Most often, the most special accomplishments are unexpected. Many times, to achieve the highest feats, it takes a little bit of digging. Phi Theta Kappa, more commonly known as PTK, a group of Garden City Community College students was awarded a prestigious award on April 6th in Orlando Florida. PTK is an international organization and has a strong positive impact in aiding junior college students in their respective journeys. Garden City Community Colleges PTK was recognized as one of the top fifty charters of over 1250 charters for their recent college project. During the reconstruction of the GCCC front sign, a lost time capsule was uncovered. The time capsule, buried in 1993, was originally planned to be opened on the 100th anniversary of Garden City Community College yet was never found. When the time capsule was returned to PTK students and advisors agreed that an impactful event could bring together past and present members of the prestigious society to connect over how times have changed. Jaelynn Smith, a freshman studying Biology for an associate in science, describes the event which became nationally recognized.

“There was a lot of stuff in that old time capsule so we worked to showcase the many things that were in there to us and the older people who were there when it was buried,” Smith said. “We sent out invites and sectioned off a lot of the items and it led to a pretty cool event.” At the end of the year, all PTK groups are called to submit two of their projects throughout the year to be showcased for the betterment of PTK. After GCCC won their regional event, students and faculty involved traveled to Orlando Florida originally with no expectations.

“We hadn’t won anything at this event in over fifteen years so we didn’t expect much,” Smith said. Their anticipation would be overshadowed by joy as GCCC PTK was called to center stage at the College Project Event and recognized in front of national PTK representatives. Tammy Hutcheson, PTK advisor and PSYC instructor, is proud of her students and is fond of the experiences they were able to have through their project and recognition. 

“The students worked hard for this event and it was really cool to see them interacting with past members in their project,” Hutcheson said. “It was really nice to see them come together and put together such a good project.” PTK has held many campus events for the betterment of GCCC and shows no signs of stopping after thier recent accolades.
“We do a lot around campus, we’re constantly involved,” Smith said. “It’s especially nice when we get a little bit of recognition for it as well.”