Alpha Lambda Delta, a national honor society for first-year students at an institution of higher education, recently hosted its pinning and induction ceremonies at Grambling State University. Dr. Robert Dixon, GSU Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs was the guest speaker for the pinning ceremony. He told the students that the future lies in their hands, and they are the students of tomorrow.
Inductee Jordan Lemons said, “It is a great honor to be a member of Alpha Lambda Delta. This organization is responsible for bringing together some of the brightest minds around this university.”
Lemons, a native of Stockbridge, Ga., majoring in marketing, said the pinning ceremony was very special.
“It showed how prestigious and how much respect the organization has by landing such an accomplished speaker as Dr. Dixon,” he said.
The newly elected officers are Mirhonda Smith, president; Yanah Severin, vice president; Flavia Stanley, secretary; Nigel George, treasurer; Macricia Auguste; historian; Pedro Lopez, editor; Garvin Casimir, webmaster; Krystal Mauricette; senior adviser; and James White, junior adviser. Porsche Henderson will serve as Miss Alpha Lambda Delta.
St. Lucia native Flavia Stanley said, “I chose to become a member of Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society because it opens the door to many opportunities that could assist in advancing my academic endeavors.”
Stanley said the pinning ceremony was an unforgettable one.
“It inspired me to continue excelling academically,” the accounting and computer information systems major said.
Latotsha Douglas serves as the senior adviser of this honor society, and Lawanda Sykes and Susan Wiley are co-advisers and have worked in this capacity since Spring 2007. They are academic counselors who teach First-Year Experience courses.
Sykes presented outgoing senior adviser Morgan Chenevert with a token of appreciation.
“Morgan, you have truly been a blessing,” Sykes said. “Because we were new advisors, we often had to rely on you, and you were always ready to assist us.”
Dr. Michael D. McKinley, executive assistant to the president, gave congratulatory remarks at the induction “These students have sacrificed short-term rewards for long-term gains by doing the diligent and challenging work put to them by their professors in order to get the grades necessary to get the honor that is being bestowed upon them,” he said.
Natchitoches native and political science major MaRhonda Smith said, “I enjoyed the Alpha Lambda Delta pinning ceremony, it was an honor to have Dr. Dixon preside over the ceremony and the musical selections were quite enjoyable; it was also an honor to be recognized in front of the student body for our hard work and academic excellence.”
Alpha Lambda Delta has been in existence since 1924. It recognizes those students who have succeeded in maintaining a 3.5 or higher grade-point average and are in the top 20 percent of their class in their first year.
Alpha Lambda Delta was introduced on the campus of GSU in 1997 by Rosetta Days, dean of the College of Basic and Special Studies, and Betty Chisley, an academic adviser in Basic and Special Studies.
Alpha Lambda Delta’s purpose is to encourage superior academic achievement to promote intelligent living and a continued high standard of learning, and to assist students in recognizing and developing meaningful goals for their unique.
“Only the best and the brightest are selected to join the national honors society of Alpha Lambda Delta; therefore, upon receiving my invitation I was first honored and second grateful to be invited into a society as nationally recognized and prestigious as Alpha Lambda Delta, said Smith.”
Sykes said, “Freshman-oriented honor societies such as Alpha Lambda Delta teach students early the importance of academic achievement and encourages them to always put their best foot forward.