Arizona Blue Chip Program

New Blue Chip Staff for 2008-2009

Director of Blue Chip: Tina Neil
Tina Neil was born and raised in Rhode Island.  Her passions are for leadership, social justice, and outdoor education. She has earned two degrees from the University of Rhode Island, a B.S, in Accounting (2001) and M.S. in College Student Personnel (2008).   She has been working in leadership development for the past 6 years in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Connecticut, and California.  During this time, she taught classes on emerging and peer leadership, managed a high and low ropes challenge course, lead wilderness trips, and advised students. She started her career in leadership with a year-long commitment to the Jesuit Volunteer Corps. In the tradition of the Jesuit Volunteers, she was “Ruined for Life” (the motto) through her transition from an accountant to a student leadership developer.  In the past 18 months, she has been to New Orleans and Mississippi to aid in the Katrina Relief Effort bringing with her 19 students.  These trips have been a result of her passion for social justice and the hospitality she received from the people of New Orleans.  In her free time, she spends time hiking, kayaking, and traveling around the country.  She is excited to move to Tucson to hike its mountains and get to know the students of Arizona!

Graduate Assistant for Blue Chip: Danielle Barker
I am originally from Racine, WI.  I went to the University of Wisconsin-Madison for my undergraduate career.  I have worked as a House Fellow (RA) at Madison for three years now and love working with students.  The most important people in the world to me are my family members:  Chris (Dad), Kathy (Mom), Allison & Christopher (brother and sister who are twins).  Both of my siblings play college sports and when I have spare time I love watching them play!  One of my other loves is music.  I play a few different instruments, but piano is my favorite.  I also love musicals, some of my favorites are:  Wicked, Mama Mia, Phantom of the Opera, & Rent!  I am very excited to become a Wildcat and can’t wait to meet all of you!

Graduate Assistant for Blue Chip: Ovett Chapman
My name is Ovett Chapman, and I am a student pursuing my doctoral degree in School Psychology.  I am originally from Los Angeles, but I’ve lived in Arizona for about 13 years.  I am the first one in my family to graduate from college, but I am not the last.  Both my younger brother and I are U of A alumni, and my sister is currently finishing up her undergraduate degree here as well.  I really enjoy working with and learning from others.  I think we all have a great deal to learn from one another.  New experiences and situations will present themselves everyday, but it is up to us to make the most of them.  My goal is to be a happy, productive person who positively impacts the lives of those around me.  I enjoy traveling, listening to good music, watching U of A sports, and playing in the occasional poker tournament.

New ATCs selected for 2008-2009 
Arts: Danielle DeWeese
Eco: Kendal Nystedt
Global: Cassandra Stout
Service: Darren Scott
SE: Eddie Espinoza

Field Day Results
Congrats to Team D (3, 13, 14)) for a great win!!
Second place goes to Team E (15, 21, 6, 1).
Third place goes to Team A (7, 8, 12).

Apply for various positions in Blue Chip!
Applications are due April 4th, 2008.

Phase II Case Competition Results
Thank you to all the Phase II teams who participated in the first ever case competition. All the presentations were impressive and you all did a great job! 

Winners of the preliminary round included Teams 12, 17, 5, and 10.

Congratulations to the overall winner-Team 12 with "Shoes for Bare Feet." Items from their presentation will be on display in the Blue Chip area. Team 12 members include:

Kyle Kacerek
Lauren Myers
Katie Godfrey
Nicole Hartig

Apply to be a Theme Facilitator!

Apply for various positions in Blue Chip!

Apply to be a Theme Facilitator!

Apply for various positions in Blue Chip!

Good luck in all of your leadership endeavors!

This site is designed specifically to provide information and resources to students in the Arizona Blue Chip Program.

The Arizona Blue Chip Program welcomed its first class on August 22, 1999. Dr. Likins, President of the University of Arizona welcomed 238 freshmen to the program and the beginning of their university experience. Subsequent classes have been added to bring the number of students having participated in Blue Chip to over 2000.

The Arizona Blue Chip Program is a 4 year co-curricular leadership education experience under the auspices of the Blue Chip Center for Leadership Education. Blue Chip is designed to help students gain self-awareness and an awareness of the world around them. Blue Chip does not define leadership as positional, but as a relational process. For that reason we believe everyone has the opportunity to learn and grow into a leader regardless of past experiences. The Mission of Blue Chip is to build leaders who will make a difference.

The four core values of our program reflect the program's components and the way in which leadership is viewed within the program:

• Integrity: Knowing the difference between right and wrong and doing the right thing all the time... even when no one is watching.
  
• Diversity: Leaders are inclusive, first through awareness of self, expanding to include awareness of others, and becoming multiculturally competent.
  
• Service: It's not about me, it's about us. Leaders care about people and seek to enhance the lives of those around them. By serving others, leaders serve themselves.
  
• Excellence: Understanding your capabilities and limitations and then doing your best all the time... accepting nothing less.

How does Blue Chip differs from other university activities? Blue Chip is a university program (which is different from a student club). It is housed within the Arizona Student Unions and is staffed by approximately 3-4 professional staff members. Blue Chip is designed to help you focus on developing as a leader and learning about leadership, whereas other involvement opportunities are designed to have you lead (without necessarily learning about the best way to lead). We strongly believe that the best combination is being involved with Blue Chip ALONG WITH other activities on campus such as student clubs or student government. The two experiences greatly complement one another-where you learn about leadership in Blue Chip you get the opportunity to practice it in other activities. Many prominent student leaders here on campus are also in Blue Chip.