NMC’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, the international community college honor society, finished as the seventh-most distinguished chapter out of more than 1,200 chapters at the organization’s annual conference held in April. It is the highest the chapter has ever finished.
Rank is determined by combining scores for two projects, Honors in Action and College Project. NMC’s projects were both in the top 50 nationwide. Previously, the Honors in Action project was judged the top project in Michigan, while the college project was second runner-up.
NMC’s Honors in Action project goals were to demonstrate undergraduate fundamentals, critical thinking and reflective skills in a research project. Their project, Deconstructing the Binary Complex in Racism, will also be published in Civic Scholar, PTK’s undergraduate research journal, this summer. For the project, which was also awarded a $1,000 grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, chapter officers and advisor participated in Title Track’s Understanding Racial Justice course, hosted “An Evening for Social Justice” with opening music from Crystal Turner and Seth Bernard, a free community screening of John Lewis: Good Trouble documentary and a panel discussion following with facilitators from Title Track, Northern Michigan E3, adjunct faculty Diane Emling, students from Phi Theta Kappa’s Diversity, Equity and Inclusion panel and PTK chapter officers.
As a follow-up to the event, PTK hosted a Songwriting for Collective Liberation Workshop with musician and Title Track facilitator, Seth Bernard. Chapter members created a music video with lyrics and submitted it as media accompanying the Honors in Action project submission.