College honor society leads pledge to complete

VICTORY TWP. – West Shore Community College students are joining their peers across the country in pledging to complete their degrees and certificates.

The College’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society is encouraging students to complete their degrees and certificates by hosting “Commit to Complete” signing events this week during the Back to the Books Bash and Michigan Community College Week Sept. 15-19.

During the events, students will be asked to sign a mass pledge to complete their associate degrees or certificates before leaving community college for transfer or to enter the job market. Statistics show the surest way for anyone to land a job in their chosen field is to finish college and earn a degree.

Administrators, faculty and staff also are asked to sign the pledge as their commitment to do whatever they can to facilitate completion of student credentials.

“The Commit to Complete banner is great because it’s something students can see every day as a reminder of why they’re working so hard in school,” says PTK chapter president Jamie Dorman.  “It will help to remind them that all of the hard work and dedication toward their degree is worth it.”

The completion pledge is part of a national community college movement. Phi Theta Kappa chapters are serving as the student arm of the Community College Completion Challenge, a national education initiative.

In April 2010, leaders of six national organizations representing the nation’s 1,200 community colleges signed The Call to Action, a pledge to increase student completion rates by 50 percent over the next decade. Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society was the only student organization asked to participate, and launched the Community College Completion Corps in response to this call.

Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, headquartered in Jackson, Miss., is the largest honor society in higher education with 1,285 chapters on college campuses in all 50 of the United States and in several other countries.  Since it was chartered in 1992, West Shore Community College’s chapter has inducted nearly 1,000 members and hopes to induct at least 50 more this year.