Chi Epsilon Chapter of PTK Inducts New Members

“People fall into malaise, angst, and inaction” when faced with a wealth of easily accessible information, guest speaker Dr. Valerie Burks said, in her message to the new inductees of Phi Theta Kappa, Friday night.

“My end goal is to do the best at learning well. My grandfather always said, ‘The day you stop learning is the day you start dying,’” said Alex Adams, sitting with his fiancee, Katie Smith.

Quoting Nietzsche’s essay, “On the Use and Abuse of History for Life,” along with a South Park episode, Greenday and Ralph Waldo Emerson, Burks said that people from this generation tend to become immobilized by their advanced knowledge of the past. This can lead to inaction in the future, if it is not assessed and put to use properly.

The Fall 2010 inductees into the Chi Epsilon chapter of PTK promised to do just that, as they became the newest members of the honor society.

Raising five children, who are all in college, Eric Tanyhill supported his wife, Holly, as she stepped up to receive her membership gifts.

“We are very competitive as a family,” Tanyhill said. “To keep up with the conversation, we had to go back to college.”

As the “Oath of Membership” declares, these members will be using their personal motivations and new-found fellowship as a basis for giving back to each other and the community.

The west campus chapter will be sponsoring a project to assist in bone marrow transplants during the month of December. “One chapter is actually going to Africa to help distribute clean water to people in need,” said Robert Stio, president of Chi Epsilon’s PTK.

“I had a good GPA from the start, but I had to work to get more credits to join,” said Patrick O’Connor. “It was kind of hard, working on different classes, helping with kids, house chores. Doing this has helped me a lot with time management.”

Lacy Bail, 17 years-old, helped her mother run the family business, while maintaining good grades, and overcoming other obstacles which lead to her induction to the society.

They were each given a rose and a scroll as they signed the chapter roster, sealing their names into the history of the club.

Previously published in the Valencia Voice