ODK welcomes 19 new members
The Georgia College & State University Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa “tapped” 19 new members this week.
The first of the new members to receive the honor was Lesley White, a junior nursing student.
Dr. Bruce Harshbarger, faculty advisor of ODK, and members Kara Vick and Wendy Nkari dressed in their black robes, lit their candles and walked into Carol Ormond’s community health nursing class to welcome White into their elite and prestigious group.
Vick began reading a proclamation, “One of your classmates has been selected to become a member of the Georgia College & State University Circle of Omicron Delta Kappa…We are here today to invite Lesley White into membership. Will Lesley please come forward?”
There was only one problem. White was not in the classroom. She had stepped out to go to the computer lab.
Another student found White and asked her to return to class, and the process began again.
In a matter of moments, White was officially a member of the nation’s oldest leadership and scholarship honorary.
When asked how she felt about her new membership White said, “I am really honored, really honored.”
This semester 16 students, two faculty members and one staff member were greeted in ODK, a great honor, according to Harshbarger.
“[ODK] is the nation’s primary way of recognizing excellence in campus scholarship and leadership,” he said.
The pathway to membership in ODK begins with a nomination by a faculty member or current ODK member for the prospective member to apply.
Next, the selected nominees fill out a membership application, go through an interview and write various essays on their campus and community involvement and academic achievements that they feel earn them a place in ODK.
Criteria to become a member are that the student must be in the top 35 percent of his or her class and must have shown significant leadership in one of five areas of campus life. The areas include: athletics; campus and community service; social and religious activities and campus government; journalism, speech and the mass media and creative and performing arts.
Students “tapped” into ODK for spring semester 2003 are: Lesley White, Diane Garrick, Amanda Sullivan, Stephanie Reeves, Johnta Williams, Eddie Campbell, Don Baldwin, Kellie Mathis, Jennifer Puckett, Joshua Kitchens, Erin Morris, Crystal Champion, Marshall Coats, April Felton, Cherise Richardson and Tiffany Agnew.
Dr. Mike Digby, chair of the department of government and sociology, Shaina Brown, coordinator of academic advising, and Robin Harris, director of the Office of Experiential Learning and assistant professor of government and sociology, were also welcomed into the Circle.
Posted by Colonnade Archives
on Mar 14 2003. Filed under News.
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