Frederick Community College
Saturday, November 12, 2005
CALL TO ORDER
The meeting was called to order by Stanley Harper, President, at 11:06 am.
MINUTES
Secretary, Teresa Heyworth, presented meeting minutes from October 3, 2005. There were no corrections, deletions, or additions to the minutes and were therefore accepted as read.
OLD BUSINESS:
A. FCC Website � Dr. Parker shared with the group that the website is being worked on weekly and is being used as a way to get information out to everyone. Some of the items currently posted on the website are scholarship opportunities, the Paralegal Student Association (PSA) meeting minutes and PSA committee news. Committee member chairpersons need to get their information from the website. Anyone needing additional instruction or direction regarding how to access the PSA website can contact Lisa, Dr. Parker�s student assistant.
NEW BUSINESS:
A. Committee Reports �
Employment & Education � Miranda Lewis reporting. Miranda discussed the idea of possibly doing the Job Search, Interviewing Skills and Resume Writing workshops again in the spring. We need to decide when the best time would be to offer these workshops. Miranda has already spoken to Marcie from the Career Center and we will also need to work with the Bar Association to enlist their help for the mock interviews. A 2-hour time slot has been carved out for the Legal Writing class to do the interview and resume writing workshops. There is also a need to determine if evening workshops can be done and if so we may have to look into doing these sessions off campus as times that classes are offered is not very flexible. We will discuss going off campus for classes at our next meeting. Past experience with evening workshops has shown low attendance, but this may be attributed to lack of knowing about the sessions rather than lack of interest.
Public Relations � No report.
Legislative, Rules, Regulations and Procedure Committee � Matthew Testa and Denise Gotthardt reporting. Matthew and Denise provided the group with a handout listing several websites and the types of information available on each. They are as follows:
www.courts.state.md.us/rules/ruleschanges.html
www.legalassistanttoday.com
www.paralegals.org
www.mdparalegals.org
www.law.cornell.edu/ethics/md/narr/MD-NARR5.htm
Please feel free to check out these websites to see the latest regarding current legislation, rules, regulations as well as news relevant to the Paralegal profession.
Membership Committee � Lindsay Simmons reporting. Lindsay has created an e-mail address, [email protected], in order to be able to send messages to members from this address.
Student Government Association � Ruth Wett was unable to attend the last SGA meeting, but we will continue to try to find a representative to send to these meetings. SGA generally meets on Tuesdays from 3:30 � 4:30 at least once, maybe twice per month. Dr. Parker will e-mail Lois Temple and Yakiyah Morrison with information regarding the next meeting date and time.
B. Bell Ringing � Regarding this annual event, the question was asked if we want to work this event on our own or partner with the Bar Association. Dr. Parker shared some history of this event and explained that the Bar Association came up with the idea for us to work with them at Thanksgiving and the December Bell Ringing fundraiser. The Thanksgiving event is held inside and entails serving meals to those at the Salvation Army shelter. The Bell Ringing event is held outside at the Francis Scott Key Mall and entails ringing the bell to collect money for Salvation Army. At the present time, local attorneys have chosen to work the Thanksgiving event and have basically handed the Bell Ringing activity over to us in exchange for doing our workshops, mock interviews and other events that may possibly be planned in the future. Since the association needs to participate in 2 community service events per year, we need to decide if we still want to do this event to count as one of these or not. If we do want to do it, again we need to decide if we are going to do it on our own or in conjunction with the Bar Association. A sign up sheet was put in the back of the room for members to volunteer. The Bell Ringing activity is usually scheduled for the first Saturday in December. Member�s children may also participate in this event as long as the parent is present.
C. Bowling Party � Any news regarding a bowling party or other membership activity will be posted on our website. Members are urged to check the website on a regular basis to see if we will be having this event or not.
D. Clothing Drive � Clothing donated from employees of the courthouse were available for members wishing to �shop� to do so. Any clothing leftover will be delivered to the Frederick Rescue Mission.
E. Other Items and Final Thoughts �
� Dr. Parker announced that registration for J-term and Spring 2006 is underway. Incorrect prerequisites are listed for the Real Estate Law class. LA100 is the only prerequisite for this course.
� Dr. Parker shared with the group a brief overview of the Book Exchange program and indicated that a date will be selected for the next exchange when the current semester is over. We may schedule the next book exchange for the first Monday after the current semester classes are over.
� This is the last meeting for this calendar year so please be sure to check our website frequently for announcements regarding the book exchange, bowling party, bell ringing or any other Paralegal Student Association news.
ADJOURNMENT:
A motion to adjourn was made and seconded. Motion carried. Meeting was adjourned @ 11:57 am.
Next meeting will be in February 2006 with the time to be arranged at a later date.
Respectfully submitted,
Teresa Heyworth, Secretary