Alsobrooks named ‘Paragon Award’ recipient

SCOOBA — East Mississippi Community College President Dr. Scott Alsobrooks is among a select group who will receive Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society’s “Paragon Award.”

“These awards are given to new college presidents who have shown strong support of student success by recognizing academic achievement, leadership and service among high-achieving students at their college,” a Phi Theta Kappa press release states.

Each year, Paragon Award recipients are recognized at PTK’s annual convention, which will take place this year April 2-4 at the Gaylord Texan Resort & Convention Center in Grapevine Texas, which is located near Dallas.

Out of the 500 college presidents eligible to receive the award this year, 28 from across the U.S. were selected for the honor, the PTK press release states.

The Paragon Awards will be presented April 3 before an audience of nearly 4,000 PTK student members, alumni, chapter advisors and college presidents, according to information provided by PTK.

“Phi Theta Kappa is a phenomenal organization dedicated to developing the nation’s leaders of tomorrow,” Alsobrooks said. “To be nominated by one of our chapters and to be recognized by an outstanding organization like Phi Theta Kappa is an honor.”

Phi Theta Kappa is the world’s largest honor society for students enrolled in two-year-colleges. Students invited to join must generally have a grade point average of 3.5 or higher.

Student members of the Eta Upsilon chapter of PTK on EMCC’s Scooba campus filled out the nomination form that resulted in Alsobrooks’ selection for the Paragon President award.

“It was the students’ idea to nominate Dr. Alsobrooks,” said Janet Briggs, who, along with Derrick Conner, is a faculty advisor for the Eta Upsilon chapter of PTK.