Mount’s Kappa Delta Pi Earns Gold Award

NEWBURGH – Mount Saint Mary College’s Sigma Tau Chapter 451 of Kappa Delta Pi, the international honor society in education, was recently named a 2016-2017 Gold Award winner for their project “Exploring the World of Words: Jumpstart at Newburgh Ministry.”
The award is given through the international Kappa Delta Pi Society. The Mount group’s project was selected from a pool of nearly 90 submissions.

“I was extremely impressed,” said Joseph S. Clemmer, regional chapter coordinator of Kappa Delta Pi International Honor Society in Education. “Thank you for all of your hard work in bringing literacy to your community.”

Developed by Mount teacher candidates, Jumpstart at Newburgh Ministry is a literacy program for at-risk elementary through middle school students. Run by Mount volunteers, the broad goals of the program are to improve children’s life perspectives, develop their reading and writing skills, increase their confidence in their abilities, and help them to believe that a college education is possible for them.

Newburgh Ministry is a culturally diverse, grassroots organization located in the City of Newburgh’s east end. It offers dignity and hope to those who enter seeking shelter, resources, solace, and fellowship.

Sigma Tau members will be on-hand to accept the Gold Award at the KDP 51st Biennial Convocation in Pittsburgh, Pa. this October.

The news of the Gold Award comes on the heels of the chapter recently being selected for its fourth Achieving Chapter Excellence (ACE) award. The ACE award is only given to 22 chapters out of 600 in the country.

Also at the convocation, Ludmila Smirnova, Mount professor of education and KDP faculty co-counselor, will be named the 2016-2017 O.L. Davis, Jr. Counselor of Distinction Award winner. Given to one KDP counselor a year, this award honors chapter counselors who demonstrate outstanding leadership, mentorship of r student leaders, personal scholarship, professional development, and service.

Finally, Kappa Delta Pi chapter president and recent Mount graduate Veronica Malloy of Millbrook, N.Y. will be given the Distinguished Chapter Officer Award.

Kappa Delta Pi promotes excellence in, and recognizes outstanding contributions to, the field of education.

The Mount’s KDP chapter is dedicated to service-learning in the local community. Recent efforts have included the long-running “Adopt a Family” program, where society members donate to families in need. The chapter is overseen by KDP co-counselors Smirnova and Sonya Abbye-Taylor, assistant professor of education at the Mount.

Mount students enjoy serving their community and cultivating their skills through a variety of honor societies, including: Alpha Chi, general excellence; Alpha Sigma Lambda, adult education; Beta Beta Beta, biology; Chi Alpha Epsilon, nontraditional students; Delta Mu Delta, business; Gamma Nu Eta, information technology; Gamma Sigma Epsilon, chemistry; Kappa Mu Epsilon, mathematics; Lambda Pi Eta, communications; Phi Alpha Theta, history; Psi Chi, psychology; Sigma Delta Pi, Hispanic studies; Sigma Tau Delta, English; Sigma Theta Tau, nursing; and Tau Upsilon Alpha, human services.