PJC students attend regional meetings
Published or Revised March 24, 2014
Paris Junior College students who attended the recent Student Government Association Region III meeting in Athens included (top photo, front row, from left) Maria Flores, Quitman; Meosha Cooper, Paris, Guadalupe Medina, Reno; Tabatha Friday, Paris; Taylor Bigony, Greenville. Back row (from left) were Donovan Mims, Montel Thomas, Derick Waugh, and Francis Hang, all of Paris. In the lower photo, those attending the Phi Theta Kappa regional meeting in Houston recently included (from left): Diana Ramirez, Pickton; Andrew Bothwell, Blossom; Destiny Mullens, Paris; Stuart Edris, Roxton; Paula Vaughan, Soper, Okla.; PJC history instructor and PTK sponsor Ty Welborn; and Kaitlyn Hankins, Pickton.
Two groups of Paris Junior College students had busy weekends recently as they hit the road for regional meetings. Student Government Association members attended the SGA Region III meeting in Athens, and Phi Theta Kappa members went to PTK’s Texas regional conference in Houston.
PJC students attending were Meosha Cooper, Donovan Mims, Montel Thomas, Derick Waugh, Francis Hang and Tabatha Friday of Paris, and Taylor Bigony of Greenville. Kenneth Webb, Director of Student Life, took the students, and was pleased with the results of the SGA outing.
“The trip went really well,” said Webb. “The students attended meetings for the t-shirt, unity and constitution and bylaws committee. Derrick Waugh is on the executive board [SGA Region III president as well as PJC president]. The other students attended workshops. At the end of the day the group reassembled and decided who would run for state offices, what would be discussed at the state convention, and received updates about SGA across Region III campuses.”
Students planned a tentative schedule for next year and discussed the 2015 Community College Day to ensure a unified message is delivered in Austin. Currently, two hot topics are guns on campus and state funding.
“Derick did a wonderful job and showed great leadership ability while running the Region III meeting,” said Webb. “Our kids in general did a good job.”
“It was fun and informative,” said SGA Paris sophomore representative Montel Thomas. “We learned about other schools’ student government associations and how they operate.”
The second group from PTK, the two-year college honor society, also had a productive weekend.
“The kids loved it,” said PJC History Instructor and club sponsor Ty Welborn, “they learned a lot. We all got a really good sense of what PTK is nationally and how to plug into it.”
Joining Welborn from Paris were PTK Vice President Destiny Mullens, SGA and campus liaison Andrew Bothwell, Treasurer Stuart Edris, and Historian/Secretary Paula Vaughan. Diana Ramirez and Kaitlyn Hankins came from the PJC-Sulphur Springs Center. Unable to attend were PTK president Aaron Sturgess and Amanpreet Kaur from the PJC-Greenville Center.
Conference general sessions and breakout workshops addressed PTK issues as well as the new Community College Completion Challenge (C4). Students also learned about this year's Honors in Action topic, "Frontiers of Exploration."
Welborn said that every two years PTK members are tasked with researching an important, socially-relevant topic, then finding a way to address issues brought up by that topic and developing an action plan to address those issues within the community. The topic is broken into nine broad themes such as nature, human expression, the environment, etc.
"Our students are leaning towards medical frontiers for their theme," said Welborn.
The Beta Zeta chapter was started in 1934, making this its 80th year on the PJC campus. The PTK spring semester induction ceremony will take place in the Student Center Ballroom at 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 27.
