 "Photo: The Olympian")
 "Photo: The Olympian")
They are active and happy in their roles as husband and wife, and president and vice president of Phi Theta Kappa, but it is all in a day’s work for these full-time college students.
Andy and Amanda Newill — fondly known as Andy and Mandy to their friends — accepted their roles in the PTK chapter in January when the previous president nominated them.
Andy said the first thing that struck him about the organization was a lot of great intentions to do things, but the follow through “was a bit of an issue.” He said they recalled their military experience and applied those lessons “if things need to be done, than somebody needs to do it.”
Since then, Andy said he and Amanda have and will continue to bring organization, leadership, momentum and encouragement to the organization.
According to Andy, PTK has two major missions: scholarships and volunteer service. He said they are currently looking for a vice president of scholarship who would research scholarship opportunities that are available and make the members aware.
“We realize that right now especially with times being tough that the money is the fuel to keep going to school,” said Andy “so if we are going to encourage members to stay in school and keep pursuing their dreams and goals then they really need the means in which to do that.”
The other PTK mission is volunteer service. “We are in a good position as an honor society to be able to go out into the community or right here in our OC community and be able to share our time and talents with those around us.”
He said the theme this year with OC student volunteer service is “students helping students.” He said PTK worked with the Students In Need Group to prepare Thanksgiving food baskets and will be working with the Associated Students of OC to put on a Christmas toy drive for OC students.
He said at least once a year PTK works with Habitat for Humanity and in June it’s traditional for the organization to do Relay for Life. According to Andy they are forming contacts with local groups to get PTK members out to the various volunteer opportunities already existing in the community.
Andy said PTK consist of approximately 200 to 300 members at any given time, which he said makes them one of the largest organizations on campus. He said it is open to everyone who meets the requirements which include a 3.5 grade point average or higher and be an active student who has taken at least 15 credits at 100 level or above.
Amanda said she met Andy in 1998 during training command for the Navy and they became friends. She said they were stationed in Everett on the USS Abraham Lincoln and served together until they both got out of the Navy.
Through the use of their veteran benefits, financial aid and scholarship awards Amanda and Andy said they are able to go to school full-time to achieve their goals. Amanda would like to get her associates degree and transfer to a university to study Chemistry and Andy wants to get his associates degree and transfer with a major in Physics.
Andy said neither one of them got the college experience right out of high school and now they can finally say they are full-time college students.
“We joke that we are college kids. I am 34. I am finally living the dream of being a college student. I’ve always wanted to go and it’s taken me 15 years past graduation to be able to go. So I want to be able to do this right,” said Andy.
He adds that education is the most rewarding thing they have done, “and we are certainly not finished by any means, but we already see benefits in how we view the world around us and how we tackle problems.”
According to Amanda as a married couple it helps that they are both going to school at the same time, because they can empathize with each other and work together. She said working together is nothing new. They had the same job on the ship, and now they go to school and work together as well. She said it is amazing and she loves it.
“We have worked together for so long. We have been a great team,” said Andy. “It is just a natural fit for us to be able to go and share this experience together. For us, it would be odd not to.”
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