Two of Skyline’s top academic achievers were elected to become members of the 2008 Phi Theta Kappa All-California Academic Team this semester.

The two students who were elected to become members of the All-California team were Kahee (Joanne, as she goes by here on campus) Jo, and Richard Chiang. Skyline Biology professor and advisor of the Phi Theta Kappa Skyline chapter Dr. Christine Case explains that The Phi Theta Kappa All-California Team is a team of elected students from two-year colleges all over California who get recognized for their academic achievements and extra curricular achievements. Two students from every two-year college get chosen. Not every state has an All-State team.

“It is a selection from students who apply of the very best based on grade point average and current contributions to society and potential for contributions to society,” Case said.

The members of the All-California Academic Team receive a scholarship.

Every year, there is one student that is chosen as the New Century Scholar. The person who is named New Century scholar wins an extra $2,000 scholarship from Coca-Cola. There is one New Century scholar per state. Skyline College has had two students in the past who have won New Century Scholar, and two who have won the All-USA Academic team in 2000 and 2001.

Skyline student Joanne Jo says that she was honored to be elected as one of the two students from Skyline College to be part of the All-California Academic Team.

“I applied [for the All-California Academic Team] last semester so I kind of forgot about it because I was busy doing other stuff,” Jo says. “But then I got an e-mail from them and I was really surprised and I thought ‘wow!’. It’s very honorable.”

Jo is a science major and has a current GPA of 3.84. She also does many different extra curricular activities such as volunteering at different events and doing scientific research. She has done presentations at national conferences and is also the vice president of communication of Phi Theta Kappa.

Skyline student Richard Chiang was also pleasantly surprised to find out that he was elected to become part of the All-California Academic Team.

“I feel really honored to be part of the All-California Academic Team. I thank both Christine Case and Professor Stephen Frederick for their encouragement. Being chosen was a pleasant surprise,” Chiang said in an e-mail interview.

Chiang received this award by his outstanding academic achievements and extra curricular activities, such as community service. He has done things from feeding the homeless to participating in helping disadvantage children. He is president of Skyline’s Phi Theta Kappa chapter.

It is not required to be a member of Phi Theta Kappa in order to apply for the All-California Academic team. The award is a huge honor and looks great on any transcripts or resumes.

“It literally says that you are the best in a very large state,” said Case.