A 蒙哥马利县社区学院 (MCCC) faculty member was recognized recently for her work as an advisor to the Alpha Kappa Zeta chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) International Honor Society for two-year colleges

历史学助理教授. 凯瑟琳Parzynski, of Hatfield, recently completed the training to become a five-star advisor to the group. 她将获得证书 and pin in her honor and 被认可 at the national organization’s next annual 四月会议.

Dr. Parzynski is originally from a small town in the Poconos called Madisonville, 离斯克兰顿大约25分钟车程. 她拥有学士、硕士和博士学位 利哈伊大学. Her doctoral dissertation focused on the role of women healers in America over time from the colonial period to the Civil War.

She started at MCCC in 2000 as a part-time instructor and was hired full time in 2007. Dr. Parzynski是目前的学科协调员 历史 and Political Science and the secretary for the faculty union.

Upon finishing the online PTK course to attain her five-star advisor status, she said she was incredibly proud and learned a lot about what her students go through in their 还有领导力发展课程.

“I think that was the biggest take away for me because now I understand how it feels for students to go through their leadership development courses她说。. “当 they do it, we are fortunate for our chapter in that we’ve always had students, whether they’re engaged officers or students who that we don’t necessarily meet at meetings who’ve gone through and taken these courses so that we can meet our five-star requirements. 这很有价值. 它会让你想起学生时代的样子.”

Maintaining a five-star status is important for a number of reasons, she said.

“I would argue that being a member of five-star chapter there are more opportunities 为了订婚，”她说. “There are hopefully more points of contact for getting recommendations or hearing about scholarship or internships. 我们试图得到尽可能多的 exposure for students and members to the benefits of PTK.”

Dr. Parzynski has been a co-advisor to the group since spring of 2008. 当机会来临时 first became available, she remembered how much fun it was as a student to be a member of a history honor society as an undergraduate and thought she could offer similar 给学生的体验.

“People have cycled in and out她说。, “but it’s fun to get to interact regularly 和学生们一起.”

有两个学生她会永远记得.

“The first president of PTK, a student president, his name was 迈克尔·罗莎她说。. “有一项以他的名字命名的奖学金. 他在退休后去世了 Montco. 但他的父母为这里提供了奖学金. 所以，迈克尔很棒. 这是 光谱的一端.”

The other was a student named Travis Ackerman, who now works as a principal in Arizona. 他和博士. Parzynski一直通过脸谱网保持联系.  

Watching students grow and develop as leaders is something Dr. Parzynski说 enjoys most about advising the group and finds it rewarding to celebrate with students 当他们进入人生的下一个阶段时. “自我思考是令人满意的 I had a little part in helping somebody go on to their next step她说。.

Over the years PTK has led some incredible service projects. Dr. Parzynski说了一个 year students collected Beanie Baby dolls and sent them to military members overseas to hand out to children in areas of active conflict. 组织一旦收集 震后为海地人民准备的凉鞋.

“我们做到了不要边开车边发短信，”她说. “我们做了很多心理健康项目， 特别是因为COVID. 学生 needed it because the world turned upside down. 所以，是的，这很有趣.”

PTK学生说. Parzynski’s efforts have been tremendous and she deserves to 被认可.

“我要叫他大夫. Parzynski has been instrumental in getting everybody together and 不断地告诉我们需要什么。 自由研究 major Christina Smith, vice president of public relations for the chapter. 她是 always going the extra mile to help students succeed not just for five-star status, but she really cares to reach every student’s greatest potential.”

“Dr. Parzynski really does care about the success of her students,” said 工商管理 阿莱娜·伯克比尔少校. “她帮了很多忙. 在PTK，她已经 very diligent about making sure we plan our points of the star. 我们必须要做的 获得这种地位. 她不觉得这是件苦差事. 是她 takes the brunt of the work and makes it as easy as possible for us.”

烘焙及糕点艺术 major Katharine Boyle called Parzynski the “backbone” of the chapter.

“PTK is an opportunity to be with people striving academically and socially to make 这是世界的不同，”博伊尔说. “Dr. Parzynski接受并帮助了我们 embrace that and we’re grateful we get the opportunity to do that.”

MCCC has two PTK chapters – Alpha Kappa Zeta at the 蓝铃校园 and Beta Tau 波茨敦校区的Lambda. 这两个章节都达到了五星的地位 一个章节可以获得的最高等级. Dr. Parzynski和Dr. 凯西·霍尔特·谢林，《历史 Professor, are the advisers for Alpha Kappa Zeta, and Douglas Powell, 历史 Assistant Professor, and Meredith Frank, Communications Studies Instructor, are the advisers 对于Tau.

To be eligible for the elite honor of being a PTK member, students must earn a minimum 在12个学分中，保持平均绩点3分.五级以上，品行端正 字符.

Invitations to potentially join PTK will be sent to students in February. 阿尔法 Kappa Zeta chapter will host its induction ceremony April 10 at 5 p.m. 在Parkhouse 大厅. 欲了解更多信息，请联系 Dr. 凯瑟琳Parzynski.