Getting involved is easy as Phi

By: Daniel Montano, Staff Reporter

Alpha Upsilon Chi, CNM’s chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa international honor society, is laying out a plan for the next year as well as a welcome mat for anyone who wants to get involved, said Gabriel Roybal, Paralegal Studies major and vice president of PTK.

Phi Theta Kappa is an honor society for two-year college students who maintain a 3.5 or better GPA. PTK provides scholarship opportunities for its members and helps communities through service and charity. The first general meeting will be held on Friday, June 7, Roybal said.

Although there are hundreds of PTK members, Roybal said that there has been poor participation in PTK recently, with only about 10 members participating on a regular basis. The newly elected officer board wants to change that in the upcoming year by spreading the word about what PTK does at CNM.

“I think a lot of students just don’t know what it actually is. There hasn’t been a lot of outreach on getting people to know what it is until now,” he said.

From a scholastic standpoint, PTK gives its members recognition for their hard work by inviting students to enter the honor society and rewarding them by giving them the opportunity to apply for scholarships, he said.

PTK also works with charities such as Roadrunner Food Bank and St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital, to give its members the chance to make a positive impact on their community, he said.

“So basically it’s two things: it’s an honor society that rewards your hard work in school and it’s also a community service organization that pools the honor students together so that they can really give back,” he said.

The honor society’s meetings and events are open to any student looking to participate, he said.

PTK will also be offering a CNM bookstore scholarship for $100 that will be granted to any non-members who participate in community service events, he said.

“A community is not just members of an honor society, whoever that is. If you’re a student at CNM and you’re interested in participating in community service activities, if you think that you can improve your community by volunteering, I encourage you to join the meetings and to participate,” he said.

Although there is a membership fee of $75, Roybal said that there is a hardship scholarship that waives the fee. The scholarship can be granted to students who want to be a part of the society and participate in the events, but don’t have the funds to pay the membership fee.

If a non-member who meets the GPA requirements participates in a few community service activities and goes to the meetings, it’s possible to qualify for the hardship scholarship, he said.

“It’s an incentive for people who don’t have the ability to pay. If you still have the merit and the will to do it and the desire to serve, then we’ll waive the fee for you,” he said.

PTK meets every other Friday starting June 7. For more information e-mail Vice President Gabriel Roybal at groybal23@cnm.edu, President Tracy LaForteza at Tlaforteza@cnm.edu, or visit http://www.PTK.org.

Phi Theta Kappa

Meetings are held every other Friday starting June 7.

For more information email:

President Tracy LaForteza 

tlaforteza@cnm.edu

Vice President Gabriel Roybal 

groybal23@cnm.edu