WVC Phi Theta Kappa and nursing club "Commit to Complete"

Media Contact: Dr. Dan Stephens, Phi Theta Kappa adviser, 509.682.6752, or Libby Siebens, community relations executive director, 509.682.6436 (Mon. – Thurs.)

On February 25, students from the Wenatchee Valley College Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society and Student Nurses of Wenatchee (SNOW) club gathered to sign a completion pledge, part of a national community college movement. By signing, students are pledging to complete their associate degrees or certificates before leaving community college for transfer or to enter the job market. Administrators, faculty and staff have also been asked to sign the pledge, committing themselves to do whatever they can to facilitate completion of student credentials.

The event is hosted by the college's Phi Theta Kappa chapter. PTK Honor Society members are serving as the student arm of the Community College Completion Challenge, a national education initiative. Learn more at www.cccompletioncorps.org.

In April 2010, leaders of six national organizations representing the nation's 1,200 community colleges signed The Call to Action, a pledge to increase student completion rates by 50 percent over the next decade. PTK Honor Society was the only student organization asked to participate. Phi Theta Kappa launched the Community College Completion Corps in response to this call.

At the 2010 White House Summit for Community Colleges, President Obama called for community colleges to produce an additional five million degrees and certificates in the next 10 years, part of a goal to restore the United States as the world's leader in college graduates. The U.S. is now ranked 16th among industrialized countries in the percentage of citizens holding higher education credentials.

According to Community College Completion Corps, students who complete their degrees or certificates will earn an average of $500,000 more over the course of their careers than their peers who did not complete. In addition, individuals with credentials are less likely to become unemployed than their co-workers who did not earn credentials.

WVC student Sam Hooper, a member of both Phi Theta Kappa and SNOW, said that the clubs will push to encourage students to sign the pledge throughout the school year, with information tables set up in Van Tassell Center on the Wenatchee campus. Students can also visit the pledge page at www.cccompletioncorps.org/pledge.