On May 5, the School of Education honored the academic excellence of 23 undergraduate and 18 graduate students as they were inducted into the Sigma Gamma chapter of Kappa Delta Pi, the international honor society in education. 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.
Carolyn Stuart, chair of the Department of Education, opened the ceremony with the lighting of the white Kappa Candle acknowledging the organization’s commitment to Elon’s motto, “Numen Lumen.” Faculty members Joan Barnatt, Terry Tomasek, Mary Knight-McKenna and Glenda Crawford led the inductees in affirming the society’s ideals of fidelity to service, fidelity to science, fidelity to humanity and fidelity to toil.
Stephen Byrd, faculty sponsor and program coordinator for special education, offered a charge to the inductees titled “Embrace Your Calling and Honor Your Commitments.” David Cooper, dean of the School of Education concluded the ceremony with these challenging words from the society’s 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 School of Education faculty are proud of the following undergraduate and graduate inductees:
- Nina Allen
- Allison Amrhein
- Madison Barringer
- Kyle Bounty
- Ellen Boyle
- Rebecca Desnoyers
- Marty Erskine
- Kaitlyn Fay
- Jesica Fitzgerald
- Brittany Hallberg
- Jeanna Hawkins
- Danielle Hayduchok
- Tess Hegedus
- Victoria Hill
- Shayla Hilton
- Melissa Hollomon
- Lisa Jones
- Amy Joyce
- Sara Kesler
- Amanda Ketner
- Kristen Koenig
- Jessica Mahon
- Chelsey McElwee
- Tara McFadden
- Kathryn McMullin
- Jordan McNeill
- Madeleine Méjean
- Marissa Messiano
- Kathryn Puckett
- Kimberly Rate
- Jessica Richardson
- Alan Rigsbee
- Lauren Rodriguez-McCleary
- Natalie Sayag
- Stephanie Sevelovitz
- Caroline Smith
- Jennifer Sorkin
- Suzanne Ulian
- Katie Ward