City College’s Phi Theta Kappa is in full swing this semester with continuing projects and up-and-coming programs.

Phi Theta Kappa, an international honor society, has promoted campus advocacy at City College on a variety of issues, with projects such as the Zero Waste Program and the Peer Tutor Program.

Phi Theta Kappa brought the Zero Waste Program to City College in hopes of creating a greener campus. The project, headed by Grace Sukamto, is continuing this semester.

“We’re trying to educate the Santa Barbara City College community on the most effective way to actually dispose of waste,” Patience A. Ncube, Phi Theta Kappa’s vice president of public relations, said. “We’re doing this to improve situations on our campus so that it’s a better and healthier campus for all of us.”

Another continuing program is the Peer Tutor Program, headed by Lena Koppel. This program has Phi Theta Kappa members volunteer at the Gateway Center to tutor other students. But its focus this semester is not just directed toward on-campus students.

“We’re trying to reach out to the online students as well so that they also get the same service that the on-campus students are getting,” Ncube said.

Courtney Guinn, Phi Theta Kappa’s president this semester, said the online tutoring will be conducted mainly through email. Phi Theta Kappa members will be assigned certain times to go online and students can send their papers to a member for review and critique.

New to Phi Theta Kappa’s agenda are several in-the-works projects, including the Kind Campaign, SBCC Phi Theta Kappa Reads, and the International Student Scholarship Fund.

Headed by Guinn, The Kind Campaign’s purpose is to encourage females to treat each other with more respect and maintain a higher level of self-worth.

Guinn said she is working on a benefit fashion show on Nov. 20 in the Campus Center, with high school students and feature a documentary by Lauren Parsekian, one of the founders of The Kind Campaign.

“I want to encourage…girls and girls treating each other better, instead of girl abuse,” Guinn said.

SBCC P.T.K. Reads, developed by Phi Theta Kappa’s Vice President of Fellowship Laurence Guo, holds the hope of promoting a reading culture on campus. Guinn said Phi Theta Kappa leaders will hold a book club session in the library. They will choose a book to share with other students, offer the likes and dislikes of the book and analyze it.

Lastly, Ncube has developed a project of her own called the International Student Scholarship Fund. According to Ncube, the scholarship is geared toward raising awareness and funds for international students at City College who are from developing countries.

“There’s a perception out there that international students come from well-to-do families…but that’s not the case,” Ncube said. “You find a lot of students from developing nations coming here and the families have to sacrifice a lot for them to come here.”

Though Phi Theta Kappa and its programs’ work to benefit the campus, it is clear to Ncube that being a Phi Theta Kappa member is a benefit in itself.

“Phi Theta Kappa is building the leaders of tomorrow,” Ncube said. “It’s about academic excellence, and then your own personal excellence.”

In order to be eligible as a member, students must have a 3.5 GPA and have taken 12 units at City College.

Of all the ambitions of Phi Theta Kappa members this semester, Guinn has a particular goal in mind.

“What we’re trying to show through all these programs is that we really do care,” Guinn said.