What running this chapter actually involves.
Phi Theta Kappa scores every chapter against a Five Star Chapter Plan — ten essential requirements across five categories, assessed January to December. This page lays out all five, and says honestly where we stand on each today.
Five categories, one star each
The Society evaluates chapters against ten essential requirements grouped into five categories. Each category a chapter completes earns a star, so a Five Star chapter has done all five. The cycle runs January 1 to December 31.
We are publishing this because a prospective advisor deserves to see the whole year before agreeing to anything — not a recruiting pitch that leaves out the workload.
- Stars earned this cycle
- 0
- Categories blocked
- 5
Every category below requires an appointed advisor before it can begin. That is not a scheduling problem — it is the single dependency the whole year hangs on.
What each one requires
Grow
Invite eligible students to join year‑round using the Society’s Recruitment Toolkit. Eligibility has to be certified against college records before any invitation is valid.
Engage
Officers and members complete PTK Edge and Leadership Development Studies coursework. Advisors complete the Advisor Edge professional development course.
Network
Officers attend and participate in regional events. For us that is the Greater Northwest Region — its fall conference on November 21 at Portland Community College, and the Scholar Dash 5K fundraiser, which has raised around $47,000 historically. Local events for Bellevue College count here too.
Lead
Implement a College Project in collaboration with Bellevue College leadership. Detailed below — this is the category with the earliest deadline.
Discover
Create and implement an Honors in Action project: pick one theme from the Honors Study Topic, research it properly, then design an action that answers what the research found.
Student work on categories 4 and 5 can begin before an advisor is appointed, and ours has. What cannot happen without one is certification, submission, or any of category 1.
The College Project
The College Project is a separate Hallmark award from Honors in Action, and it is the one that puts the chapter in a room with college leadership. The chapter identifies an institutional need through qualitative or quantitative evidence, then works with Bellevue College on addressing it.
Offices the project typically involves: Student Engagement, Academic Affairs, Institutional Advancement, and Community Care and Institutional Transformation. The work is expected to align with Bellevue College’s Strategic Plan 2026–2031.
Entry deadline: early January. The written report has to cover how the project supported BC’s strategic plan, how the need was identified, who at the college was involved, what goals were set, how members and staff collaborated, the measured impact, and what the team learned. We will confirm the exact date through the Society’s dashboard once an advisor has access.
- How the project supported Bellevue College’s Strategic Plan.
- How the need was identified, with qualitative or quantitative evidence.
- Who at the college we worked with, and how.
- What goals were set and how the project was planned.
- How members, officers, staff and the student body collaborated.
- The impact created, measured both ways.
- What officers and members learned from it.
All five categories start with one appointment.
If you are Bellevue College faculty or staff, this page is the honest version of what you would be signing up for. Students do the work in every category; the advisor certifies, approves, and submits.