Margo Lindsley, Ashlyn Guinn, Olivia Mukanjiri, and Logan Grigsby pose with awards. Photo by: Jesus Medina (Courtesy of Phi Theta Kappa)

On March 1 and 2, JCCC’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa was one of the most awarded chapters at the Heartland Regional Conference, taking home eight prizes. 

The JCCC Phi Theta Kappa chapter consists of about a thousand members, focusing on projects on campus. 

“[It’s] an honor society here at JUCO, and we do research projects and we have volunteering, service events, and we work on a college project,” Ashlyn Guinn said. “We work with the college to help either with their needs or sometimes we can suggest something if they don’t have anything for us.”

The organization is currently working on a big mental health project. 

“We do service projects throughout the semester,” Jet Cudnik said. “We try to do like one once a month, but that doesn’t always pan out. Our college project this semester is we’re putting up signage around our little walking trail, that’s going to be kind of like mental health stuff, fun little activity type things. And then we did a Honors in Action® project where we built pamphlets out for mental health resources, for people with neurodivergence. So mostly we tried to focus on people with autism and the big thing that was the power of stories.”

They are also currently working to have a sensory space in the college’s 10-year plan. 

At the beginning of the month, the chapter was recognized at the recent Heartland Regional Conference Awards where they finished second place overall, and took home eight awards:

• 1st place Distinguished Chapter Officer Award (Chapter President Olivia Mukanjiri)
• 1st place Most Improved Chapter Award
• 2nd place Distinguished Chapter Team Award
• 2nd place Great Idea Award
• 2nd place Honors in Action® Project Award
• 5-star Chapter Plan
• Honorable mention Distinguished Chapter Officer Award (Ashlyn Guinn)
• Honorable mention for College Project Award

“It’s a pretty really good feeling. I think there are 64 colleges in total. So, I think placing really in any number is like a really good feeling,” Logan Grigsby said, regarding finishing second overall. “But knowing that we kind of got second place in a lot of these things is just really awesome and shows how hard working our team is.”

Guinn agrees with Grigsby and thinks the outcomes of their success come from their hard work.

“It’s our hard work [that] paid off really, because I know  last semester was fairly stressful for me and I think it was fairly stressful for a lot of us, especially finishing up,” Guinn said. “So I know we put in a lot of work to like, try and make sure we got those awards submitted and things like that. And so it’s just kind of nice to know that it really paid off. And I’m at least hoping that this is kind of, you know, the start of something where, if training the next officers, they can then go on and win more awards and [start] that momentum, that’s what I’m excited about.” 

The team is going to the PTK Catalyst 2025–the Phi Theta Kappa National Conference during the first week of April, and they are very excited. 

“I am excited to go somewhere that I don’t know that we’ve gone before, I don’t think we’ve ever gone to Catalyst, which is the national thing,” Guinn said. “So I’m really excited for that and to see kind of what that is. And it’s in Kansas City, which is part of the reason why. So I’m just hoping to maybe be able to turn into something too.” 

PTK Catalyst being in Kansas City is indeed a big reason to be excited for Jet Cudnik as well. 

“I feel really lucky that it’s in Kansas City, because they’re held anywhere in the country and the time we get second place, we get to have the chance to go to the one in Kansas City, which is really, really like what are the chances of that?” Cudnik said.

For Margo Lindsley, it is another opportunity to grow closer with the team before they graduate. 

“I really enjoyed our last conference because I got to like hang out, and really get closer with the team,” Lindsley said. “So I’m hoping that this conference we could just strengthen that bond because we’re all graduating, so it’ll be like that last hurrah.”

The PTK Catalyst 2025 will be held from April 3-5 at the Kansas City Convention Center.

To learn more about Phi Theta Kappa, click here.

And to learn more about JCCC’s chapter, click here, or email advisor Anne Dotter.