Skyline hosted the fall 2010 Phi Theta Kappa new member induction ceremony in the Theatre Oct. 29, 2010, and welcomed honor society students from College of San Mateo, Cañada College and Skyline.
The keynote speaker was Dr. Larry Magid, long-time journalist, technology commentator and child safety advocate. After congratulating students on their accomplishments, Magid opened his talk on how to conduct one’s affairs with considerations of the lowly plastic flex-straw.
“Like the straw, you need to be flexible; you need sometimes to suck it up, and you don’t want to blow it. You should be like the straw which does what it says it is going to do. And, finally, don’t crush the straw. That is, don’t crush yourselves.”
Drawing from his thirty-year experience as a journalist covering the online world, Magid called on students to increasingly interpret knowledge, analyze information, understand its context and care about its source.
“Does the internet makes us smarter?… It makes us more knowledgeable. …But does it makes us wiser?” Magid asked.
“With the pervasiveness of our online activities, the line has blurred between public and private. We are all publishers” Magid said. “What you publish affects what people think of you. It affects your reputation. It affects the image people have of you.”
Magid pointed out how what you publish online can increasingly affect your career advancement or even your future career. To make his point, he asked how many in the audience own a Smartphone, participate in online social media, post essays or videos, email, or blog online. Magid called on students to be mindful that all these online activities leave behind long-lasting “digital breadcrumbs.”
Magid noted how easily false or damaging information can make its way online; one bad posting can be injurious or even tarnish one’s reputation. Magid called on everyone to leave behind a “good digital footprint.”
Magid ended with, “The ability to go online and communicate one-to-one or one-to-many is enormously powerful and ‘with great power, comes great responsibility’.”
After Beta Theta Omicron officer’s made their comments, the ceremony began. Dr. Christine Case, faculty advisor to Skyline’s Phi Theta Kappa Chapter, congratulated inductees and called students by name, announcing their school and program of study.
Honorees walked on stage, where host chapter officers handed out white carnations and lit candles.
Inductees and officers swore their oaths and entered as official members of the society.
After the ceremony, some of the students shared their feelings about the evening’s events and Magid’s talk.
Sangeeta Agarawal, student from Canada College’s Nursing Program enjoyed the induction and felt very special and smart. When asked about Magid’s talk, she said,
“I thought it was pretty interesting…I really like what he said about the ‘good footprint’.”
Agarawal used to interview job candidates as a former manager in the computer industry, and would always ‘google’ them to see what was said online about prospective employees. Today, she shares Magid’s concern with student’s posting inappropriate text messages or images of themselves leaving long-lasting electronic breadcrumbs.
Caara Ricarte, a first-year Skyline paralegal student, is married with a small child and is a non-native English speaker. She was initially nervous because she did not know what to expect; nevertheless, her academic achievement gained her entrance into the society.
Ricarte said, “I’m very happy to know that the name Phi Theta Kappa will be in my resume as well as in my personal life because it’s going to impact future recommendations, future jobs, and scholarships as well as my academic goals.”
When asked how the events felt for him, Carleton Cheng, Skyline College, studying for pharmacy, said,
“This is the first time I’ve been inducted into an honor society. It made me feel pretty good. I’m pretty proud of myself to be able to join this honorable society.”
Katrina Cheng is a Skyline biology major and a VP of Operations and Service in Beta Theta Omicron.
“For me,” Cheng said, “this is my first time to come to induction. I didn’t actually make it to my original induction. This is a really, really exciting experience for me. I got to see all the backstage work, all the planning, just the little things… it nice to see that we are part of a whole larger organization.
Finally, Beta Theta Omicron Chapter President Charity Walden, double major in child development and creative writing said that the evening was especially nerve-wracking for her.
“But,” said Walden, “as I was congratulating people, I had an overwhelming sense of pride at the number of people who came to the induction ceremony and who seemed really serious about Phi Theta Kappa and what we can do for them.”
Phi Theta Kappa is the largest two-year college honor society in the United States. For more information, go online to www.ptk.org.
Beta Theta Omicron is Skyline’s chapter of Phi Theta Kappa and is rated sixth out of 1300 chapters. More information at found online at www.skylinecollege.edu/boo.
