For the fourth year in a row, students in Western Kentucky University’s Department of Consumer and Family Sciences (CFS) have won national honors for their professional project. The awards were announced on June 21 at the Coordinating Council of CFS Honor Societies luncheon at the 2008 America Association of Family and Consumer Sciences conference in Milwaukee, WI.    

The Beta Delta Chapter of Phi Upsilon Omicron, a national honor society, was the Region winner for their 2008 Professional Project. Other top finishers were Idaho State, Texas State, and South Dakota State Universities. Beta Delta has had two regional winners and two first place national winners in the past four years.   

The national professional project theme was “Inspired by the Past…Believe in the Present…Imagine the Future.” The WKU chapter, led by first vice president Emily Waits of Shelbyville and jpresident Will Conkright of Owensboro, was honored for its efforts in assisting a variety of community organizations and their constituents. The chapter’s efforts focused on the nutrition, well-being, and enrichment of the lives of others.  

The chapter’s report on its year-long project was titled “Imagine a Whole New YOU (Nutrition, Enrichment, Well-Being).  Members of the chapter used their professional competencies to become civically engaged and benefit a diverse group of individuals and organizations, from young children to the elderly. The report showed how each CFS specialization contributed to one or more of the components of the NEW acronym. In the words of Emily Waits, “We imagined a future in which our chapter could enrich others lives, as well as the lives of Beta Delta Chapter of Phi Upsilon Omicron.” The project was supervised by Dr. Martha Jenkins, Professional Project Advisor, with assistance from Mrs. Cindy Jones, Chapter Advisor, and Dr. Karen Mason, Financial Advisor.

A highlight of the project was working with young children involved in after-school activities at two different centers in Bowling Green. The two-hour sessions started with exercises to establish rapport with the children and teach them the importance of physical activities to one’s well-being. Two other components of the sessions were a nutrition lesson based on trail mix, which the children were able to make, and sanitary hand washing, which used a special lotion to illuminate bacteria on the hands before and after hand washing. The lives of the both the children and Phi U members were  enriched by this experience.