Forty UMW students were inducted into the nation’s most prestigious academic honor society, Phi Beta Kappa, during last night’s virtual ceremony.
Along with 40 University of Mary Washington students, President Troy Paino was inducted last night into an exclusive 250-year-old worldwide club, which used to have a secret sign and handshake. Membership is lifelong, and it has been offered to 17 U.S. Presidents and 42 U.S. Supreme Court justices.
The key to membership in this invitation-only club, Phi Beta Kappa, is academic excellence and love of learning. The five College of William and Mary students who founded this august honor society in 1776 could hardly have imagined new inductees being presented virtually via a technology called Zoom.
But that is what happened last night as photos of new members were projected onto a screen and as Dr. Paino accepted his honorary induction into “the most prestigious academic honor society in the nation.” Read more.