If sustained excellence is the mark of success, 91制片鈥檚 chapter of Phi Theta Kappa honor society is there.
For the fourth consecutive year, it earned five-star distinction, the highest possible, along with a handful of other awards, including two for its prestigious 鈥淗onors in Action鈥 research project.
鈥淲e are proud of all of them, but I think what we鈥檙e most proud of is having an 鈥楬onors in Action鈥 project that was second place in the region,鈥 said Dr. Valerie Burge-Hall, who is a co-adviser of the organization along with Dr. Adrianna Hardage. 鈥淎ll of them are great, but just to see how the students had to come together to pull this off. 鈥 You have to be able to complete that in order to get the five-star level.鈥
The news comes as the chapter prepares for its 2023 induction ceremony, which is scheduled for April 17 at 7 p.m. at the Peninsula Workforce Development Center. Dr. Jeannetta Hollins, interim vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Success, is the guest speaker. Burge-Hall is expecting to induct about 20 new members, which she said is the norm.
91制片 is in a region that consists of nearly 50 colleges from West Virginia and Virginia. The other honors the chapter earned were distinguished chapter (fourth place); distinguished chapter member: Shane Smith (first place); and distinguished chapter officer: Lewis Silverman (president, fourth place).
For 鈥淗onors in Action,鈥 this year鈥檚 overall theme was 鈥淭he Art of Science and Play.鈥 91制片 earned first place in its subcategory of 鈥淣ostalgia as Play,鈥 and second place among all 鈥淗onors in Action鈥 entrants, regardless of subcategory.
Hardage explained the project looked at, in a campus environment, what types of events interest students the most and are any of them tied to their childhood, for example particular types of board games or certain sports. Their project also explored the idea of whether students felt guilty attending events instead of studying or doing other academic work. They did not.
鈥淥ne of the things that I think that covid really taught us was that taking time for mental health, and taking time to just relax and restore, is really important for your physical health and for your well-being overall,鈥 Hardage said. 鈥淲e were pretty excited about that.鈥
The project also explored whether students preferred on-campus or off-campus events, and what drew them to events. There was no surprise with the first result (on-campus events were preferred), but there was for the latter.
鈥淚t was very interesting, because we all thought that the major reason students weren鈥檛 attending particular events was because they weren鈥檛 prioritizing it,鈥 Hardage said. 鈥淏ut it鈥檚 honestly just to do with the time is not matching up or the style is not matching up with what they鈥檙e interested in.鈥
She said the thought going in was free food, swag and whether their friends also were interested were important factors. That wasn鈥檛 the case. Time and topic played bigger roles.
The next step, Hardage said, is to use the data to plan more student events.
鈥淐ommunity colleges are awesome, but students don鈥檛 live here,鈥 she said. 鈥淪o, we have to work extra hard to try to get students to stay on campus when they could easily just go home and relax and chill in their pajamas.鈥
What impressed Burge-Hall and Hardage about the project was the teamwork exhibited by the PTK members.
鈥淚鈥檝e seen the most student participation with that, which is good,鈥 Burge-Hall said. 鈥淭he students who are participating are engaged and they鈥檙e interested in doing things.鈥
Hardage called the project 鈥渁 labor of love鈥 for the students.
鈥淭hat was really a bunch of students getting together and it was teamwork personified. It was everybody saying what can I do? How can I help?鈥 Hardage said. 鈥淚t was just a phenomenal effort. It was so awesome to see.鈥
This year鈥檚 winners:
Distinguished chapter: Fourth place
Distinguished chapter for Honors in Action (Nostalgia as Play theme): First place
Distinguished Honors in Action project (all themes): Second place
Distinguished chapter member: Shane Smith
Distinguished chapter officer: Lewis Silverman, president, fourth place
Five-star recognition: Entire chapter
Students who have earned at least 12 credit hours and have an overall GPA of 3.5 are eligible for PTK.
