"Marketers target kids who seek an edge"

Parent Cafe
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<p>Even though most of us can smell a scam or a phish a mile away, it is surprising just how difficult it is to judge the merits of "crafty" solicitations from independent "honors" organization. It is hard to separate the chaff from the wheat, because this is a largely unregulated industry targeting the college bound. Quite a few threads pop up asking about honorary organizations, peer networking opportunities, and even scholarship offers, not to mention the merits of sending kids on costly trips to attend student-leadership conferences and forums held across the country:</p>

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Nathaly Hewawasam has "1,157 hours and 12 minutes" of community service and a 4.9 grade-point average in the International Baccalaureate program at her high school.</p>

<p>But this daughter of Sri Lankan immigrants with dreams of going to Harvard isn't resting on her bacca-laurels. The Celebration teen and her parents sign up for any honors organization or college service they think might give her an edge.</p>

<p>"Usually when we get something we apply for it -- if it looks like another opportunity," says Nathaly, a Gateway High School junior whose resume is eight pages long.</p>

<p>This time of year, students such as Nathaly are barraged with letters and e-mails touting admission coaches, scholarship scouts, application services and honors groups. Yet, many of their offered "benefits" are available for free elsewhere or add no value to college applications, guidance and admissions professionals say.</p>

<p>"There are a lot of organizations out there that feed off the anxiety that parents have. They know some will do anything they can to build a better resume," Lake Mary High School Principal Boyd Karns said....</p>

<p>"Most are so good at making their letters sound like they are prestigious that students don't bother to check them out," said Carolyn Stone of the American School Counselor Association....</p>

<p>"If you pay to be in something like that, it only tells me that you paid to be in it," said Janice Finney, director of admissions at Florida State University. "I would rather see contributions the student has made in school and to the community, and whether they've taken challenging courses."....</p>

<p>Many organizations that target college-bound students also are in the data-mining business. They reap profits by getting students to fill out extensive questionnaires with personal information. Then they sell the information to firms that compile mailing lists for marketers, said David Cordts of the National Honor Society.</p>

<p>"These businesses generate revenue not only from membership fees and selling products but also by selling lists of student data," Cordts said.</p>

<p>The National Honor Roll, "a student achievement recognition firm" that accepts students with an average of "B or better" and sells a "commemorative volume," is one of the businesses that solicit high-schoolers. It is a subsidiary of Student Marketing Group, which reached a settlement agreement with the Federal Trade Commission four years ago after being charged with deception in surveys used to collect student information.</p>

<p>The address provided for the group is 2020 Pennsylvania Ave. N.W., just a few blocks from the White House. But that address is a Mailboxes Etc. location. The National Honor Roll actually shares headquarters with the Student Marketing Group in Lynbrook, N.Y....

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<p><a href="http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-scholars0807apr08,0,4198619.story?page=2&track=mostemailedlink%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.orlandosentinel.com/orl-scholars0807apr08,0,4198619.story?page=2&track=mostemailedlink&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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<p>The take on Claes Nobel is fascinating - despite serious misrepresentation, the organiztion has loyal supporters who believe it fulfills its mission:</p>

<p><a href="http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=39022%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://talk.collegeconfidential.com/showthread.php?t=39022&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>

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Nathaly Hewawasam has been notified that she is a candidate for a $5,000 Claes Nobel Academic Scholarship, named for the co-founder and honorary chairman of the National Society of High School Scholars, based in Atlanta.</p>

<p>The student and her parents flew to Washington, paying their own airfare of $800, to attend NSHSS Scholar's Day with 300 other teen members.</p>

<p>At the event, Nathaly and her parents met Nobel, who is identified in NSHSS materials as a "senior member" of the family of the Swedish dynamite inventor who founded the Nobel Prizes.</p>

<p>In an e-mail, Jonna Petterson, public-relations manager for the Nobel Foundation in Stockholm, Sweden, said that "Claes Nobel is in no way endorsed or supported by the Nobel Foundation." Petterson said the founder of the Nobel Foundation, Alfred Nobel, never married and had no children and that Claes Nobel is "a relative of one of Alfred's brothers."</p>

<p>Nathaly said that the fact that Nobel is not connected with the Nobel Foundation does not detract from his standing as an advocate for academic excellence and environmental concerns. She also praised his organization for "recognizing our achievements and connecting students across the nation."</p>

<p>On its Web site, Nobel's society for high-schoolers lists 22 members of its board of advisers, including several Nobel laureates, actors and business leaders. At the head of the list is poet and writer Maya Angelou. Her spokesman, Robert J. Brown, said that Angelou never authorized the use of her name by the society, "nor does she know anything about the organization."</p>

<p>Neither Nobel nor his co-founder, James W. Lewis, responded to repeated requests for interviews for this story....

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<p>Any worthwhile award is based solely on a person's merit and not on the family checkbook.</p>

<p>Man law!</p>

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<p>Agreed. </p>

<p>There are no fees to apply for or accept the NSHSS's Claes Nobel Scholarship. There are no fees to attend the award ceremony, save the cost of getting there. Same reality as for any award.</p>

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<p>astiskea,
you always post really good articles, thanks!</p>

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<p>Prefect, thanks! This is a subject that touches all of us if only because the solicitations fill up our mailboxes- I live abroad and I still get an inordinate amount of honor society and social networking mail addressed both to "the parents of" and to my kids. Even though I agree with our man Burke about merit not being related to the family checkbook, I don't think it at all easy to tell the difference between the junk and the worthwhile- especially when many of these societies make use of impressive prestigious logos and styles copying legitimate non-profit organizations.</p>

<p>At our school, People to People has caught on like wildfire these past few years. It all started with one student who, greatly impressed by the offer, and concerned about ECs, went ahead, applied and attended (with our school's approval) as a sophomore. The student was then asked by PtoP to be a recruiter, and so started up and took the presidency of a chapter of the organization. Since then, several kids have applied and attended. It is quite pricey and for a lot of parents the total cost represents a real sacrifice - especially when you factor in the cost of an overseas plane trip - yet, it is incredibly hard to explain to so many parents that they have to judge the "worth" and merit of the experience on just that - the experience rather than any pr hype about the edge it might or might not give on a college app. </p>

<p>For the college-bound, it is important to know that the lack of transparency regarding legitimate social networking organizations and honor societies isn't just limited to high school. College kids are also inundated with pr materials and "honor society" applications, and while some are prestigious and very worth the while, all too many of these organizations are not affiliated or even approved by their university: </p>

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ABOUT 90 percent of my mail is junk, so I'm skeptical of anything I didn't solicit. But I open it. My friend, though, threw out an invitation to Phi Beta Kappa because she didn't know it's a prestigious honor society and thought it was one more group taking her money. I can't blame her, though, when there's little information out there. Student organizations like Student Council and Residence Life need to provide access to information on college honor societies so that students can decide which ones are worthwhile.</p>

<p>Probably the most well-known college honor society is Phi Beta Kappa. The University chapter elects new members, brings in speakers to Grounds, and gives out book prizes to faculty. The national chapter generally works to recognize achievement and support the liberal arts. Yet despite its prestigious history, on some campuses up to 50 percent of students offered membership reject it....</p>

<p>In recent years, several groups have sprung up that have raised questions because of their business-like organization. These groups, such as the Golden Key International Honour Society, have been denied membership in the Association of College Honor Societies, an umbrella group that maintains standards. Called "Honor Lite" by some of its detractors, Golden Key nevertheless has numerous chapters internationally. Some of these have innovative volunteer programs, but others are more for show. The Association denied Golden Key membership largely because of questions about Golden Key's national organization, but it may well turn out to become a prestigious society.</p>

<p>Then there are the scams that prey on resume builders. Both on the high school and college level, the problem of "honor society mills" has grown over the last several years, largely aided by the Internet ("Honor Society Mills Flourish Online," Chronicle of Higher Education, March 22). The Association of College Honor Societies currently is trying to make college presidents more aware of fraud.</p>

<p>The executive director of Alpha Lambda Delta, a member society of the Association of College Honor Societies, decided to test one group, the American Scholars National Honor Society, by trying to sign up her 10 year-old son. She succeeded by paying $50 and completing an "online integrity oath" that the information is accurate. The kid isn't even in high school, but he was accepted.</p>

<p>The proliferation of honor societies, whether old and prestigious, interesting upstarts or complete scams, puts students in a difficult position of trying to evaluate them with little information. Many receive so many offers that they don't take good ones seriously.</p>

<p>This difficulty contrasts with honor fraternities, which have highly visible projects and recruit through students, not impersonal letters. Almost everyone at the University has seen Alpha Phi Omega and Phi Sigma Pi tabling for charity events and fundraisers. Prospective members of these groups know what they're considering.</p>

<p>Knowledge of the groups is particularly important with newer societies whose quality of organization and activities differ widely across different schools. Such knowledge, however, is difficult to obtain. Golden Key, for example, may be a worthwhile group, but it's hard to tell because the Web site hasn't been updated in three years.</p>

<p>There are different ways to accomplish disseminating information. Legitimate societies can distinguish themselves through visibility campaigns, as opposed to simply letting the school furnish names to the national organization, which sends out letters to students...</p>

<p>At a prestigious university like this one, students need sources to help them evaluate the numerous honor societies soliciting their membership. Students who are strapped for time and money need help to avoid getting scammed or passing up great opportunities.

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<p><a href="http://www.cavalierdaily.com/CVArticle.asp?ID=11598&pid=842%5B/url%5D"&gt;http://www.cavalierdaily.com/CVArticle.asp?ID=11598&pid=842&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p>