National honor society holds its induction ceremony

Josh Falcone – General Assignment Reporter –

The Southern chapter of the National Honor Society for communication majors, Lambda Pi Eta, held their induction ceremony Thursday, Mar. 7.

Lambda Pi Eta was founded at the University of Arkansas in 1985 and represents the three ingredients of persuasion–Logos, Pathos, and Ethos–as it was described by Aristotle in the book, Rhetoric.

According to the group’s secretary Natalie Sabino, the Xi chapter at Southern helps the communication department in many regards, including student tours.

“We do different service projects throughout the semester,” Sabino said. “We help the communication department with advising, and different pieces like that.”

Lambda Pi Eta President Courtney Bussiere said the group is open to anyone in majoring in communications.

“We basically accept anybody from our department into it,” she said, “as long as they meet the requirements.”

Bussiere said the organization has four specializations: Advertising and Promotion, Video Production, Interpersonal Communication, as well as Organizational Communication.

“So we take from all four of those groups,” she said. “You just have to have a minimum of 60 credits, like a junior status, have 12 credits in the communication department and then you have to have a 3.0 overall, in addition to a 3.25 in your communication classes.”

The organization is all about undertaking all sorts of community contributions, Bussiere said.

“We volunteered at Accepted Students Day and Admissions Open House. We are going to be volunteering at the Career Fair,” Bussiere said, “it’s just a lot of community involvement.”

Bussiere said Lambda Pi Eta is also very involved in Southern’s communication department issues such as peer advising.

Sabino said the induction ceremony was the chapter’s 10th annual.

Bussiere said at the induction ceremony, Lambda Pi Eta welcomed back Melissa DeLucia, one of the co-founders of the honor society.

“She came in and just talked about how she basically was the pioneer with all of it,” Bussiere said. “She kind of created it, because we are a part of the national organization but she helped bring it here.”

Bussiere said in addition to having DeLucia speak, the induction ceremony also had a candle lighting ceremony. After the candle lighting, the group talked about the basic assets of Lambda Pi Eta: the Logos, Pathos and Ethos.

Following that, Bussiere said the organization’s advisor got up and said a little about each member of Lambda Pi Eta, they then recited a pledge and were given their cords.

Bussiere said she felt this year’s induction ceremony was a success even though the organization was quite anxious before the event.

“I think it went really good because seeing how we had to bring in extra people to help us, it was a little nerve-racking,” she said. “Because we told them what they had to do for the ceremony right when they got there, but everyone has told me it went really good.”

Bussiere said the group’s advisor told her it was one of the least stressful ceremonies the group has ever had, and Bussiere was really relieved to hear that.

Sabino agreed as well as adding that it was good even though the size of the group was larger than usual.

“I think it was a very successful ceremony,” she said. “It was one of the largest inductee groups they have had in a long time, it was over 30 inductees.”