SMC Sophomore Receives Honor Society Academic Award

04/17/09

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:

SPARTANBURG, S.C. -  A Spartanburg Methodist College student has received a $1,000 award for academic performance and recognition by the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.

Sophomore Harley Porter, of Columbus, NC, has been selected as a 2009 Coca-Cola National Finalist, based on scores earned in the All-USA Academic Team Competition.

As one of 150 national finalists, Porter will receive a $1,000 stipend.The Coca-Cola All-State Academic Team is sponsored by the Coca-Cola Scholars Foundation and is administered by Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society.

The All-USA/All-State Academic Teams programs annually recognize up to 370 outstanding two-year college students. Selection is based on nominations submitted by community college presidents or campus CEOs, who receive nomination materials in the fall.

Porter, a graduate of Polk County High School, has been actively involved in student activities at SMC, as a member of PTK; editor of the Trailblazer student newspaper; president of the Green Hope Environmental Group; and as a member of the SMC Players theater group.

She will graduate this spring with an Associate in Arts and plans to transfer to a 4-year institution in the fall to eventually earn a PhD and teach Histroy at the college leve. She is the daughter of Steven and Tina Porter, of Columbus; and Travis Saulman and Emily Porter, of Morganton,

NC.Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society, headquartered in Jackson, Mississippi, is the largest honor society in American higher education with 1,250 chapters on college campuses in all 50 of the United States, Canada, Germany, the Republic of Palau, the Republic of the Marshall Islands, the Federated States of Micronesia, the British Virgin Islands, the United Arab Emirates and U.S. territorial possessions.

More than two million students have been inducted since its founding in 1918, with approximately 100,000 students inducted annually.

Spartanburg Methodist College is in its 98th year of providing a quality education to students in a Christian environment. More than 90 percent of SMC graduates continue their education at other institutions of higher learning.

For more information, please contact Brian Fulkerson, Director of Public Information, at (864) 587-4254 or Clancy Mitchell, Scholarship Programs Administrator of Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society at (601) 984-3545 or clancy.mitchell@ptk.org  

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