Hannah Redden (on left) achieved one of the revered state-level regional officer positions for Phi Theta Kappa, recognized as the official honor society for community colleges by the American Association of Community Colleges. According to adviser Jo Fritts, many of the other students at the regional convention were pleasantly surprised when they learned that Redden is still only a senior in high school.

By Cindy Wilson, Assistant Director of OTC Middle College

Sometimes high school kids get mistaken for adults. In Middle College senior Hannah Redden’s case, it wasn’t a mistake at all.

Over the weekend of March 17^th, members of the OTC Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society attended the annual Missouri Regional Convention in Branson. During the convention, six members from around the state, took the plunge and ran for one of the 2017-2018 Regional Officer (RO) positions. This year one of those members who chose to run for a RO position was Hannah Redden.

“I’m so proud of Hannah for being willing to take this leap of faith and run for a Regional Officer position,” said OTC instructor Jo Fritts, who is also the Missouri Regional Coordinator. “Out of the thousands of members within the Missouri Region, only six of them chose to run for a leadership position—a task that is rather challenging and scary.”

Hannah, along with the other candidates campaigned on Friday evening in a meet and greet fashion which allowed them to visit with all of the conference attendees. On Saturday morning, each candidate gave a three-minute scholarly speech over the International Honors Study Topic, “How the World Works: Global Perspectives” and then spent the rest of the day attending breakout sessions and helping the region create two short, professional recruitment videos which have been sent to Headquarters.

During the evening banquet, the new officers were announced and Hannah was elected the Vice-President of the Kappa district which entails the St. Louis and surrounding area. For the next year, Hannah will be traveling throughout Missouri presenting at workshops and conferences. This summer she will be representing the Missouri Region as the International Honors Institute which will be held at Loyola University in Chicago.

She will also be traveling to Jackson, Mississippi to attend a one day training session with Phi Theta Kappa Headquarters staff and members. And then in April of 2018, she along with the other RO’s will be the team who welcomes all attendees to the 100^th Annual International Convention in Kansas City. It is estimated that there could be as many as 6000 attendees at the event and Hannah will be on the stage waving to everyone.

“Hannah met this challenge head on, an—because she was willing to put herself out there—for the next year she will have the time of her life,” Fritts said. “I cannot wait to see how much she grows professionally and personally in the coming year.”

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