Supreme Court Justice Jeff Boyd will speak at the Alpha Chi National Honor Society induction ceremony at 6 p.m. Thursday at Chapel on the Hill.
Boyd is an ACU alumnus as well as a member of Alpha Chi. Colton McCoy, president of ACU’s chapter of Alpha Chi National Honor Society, said he looks forward to hearing Boyd speak to new members.
“It’s cool for students who are being inducted to be able to see someone speaking at the induction ceremony who has gone on to become a Supreme Court Justice,” said McCoy, senior Spanish and biology major from Granbury.
Invitations to join the organization were sent to 417 eligible students with 179 accepting. About 126 new members and 128 guests will attend the induction ceremony. To be eligible for induction, students must be juniors, seniors or graduate students and be in the top 10 percent of their class.
“Alpha Chi does a number of service activities and social events,” McCoy said. “We provide scholarships and networking opportunities to our members and we have numerous students every year present their research at the Alpha Chi National Convention.”
In addition to serving as president, McCoy is also on the National Council for Alpha Chi. The organization is comprised of seven regions throughout the country. McCoy is the representative of Region I which is host to about 280,000 members.
McCoy said bringing new members into ACU’s chapter will not only offer more involvement with service projects but will also allow Alpha Chi to sponsor more events.
“We’re doing something at the end of the semester with a guy named Ernie Halter,” McCoy said. “He’s a musician from Nashville and he’s going to do a concert. With more members, we are able to do stuff like that.”
The concert will take place Dec. 2 at The Warehouse, in downtown Abilene. Alpha Chi National Honor Society will partner with the freshman national honor society, Phi Eta Sigma, to aid in funding the event.
McCoy is not the only Alpha Chi member to serve on the National Council. Dr. Mikee Delony, who sponsors the Alpha Chi chapter, serves as one of 12 at-large members on the National Council.
“Of all the stuff I do, this is the thing I am most passionate about,” Delony said. “It is all 100 percent about students. When students are on committees, they have equal voice, equal vote.”
Delony has been a sponsor of the Alpha Chi National Honor Society at ACU for the last five years. In that time, she said membership has grown from 43 members in 2010 to an average of 300.
“I would like to see much more participation from our members,” Delony said. “Since we’re partnering with the freshman honor society, we hope there will be some transition over into Alpha Chi.”
