PTK Extends its Run of Excellence

PTK's "Honors in Action" research project delved into what attracts students to campus activities.

If sustained excellence is the mark of success, Virginia Peninsula Community College’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa honor society is there.

For the fourth consecutive year, it earned five-star distinction, the highest possible, along with a handful of other awards, including two for its prestigious “Honors in Action” research project.

“We are proud of all of them, but I think what we’re most proud of is having an ‘Honors in Action’ project that was second place in the region,” said Dr. Valerie Burge-Hall, who is a co-adviser of the organization along with Dr. Adrianna Hardage. “All of them are great, but just to see how the students had to come together to pull this off. … You have to be able to complete that in order to get the five-star level.”

The news comes as the chapter prepares for its 2023 induction ceremony, which is scheduled for April 17 at 7 p.m. at the Peninsula Workforce Development Center. Dr. Jeannetta Hollins, interim vice president for Enrollment Management and Student Success, is the guest speaker. Burge-Hall is expecting to induct about 20 new members, which she said is the norm.

VPCC is in a region that consists of nearly 50 colleges from West Virginia and Virginia. The other honors the chapter earned were: distinguished chapter (fourth place); distinguished chapter member: Shane Smith (first place); and distinguished chapter officer: Lewis Silverman (president, fourth place).

For “Honors in Action,” this year’s overall theme was “The Art of Science and Play.” VPCC earned first place in its subcategory of “Nostalgia as Play,” and second place among all “Honors in Action” entrants, regardless of subcategory.

Hardage explained the project looked at, in a campus environment, what types of events interest students the most and are any of them tied to their childhood, for example particular types of board games or certain sports. Their project also explored the idea of whether students felt guilty attending events instead of studying or doing other academic work. They did not.

“One of the things that I think that covid really taught us was that taking time for mental health, and taking time to just relax and restore, is really important for your physical health and for your well-being overall,” Hardage said. “We were pretty excited about that.”

The project also explored whether students preferred on-campus or off-campus events, and what drew them to events. There was no surprise with the first result (on-campus events were preferred), but there was for the latter.

“It was very interesting, because we all thought that the major reason students weren’t attending particular events was because they weren’t prioritizing it,” Hardage said. “But it’s honestly just to do with the time is not matching up or the style is not matching up with what they’re interested in.”

She said the thought going in was free food, swag and whether their friends also were interested were important factors. That wasn’t the case. Time and topic played bigger roles.

The next step, Hardage said, is to use the data to plan more student events.

“Community colleges are awesome, but students don’t live here,” she said. “So, we have to work extra hard to try to get students to stay on campus when they could easily just go home and relax and chill in their pajamas.”

What impressed Burge-Hall and Hardage about the project was the teamwork exhibited by the PTK members.

“I’ve seen the most student participation with that, which is good,” Burge-Hall said. “The students who are participating are engaged and they’re interested in doing things.”

Hardage called the project “a labor of love” for the students.

“That was really a bunch of students getting together and it was teamwork personified. It was everybody saying what can I do? How can I help?” Hardage said. “It was just a phenomenal effort. It was so awesome to see.”

This year’s winners:

Distinguished chapter: Fourth place

Distinguished chapter for Honors in Action (Nostalgia as Play theme): First place

Distinguished Honors in Action project (all themes): Second place

Distinguished chapter member: Shane Smith

Distinguished chapter officer: Lewis Silverman, president, fourth place

Five-star recognition: Entire chapter

Students who have earned at least 12 credit hours and have an overall GPA of 3.5 are eligible for PTK. For more information, go to https://www.vpcc.edu/life/ptk.html.