BARRON RECEIVES PHI THETA KAPPA GOLDEN KEY AWARD

Joel Barron of New Site, was recently recognized at the Phi Theta Kappa Mississippi/Louisiana Regional Leadership Conference with the Golden Key Award. The Conference was held at Mississippi Gulf Coast Community College, Jefferson Davis campus at Gulfport.

Only one Phi Theta Kappa member is nominated annually by chapter advisors to receive the Golden Key Award. Nominations are based on an essay submitted by chapter advisors Ray Harris, Andrea Mathis and Barbara Shackelford describing ways the member embodies scholarship, leadership, fellowship and service, the hallmarks of Phi Theta Kappa.

According to Barbara Shackelford, one of Barron’s PTK advisers, “Joel Barron is an outstanding young man who embodies intelligence, dedication, achievement, and diligence. Joel exemplifies what every college student should be -- hard working, intelligent, friendly and competent. Joel’s energy, drive and enthusiasm for every project he engages in is unprecedented.”
Barron, a 2005 graduate of Red Bay, Ala. High School and a sophomore music education major at Northeast, was inducted into the Iota Zeta chapter of Phi Theta Kappa at Northeast in the spring of 2006, his second semester at the college. He was immediately tapped as a Phi Theta Kappa officer for 2006-7.

Members of Northeast's faculty named Barron to Who's Who Among American Junior College Students for 2006-2007. He has been named to the prestigious Dean’s List at Northeast for three semesters because of his high grade point average.

In addition to Phi Theta Kappa activities, Joel is a member of the college’s chorus and chamber choir. He appeared in the musical “She Loves Me” and performed in the college’s Musical Cabaret for the past two years. He has the role of Prince Dauntless in the 2007 spring musical “Once Upon a Mattress.”

Phi Theta Kappa is an international organization composed of 1100 chapters at colleges in the United States and Canada. Phi Theta Kappa’s international headquarters are located in Jackson, Miss. The honor society seeks to foster the development of leadership and service, to provide an intellectual climate for the exchange of ideas and to encourage the establishment of scholarships for advanced education. Phi Theta Kappa is recognized by the American Association of Community Colleges as the official honor society for two-year colleges.