The Teacher Education Program last night honored the academic excellence of 26 undergraduate and graduate students as they were inducted into the Sigma Gamma Chapter of Kappa Delta Pi, International Honor Society in Education. Kappa Delta Pi (KDP) was founded in 1911 by leading thinkers in education at the University of Illinois. Since that time, it has grown to an international organization of over 60,000 members. Acceptance into KDP is based upon the criteria of academic excellence (GPA of 3.6 or higher) and the recommendation of three teacher education faculty members.
Dr. Carolyn Stuart, chair of the Teacher Education Department, began last night’s ceremony with the lighting the white Kappa Candle acknowledging the organization’s commitment to Elon’s motto Numen Lumen. Dr. Mary Knight-McKenna, Dr. Terry Tomasek, Dr. Rich Mihans, and Dr. Glenda Crawford led the students in affirming the society’s ideals of Fidelity to Service, Fidelity to Science, Fidelity to Humanity, and Fidelity to Toil.
Dr. Stephen Byrd, faculty sponsor and organizer of the event, offered a charge to the inductees on the theme “Embrace your calling; Honor your commitments”. Dr. Stuart concluded the ceremony with the society motto:
“So to teach that our words inspire a will to learn; so to serve that each day may enhance the growth of exploring minds; so to live that we may guide young and old to know the truth and love the right. To the fulfillment of these objectives we pledge our efforts.”
The teacher education faculty is proud of the following undergraduate and graduate inductees:
Lauren Arold, undergraduate-Elementary Education
Gretchen Bruesehoff, undergraduate-Music Education
Vanessa Buhrman, undergraduate-Music Education
Chelsea Carter, undergraduate-Elementary Education
Lauren Chambers, undergraduate-Music Education
Lindsay Clement, undergraduate-Elementary Education
William Conklin, graduate-Elementary Education
Helen Crompton, graduate-Elementary Education
Carrie Dilger, undergraduate-Elementary Education
Sara Gould, undergraduate-Elementary Education
Kirsten Holtje, undergraduate-Elementary Education
Jessica Hoyle, undergraduate-Special Education & Middle Grades Education
Barbara Jenkins, graduate-Special Education
Jenni Kanoy, undergraduate-English Education
Carolyn King, undergraduate-Elementary Education
Michelle Massie, undergraduate-Elementary Education
Kimberly McCutcheon, undergraduate-Elementary Education
Christina McLaughlin, graduate-Special Education
Meredith McNeill, undergraduate-Elementary Education
Katherine Seymour, undergraduate-Elementary Education
Hilary Sheets, undergraduate-Mathematics Education
Kjersti Smedley, undergraduate-Middle Grades Education
Megan Thomas, graduate-Gifted Education
Jennifer Tripp, graduate-Gifted Education
Shea Turney, graduate-Elementary Education
Alison Welch, undergraduate-English Education