Northwestern’s communication honor society Lambda Pi Eta (LPH) is launching a philanthropic partnership with Reading in Motion, a Chicago-based reading program for elementary school students.LPH Communication Director Meredith Baskies, a Communication senior, said honor society members are excited about the philanthropy and hope to have it up and running by Winter Quarter. Members of LPH have been working to bolster the organization’s profile on campus, LPH faculty sponsor and Communication Prof. Jennifer Baker said.”They have made a priority of being in this group,” Baker said. “There are so many things that dedicated students can do, and the more people know about them … the more they can do on campus.”LPH is the official honor society of the National Communication Association, and there are more than 400 chapters at colleges and universities nationwide, according to the NCA Web site. NU’s Pi Theta chapter of LPH is less than a decade old and currently has about 45 members. To join the “selective honor society,” Communication students must have a GPA of at least 3.5 and write several essays, said President Kruti Parikh, a Communication junior.Parikh said in the past, LPH has hosted speaker series and study breaks during finals week for Communication students. While these programs will continue this year, Parikh said she is looking forward to the new programs that LPH will implement, including the Reading in Motion partnership, an internship database and a communication mentoring program for NU freshmen. Philanthropy Director Natalie Tapaskar, a former DAILY staffer, said LPH wants to develop a long-term partnership with Reading in Motion. The Chicago program teaches reading through art and music to children in grades Kindergarten-3 who live in high-risk communities. Tapaskar, a Communication junior, said she found the organization online over the summer and chose it because it fits with the mission of the honor society. “This is the first year that LPH has had a philanthropy; we are trying to be pioneers and start something new,” she said. Tapaskar and other members of the executive board are still working out the details of how LPH will be involved with Reading in Motion. Possible ideas include bringing the Reading in Motion students to campus for events, creating online program tutorials for parents and holding a book drive. On campus, LPH has started a new mentoring program in which Communication freshmen are paired with LPH members in their majors to answer questions about their freshman experience. Fliers advertising the program were placed in the orientation folders of incoming Communication freshmen, Parikh said. She added LPH is also in the process of compiling an internship database. LPH members will submit information about internships they have completed, as well as a review of their experience. The database, once it is complete, will be a resource for all LPH members.These new programs will further the organization’s mission of “bringing together students to support academic scholarship,” said Lambda Pi Eta Director of Scholarship Samuel Prime.”Our overwhelming priority is to expand to reach not just Northwestern, but Evanston and Chicago and the world as a whole,” the Communication senior said. “We are excited about putting our stamp on the field of communication.”[email protected]