Arapahoe Community College student Tasha Estein was elected as the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) International Vice President for Division IV during the 2017 PTK annual convention earlier this month in Nashville, Tennessee.

Estein, who serves as the ACC Sigma Phi Chapter Historian, is also the President of the ACC Student Government.  She plans to graduate from ACC with her Associate of Science degree in May 2018 and hopes to gain admission into the Eli Whitney Students Program for non-traditional students at Yale College to pursue her bachelor’s degree.

PTK’s Division IV encompasses nearly 300 chapters and covers eight regional organizations including Arizona, Colorado/Wyoming, Greater Northwest, Nevada/California, New Mexico, Pacific, and Rocky Mountain – Cascade.

“I am super excited,” said Estein.  Next year is Sigma Phi’s 50th anniversary and it is also the 100th year anniversary for Phi Theta Kappa international.  In the 50 years that ACC’s chapter has existed, no student had yet to rise to the international level.  Few students from ACC made it as finalists, but Estein is the definitive first. “We’re already planning a huge party,” said Estein.

Estein is especially excited about the diversity that PTK has. “We have a female President, the Vice President is 61 years old, our division II Vice President is an American-Korean, our division III President is a Nigerian, and I’ve got pink hair!”  When PTK boasts the opportunity to meet new people and celebrate diversity, they aren’t kidding!

“I am super nervous, it’s a lot of pressure.”  The recognition Estein has received is crazy to her.  “In the past four days, I’ve had 600 people add me on Facebook.”  Despite the pressure however, Estein is very excited for the responsibilities she gets to take on.  “Over the course of the next year, every other month from one to five days, I’m going to fly out everywhere, internationally even, to give speeches in front of people. . . I’m gonna do a lot of presentations for people who do scholarships and stuff, I’ll be working with a lot of CEO’s — very rich people!”  Estein is particularly excited for the opportunity to have a private speech coach and etiquette classes, as well as an allowance to buy business clothes, a new computer, and flights.

“I’m more excited about the interaction with the schools. . . one of the reasons why I applied for the position was because I wanted to interact with people and get to see the diversity.”

In addition, Sigma Phi, which was recognized as one of the top 100 chapters at the international level during PTK CATALYST, won the following awards at the international level:

Most Distinguished Chapter, 9th place:  Granted to only 10 chapters out of the 1,300 based on the overall score in both the Honors in Action Project and the College Project Award rankings.

Distinguished Chapter Award: Based solely on the written entries for the Hallmark Awards.  This award is presented only to the top 10% of chapters entering the Honors in Action and College Project categories.

Distinguished Honors in Action Project Award: Recognizes the top chapters whose Honors in Action Project entries demonstrated excellence in academic research into the Honors Study Topic, leadership roles and leadership development activities, service learning and collaboration.

Distinguished College Project Award: Based on the level of establishing a supportive relationship between the chapter and the college; demonstrative of the level to which the project supports the college’s mission.