Pellissippi State honor society chapter claims 18 awards at conference

The College’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, an international honor society for two-year colleges, received a record number of awards at PTK’s Tennessee regional conference in March.

Phi Theta Kappa is the largest honor society in American higher education, with more than two million members and 1,200 chapters located in all 50 of the states as well as the U.S. territories, British Virgin Islands, Canada, Germany, Marshall Islands, Micronesia, United Arab Emirates and Palau. Students must have a 3.5 grade point average to qualify for membership.

The Pellissippi State chapter, Alpha Theta Xi, received international and regional awards and was officially named a 5-Star Chapter, the highest level a chapter can reach.

International awards earned: Pellissippi State president Allen Edwards received the Presidential Award of Distinction, and Tonia Abdul-Ahab and Monsour Fall, the Tennessee Academic Team.

Winners of regional awards include Paul Honebrink, first place, Visual Competition Awards; Robin Bray, second place, Visual Competition Awards; and Reggie Mackay and Jan Meccia, certificates of participation, Visual Competition Awards.

Luke Koch took second place and Paul Honebrink took third in the regional Literary Competition Awards. Tiffany Tweed and Morgan Wallace received first place in the regional Yearbook category.

Other regional award recipients: Tiffany Tweed, the Out of the Box Award, for the chapter’s sponsorship of the Virginia Tech vigil last spring; Jonathan Weaver, the Icarus Award (for a lofty goal that failed), for the chapter’s Relay for Life memory tree; Hope Lamberson-Foulds, fifth place, Scholarship Hallmark award; and Kellie Keyes, third place, Leadership Hallmark Award.

Reggie Mackay received first place in the Distinguished Chapter President category. Sean Finch placed fifth in the Distinguished Chapter Officer category, and Paul Honebrink took home third place as a Distinguished Chapter Member.

Carol O’Farrell, English professor, was presented third place in the Paragon Advisor Award. The chapter also received the Chapter of Light Awards for participating in at least three regional service projects.