Columbus State’s Alpha Rho Epsilon chapter earns five-star rating

Student News | Monday, February 3, 2025

Columbus State’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) honor society, known as Alpha Rho Epsilon, became a five-star chapter in January for the first time in seven years. This accomplishment was due to the officers’ commitment to each other and to the mission of PTK.

To become a five-star chapter, officers of the chapter had to complete certain tasks. These included hosting an induction ceremony and inducting new students into our chapter, hosting at least one chapter meeting or event every month, and, most importantly, completing the College Project and Honors in Action (HIA) Project. Each event or project earned PTK a star to become a four-star chapter. The fifth star was having a new member join our club within the year. This year, over 200 Columbus State students have become new members.

In April 2024, the newly sworn-in officer team composed of Will Settemberino, Soraya Rabi, Ayyoush Rabi, Haniel Petros, Bawi Nun Thwang, Zachery Temesvary, Haley Middendorf, Valeria Castillo, and Aaliyah Roy’labaja, led by the chapter president, Meghan Gates, began working on completing the steps necessary to become a five-star chapter which included the above-mentioned officers hosting a meeting or an event along with the two projects with a focus on the College and HIA Project. After hours of weekly meetings and practice sessions for the College Project, the officer team presented several ideas on potential solutions to issues that our chapter had noticed on Columbus State’s main campus to

President Harrison and several other administration members. During this meeting, it was decided that our chapter would assist the marketing department with revamping the Columbus State website so that all students could access the many resources available to them on campus. To do this, our chapter was tasked with collecting as many surveys as possible in a two-week span so that we would have quantitative data to present to the Columbus State marketing team.

After recruiting professors, other members of the faculty, friends, chapter members, as well as various clubs and organizations on campus, our chapter was able to collect close to 300 surveys during that two-week period! After completing a report with each step explained and documented along with the results of these surveys, our chapter submitted the results to President Harrison and entered Phi Theta Kappa’s regional and international competition.

While our chapter was completing the college project, members were simultaneously completing the HIA project. While the college project is about helping the college, the HIA project focuses on an action-oriented service to address real-world challenges in our community in order to make a bigger impact.

Chapter officers decided to combine their interests in politics and theatre with this year’s HIA theme of “The Power of Stories” by putting on a play titled “The Argument,” which focused on stories such as information, misinformation, and disinformation. The play was about two students arguing while building a structure for a science project, and a third student caught in the middle trying to understand their argument and just wanting to finish the project for a good grade. The arguing students got so caught up in their own defense of what was important and how to make the tallest structure that they forgot the original assignment was to create a building that would be strong enough to stay together when dropped.

At the end of the play, it was revealed that the words and ideas used in the play were a part of the misinformation and disinformation similar to the media’s role in the presidential debates between Joe Biden and Donald Trump and their campaign for president.

After the play, the audience was given a questionnaire to see what they believed and remembered from the play. Several questions that were asked dealt with the original goal of the assignment and whether their opinion or belief about a topic would be dependent on who told them the information. This data, along with other research that the officers conducted, was submitted to PTK headquarters for competition. By completing this second project, the chapter officially became a five-star chapter.

The officers of Alpha Rho Epsilon have worked hard over the past year to achieve this status, which only about one-third of the 37 chapters in the Ohio region consistently reach. Their determination and hard work have paid off and earned them the highest level of achievement within the PTK organization. They have completed two complex projects this year that required them to constantly reevaluate their plan of execution, to work with the school’s administration and faculty, and to follow through with their commitments.

Now, they await the results of their hard work with the announcement of the winners of the College and HIA Projects later in the semester.

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