Hope Mortar Board Chapter
Earns National Awards

HOLLAND - Building on a tradition of recognized excellence, the Hope College chapter of Mortar Board received multiple awards during the national organization's annual summer conference earlier this year, including recognition as one of the top five chapters in the country.

The honors follow having received multiple awards during each of the past several years, including being named the top chapter during the national conference a year ago.  There's a five-year wait before the chapter will be eligible to be considered for the top award again.

The awards program recognized activities during the 2010-11 school year.  Hope received a "Golden Torch Award," 12 "Project Excellence" awards, and the second annual "First Book Award" for having been the top chapter in the national "Reading is Leading" Virtual Book Drive Challenge.  The conference was held on Friday-Sunday, July 29-31, in Chicago, Ill.

The "Golden Torch Award" honors chapters that have excelled in the areas of scholarship, leadership and service.  The Hope chapter was one of the top five "Golden Torch Award" recipients for the fifth year in a row.

The Hope Alcor chapter received 12 "Project Excellence Awards," after receiving eight awards during each of the past two years.  Hope's awards recognized the chapter's Last Lecture Series; Disability Prom; full college scholarships for eight students in Tanzania; Kiva Microloans for six different projects in six countries; Invisible Children Legacy Scholarship; Dance Marathon participation; "President for a Day Swap"; Mortar Board Week and Visibility Projects; Children's After School Achievement (CASA) program pumpkin carving, stocking stuffing and Border's gift cards; First Book Virtual Book Drive and Homecoming Week Book Drive; fall and spring events for members at the homes of the chapter's two advisors; and Marshmallow thrower fundraiser.

The Hope chapter led the national "Reading is Leading" Virtual Book Drive Challenge during each of the past three years, 2008 through 2010, and had also won the initial "First Book Award" last year.  The total raised by all of the chapters in the drive this past year, in fall 2010, was approximately $32,000, of which Hope raised more than $10,000.

Mortar Board is a national honor society that recognizes college seniors for outstanding achievement in scholarship, leadership and service, and provides opportunities for continued leadership development, promotes service to college and universities, and encourages lifelong contributions to the global community.  Since its founding in 1918, the organization has grown from the four founding chapters to 229 collegiate chapters with nearly 250,000 initiated members across the nation.

The Alcor chapter has existed at Hope since the 1936-37 academic year, although it did not become part of the national Mortar Board organization until 1961.  The chapter had 39 members during the 2010-11 school year, and the president was Kelsey Bos, a 2011 graduate from Holland.

The chapter is advised by Martie Bultman, who is the wife of HopeCollege president James E. Bultman, and by Dr. Dianne Portfleet, who is an adjunct associate professor of English.  During the 2007 conference, Portfleet received a national "Excellence in Advising" award.

Those attending the conference on behalf of Hope were Portfleet; incoming chapter vice president Adam Simon, who is a senior from Richland; and incoming chapter communication chair Michael Dirksen, who is a senior from Grand Rapids.  The president of the chapter this year is senior Marco Tori of Pinckney.

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