Jessica Staats
Wor-Wic Community College student Jessica Staats of Berlin was recently named to the All-Maryland Academic Team. The annual competition is sponsored by the Phi Theta Kappa international honor society (PTK). Twenty-nine students from throughout the state were named to either the first or second team. Staats was one of 15 students to make the first team.
“In the past 19 years, Wor-Wic has had 17 students make the first team and 11 were named to the second team,” said Dr. Ray Hoy, president of Wor-Wic.
Staats, a general studies transfer major with a 3.93 grade point average, graduated from Wor-Wic this month with an associate degree. She plans to transfer to the University of North Carolina at Asheville to continue honors-level studies in Spanish and history.
She is vice president of leadership for Wor-Wic’s Alpha Nu Omicron chapter of PTK and a student ambassador. Staats also volunteers with the Girl Scouts of the Chesapeake – Circle of Friends program, whose purpose is to build self esteem in girls across all demographics. She has also been a Coastal Hospice and Relay For Life volunteer.
Phi Theta Kappa is an internationally-recognized honor society serving America’s two-year colleges. The Alpha Nu Omicron chapter was chartered at Wor-Wic in September of 1987. Advisors of the chapter include Dr. Lynn M. Derickson, associate professor of nursing, Burma Freeman, assistant professor of physical science, Terry Thompson, associate professor of biological science, Jennifer L. Tusing, assistant professor of Spanish, and Dr. Coleen M. Weil, professor of nursing.