We are Mortar Board: San Diego State University



Pictured above are students and advisors from the Jane K. Smith Cap and Gown chapter on tapping day



Imagine yourself as a college junior. You are in class one morning, furiously scribbling notes to keep up with the pace of the professor’s lecture. All of the sudden, the classroom door bursts opens and in walk several students and faculty dressed in full graduation regalia.

Naturally the classroom is rapt with attention. One of the students in cap and gown speaks, presenting an interesting description of Mortar Board. You already know that Mortar Board is the premier national college honor society recognizing college seniors, but it is cool to hear more about the chapter on your campus. You put your pen down and enjoy the interruption even more.

Then another one of the students starts reading a short biography of a student-leader in the class. It only takes a second to realize that she is reading about you! By the time it hits you that Mortar Board has selected you and you are about to be tapped into Mortar Board, one of the members is standing in front of you. You rise and he pins a silver and gold ribbon above your heart. You have made Mortar Board, the pinnacle of achievement for a scholar-leader on your campus. The whole classroom is applauding. You are overwhelmed!

The Jane K. Smith Cap and Gown chapter at San Diego State University has been busy this spring with new member tapping and initiation. Their tapping process, described above, has been a very special experience for new members.   

Wei Toh, executive vice president and a returning member, was tapped in a class with approximately 200 students. When the members walked in with their caps and gowns and called his name, Toh was nervous, proud and excited.  Tapping was such a great experience for Toh that he took on the position of tapping chair his first year in Mortar Board.  “The tapping experience shows that what students work so hard for in school has been acknowledged by Mortar Board in a meaningful way,” Toh stated, “and as tapping chair, I had the opportunity to give that experience to other students.”  One of the most memorable tappings Toh was involved in was an online video tapping for a soon-to-be Mortar Board who was studying abroad.  It was a unique tapping, but made the new member’s selection more meaningful than if he had simply received an e-mail saying that he had been selected. 

Berry Soltani, an initiate of the 2010 class, had wanted to become a Mortar Board member since she started at San Diego State. During tapping week she anxiously sought out her friends who were current members for some insider information regarding whether or not she had been selected for membership.  However, due to the chapter’s traditions of keeping the new members secret until tapping week, they did not let her know whether she had been selected. Once she was tapped, Soltani was glad that she did not find out in advance as, “It made the whole tapping experience so much more meaningful to me.”

Newly tapped Mortar Board members at SDSU are coming in to a strong chapter that has been busy serving its alma mater and enriching the campus experience. In addition to preparing for the tapping of the new initiates, the Jane K. Smith Cap and Gown chapter has had a great year.  The members have been involved in many events including:

• hosting the Faculty/Staff Appreciation Dinner, where Mortar Boards honored their most influential faculty and staff members;
• hosting the Faculty and Staff Outstanding Service Awards Luncheon, known as the “Trees Ceremony,” at which a faculty member and a staff member were honored with trees planted on campus;
• stuffing stockings for U.S. military troops overseas as part of Project Holiday Stocking;
• filling backpacks alongside members of the Alcalá Senior Honor chapter at the University of San Diego;
• hosting an alumni reception where nine Mortar Board members received scholarships from the alumni chapter; 
• co-sponsoring with other university honor societies the Last Lecture Series. This year, the president of SDSU was the lecturer. The event was a huge success and was attended by more than 600 people; 
• funding a luncheon for 350 people who participated in the SDSU Research Symposium and also a “Shadow Day” for 15 middle-school students who spent a special day on  campus.

Additionally, the chapter has greatly increased the visibility of honor societies on campus through its participation in Honors Council, which is made up of the six university-wide honor societies and the Honors Program.  The president of Honors Council this year is a member of Mortar Board. 

With a year of many successful projects, the Jane K. Smith Cap and Gown chapter has demonstrated its commitment to encouraging scholarship, developing leaders and serving its university.