CSCC’s PTK Omega Omicron Chapter Brings Home Awards  

CSCC’s PTK Omega Omicron Chapter Brings Home Awards  

Holly Vincent
Tuesday, March 30, 2021 12:00 AM
Community, Students


Members of Cleveland State Community College’s Omega Omicron Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) International Honor Society have a reason to smile after bringing home regional awards from the recent Tennessee Region Meeting held this past weekend. PTK members and advisors from different chapters competed for recognition in the Society’s Hallmarks of Scholarship, Leadership, Service and Fellowship. Phi Theta Kappa is in the international honor society of the two-year college and the largest honor society in the world.

The team brought home second place overall for its Honors in Action Project. For this project, the team concentrated on mental health during the pandemic. There were several themes that could be explored in the projects, and the CSCC Omega Omicron Chapter sought to answer the question, “How does inherited understandings of progress guide the future.”

Throughout PTK’s project, my thought process was that I was not going to allow a pandemic be the reason we could not aim for greatness,” stated Ariana Medina, CSCC’s Vice President for Scholarship for PTK. “The fact that we aimed and hit a target was just a bonus.”

The team hosted a virtual mental health workshop week to provide students with practical tips to help their mental health. In an effort to collaborate with others in the campus community, the CSCC chapter worked with different clubs around campus to lead the workshops. In addition, they also collaborated with the CSCC Counseling Center which helped raise awareness so that students would be aware of the resources that were available on CSCC’s campus.

As the Vice President for Scholarship, Medina was in charge of coordinating the Honors in Action Project. She was involved in everything from brainstorming, executing the plan, and submitting the project’s results. This year, Medina was a full-time virtual student, so she did everything from her bedroom office via emails and video chats. 


Medina stated, “Winning was a satisfying and humbling moment because our efforts were recognized, but I knew we could not have won alone. It took a solid team to make this project happen especially in a virtual setting. Our chapter’s vision for the project was to address the issue of mental health, raise awareness of our campus resources and find new ways to help students connect by taking advantage of the virtual platform. By the end of the semester, I was content simply knowing that our goals had been accomplished.”

The chapter also received the Chapter of Light Award which honors chapters who have continued to “light” the way in the region through promoting the Hallmarks of Scholarship, Leadership, Service and Fellowship in its programming outside of the Honors in Action and College Project.

PTK Advisor Kimberly Harrington, said, “During a challenging year for everyone, our chapter did an amazing job providing an opportunity for our college’s students to learn more about campus resources while engaging in activities to improve mental health. Our chapter was in agreement that this project was important regardless of the awards outcome. I’m so happy that PTK recognized our students’ efforts, however.”

The PTK National Convention, Catalyst, will take place virtually on April 8-10, and the chapter will be participating. Dr. Bill Seymour, Cleveland State President, will be honored at Catalyst with the Shirley B. Gordon Award of Distinction, an award given to college presidents who have shown strong support of student success on their campus by recognizing academic achievement, leadership and service among high-achieving students at their colleges. Named in honor of Phi Theta Kappa’s longest-serving Board of Directors member and long-time president of Highline Community College in Washington, this is the most prestigious award for community college presidents.

 

About Phi Theta Kappa:


Phi Theta Kappa is the international honor society of the two-year college and has the largest membership of any honor society in the world with chapters in all fifty states, Guam, Germany, Canada, and Japan.  The Society bases its total programming on its commitment to excellence in the four Hallmarks of Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Fellowship. The Hallmark Awards competition is conducted annually and recognizes chapters and individual achievement. Individual and chapter awards are based on essays; programming; letters of recognition; scholarship; service to and leadership in the community and college; and honor society participation. Five-Star Awards are based on a detailed hierarchy of achievements and program activities.
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