The Phi Eta Sigma honor society has plans to grow and strengthen this year providing opportunities for members to serve and get involved.

Phi Eta Sigma is a national honor society for first-year students.

The organization was founded at University of Illinois in 1923 and was originally a fraternity, but, in 1975, the fraternity was dropped and membership was open to women.

The honor society has been at ACU since 1987. In the past, it was been housed in the Political Science Department but is now housed in the First-Year Program located on the bottom level of McKinzie Hall.

To qualify for membership, students must have a GPA of 3.5 during the fall or spring semester of their first year of college. Students must have registered for and completed 12 or more credits during the semester in which they earned the 3.5 GPA. Last, you must also be enrolled in an accredited bachelor’s degree program.

Colton McCoy, senior biology and Spanish major from Granbury, is president of Phi Eta Sigma. He has a passion to get first-year students involved and has hit the ground running with fresh ideas and a new foundation.

“I’m most looking forward to and excited about being a part of laying the groundwork for what Phi Eta Sigmas’ service to its community and students will look like in the years to come,” McCoy said.

Last Saturday, the honor society conducted their annual ceremony of induction in Hart Auditorium. With record-breaking attendance, the event had over 400 guests and over 300 students became new members.

The honor society at ACU has not been very active in the past, but members like McCoy and Caddie Coupe, assistant director of the First-Year program, are excited to start from scratch and become more industrious in service projects and other community events.

Coupe is the chapter advisor and connects students to the national organization.

“This is just the beginning,” Coupe said.