Alpha Theta Phi Chapter - Phi Theta Kappa - LaGuardia Community College

by Lhamu Dolma Hyolmo Competitive Edge is a professional deve lopment course designed especially for P hi T heta K appa scholars to develop and strengthen their knowledge of soft skills. It is really important for students to have these skills in order to achieve career goals and succeed in life. This competitive edge challenge is divided into five stages where you’ll be working on your communication skills, research skills, emotional intelligence, professional etiquette etc. through videos and quizzes and it is known as Five Star Competitive Edge Challenge. Upon completion of each stage, you qualify for a star and you have to finish the first stage to get into another one. This is an online based course and you can take as much time as you need to complete it. You'll be valued as a five-star member and also get the opportunity to request a certificate and put it on your resume and buy a five-star member pin. The first stage is about the importance of reflection...

By Hephzibah Oluwanusi The Catalyst—Phi Theta Kappa’s annual convention—is an once-in-a-lifetime experience, as described by previous PTK members who had the privilege to attend this prestigious conference. Students like me will have the chance to hear from well-known and recognized speakers, such as Daveed Diggs, about their areas of interest and experiences, with the goal of inspiring action and promoting the pursuit of knowledge. I am confident that Daveed Diggs talk will be one of the most fascinating ones, primarily because of his diverse, rich experience in the education and entertainment industry. Although it is hard to predict what his talk will concentrate on, I expect to hear about his journey to fame and success—how he managed to overcome barriers and the tough, complex decisions he encountered. Daveed had the chance to work alongside influential individuals, and sharing how these interactions altered his point of view will be an interesting segment to hear. Furthermore...

By Telijah Patterson Job Interviews. #Sigh. No one enjoys them, but they are a necessary part of life, especially life as an ambitious professional who might need to go through several rounds of interviews for a senior level position.  Phi Theta Kappa members are known the world over as young leaders who are rich in potential and many go on to become very accomplished individuals. This is no coincidence. In fact, Phi Theta Kappa has specialized training for active members to polish their professional suave. More than this, in order to incentivize professional readiness Phi Theta Kappa hosts a job interview competition at it’s annual convention every year! As if interviewing weren’t hard enough, Phi Theta Kappa challenges its members to their apex! The way it works is at the convention students who wish to participate must present a resume to the selection committee. Candidates who meet their approval will then be able to advance to a 15 minute interview. All candidat...

by Peter Dilshan Don Social psychologist, author, and lecturer Amy Cuddy is an expert on the behavioral science of power, prejudice, and presence. She is best known for her research on the power of nonverbal behavior, prejudice and stereotyping. Amy Cuddy and her research became famous after her Ted talk which delivered at TEDGlobal 2012 in Edinburgh, Scotland. In her Ted talk, she talked about nonverbal behavior, how it can affect other people around us and most importantly how it can affect oneself. She shared findings of her research to show that how nonverbal behavior can affect our own thoughts, performance, and psychological state. In her book, “Presence,” she encourages readers to see the power in behavior, body language and mindset and use them to generate a better sense of presence in our lives. I learned about Amy Cuddy through social media. One of my friends shared her Ted talk on Facebook and the title of the video, “Your body language may shape who you are,” immediate...

By Mary Naughton Each year in spring, following the previous fall semester, Phi Theta Kappa International hosts an event for members with special guest speakers discussing various informative and motivational topics, this event is called Catalyst. Catalyst follows the culmination of the collective hard work and effort of a research topic which is put forth and presented at the regional conference. At catalyst, there will be over ,000 honors students coming from other states and countries with the opportunity to meet and discuss successes and obstacles that were encountered during their extensive research projects. At PTK Catalyst, one guest speaker I am particularly excited to hear from is Susan Cain. Susan Cain, former lawyer and negotiations consultant switched gears to become a writer. Widely known for her book Quiet: The Power of Introverts in a World That Can't Stop Talking, Cain focuses on the important traits and abilities of introverts which are frequently overl...

By Mary Naughton At Phi Theta Kappa one very valuable program I would encourage everyone to participate in is the Leadership Program. As one of the former facilitators for the leadership program I am able to speak to the mission behind it. The mission is connecting with students to help them unlock their hidden potential. Many students don’t realize being a leader doesn’t mean you are automatically someone in a high paying career with a fancy job title. Many people are already leaders in their family such as the single mom who teaches her kids the importance of hard work. Another student may be a leader in their community by speaking out against injustices they witness happening to others. In any case, we became increasingly aware that students often need to reassess their vision for leadership and put themselves into the picture, we worked on helping them do just that. Six students, including myself connected with our campus leadership specialist to create a series of ...

By Kedar Babu Shrestha Since 1918, the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society has successfully honored the two years’ community college scholars by recognizing their academic achievements and helping to foster them as scholars. This year PTK is celebrating its 100th anniversary at Kansas City, Missouri. Thousands of community college scholars will be attending Catalyst to network with other PTK numbers from around the country. I feel honored to be part of this PTK Catalyst convention. There will be a number of guest speakers like Susan Cain, Amy Cuddy, Daveed Diggs, Amanda Karpinski, and Chris Riddell. Usually, speakers give motivational speeches and share their successful journey stories. I know everyone is incredible, but I am so excited to listen to Daveed Diggs in this event because I have been a fan of him since 2015 when he performed in Hamilton created by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Days are passing, and many of our members are very excited to be at the event. Every...

by Paul Prageeth When I was going through PTK website to learn more about PTK International convention and the 100th year anniversary celebration, I came across five wonderful individuals who I will be listening to during my time at PTK Catalyst 2018. There was a familiar face with a familiar name. But I couldn’t recall who it is at that moment. Just like a true millennial, I opened the Google and type the name; Susan Cain.  As soon as I saw the web result under the Susan Cain, it all came back to me. It was none other than one of my favorite TED Talk speakers. Susan Cain is a writer, lecturer, former lawyer, and negotiation consultant. Most importantly, she is a self-describe introvert. In 1893, Cain graduated from Princeton University with a Bachelor of Arts degree in English and earned Juris Doctor Degree from Harvard Law School in 1993. She started her career as an attorney and then move onto negotiation consultant as owner and principal of The Negotiation Company. Also, ...

by Peter Dilshan Don I am an international student at LaGuardia Community College. Coming to the United States allowed me to experience things I’ve never dreamed of. However, it partially cut off from the things I been doing for a long time; things I’ve enjoyed. When I was in Sri Lanka, I was an active member of (highly involved with) the Leo club, an international non-profit volunteering organization, while maintaining good academic performance. I joined the Leo organization through my high school Leo club. After the graduation, my friends and I charted our own Leo club outside the school. As a longtime Leo member who held many positions in the Leo community, I had many opportunities to serve my community, practice my leadership skills and connect with people. When I arrived at LaGuardia Community College as an international student, I was overwhelmed by excitement. It has been awhile since I’ve engaged in academic and extracurricular activities. I was determined to get back on m...

by Paul Prageeth When I set foot in LaGuardia Community College as an international student after a two year academic break, I was nervous and excited at the same time. As a student who was always involved in extracurricular activities while maintaining a good grade point average, I was eager to find my way back to the person who I was. I discovered the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society during the club fair at the student orientation fall 2016 along with other clubs and promised myself that I will be a part of Phi Theta Kappa community. I fulfilled my promise the day I received the email invitation to become a PTK member. My first experience as a PTK member was being at the member orientation. The energy of a room full of students who strive for success was indescribable. During the event, I learned that PTK not only recognizes academic achievements and offers scholarships, it also offers opportunities to develop soft skills, leadership skills and interpersonal skills for personal and...

by Kedar Babu Shrestha The Honors in Action Project is centered on an Honors Study topic and combines all of Phi Theta Kappa's Hallmarks — Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Fellowship — into one project. It involves research, leadership, collaboration, and reflection. First, research includes deep academic investigation, brainstorming, global awareness, team building exercise and many more. Second, in the leadership, it fosters scholars in planning and executing projects with different leadership training, workshops, and public speaking. Third, collaboration helps scholars to do the realistic plans for the chapter and possible to do HIA project. And Fourth, Reflection allows scholars to join all the puzzle pieces at the end by summing up the whole six months period research. Honors in Action is one of the Phi Theta Kappa’s experiences that helps scholars to share honors research through action by equipping members and chapters with the skills and resources necessary to imp...

by Nikolaos Panaousis Every year, Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) International Honor Society holds an annual convention, PTK Catalyst (formerly, Nerd Nation), to celebrate, encourage, and recognize student success. Attending this convention comes with many benefits, including the opportunity to listen to world-class speakers, expand your views of the world, meet representatives from four-year colleges, gain key job and life skills, make new friends and connections, etc. In a few words, the benefits are countless.  Personally, one of the most exciting parts of the convention is listening to the speakers. Past convention attendees have seen John Legend, Billie Jean King, and Malcolm Gladwell. Such speakers inform and inspire the crowd, with their ground-breaking ideas, inspiration and knowledge. This year, one of the speakers that I am especially interested see and listen to is Amy Cuddy—an American social psychologist, author and lecturer known for her research on stereotyping and disc...

by Nikolaos Panaousis Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) is the international honor society of the two-year college—a widely known interdisciplinary society whose mission is to recognize academic excellence for community college students around the world. Phi Theta Kappa stands as the most widely known and recognized society for community colleges, with over three million members—yet, the number of active members is significantly lower. PTK is divided into chapters; each chapter serving one college, usually, with some exceptions. The chapter is responsible for creating events for its members, holding meetings, participating in projects, and following the international guidelines. Our chapter is named Alpha Theta Phi, and below I am explaining how one can take advantage of all the resources offered. As an officer and a member of the chapter, I am often asked by students of what is expected of them as members. The simply answer is this: nothing! As a member, you have the right to not participate...

By Sandhya Lama Phi Theta Kappa, an international honor society provides a platform for students to access professional development and educational opportunities. It conducts various workshops to develop soft skills, leadership and fellowship skills. It provides students with the scholarship opportunities and at the same time, gives the opportunity to increase their network. It efficiently helps students to connect them to the available resources in the school. Under the Alpha Theta Phi chapter, there is service and scholarship committee, leadership committee, and recruitment and outreach committee. I had a chance to serve as a committee leader for the Recruitment and Outreach Committee. The Recruitment and Outreach Committee is comprised of the communication and outreach team, strategic team, media production team, and execution team. The committee members are divided into the first three significant teams while all of them are the part of the execution team. The strategic team w...