This week’s campus celebrity, John Turi, is a co-founder of a new national honor society at TCNJ, National Society for Leadership and Success. As John and his friends continue the process of receiving official recognition for the society on campus, they are planning leadership events and selecting members for the start of their organization in the coming semester.
John and the other founders of NSLS decided to create this honor society when their friend, Tom Carrocia, came across the opportunity through a job. They all decided to create the society to improve the well-roundedness of students in honor societies. “We want to start it because the honor societies on campus don’t do enough to enhance the qualities that its members lack to create well-rounded people,” John said.
The new honor society on campus will host leadership events for members that will help students improve goal management. They are also going to host guest speakers to help members develop these skills as well. John explained, “We believe that honor societies should be more than just an honor cord, and instead should focus on making each student better.”
John is also a co-founder of Cards for Cause, a club on campus that was started in a dorm room. What started out as rounds of poker tournaments in his friends’ dorm rooms grew into a club of poker tournaments that now donates proceeds to breast cancer foundations. Cards for Cause also teaches inexperienced players the fundamentals and basics of poker. John explains that he and his friends “wanted to give back to a charity of our choosing while at the same time doing something that we love.”
John recently also won Theta Phi Alpha’s Autumn Angel philanthropy event. John represented his fraternity, Phi Alpha Delta, and dressed as a Christmas angel in the pageant. After going through a series of rounds including musical chairs and a Q&A session, John won the event for his fraternity.