for music chairs to connect and share their ideas! I’m super thankful to have this opportunity to serve the Western District and Kappa Kappa Psi in a new capacity! Also, I love making new friends so if you ever want to chat just hit me up on Facebook!

ΤΒΣ

Lyndsee Vargas Vice President of Special Projects

“Hello!”

I’m Lyndsee Vargas and I am the current Western District Vice President of Special Projects for Tau Beta Sigma. I was initiated into the Theta Delta chapter of TBS at Washington State University on December 5th, 2015, and have previously served as our chapter’s Director of Service Affairs, Focus on Five Liaison, and chapter President. I am a senior pursuing a major in psychology and minor in English. My current career goal is to become a clinical psychologist and help people improve their mental health. In the CMB, I have previously had the pleasure to serve as piccolo section leader for two terms, as well as band council Vice President and office staff. I play flute and piccolo, and really enjoy the friendships and opportunities music has brought me. In my free time, I like to read, crochet, and binge watch Netflix. My major goals as VPSP have been to increase communication with focus on five liaison through the reinstallation of the VPSP keynotes and roundtables, raise awareness within the District regarding the Focus on Five campaign through the use of the #Fo5Fridays, and help liaisons reach the national goal of completing the stripes portion of the Focus on Five campaign-- which the Western District is currently on track to achieving! Feel free to send me questions about anything TBS (though service is my main specialty) or say hi by emailing me at wdvpsp@tbsigma.org or looking me up on Facebook!

ΚΚΨ

Jensen Amens Secretary-Treasurer “Hi there!” My name is Jensen Amens. I sadly don’t have a nickname because my chapter doesn’t do nicknames (but I’m hoping the rest of my council will give me a nickname ). I am the Western District Secretary-Treasurer. I am from the Theta Chapter at Oregon State University. I play the mellophone in the Oregon State University Marching Band, Basketball Band, and Travel Band. I also play the French horn in the Wind Symphony. I am a Bioengineering major with minors in Mathematics and Music Performance. Some goals for my office include: a fundraising database, team resource drives for secretaries and treasures, and scholarship opportunities for members to attend NatCon. Currently, I have put together the fundraising database, put together the team resource drives, and estimated travel costs for every chapter to travel to DLC, WDC, and NatCon.

ΤΒΣ

Jacob Curtis Secretary-Treasurer “Hail, friends!” My name is Jacob “DRUID” Curtis, your 2018-2019 Western District Secretary-Treasurer for TBS! I am from the Omega chapter at the University of Arizona in Tucson, Arizona! I am a senior, studying music education, and I hope to one day be a band director for a high school marching band and later on in life go on to become a composer for video game/ movie soundtracks! I can play a wide variety of instruments, but my two favorites are euphonium and piano. I enjoy playing video games and watching Netflix (though I hardly have time for either of those things anymore!), as well as being outdoors in any sense, be it camping, hiking, or even just hanging out outside (which is how I got my nickname DRUID)! I became an active member of TBS in the spring of 2017, so I am a comparatively newer member of our organization—despite this, however, I have jumped headfirst into every aspect of it, and worked hard to both support and improve it, and to let it improve me. I was thus encouraged to run for a district office, and having been a chair of Omega’s Ways & Means fundraiser committee for my entire time active, running for Sec-Treas seemed like the natural choice for me.

One of my biggest goals for office is to promote bonds through ways not immediately considered. Whether it’s through my Pen Pal program, designed to connect sisters from all districts across the nation (which you can still sign up to join at any time if you missed the original deadline!), or designing fundraisers with an emphasis on “FUN,” all things I’m initiating are created with a dual purpose to be enjoyable and productive. I hope that this little summary has given you an idea as to what I’m about and what I hope to accomplish! If there are ever any ideas, questions, or concerns for me, do not hesitate to reach out to me! MLiTB, Jacob “DRUID” Curtis Beta Sigma - Omega Chapter wdsectreas@tbsigma.org

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