Phi Theta Kappa has been encouraging students to “escape average” at City College for seven years by promoting scholarships and activities among two-year college students.
“The most amazing opportunity that the organization offers is the over $35 million available only to Phi Theta Kappa students nation-wide,” said club adviser Manou Eskandari, associate professor of political science.
Eskandari set up the City College chapter of the honor society after visiting a Phi Theta Kappa conference in Washington D.C.
“What I saw there was absolutely unbelievable,” Eskandari said. “The level of enthusiasm and excellence was just overwhelming. I absolutely wanted our students have the same opportunities.”
Phi Theta Kappa originated in 1910 in Missouri, and was initially confined to women’s junior colleges. It became the official honor society of the American Association Community Colleges in 1929.
Within a busy agenda, Phi Theta Kappa prioritizes academic achievement through scholarships, workshops for development of leadership and service, including fellowship training. At City College, the society has 150 members and 20 leaders, with new students inducted every semester.
The programs, services and benefits that the society offers are unequaled , according to Eskandari.
“If you look at the daily activities, students are trained to become leaders in this society,” Eskandari said.
He said he tracks students’ progress in campus or community-related projects as well as in internships.
“To me Phi Theta Kappa is a window for students to a world that otherwise they wouldn’t have access to,” Eskandari said.
Today, Phi Theta Kappa is the largest honor society in American higher education, with more than 1.5 million members and chapters in the United States, Canada and Germany.
To be eligible, a student must complete 12 units and have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher. Part time students can also join.
Jorge Bernabe, a member since Fall 2002, says for him it is all about making a difference to him and to society.
Phi Theta Kappa is donating two exercise balls to member Altanzaya Batchuluun to bring back to her hometown in Mongolia at the end of the semester.
“I couldn’t find them in Mongolia, but once I was here I saw them in every fitness store and gymnasiums,” she said. Batchuluun will use the ball to help disabled children in her hometown exercise their arms and legs, she said.
Moreover, success found in the society stays with members when they move on. “The first president of the chapter received all the awards you could think of, and then she went from here to Harvard and to Stanford,” said Eskandari.
“There is nothing in for me other than the job to see students taking advantage of our presence in campus, growing intellectually, and studying hard to join us.”