WKU students now have the opportunity to have their works published in a peer-reviewed journal, while joining a service-based honors organization — The Medallion Honor Society.

Rachel Leer, faculty advisor of TMHS, said in an email that the organization, like anything new, took a few years to grow and for its name to get out there.

Leer said the organization plans to commit to a role of service and is running a used shoe drive; all shoes will be donated to Edge Outreach for their Shoes for Water program.

“This program will refurbish and sell the shoes,” she said. “The profits made from those sales are used to build self-sustaining water-filtration units that are set up in varying countries and tribes in Africa.”

Leer said students can get what they want out of the organization.

“Because our dues are relatively inexpensive, we have plenty of members join just to receive graduation cords, which you go ahead and receive the semester you join, and have another item to include on their résumé,” she said.

Leer said she worked closely with James Chappell, the founder and National Coordinator of The Medallion Honor Society, to get the organization up and running officially.

Chappell said in an email that he become involved with the organization before it actually began.

“It began as a research project where I first asked a number of students what they wanted from a honor society,” he said. “Then I contacted the national headquarters of a number of student organizations to find out what was working well for them and what they would do differently if they could start over.”

Chappell said most honor societies have fairly rigid structures, which can create problems for student members.

“TMHS is built on a different platform,” he said. “TMHS chooses to recognize its members for what they can do instead of penalizing them for what they cannot do.”

He said the organization doesn’t make activities mandatory, but members are encouraged to participate.

“WKU Chapter’s meetings are made available live via Adobe Connect, which allows full participation by members who are not on the main campus,” Chappell said.

The Medallion Journal is intended as a vehicle for TMHS members to have their scholarly works published, Chappell said.

The student should have a faculty sponsor review their scholarly work, and the work is submitted to a local TMHS Chapter to vote to accept the scholarly work for consideration to be published. Then a committee made up of faculty members reviews all submissions and selects those to be included.

Hendersonville, Tenn. senior Jason Stewart, president of TMHS at WKU, said the journal is helpful for undergraduates for their master’s program, as it’s an easy and cheap way to have your thesis published.

Stewart said his biggest focus for the group is service activity, and that anyone can join the organization.

“We’re not super exclusive; we’re a service organization,” he said. “The more people, the better.”