PTK members at PJC attend district meeting

Published or Revised September 30, 2015

Recently members of the Paris Junior College Beta Zeta chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the two year college honor society, left at 6:00 a.m. for a trip to Kilgore College. Travelling to the PTK District 3 meeting from PJC were Joel Mutchler, Lesli Johnson, Emily Callaghan (from the PJC-Greenville Center), Jimmie Avinger and Erick Gaytan, accompanied by PTK sponsor and English instructor Diann Mason. The meeting focused on PTK's Honors in Action program, and four groups presented on the four hallmarks of the program: leadership, scholarship, fellowship and service. PTK's Honors Program is designed to foster a stimulating environment for intellectual growth and challenge and create opportunities for leadership and learning through service and advocacy. "It was really fun," said Mutchler, who serves as PTK Beta Zeta president. "We learned a lot about the Honors in Action project. We were given only two days notice that we would be presenting on fellowship and we chose 'A Minute to Win It,' that promotes teamwork and it was a hit." "The students took quite a bit away from the meeting," said Mason. "They had good ideas about how to organize the team and how to get the action plan together. That's where we are, we're finished with the research and now they're figuring out how to divide up and conquer the plan." "Usually after a meeting like this everyone is asleep or wanting to be on the trip home," Mutchler said, "but we were full of energy all the way home and everyone was talking." Currently members of PTK are collecting aluminum pull tabs to be donated to the American Cancer Society. The pull tabs can be from tuna, soup, cat food, nut or drink cans - anything with an aluminum pull tab. The PTK Texas Region is offering membership scholarships to the chapters collecting the tabs.