Every year, the Phi Theta Kappa chapter members on the NTCC campus select a topic to explore and ultimately produce a project relevant to our local community. The PTK headquarters suggests the overarching study topic. For 2024-2025, Phi Theta Kappa members worldwide will be exploring "Stories."
The chapter on the NTCC campus selected the theme "Folklore, Fairytales, and Fables." Starting in April, chapter members have been reading and exploring different stories from around the world, partly inspired by the global nature of its chapter officer team, including members from Europe and the Americas. Research sessions held in the NTCC Library, conducted by Heather Shaw, and perusing donated books such as award-winning author Jane Yolen's Favorite Folktales from around the World, have revealed the regional differences of folktales and how they reflect the culture from which they come. Even the United States has different versions of folktales in various regions of the nation. As a result, Phi Theta Kappa is teaming up with Sigma Kappa Delta English Honor Society to seek out some of the tales unique to northeast Texas.
Please share your awareness of some of the local folk tales and add to the inventory of tales we have collected about this region. Scan the QR code pictured or and indicate which categories of stories about the northeastern Texas region you have heard about. Categories include strange creatures in a lake, strange creatures in the woods, strange happenings on former Indian burial grounds, outlaws acting like "Robin Hood," haunted locations, occult stories, cowboy tall tales, and flying items. You can provide more detail after marking the category of one or more folk tales. Feel free to note which lake or wooded area you heard a story about or which specific haunted house or location. You can also add information about a tale that does not fit the categories noted. All responses can be anonymous, as this is a collection of oral stories and tales about the area, which may or may not have a basis in truth.
The chapter will host a "Folk-tober" celebration of local tales, including Choctaw tribal storytellers and dancers, a best-selling local author, and connecting with the local Bigfoot Museum in Jefferson. All the stories collected will be compiled and analyzed. Members plan to share their findings with the Texas Folklore Society.
Last year, the Phi Theta Kappa chapter built a lending library with bilingual and multilingual books. The grassy area near the Ignite Youth Club houses the handcrafted lending library.
Past projects that have won awards at the international level include a half-hour documentary inspired by a chapter visit to the Greenwood Rising Museum on the location of Black Wall Street and African American oral history interviews. The documentary features the voices, stories, and legacies of African American community members, entitled "Finally Free: From Folklore to Legacy" ;
Another international winner was the documentary "To Turn a Blind Eye: Inaccessibility Awareness." The film explored the issue of accessibility on and offline by connecting with global leaders in the effort to make the internet more accessible, including crafting a long-lasting connection with experts in Australia, visiting locations that serve the visually challenged in Dallas, and interviewing NTCC's visually challenged history professor, John Russo.
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Phi Theta Kappa is the first honor society to recognize students' academic achievement at associate degree-granting colleges and help them grow as scholars and leaders. The Society comprises more than 4.3 million members and nearly 1,300 chapters in 11 countries, with approximately 240,000 active members in the nation's colleges. Learn more at ptk.org
If you would like to learn more about NTCC's chapter of Phi Theta Kappa, check out the chapter Facebook page at or contact Dr. Melissa Fulgham at mfulgham@ntcc.edu.
