Iowa Wesleyan joins Tri-Alpha

Iowa Wesleyan University is supporting its first generation of college students by joining the National Honors Society, Alpha Alpha Alpha or Tri-Alpha. The university became the 24th chapter in the U.S., second in Iowa after Central College, to join the honors society.

Tri-Alpha was started in 2018 at Moravian College in Bethlehem, Penn., and has since grown to 89 chapters around the U.S.

“It’s been growing quickly,” Iowa Wesleyan Writing Center director and Tri-Alpha co-sponsor David Wendt said.

“Originally, Tri-Alpha was usually adopted by small liberal arts colleges, but there’s been more research-based and Division 1 colleges that have been joining, so it’s great that it’s expanding,” Wendt said.

“Iowa Wesleyan has quite a few first generation college students, so this honors society is another intervention level students can use to help them for career Building or academics in general,” he said.

Approximately 45 percent of students at Iowa Wesleyan University are first generation college students. This means that the students parents, grandparents, guardians or whoever raised them did not receive their bachelor’s degree. Students must have a 3.2 grade-point average and completed three semesters at Iowa Wesleyan University.

“Some people may think that just because their siblings are in college means they’re not a first-generation students, but that’s not true,” Wendt said. “We even had two brothers that started out as first-generation students, and then their dad went and got his BA before they graduated. It was a unique situation, but technically, they can still be members of Tri-Alpha.”

The Iowa Wesleyan Tri-Alpha Omega Chapter held its first induction ceremony on April 14 via Zoom. The chapter currently has 11 student members and 13 faculty and staff members.

“We were originally going to hold our induction last year, but COVID happened and a special bylaw had to be written for virtual induction ceremonies,” Wendt said. “Other than that, it went well.

“It was a shorter version, and President Chris Plunkett and a couple of students spoke,“ he said. “Our goal is that next year we’ll be able to meet face to face.”

The Tri-Alpha Omega Chapter plans to mainly focus on being an honors society geared toward helping first-generation college students.

“For the students, it’s something that can be a resume builder or creating those connections,” Wendt said. “The faculty and staff members can become mentors to the students if they want it, to help with navigating university life or career building. Iowa Wesleyan has a lot of interventions for students, and this is just another one geared toward first-generation students.”