At the 105th Annual National Communication Association (NCA) convention in Baltimore, MD, last month, SBCC was once again the recipient of several national awards. Thanks to the SBCC Foundation, who provided last-minute funding, Professor Sarah Hock, Abigail Armen and Emma Malmen (two students in the honor society of NCA, Sigma Chi Eta) were able to attend and accept the awards on behalf of the college.
The awards included the Raymie E. McKerrow National Chapter of the Year award, the Lynn M. Disbrow National Advisor of the Year Award and the National Student of Year (awarded to SBCC alum Jack Jenkins who is now studying at UC Berkeley). This was the second time SBCC received the Advisor of the Year award, the fifth time receiving the Chapter of the Year award and the third time an SBCC student won the National Student of the Year award.
Sigma Chi Eta is the official community college honor society of the NCA. The Alpha Beta chapter of Sigma Chi Eta has an active student membership in the Communication Department at SBCC and is led by a team of elected student officers under the leadership of the faculty adviser. Alpha Beta chapter works to develop events and opportunities that motivate, inform, and inspire communication students. They also have the goal of stimulating members to incorporate their communication skills to positively impact the local community on campus, the larger Santa Barbara region and beyond. One major area of focus for the Alpha Beta chapter is service learning where students are given opportunities to apply what they are learning in the field of communication to solve real-world problems. The Alpha Beta chapter is committed to empowering student members to become socially-conscious leaders who care about the needs of others and who can express themselves with both passion and civility.
