Local Students take 1st Place at Conference

Rocklin, Calif.- Beta Mu Zeta, the Sierra College chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, was one of approximately 120 community colleges invited to this year’s Nevada/California Phi Theta Kappa leadership conference in San Diego, on October 12 -13, 2012.

At the conference, six officers (Deirdre Krezek , Mehrnaz Mehrzad, Lacey Baldwin, Brandon Fagan, Alysa Joerger, and Bambamm Tungpagasit) were charged with researching a randomly assigned topic, developing a related community-based service project, and creating a conference quality presentation in under three hours.

 Sierra College has a long history of excellence in Phi Theta Kappa competitions, and this year was no exception. Under the guidance of Faculty Advisors Dan DeVere and Amber Willis, the student members of the Beta Mu Zeta chapter worked together and pooled their collective strengths to produce a well-researched, creative presentation. Both the members and advisors showed exceptional dedication and teamwork, even working through dinner to ensure their submission was of a quality befitting honor society students.

The group presented their topic: The Culture of Competition in the Arts, to an audience of two hundred community college students and professors from across California and Nevada, as well as to a panel of judges. The environment was extremely competitive, but Sierra College’s persistence paid off. Sierra College won first place among all the community colleges in the California-Nevada region.

In addition to their first place win, the Sierra College Beta Mu Zeta chapter won second place for their yearbook, which chronicles the year’s club activities in photos and text in a creative and artistic fashion.  Congratulations to the hard working students and advisors of the Sierra College Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.