Mortar Board Selects Students for Membership
Selection for the prestigious honor society is based on scholarship, leadership and service.
Out of more than 3,000 students at San Diego State University who were eligible to become new members of The Jane K. Smith Cap and Gown Chapter of Mortar Board, only 40 students were selected.
As part of a long-standing tradition, current Mortar Board members dressed in caps and gowns went into classrooms to "tap" students who were selected for membership.
Students were selected based on scholarship, leadership and service.The organization announced that the following students were selected for membership:
- Matthew Alegria
- Janine Andres
- Jennifer Baastad
- Alison Carrozzi
- Patricia Cintora
- Jessica Coleman
- Manneet Deol
- David Dixon
- Hope Ettore
- Jeffrey Hearn
- Raul Hernandez-Ochoa
- Kaitlyn Holt
- Sophia Huynh
- Kelsey Kruthaup
- Joshua Lytton
- Melanie Marquez
- Mackenzie Martens
- Gabrielle Masri
- Connor McCune
- Dillon McLean
- Solin Melahaji
- Elissa Moore
- Michael Mothershed
- Alexander Nelson
- Javon Ogbeide
- Marissa Packin
- Amber Pilch
- Angela Risi
- Anthony Rodriguez
- Simary Rosario
- Anna Salvador
- Amy Schultz
- Jessica Song
- Tenille Taggart
- Anthony Thompson
- Duyen Trang
- Stephen Ure
- Rachael Wax
- Taylor Zerby
The initiation ceremony for the new initiates was held on Sunday, April 13 in the Conrad Prebys Aztec Student Union Theatre. Geoffrey Chase, dean of Undergraduate Studies congratulated the new initiates.
In addition, he presented certificates to the five current members of Mortar Board who were selected to receive the Dr. Henry L. Janssen Honors Council Award. The award is given to those students who have earned admission to the five university-wide honor societies, Phi Eta Sigma, Golden Key, Mortar Board and Phi Beta Kappa.
Notable history
Mortar Board was founded in 1918, as the first and only national honor society for college senior women. In 1975, the members voted to include men in the organization. Today, there are more than 226 collegiate chapters with a membership of nearly 250,000 students across the country.
SDSU established a Mortar Board chapter in 1932, becoming part of the national organization in 1965. Out of the 226 Mortar Board chapters in the country, SDSU's is the only one to have received the Ruth Weimer Mount Award as the most outstanding chapter in the United States, twice.
