UCC’s Phi Theta Kappa Honors Society is looking forward to see if they will win one of the highly anticipated Hallmark awards coming in April. Chapters that win must exemplify excellence in leadership, service, fellowship and community involvement. UCC’s chapter is known as the Alpha Sigma Upsilon chapter.
Several criteria needed to be accomplished before the club could compete for a Hallmark award. The Honors in Action award and College Project award entries revolve around their on-campus projects. Requirements for the Honors in Action Hallmark includes a 2600 word essay on a summary of their project and its objectives. The essay revolved around a central theme Phi Theta Kappa chose the “Natural and Engineered” theme and the project itself focused on landfill, recycling and waste management.
Additionally, the College Project Hallmark includes a 1200 word essay about the planning process and objectives for the project the club is actively working on. This project focuses on improving the UCC campus garden.
“We submitted our Hallmarks to encourage team growth and learning,” said Jantyne Bunce, Phi Theta Kappa chapter president.
In fall 2016, adviser Marjan Coester suggested the [Alpha Sigma Upsilon] chapter begin their research project with encouragement of advisers Diana Kelly and Mary Stinnett. This is a first in 10 years for their chapter.
The projects that teams complete in order to apply for Hallmark awards provide them with growth in leadership, team building, scholarly research, recognition and accomplishment.
According to the Phi Theta Kappa website, “The Hallmark Awards Program, which reflects the scholarly ideals of Phi Theta Kappa, serves to recognize superior individual and chapter achievement in Society programs. In this program, chapters compete against one another. Participation encourages excellence, reflects fairness, recognizes quality and leads to enhanced student, advisor, and chapter development.”
The Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society was founded in 1918. Since then, the Honor Society has branched out to become a global organization with 1,285 chapters internationally and 25 chapters in our region alone. UCC has approximately 100 members involved in its honor society.
“The Hallmark awards are a way for members of Phi Theta Kappa to keep record of their yearly accomplishments on campus and in the community. At the same time, they also act as a form of competition between chapters at the regional and international level,” KC Perley, lead UCC peer mentor, said.
“It will demonstrate our resolve, determination, commitment and resiliency to the community as well as our dedication to the tenets of leadership, service, scholarship and fellowship.”
“It will demonstrate our resolve, determination, commitment and resiliency to the community…” —KC Perley, lead UCC peer mentor