Iowa Valley Grinnell Phi Theta Kappa inducts new members
Tuesday / October 18, 2016
Fall 2016 Iowa Valley Grinnell Phi Theta Kappa honor society inductees are: back row, from left: Josiah Oleson, Bryce DeKoning, Maddison Jansen and Miya McAntire; front row: Kayte Werner, Nicole Vukonich, Hunter Foubert and Autumn Hasley. Grant Johnson is not pictured.
GRINNELL – Nine new members were inducted into Iowa Valley Community College Grinnell’s Beta Sigma Chi Chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society last week.
The Phi Theta Kappa organization recognizes academic achievement at the community college level. The Iowa Valley Grinnell Chapter requires members to have completed at least 12 semester hours in a two-year degree program, be currently enrolled, have attended the previous semester, and have a 3.5 GPA or higher.
Skyler Small, Beta Sigma Chi Chapter Vice President, welcomed the honorees and guests. Advisor Kelly Davis gave the invocation, and guest speaker Jodi Blackford, IVG graduate, Buena Vista University graduate and PTK member, talked about Phi Theta Kappa’s impact on her life and the opportunity it represents for newly inducted members.
Blackford recounted her personal experience of coming back to college as an older student and working to overcome some personal fears and regain her confidence. “On the first day of college classes, someone in my speech class asked how it felt to be so much older than all the other students and I thought, ‘so much for ignoring that elephant in the room!’” Blackford assured the PTK inductees that each of them follows a unique path, and that while they have much in common they also have great diversity that should be acknowledged and celebrated.
Iowa Valley Grinnell Dean MaryAnne Nickle conducted the induction with assistance from Barbara Hall, Chapter Advisor, and PTK members Skyler Small, Katherine Neeson, Jodi Blackford and Beth Hotchkin. Inductees, listed by hometown, are:
Brooklyn – Miya McAntire, HS/Undecided.
Grinnell – Bryce DeKoning, Liberal Arts; Josiah Oleson, HS/Undecided; and Kayte Werner, Liberal Arts.
Malcom – Maddison Jansen, HS/Undecided.
Montezuma – Hunter Foubert, HS/Undecided; Autumn Hasley, HS/Undecided; Grant Johnson, HS/Undecided; and Nicole Vukonich, Liberal Arts.