National ‘Mortar Board’ Honor Society ‘Taps’ Students in Class

Ella Stroeing sat confused as Dr. Keevan Statz walked into her Shakespeare Literature class in full graduation regalia.

Then, the business professor called her to the front of the room to announce that she had been selected to Mortar Board.

“When Statz walked in with his graduation gown, I was like ‘Oh boy, what is going on? Hopefully someone else in the class is getting tapped as well,’” said Stroeing, who was covered on this site once before. “But it was just me standing up there at the front of the room by myself, so … it was funny, but it was a good experience. I’m really honored. I think it’s really cool to see all of the things that you’ve been a part of, kind of get recognized and come to fruition and culminate in an honor like this.”

Mortar Board, a national honors society for incoming juniors and seniors, has existed for over 100 years, with chapters at more than 230 universities across the country. This year, The Semper Porro — Latin for ‘Always Forward’ — chapter of Mortar Board was installed on Friday, April 10 with the first class of 28 students being initiated along with three honorary members: President Stephen Minnis, Provost and Dean Dr. Kimberly Shankman, and Dr. Andrew Swafford”,  at Benedictine College in Atchison, Kansas.

Twenty-seven other students at the Kansas school experienced something similar when they were selected to Mortar Board, in a process known as ‘tapping’.

Tapping is how students learn that they were accepted into Mortar Board, as a teacher or other member of Mortar Board will surprise a student in a class, meeting, or practice and recognize their achievement in front of their peers.

“The idea of tapping is that it’s a very public recognition,” Statz said. “It’s really just an opportunity to recognize all the awesome things that the students have done.”

But Mortar Board is not just about public recognition, it is also about providing students with a community of other accomplished peers that they otherwise might not meet while providing service opportunities to give back to the community.

Mortar Board’s core values include scholarship, service and leadership. Through involvement, it hopes to better shape students in these three categories. These values closely align with Benedictine College’s mission — community, faith, and scholarship — thus making it an easy fit.

“When Benedictine first submitted their proposal, it was a really great fit, particularly with the values of Benedictine and particularly the commitment to the community and service,” said Dr. Kirsten Fox, Executive Director of Mortar Board.

Fox, along with Dr. Cassandra Lucas, immediate past president of Mortar Board, and Nathan Cordle, National President visited campus to install the chapter on April 9-10.

Statz agrees, saying that this close alignment of values made the partnership an appealing idea. He is a member of Mortar Board, inducted as a student at the University of Nebraska. After his positive experience in the group, he wanted to share that with students at Benedictine College.

“I sought to start a chapter at Benedictine because I want to promote these ideals and to encourage students to engage in great scholarship, to be leaders, and to give back,” Statz said. “I really think that those align so well with our mission here, in terms of our ideals, educating men and women in a community of faith and scholarship.”

Students were invited to apply in January, and the tapping occurred last month. Students who were accepted said that they are honored to be members of the inaugural Mortar Board class at Benedictine College.

John Kline, a junior electrical engineering and physics major, said that being tapped is a huge honor and he is grateful for the opportunity to join Mortar Board.

“All the students have a tremendous, impressive list of accomplishments, so it’s really an honor to be selected with them,” Kline said.

Meeting his fellow members and learning their stories has been Kline’s favorite part of Mortar Board as the students come from diverse backgrounds, various majors, and are involved in a variety of activities.

“It’s been amazing to get to know the other members,” Kline said. “It’s really amazing to me that there’s some of these people that have so much of an impact on the Benedictine community, but I have never met them before and now I’m just in the same group as, which is really impressive.”

For Stroeing, she is excited to be part of something new and help to launch this chapter at Benedictine College.

“I’m excited to be in the inaugural Mortar Board chapter because we get to start something new on campus,” Stroeing said. “We have so many great traditions. We have so many different groups, but it’s going to be really exciting to start a new one and just really showcase the great group of people, the diverse collection of people that we have as well.”

That is what the administration hopes to happen. Dean Joe Wurtz looks forward to welcoming Mortar Board to campus and watching the student leaders give back to the community in new ways.

“At Benedictine, we’re trying to build leaders who will Transform Culture in America,” Wurtz said. “I hope Mortar Board brings this national recognition to Atchison and which our students will bring out into the world and they will be able to use these connections and lessons learned to go out and transform culture.”

 

Semper Porro Class Initiates:

Stephen D. Minnis: President of the College (honorary)

Dr. Kimberly Shankman: Provost and Dean of the College (honorary)

Dr. Andrew Swafford: Professor of Theology (honorary)

Dante Bullara: San Marcos, California, double majoring in Computer Science and Management.

Kelly DeMeulenaere: Altoona, Iowa, majoring in Exercise Science.

Paul Dorr: St. Joseph, Minnesota, double majoring in Finance and Accounting.

Maria Draves: Mazomanie, Wisconsin, double majoring in Secondary Education and English, with a minor in Theology.

Jayden Fletcher: Circleville, Kansas, majoring in Biology with a minor in Chemistry.

Gabriel Fuerte: Lakewood, Colorado, majoring in Finance and Marketing.

Octavia Gomez: Littleton, Colorado, is majoring in Criminology and Psychology with a minor in Theology.

Corban-Arch Graham: North Prince George, Virginia. He is double-majoring in Economics and Politics and Government.

Brook Hatzmann: Dallas, Texas majoring in Finance with an emphasis in Pre-Law.

Karina Hernandez: Keller, Texas, majoring in Elementary Education with a concentration in Social Studies.

Anna Hoffman: Labadie, Missouri majoring in Marketing with a minor in Psychology.

Timothy Kasprzak: Naperville, Illinois, double majoring in Accounting and Marketing.

John Kline: Hillsboro, Virginia, majoring in Electrical Engineering and Physics with a minor in Mathematics.

Mariel Kottoor: Springtown, Texas, majoring in Theology.

Leah Kuhn: Livonia, Michigan majoring in architecture.

Katherine Kumar: Frisco, Texas, majoring in Finance and Marketing.

Grace Lindemann: Cedarburg, Wisconsin majoring in Graphic Design.

Jane Meganck: Waukesha, Wisconsin, majoring in nursing.

Evan Nordhus: Wichita, Kansas, majoring in Philosophy with a minor in Art.

Jacqueline Oswald: Manassas, Virginia, majoring in nursing.

Emily Peters: Marinette, Wisconsin majoring in architecture with a minor in business.

Trey Smith: West Point, Nebraska, majoring in Exercise Science with minors in Theology and Philosophy.

Nicole Storck: Adel, Iowa majoring in Accounting and Exercise Science.

Ella Stroeing: Wadena, Minnesota, double majoring in Secondary Education and English.

Lucas Swackhammer: St. Charles, Missouri and is majoring in Mechanical Engineering.

Brendon Toenniessen: Atchison, Kansas, double majoring in Mathematics and Physics with a minor in Computer Science.

Alena Velilla:  Lawrence, Kansas majoring in Biology.

Anna Wingbermuehle:  St. Charles, Missouri, majoring in Biology with a minor in Chemistry.

 

Photo courtesy Mortar Board.

By Jack Figge