PTK receives numerous awards at conference

Cleaning out warehouses isn’t exactly what you’d expect of students in an honor society. But students belonging to the Pellissippi State chapter of Phi Theta Kappa not only did warehouse cleanup—they also won an award for that and their other work in the community.

Students in Alpha Theta Xi, the Pellissippi State chapter of Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, won a host of awards at the recent Phi Theta Kappa Regional Conference in Dyersburg. Among them was the Chapter of Light Award, presented for the chapter’s multitude of service projects to aid such nonprofit groups as Race for the Cure, Second Harvest and Habitat for Humanity.

“When I went to a Habitat for Humanity project to clean up a warehouse, it showed me that my passions and Phi Theta Kappa’s passions were very well matched,” said Tara Morrison, the chapter’s president-elect.

Morrison was elected regional president at the conference. She also won second place in Literary Anthology for an essay she wrote and fourth place as Distinguished Chapter Member.

Michael Fields, the current Alpha Theta Xi chapter president, won first place as Distinguished Chapter President and also took first in the Yearbook category.

“I used to be really shy and didn’t want to get up in front of a crowd,” said Fields, a transfer student from Greenville, South Carolina, who works as a corporate trainer for Elavon Corp. “Phi Theta Kappa has pushed me out and helped me become comfortable in front of people.”

Among the many other awards the Pellissippi State group received were Five-Star Chapter, the highest honor a chapter can win internationally, and Out of the Box, for the chapter’s paper reduction campaign.

“It feels really good to see our members rewarded for all the time and hard work they have invested,” said Marty Salter, who along with Ann Kronk is the chapter’s faculty advisor.

“When I saw students networking at the regional convention,” Salter said, “I realized that Phi Theta Kappa is so much more than celebrating academic achievement. It’s also the active participation that will yield big results, both personally and professionally, after graduation. I’ve already seen that happen.”

Phi Theta Kappa is the largest honor society in American higher education, with more than two million members and 1,200 chapters in the U.S. and beyond. Students must have a 3.5 grade point average to qualify for membership.

“The primary goals of Phi Theta Kappa,” said Kronk, “are to help students develop leadership and service skills and to help develop unique scholastic activities.”