Phi Theta Kappa’s Beta Eta Psi chapter at City College inducted 30 new members into the honor society at a Dec. 7 ceremony in the Student Center.
After the students mingled and had food and desserts, one of the first speakers, Mark Dennis, chair of the psychology department and PTK faculty adviser, welcomed the guests and new inductees.
According to Dennis, only 11% of the college’s fall 2019 students were eligible to become a part of Phi Theta Kappa, an international honor society of two-year colleges and academic programs that celebrated its 100th anniversary in 2018. There were 76 total students that accepted membership into PTK. The City College Panther being one of the new members inducted.
The four pillars of Phi Theta Kappa are leadership, fellowship, scholarship and service, Dennis stressed.
“It is an honor society, but it is an honor society that is dedicated to giving back to the community. So at the end of the day what we are most about here are service and developing student leaders,” Dennis said. “We are really about giving back to our campus community, helping to shape the goals and direction of our campus community. And just helping students grow and develop into their full potential and into the leaders that they can be.”
Adrian Balaj, political science major and PTK division IV international vice president representing the West Coast, reflected to the audience about what he has gotten from PTK.
“A second chance,” Balaj said. “I never saw myself continuing an education and being where I am today if it wasn’t for Phi Theta Kappa.”
Oman Rincon, a former City College student and PTK member, created a PowerPoint presentation that was shown during the induction about the PTK chapter at City College.
Dennis said that Rincon was one of the first students he met when he became the faculty adviser for PTK.
“As I got to know Omar over time, it turned out that he was an ESL student, and I watched him go from this student that was so uncomfortable with his English skills that one on one conversations were intimidating for him,” Dennis said. “I watched him go from that to becoming an officer within our chapter, to becoming the president of our chapter, to becoming a regional vice president, and then running for international office, giving a speech to an audience of 4,000 that got a standing ovation.”
According to the PTK website, the organization has 3.5 million members worldwide and annually awards $1.5 million in scholarships.
