MANHATTAN, Kansas — A student from Ste. Genevieve was among more than 100 Kansas State University students comprising the first class of scholars recently inducted into the university’s chapter of Alpha Alpha Alpha, or Tri-Alpha, the national first-generation college student honorary society.
Jesse Pinkley is a junior studying architecture at the university.
The inaugural class of Tri-Alpha at Kansas State University. Photo courtesy Kansas State University
Tri-Alpha recognizes undergraduate first-generation students who have earned at least a 3.2 grade point average on 30 semester hours of academic work. These students must meet the definition of first-generation student, which is neither of the student’s parents, step-parents or legal guardians completed a bachelor’s or associate degree.
The chapter is a registered departmental student organization and is sponsored by K-State’s Office of First-generation Students.
The honorary society also inducts faculty and staff who were first-generation students and are willing to serve as mentors to current first-generation students; alumni who were first-generation students; and honorary inductees — who do not have to be first-generation students —who are donors or serve in a leadership capacity to advance first-generation student success.