FPC FAQs
Am I Eligible to Apply?
Yes, as long as . . .
--you have been invited by a Club-affiliated adult;
--you are in Grades 5-12 (in a conventional school, online school, homeschool, or any combination thereof);
--you have a C minus or better in all of your classes and plan to keep it that way; and
--you have the permission of your parents/ legal guardians to participate in all Club activities, online and in person, once you have been accepted as a member.
How Much Does It Cost?
As Aragorn once said to Frodo, "No more than you can afford."
Technically, becoming an "Inkspiller"--as the student members of the Star of the Sea FPC are called--doesn't cost anything at all. There is no membership fee, and your Fountain Pen is a provisional gift to you from the Club. (There is more information about conditions for keeping your Pen to be found further down in these FAQs.)
What do you have to pay for?
Any other expenses
along the way.
Costs you will incur include additional ink for your Fountain Pen, whenever you run out (and it has to be the right kind of ink, or you will ruin your Pen);, a Journal to write in and another one when you fill it up; office supplies for drafting a submission to the FPC publication; and unabridged copies of works you choose to read from the Library List.
Costs you might incur include printing out a copy of your FPC Handbook: Inkspiller's Edition (if you don't want to read it online), charges for optional supplementary coursework or special events; and donations to FPC fundraisers such as Bake Sales and other activities.
Your Fountain Pen itself is a gift from the Club, entrusted to you under conditions spelled out in the "Code of Conduct" and the Club Handbook. If you lose or damage it, you and your parents are liable for the replacement cost, and you have to return or replace it if you are expelled from Club membership.
Inkspillers in good standing at the time of their High School graduation keep their Pens for good.
How Much Time Is Involved?
Once again, for the most part, that is your call.
There are many voices clamoring for our attention these days, and many possibilities for filling up our lives. Becoming an "Inkspiller" is a commitment, to be sure, but it is both a flexible and valuable one.
Flexible, because actual Club requirements are few, and they are spread out over the course of a calendar year. In order to maintain membership, an Inkspiller is expected:
--to write something in your Journal (hopefully) every day, but this can be as short or as long as you desire;
--to read three new-to-you works from the Library List in a year, writing a brief review of one of them (but the selection and therefore the length and difficulty of the reading is also up to you);
--to submit something original for editorial consideration when the Club publication comes out (but again, what you submit, and how much time you sink into it, is at your own discretion); and
--to attend FPC meetings and fundraisers if at all possible. Other activities, when offered, are not compulsory in any sense.
Valuable, because sometimes we get too caught up with what is urgent, to the neglect of what is important.
Which is why, if an Inkspiller has the energy and inclination to go further up and further in, the FPC offers that opportunity as well.
How Do
I Apply?
Easily.
STEP ONE: Go to the HOW TO JOIN THE CLUB tab on this website, and find the "Application Form" on the dropdown menu. Open this and fill it out. In order to submit it successfully, you will have to provide:
--the name of the (unrelated-to-you) adult who has recommended you for Club membership;
--an email address which your parents/ legal guardians give permission for the Club to use in communicating with you;
--another email address for contacting them; and
--your reasons for wanting to become an Inkspiller in the first place.
(The "Application Form" should only take a couple of minutes to complete, if you have this information available in advance.)
STEP TWO: you wait patiently but in an agony of anticipation for an email from the FPC at the address you provided, stating (hopefully) that your application has been approved.
(If you don't hear from us in a few days, weekends excluded, you may send a polite reminder tofpc.nibmaster@gmail.com.)
STEP THREE: once you are in receipt of said email, congratulations, you're an Inkspiller! Next, you and your parents sign into the Member's Area. How and why will be explained shortly.
Do I Need the Permission of My Parents
(or legal guardians)?
Yes! Certainly, you do.
The FPC recognizes parents as the primary educators of their children.
All Club activities, online and in person, are conducted only when parental consent has been definitively expressed.
Specifically, this entails:
--permission for adult representatives of the FPC to communicate with you by email and in person, to supervise your Club activities, and to offer academic guidance with your writing and other creative endeavors;
--permission to publish your original works (if selected by the editors) in the Club publication, using a photo and your first and last name unless otherwise specified at the time of publication; and
--permission to use photos and/or videos of you in Club materials, whether printed or online.
Parents retain the final authority over what their students are reading and doing, and are permitted access to the FPC MEMBER'S AREA for this purpose (see additional information below).
What's a Member's
Area For?
A "Member's Area" password-protects certain pages on a website, restricting access to those with prior permission.
This means that, online, you will be interacting with Club mentors, members, and parents only.
Why go to all this trouble, when things could be much less complicated without all the steps outlined below? Because we're looking out for you, that's why, and we wouldn't have it any other way.
How Do
I Sign In?
By going to "Login" on the dropdown menu under FPC MEMBER'S AREA, and selecting the box for "Inkspiller," which means you!
The other choices are: Parent or Starcharter. Ignore those for the moment.
When you sign in, use the email you provided on your "Application Form"--and no other, because that's the one the FPC has permission to use.
Create a password for yourself and keep track of it, since you will be needing it for all future sign-ins as well.
Reading and agreeing to a "Code of Conduct" statement is a requirement for signing in successfully. More information on these conditions for maintaining your membership will be spelled out in the FPC Handbook: Inkspiller's Edition. Father James de Cendra, dcjm, retains final authority over all membership decisions.
PLEASE NOTE: Any first "Sign In" attempt generates an alert to the FPC site admin, who will have to approve the attempt. Notification will be given as soon as possible. If you or your parents don't receive notification in a reasonable amount of time, you may send a polite reminder to fpc.nibmaster@gmail.com.
Why Do
My Parents
(or at least one of them) Have to
Sign In, Too?
Because they need to know what you're reading off of the Library List, for instance, among other things.
Your parents, as your primary educators, have the right and the responsibility of supervising all of your interactions and activities.
Signing in to the Member's Area gives them the opportunity to do so.
Your parents, not the Club, have the final say over reading and other activities. Parents may contact the FPC at fpc.nibmaster @gmail.com with these and any other concerns.
How Do
My Parents
Sign In?
The same way you did, except by following their own instructions instead of yours.
Your parents will provide their own email and create a different password for themselves.
They will select the box for "Parents" (not "Inkspillers" or "Starcharters") and agree to the parental "Terms and Conditions" as a requirement of signing in successfully.
Then they can check in as frequently (or infrequently) as they would like, although they do not participate in FPC Projects themselves.
OK, I'm Logged In.
Now What?
It is after the Lone Islands that the adventure really begins.
Under the FPC MEMBER'S AREA tab, find "Charting a Course" on the dropdown menu. Select it, and you will find an index page where you can Meet the Team, create a profile, locate your copy of the FPC Handbook: Inkspiller's Edition, and get started on your FPC Projects proper.
There is also a blog that you can read ("Scribblings") and a forum you can participate in ("There and Back Again"), but you'll soon see all of that--and more--for yourself.
What Is a "Nibmaster," Anyway?
We like nicknames.
Father James is our "Nibmaster"--meaning the leader of the Club. He is also the expert in all things related to the Fountain Pens themselves.
The adult volunteers on his team, who assist with FPC Projects and all aspects of Club activity, are called "Starcharters" after the people once responsible for navigating ships under the guidance of the night sky.
The student FPC members are known as "Inkspillers" because the expression to spill ink means "to write a lot."
When you are logged in to the Member's Area, you can create a profile using a nickname (within the parameters of Catholic common sense, of course) all for yourself.
When Do I Get My Pen?
Patience is a virtue.
Those of us in the FPC--just like Aslan, the great lion of Narnia--call all times
soon.