Alpha Kappa Wins Hallmark Awards at International Conference, Aims to Repeat

BMCC’s Alpha Kappa Chapter was recognized as one of Phi Theta Kappa’s top one-hundred chapters and received an award for its honors in action project during the international conference in Nashville last week.

Alpha Kappa was one of just fifty chapters to win the Distinguished Honors in Action Project Award. For its project, Alpha Kappa organized a debate to discuss whether it was ethical for employers to screen the social networking sites of potential job candidates. The chapter used the debate as a forum to raise awareness on the issue and educate BMCC students about how to protect their online profiles.

For a project to be successful, it must meet objectives established in the Honors Project rubric, cultivate leadership roles, and address the need of students at the college, chapter advisor Steve Shroeder told his audience during an honor topic study forum.

From April 12^th to the 14^th, five hundred and eighty seven chapters from around the world brought over four thousand Phi Theta Kappans to attend the convention in Nashville. During the Hallmark Awards Ceremony, Alpha Kappa was also recognized as one of the top 100 chapters in the organization.

There are more than 3,000 chapters in the organization and 344 chapters, besides Alpha Kappa, that have achieved five-star recognition. 

In order to achieve five-star recognition a chapter must meet an extensive number of criteria. Ultimately, five-star status recognizes a chapter’s continued “involvement in the region and international activities and events,” according to ptk.org.

Placing among the top 100 means that Alpha Kappa has exceeded the necessary requirements of a five-star chapter. One of the outstanding achievements that put Alpha Kappa in that elite circle was winning the Distinguished Honors in Action Project Award.

Alpha Kappa member Carlo Fervil thinks the chapter may be on track to win an Honors Project Award next year. “Knowing that we won that award makes me want to aim even higher,” said Fervil who conducted a student survey for this year’s project. Throughout the convention speakers touched on important aspects of the project’s topic: “How does the education system of the United States compete with those of other nations?”

Alpha Kappa hopes to prove the thesis of its Honors Project; that students from many different backgrounds benefit by studying together at BMCC. The Chapter will host its own panel in May where International and U.S. students will demonstrate the different ways education is valued around the world.

At the conference, keynote speaker Amy Chua, author of the book Battle Hymn of the Tiger Mother, talked about the “immigrant mentality”. “Tiger parenting is about early childhood rearing,” she said. “Chinese society and culture does well at instilling resilience.”

She explained that education is central to Chinese culture.

Students from Hong Kong and Shanghai outscored American students in all three areas of the 2009 PISA Study.

The Program for International Student Assessment (PISA) was last conducted in 2009 by the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. The study evaluated students from thirty-four participating countries in the three critical areas of reading, math, and science.

The PISA study, which is central to the Alpha Kappa Honors Project, was brought up during an onstage panel discussion with Chua. Also discussed in the panel was Finland, whose high scores on the PISA challenge orthodox thinking that standardized tests, long school days, and competition among students are essential for a strong education system.

Chua pointed out in her speech that the strongest nations in history were able to “absorb the best that other cultures have to offer.”

International Officer Team Elected at Nashville Convention

It was election time at the Phi Theta Kappa International Convention held in Nashville and the event had the atmosphere of a political rally. Five hundred and eighty seven chapters waved their state banners in the convention center of the Gaylord Opryland Resort to elect a new team of international officers. 

Delegate Linda Rayburn of Henry Ford Community College in Dearborn, MI, doesn’t “want a candidate who promises the moon.” Rayburn said she liked candidates with experience as regional officers and a record of leadership.

Paul Emery, the voting delegate for the Alpha Rho Mu Chapter of Lone Star Tomball Community College in Tomball, TX, looked for candidates who brought practical solutions to their position. Emery was satisfied when one of the candidates promised to resolve a dispute with one of his advisors by finding a compromise that would make both parties happy.

“Every candidate has great ideas,” said Emery. “It takes a true leader to make that idea a reality of everyday life.”

For the candidates, however, the competition for the highest office in Phi Theta Kappa was about more than winning. The election provided an opportunity for members to craft their leadership skills by standing at the very center of the organization.

Olga Homonchuk, one of the finalists for international president, said she almost gave up her studies in order to return home to the Ukraine. “But PTK supported me,” she said and her chapter convinced her to continue her education.

As a Regional officer she organized a food drive for the Minn-Wi-Kota Region of the Midwest. The goal was to raise five hundred pounds of food for the Second Harvest Food Shelf in Minnesota.

Her campaign manager, Bernard Akem, said many members thought six hundred pounds would be too ambitious. But Homonchuk got everyone involved. Akem described chapters that drove over six hours through the snow to deliver their food to the regional convention. They raised more than five thousand pounds of food.

Without the support from her region Homonchuk said she never would have run for International President.

Although she didn’t win, like many of the other candidates, Homonchuk’s story demonstrates the scope of opportunity in Phi Theta Kappa.

When Anthony Ames received the ceremonial flame from former VP Sarah Yates, his election to division III vice president represented more than just a an academic victory.

When Ames was a third grader in Iowa, he was placed in special education because his teacher didn’t want to “deal” with his Asperger’s syndrome, he said. Asperger’s is described by the Institute for Neurological Disorders as a developmental disorder that is part of the autism spectrum, characterized by “impairment in language and communication skills.”  

Joanne Pearson, alumni of Sigma Lambda in Alabama, has a daughter with Asperger’s. “[The other] students view it as a disability, and it isn’t,” said Pearson. “She sees the world differently and that gives her an edge.”

Pearson called her daughter during the election to tell her about Ames.

Keynote speaker at the conference, Malcolm Gladwell, told his audience that many of the world’s great entrepreneurs have dyslexia. By compensating for their weakness, he said, they developed the necessary skills to be successful in business.

Ames, who tested out of special education after two years, thought Gladwell’s speech meshed well with his story. As a child he studied the way character’s on television shows interacted and then used those observations to have smoother communication with his peers.

Ames is a second-generation member of PTK. He majors is education with an endorsement in special education. Currently, he is a Regional and Chapter Officer for Tau Phi at De Moines Area Community College, where he helped to raise support for new initiatives by distributing information to all regional members.

“Phi Theta Kappa is my bread and butter because it has helped me grow so much,” said Ames.

Joining Ames, are the other international officers elected at the conference:

International president- Ryan Austin of Ivy Tech Community College in Gary, Indiana

Division I vice president- Casey Romero-Tobia of Trident Technical College in Charleston, South Carolina

Division II vice president- Ryan A. Lake of Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College in Gautier, Mississippi

Division IV vice president- Andrea Gail San Diego of the College of Southern Nevada in North Las Vegas, Nevada.