Application for Charter | Personal Data Sheet

Spire is the most important national honor society for non-traditional students enrolled in two-year academic programs, Spire was founded for the purpose of recognizing the unique achievements of adult and other non-traditional students enrolled in Associates Degree programs.

The founders of Spire noticed that non-traditional students, who are typically less involved in campus life, often married, and usually employed while attending college, were rarely selected for campus honoraries. It seems that the typical lifestyle and daily responsibilities of these students prevented them from being widely considered for membership in most campus academic, service, and leadership honoraries, thereby whitholding from this entire category of students the career-enhancing advantages of such membership.

Spire was created to provide adult (defined as 25 years old or older) and other non-traditional students (such as young single parents, handicapped students, students who earn degrees while working full-time, international students, and other similarly situated students) with the same level of recognition which outstanding traditional students have always received.

Spire offers each school two levels of potential involvement:

(1) You can choose to create a local chapter of Spire. Creating a chapter of Spire on your campus could not be much easier.

(2) Alternatively, you can choose the less formal route of selecting students for the National Chapter of Spire.

We strongly encourage the participation of your non-traditional students in the creation of the Spire chapter and/or in the selection process for membership in this distinctive national honorary society. Please note that there is no cost to the institution for creating and maintaining a chapter of Spire, and the modest one-time membership fee ($20) charged inductees to join Spire is far below membership fees charged by other national honoraries. All honorees will receive attractive lapel pins and membership certificates.

All we ask of you is that you provide the honorees with the local media coverage they so richly deserve. Please also note that we will not attempt to sell an annual membership volume to inductees nor will we ever sell our membership list as, unfortunately, many national honoraries do.

We simply want to provide adult and other non-traditional students with the opportunity for national recognition which they have earned and deserved.

SPIRE STANDARDS FOR MEMBERSHIP

I. All students selected for induction must meet the following standards:

A) Qualify as adult or non-traditional students under locally-derived and maintained definitions (although adult students must be at least 25 years of age);

B) Be within 12 months of graduation;

C) Have a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale;

D) Be involved in a least three campus and/or community activities;

E) Demonstrate leadership, persistence, and future promise;

F) Maintin the highest ethical standards.

II. Students can only be selected for membership following a thorough screening of resumes by a campus selection committee comprised of non-traditional students, faculty, and administrators.

III. No more than ten percent (10%) of the adult and non-traditional student population on the campus can hold membership in SPIRE.

IV. Induction of new members can take place no more frequently than twice per year.

V. If a campus chooses to create a local chapter of SPIRE, the chapter must be a registered or recognized campus organization and must meet all local standards for such registration or recognition.