The Digital Media & Journalism Department held an evening ceremony Thursday, April 30, to welcome its first group of students into Alpha Epsilon Rho (AERho) Honor Society, the only international honor society for electronic media excellence.
Instructor Toni Perry opened the ceremony and gave a presentation about AERho’s history. The Greek letters making up AERho were chosen by the founders in 1943 at Stephens College in Columbia, Missouri. It translates to air, ethics and power.
Air represents the way radio and audio waves are transmitted, ethics represents character, and power represents the impact that media has, including the responsibility resting on those producing media.
The event inducted 12 students to the society and celebrated their new membership. Department faculty attended in full academic regalia — each one reading a short student biography while each student was presented with a pin, gift and green and gold cord to wear with their own regalia when they graduate.
Professor Carey Martin gave the keynote address. He congratulated the students on their success, advised them on the future and welcomed them into the society.
“The skills that you have learned sitting in front of your laptop and staring at that blinking cursor on that blank screen are going to stand you in good stead in the future,” Martin said. “It’s supposed to be hard. The hard is what makes it great. If it were easy, everyone would do it. That is why they call it an honor society.”
Perry emphasized how special this opportunity was for the inductees.
“It’s the only honor society for electronic media students,” Perry said. “So, for this department — for Digital Media and Journalism — this is a beautiful fit, and it’s wonderful for our students to actually get recognized for all their academic achievements.”
The inductees had to meet several criteria. They each achieved high GPAs and have showcased their skills through internships, volunteer hours and work experience. Many of the students have gained experience through department jobs, school clubs and organizations such as The Light, Liberty Broadcast Experience (LBX), The Liberty Champion, various CSER opportunities and jobs outside of school.
“Though it’s small right now, I just hope people in the future will have this induction as well and enjoy it,” senior AJ Stubblefield, who was inducted into AERho, said. “And hopefully it’ll grow in number as well.”
Perry closed the ceremony, recognizing the hard work and effort each student employed to be inducted into the society. According to Perry, the department looks forward to inducting more students into the society in the future.
Huckabay is a copy editor for the Liberty Champion.