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Posted: May 5, 202 by Holly Jones

On April 19, 2021, three PSIA students were inducted into Tri-Alpha: Hannah E. Clark, Jelma Flores-Mota, and Yvette Zamudio. Congratulations to all of the recent inductees!

Alpha Alpha Alpha or Tri-Alpha, was founded on March 24, 2018 at Moravian College in Bethlehem, PA. In the inaugural ceremony, over 100 members were inducted. Tri-Alpha exists as a not-for-profit organization, for the purposes of supporting the activities of the honors society.

The purpose of the organization is to recognize academic achievements of First Generation College Students, foster an environment of enthusiasm for scholarship, promote leadership and provide a network of support for students within the chapter and the university. The University of North Georgia Chapter, Alpha Omicron, was approved in February 2020 and chartered in March 2020 as the first chapter in Georgia.

̨Íåswag was the first higher education institution in the State of Georgia to charter a chapter of Alpha Alpha Alpha in March of 2020. The first induction ceremony was held on the Gainesville campus in August of 2020 and inducted 14 students, faculty and staff.

Tri-Alpha is one of several strategic First Generation Student Initiatives launched at ̨Íåswag to increase retention and degree completion.

To qualify for induction, students must be First Generation College Students, meaning that neither of the student's parents, nor step-parents, nor legal guardians completed a bachelor's degree, completed at least 36 credit hours towards a baccalaureate degree and have at least a 3.2 GPA on a 4.0 scale at the time of induction.

Graduate students who are First Generation may also be inducted if they have completed at least 9 graduate units and have a GPA of at least 3.5 in their graduate program. Faculty and staff who were First Generation College Students may also be inducted and must be willing to serve as a mentor to First Generation College Students.