PTK Service Project Featured in "Change Makers"

Walters State PTK Leadership Team includes, from left to right, Dr. Lisa Eccles of Jefferson City, professor of biology and advisor; Mia Kathalynas of Rogersville; Gabriella Sanchez of Sevierville; Connor Shelton of Greeneville, Kelly Hornberger of New Market; Orlando Bueno of Morristown; and Karina Mesa Ramirez of Sevierville.

Project Focused on Student Health

Walters State’s Phi Theta Kappa Chapter is one of 15 to be featured in the latest edition of “Change Makers: Phi Theta Kappa Journal of Student Leadership.” Phi Theta Kappa is the international honor society for community college students.

Over 450 projects were considered for inclusion. This is the first time the college has been featured in the publication. 

The article spotlights the organization’s 2025 service project, which provided sex education to college freshmen and sophomores. The article is “S.O.S. – Serving Our Students Through Student Health.” The project was a collaboration with the Tennessee Department of Health to provide accurate sexual health information and supplies to students. During the course of the project, more than 4,500 students were given information, and more than 15,000 prophylactics were given. The club installed prophylactic dispensers in restrooms on each campus. 

This project was previously awarded the PTK International Distinguished Project Award and was the top service project among PTK chapters in Tennessee. 

This will mark the third year Walters State’s PTK Chapter service project connects with “PTK Saves Lives.” In 2024, the club’s service project was “Be the Match,” focused on recruiting new donors for the national bone marrow donors program. The local chapter collected more potential donors than any other chapter in Tennessee and finished second in the nation. This year, the service project is “Save a Life. You Can with Narcan.” This campaign will teach students how to use Narcan and distribute hundreds of free Narcan life-saving kits on campus.