With a mission statement that says “to ease the transition of new students to Georgia Southern, and open up opportunities for students once they enroll,” Phi Theta Kappa, an honor fraternity, is on its way to making history.

Phi Theta Kappa, as Georgia Southern University’s first alumni chapter of Phi Theta Kappa in Georgia will set the standard for following alumni chapters in the state to follow.

To be a part of Phi Theta Kappa, you would have had to attend a 2-year college, had a 3.5 GPA at your school, attended school full-time and completed at least 12 hours to be considered. Once you met those requirements, you are invited to join.

“What generally happens with students at 2-year schools is that they get really involved in Phi Theta Kappa and then they transfer. They want to continue their work with service projects, community projects, and just being a good ambassador for the school they’re at. They want to continue Phi Theta Kappa at a four-year level, but Phi Theta Kappa is just for two-year schools. Several years back, Phi Theta Kappa’s national office allowed four-year colleges to start alumni chapters and that is what we’re doing here,” Neal Richardson, Phi Theta Kappa adviser, said.

Phi Theta Kappa is funded through the Office of Admissions. In order to be a chapter, there must be at least 15 active members. Active membership can be defined as going to at least one chapter meeting during a semester. Of those 15 students, five have to be officers.

Phi Theta Kappa stands for wisdom, aspiration, and purity. It’s main goals are to help transfer students transition from a two-year to a four-year college. The honor fraternity has members from all over the world, Wisconsin, Bainbridge and New York are a just a few.

The alumni chapter of Phi Theta Kappa will follow the tenets of scholarship, leadership, service and fellowship. Phi Theta Kappa will put on social events to connect students with other organizations on campus so they can continue being involved and doing positive things on campus. The alumni chapter will incorporate what students are learning in their classes to Phi Theta Kappa activities so students get real-world application skills.

“We as an office and bigger university want to provide an opportunity to these top-notch students to continue in their services. We want to make sure we help them prepare for their next journey whether that is going to grad school, the workforce or whatever the next step may be. It is our responsibility,” Richardson said.