HCC Phi Theta Kappa Members Inducted for Spring ‘10

Halifax Community College (HCC) held a Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) International Honor Society Induction Ceremony, April 20. The Alpha Eta Phi Chapter welcomed 11 new members into the honor society this year.

New members included Keino M. Bridges, Annie L. Davis, Travis Harding, Aaron Leach, Kiara Lee, Angela B. Person, Stacey Phipps, Corey Rooker, Virginia Salazar, Claudette Whitaker, and April Williams.

Daniel J. Lovett, project director of the PRIDE of Halifax Male Mentoring Program, was the guest speaker. “This is your day and no one can take it away,” said Lovett. “You are proof of what can be done if you work hard…When I look at you, I see success.”

Lovett’s message focused on dreaming big, writing one’s own success story and what is means to be successful. He said that success really means more than grades—it is respecting others and honoring faculty and staff and administrators, living by the Golden Rule, having a spiritual side, loving others when it is difficult to do so, and having strong values and ethics, to name a few. “Success is how you live,” Lovett added.

He noted that much is expected of inductees. “Think about the bigger picture, about what you contribute beyond who you are today,” he stressed. “I think your goal today is not to be egotistical, not to be self-centered and not to think only of self. You have to decide how you have a broader impact on society.”

The Alpha Eta Phi Chapter was chartered at HCC on April 1, 1982. Since then, the chapter has inducted more than 500 members, representing the top 10 percent of the student population. To qualify for membership, students must be enrolled in an associate degree program and must maintain a minimum cumulative grade point average of 3.5 (full-time) and 3.7 (part-time). Students must be of good moral character and possess recognized qualities of leadership.

Currently, PTK is the largest honor society in American higher education with more than 1.3 million members and 1,200 chapters. It was established in Missouri by two-year college presidents in 1918, and serves to recognize and encourage the academic achievement of two-year college students and provide opportunities for individual growth and development through honors, leadership and service programming.

New members of Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society Alpha Eta Phi Chapter were inducted on April 20. Pictured are (front row, left) Virginia Salazar, Travis Harding, Annie Davis; (second row) Angela Person, Kiara Lee; (third row) Corey Rooker, PTK Alpha Eta Phi Chapter Advisor Shaun Stokes, PTK Alpha Eta Phi Chapter Induction Officer Qiana Mann, and Stacey Phipps.