McHenry County College’s Chi Upsilon chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) Honor Society has received international recognition for its outstanding work in 2024, earning multiple prestigious awards. The chapter was honored with both the Distinguished College Project Award and the Distinguished Honors in Action Award—only 50 of each were awarded at the international level.
As part of the College Project, the chapter coordinated campus events to gather student feedback on college marketing and communication materials. For the Honors in Action category, students focused on the preservation of the personal stories of people from underrepresented groups and submitted them to the StoryCorps archive for inclusion in the Library of Congress.
"These projects have shown students the value of research in real life,” said Heidi Boring, co-advisor of MCC’s Chi Upsilon chapter. “Students have contributed to the quality of communication on campus and learned the importance of lifelong learning and community service. We are proud of their contributions to the college and the larger community."
The Chi Upsilon chapter was also one of only two chapters in Illinois to be named a Distinguished Chapter, and the only chapter from Illinois to make the top 10.
“Due to the success in the College Project and Honors in Action categories, our chapter was also designated as a Distinguished Chapter,” said Boring. “Only 35 chapters earn this title. In fact, we were ranked number 10 in the world among Distinguished Chapters.”
There are about 1,300 PTK chapters around the world. More than 500 chapters enter both a College Project and Honors in Action project to be considered for these awards.
Learn more about PTK at MCC here.