The history of MATC's chapter of Phi Theta Kappa is a story of the birth and development of a positive force that has involved over 1,200 inductees. It is a story of support from the District Board, college presidents, administrators, advisors, faculty and staff. It is a story of active members building a highly respected organization. It is a story of members and advisors enriching their lives, adding a component of fellowship to their MATC experience, and launching projects that benefited the college and their communities. As one of the founding advisors, I have been privileged to work with many who sacrificed countless hours to create this multifaceted organization. As the auditor for our enhanced membership program, I have been regularly reminded of the incredible volunteer work our busy members do on and off campus.

This is a story of people turning vision into realities. MATC's former president, Beverly Simone and former Dean of Letters and Science, Rose Findlen, wanted our college to be a part of an honor society, Phi Theta Kappa. When approached with this vision by Dr. Findlen and asked to be an advisor, my first thought was that our college recognized and encouraged athletes, but we did little to recognize and encourage scholarship. We focused a good deal of attention on those with special needs, but not much on the academic high achievers. With an English instructor, Barbara Arnold and a staff member of the Student Life Office, Sue Kalinka, we began the process of creating a chapter. Because we wanted our chapter to be a democratic, student run organization, we advertised for student volunteers. Two honor students, Reginald Jaquis and Tammy Roberje volunteered their time on Friday afternoons to help write our initial by laws and create an organizational structure. At times we felt like the founders of our constitution, reflecting on human nature and creating systems of governance. However, we were not operating in a vacuum. Our chapter would be a part of an international organization that offered help. It was April 1995 and a Phi Theta Kappa international convention was about to happen in Chicago. We attended and handed out a questionnaire to about two hundred advisors representing colleges from all over the U.S. and some foreign countries. Our questionnaire was designed to learn what to do and what to avoid in setting up a local chapter. We came back from the Chicago convention more informed of best and worst practices. We were excited, enthused, and apprehensive about the monumental job that lay before us.

There was much to do before we chartered Beta Beta Psi. We needed a system for identifying and inviting eligible students. This is no easy feat with a college consisting of five campuses and a data base of over 50,000 students. With the support of MATC's computer programmers and registrar, we eventually developed a program for identifying those with twelve or more credits and a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or better.