Eta Gamma members attend Kansas Region Conference

Eighteen members of the Eta Gamma Chapter of Phi Theta Kappa at Coffeyville Community College participated in the Kansas Region Honors In Action Conference held on the campus of Garden City Community College, November 5-7. Special conference guest was Natalie Myer, International Phi Theta Kappa Vice President of Division III from the Ivy Tech Community College, Lafayette Campus, Indiana. The theme for the conference was the 2010 Honors Study Topic, “The Democratization of Information: Power, Peril, and Promise.” Since 1968, Phi Theta Kappa has engaged its members in an intensive investigation of the Society’s Honors Study Topic, an academic theme selected for its timeliness, global significance and interdisciplinary applications. During the first general session, attendees were welcomed by Dr. Joseph Emmons, President of Garden City and provided an international update from Natalie Myer. During the roll call of chapters, Eta Gamma presented a skit, “Democratization of Information: Power, Peril, and Promise; You Decide!” The skit traced the progression of information from Pony Express, telegraph, telephone, e-mail, and cell phone. Shelia Hendershot, GCCC children’s literature instructor presented a keynote address, “Capturing History, Power of the Written Word” in which she related children’s stories and rhymes to cultural and historic events. Chapters then broke into groups to write their own sixteen page book with title, dedication, text, pictures, and hand-drawn artwork. Eta Gamma chose to write a children’s story “Wishes for Ellie” which focused upon the chapter’s honors study topic, Childhood Cancer Awareness, and featured two main characters, Ellie the Elephant and Carrington the Crane. Both a mosaic elephant and crane mobiles were encountered by the students at the Lombardi Comprehensive Cancer Center, Georgetown. Project co-chairmen were Jacob Asbridge and Bailey Johnson; while artists for the project were Zach Hershey and Leslee Kesterson. The book will be published by December 10 and the chapter hopes to donate a copy to St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital and the children’s oncology unit at Lombardi. Saturday morning, approximately ten colleges and universities participated in a college fair, visiting with participants about the transfer scholarship offered by their institutions. Keynote speaker for the second general session was Detective T. Bradley of the Garden City Community College Police Department who addressed “Individual Rights for Personal Safety.” Members broke into seminar discussion groups one of which was led by Eta Gamma Advisor Linda McFate. Following lunch, Brian Nelson, GCCC Interim Media Advisor presented “The Windsor Hotel through the Spyglass” sponsored by the Finney County Historical Society. The Conference attendees then traveled to downtown Garden City where they toured the hotel which was closed in March 1977, and did a service project of removing the old carpeting. The historical society has estimated it will cost approximately one hundred million dollars to fully restore the Windsor Hotel to its former glory. The Kansas Regional Meeting was held in the GCCC Pauline Joyce Fine Arts Auditorium and presided over by Region President and Eta Gamma member, Jeremy Willard. Following dinner and entertainment, chapter members continued to work on the completion of their book. Sunday, November 7, featured the third general session and Don Wasielewski and Master Patrol Officer David Wheet, Garden City Police Department, shared the “History of Intelligence Sharing.” Following seminars discussion groups, individual chapters then presented their Honors In Action Projects. Jeff Shelton and Jacob Asbridge presented the Eta Gamma PowerPoint presentation. Those members representing CCC at the conference were: Michael Frazier, Jeremy Willard, Garrett Walker, Leslee Kesterson, Lauren Cox, Amelia Firns-Hubert, Cindy Hurd, Kristi Housel, Bailey Johnson, Liz Post, Jolene Reed, Jessica Pirkey, Casey Heiter, Rebecca George, Zach Hershey, Jeff Shelton, Jacob Asbridge, and advisor Linda McFate.