Feb. 17, 2012
Story and Photo by Joe Vinduska

Four students from Barton Community College in the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Honor Society were recognized at an award luncheon at the Ramada Inn in Topeka yesterday for being selected as members of the PTK All-Kansas Academic Team.

Sophomores Devan Boeger of Great Bend and Deedra Richard of Goddard from the Great Bend campus, and Tomomi Gallagher of Manhattan and Randal Montiel of St. Petersburg, Fla. from the Ft. Riley campus, all attended a daylong event that included a tour of the statehouse, an opportunity to see Kansas legislators and be recognized on the floor of the House of Representatives and an award ceremony and luncheon.

Richard said she was really impressed with the event and enjoyed the tour of the statehouse and meeting with the legislators.

“They (the legislators) really paid attention to us,” she said. “We felt pretty special.”

The PTK group at Barton spends significant time sponsoring local events as well as helping out at other community events that are sponsored by others.

(From left: Deedra Richard, Devan Boeger, Barton Community College President Dr. Carl Heilman, Randal Montiel and Tomomi Gallagher.)

Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, headquartered in Jackson, Mississippi, is the largest honor society in American higher education with 1,275 chapters on two-year and community college campuses in all 50 of the United States and several other countries internationally.

The students had to go through an application process and have their applications reviewed by an anonymous selection panel on their respective campuses. All four students will have a chance at being named to PTK’s All-America Academic Team, which will be announced in March.