HAMPTON — Virginia Peninsula Community College’s chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa honor society earned seven awards at the regional conference, highlighted by maintaining its five-star status for the seventh consecutive year.
“I was shocked,” PTK President Cameron Johnson said of winning the awards.
Johnson noted the awards show “the tremendous work that the PTK is doing” and “what the people are doing with the chapter and how they are making a difference with not only themselves but with the chapter as well. It’s truly amazing.”
The awards:
- Continued Excellence Chapter (maintaining five-star status, which it has had since
2019.) - First place Distinguished Chapter Officer team. (Caroline Morris, co-president at the
time; Cameron Johnson, current president who was co-president with Morris; and
Pratham Trivedi, secretary at the time). - Second place Distinguished Chapter.
- Second place Distinguished Chapter member (Keri Brown, who led the chapter’s Honors
in Action (HIA) project. - Third place Distinguished Theme for HIA project.
- Third place Distinguished College project.
- Fourth place Distinguished Honors in Action project.
Johnson said the Distinguished Chapter Officer team meant a lot.
“The officer team does an amazing job as advisers and making sure the chapter is doing
what we need to do to keep Phi Theta Kappa running,” he said.
According to VPCC, the theme for the Honors in Action project was “Stories of Persistence, Resilience, Healing, and Sorrow.”
Johnson said the stories came from VPCC students and the project showed “how
storytelling really plays a huge, huge role not only on campus, but out in the real world.”
Patrick Smith, a PTK adviser who was the faculty lead on the HIA project, enjoyed
watching the students do the research, provide literature review and support their questions, VPCC said.
“Our students did a fine job compiling, summarizing, and analyzing the data they
collected,” he said. “I was very much overjoyed to see how they are truly scholars. I hold
it in the back of my mind that I would like to collaborate with them one day to turn our
data into a book on the importance of storytelling.”
Arianna Hardage, also a PTK adviser, said the HIA project was a team effort.
“We have some really active chapter members and without the work and dedication they are putting in, a lot of these things fizzle,” she said. “We were just really blessed this year to have a ton of interested and amazing students.”
For the Distinguished College project, the chapter spoke with VPCC President Towuanna Porter Brannon and the administration to find an area of need. The decision was bringing arts to local school children, the college said.
“With the return of Templin Hall (now under reconstruction on the Hampton Campus), the support of the Arts to Children program seemed like a perfect choice,” said Lew Silverman, who led the project. “Our fundraising efforts proved very effective, as we were able to donate almost $500 to the Mary Templin Fund.”
Silverman added that under Brannon’s guidance, another aspect of the project will be to bring elementary children to the VPCC campus “allowing them to enjoy and appreciate all that the college has to offer in its arts programs.”
VPCC said it’s easy to see why the Phi Sigma chapter of PTK extended its run as a five-star chapter.
“We made sure we maintain our status regularly by consistently putting the hard work and
effort in,” Johnson said. “We make sure that we go to great lengths to make sure that we take care of whatever it is that we need to take care of for the good of not only us but for the good of others and for the good of the chapter and the college.”
The chapter’s Induction ceremony is set for April 16 at the Peninsula Workforce Development Center, with more than 20 students being honored.
Hardage estimated the chapter has more than 150 members.
For more information on VPCC, visit the webpage.
