Meet Alpha Rho Sigma
The students behind Connect Phone-Free. What began as an Honors in Action investigation became a research project, a community conversation, a collaborative Action, and an opportunity for our members to grow as scholars and leaders.
Alpha Rho Sigma
Alpha Rho Sigma is the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society chapter serving Ivy Tech Community College – Bloomington. As members of Phi Theta Kappa, our chapter participates in opportunities centered on: Scholarship, Leadership, Service, and Fellowship.
Our Honors in Action project gave us an opportunity to bring those elements together around one complex question involving adolescents, technology, identity, and relationships. But we didn't begin with the answer. We began by learning.
What is Honors in Action?
Honors in Action—or HIA—is Phi Theta Kappa's research-based program combining academic investigation with intentional community Action. The process challenges members to:
Investigate
Explore a complex issue through credible academic research and multiple perspectives.
Analyze
Move beyond collecting information to identify patterns, draw conclusions, and challenge assumptions.
Act
Use those research conclusions to identify a real-world need and develop an Action in response.
Collaborate
Work with people on campus and in the community whose knowledge, experience, or involvement can strengthen the project.
Assess
Measure what happened using quantitative and qualitative evidence.
Reflect
Consider what the chapter, its members, its collaborators, and its community learned from the experience.
The research shapes the Action.
What's Next? Imagining the Future
We chose Theme 1, which asks:
"What influence will relationships and identity have on how people interact with an ever-changing world in the future?"
Why This Project?
Our chapter didn't select this issue because we wanted to prove that phones are harmful. And we didn't begin by trying to prove that phone restrictions are beneficial. We had questions.
Indiana schools were changing how students could access personal devices during the school day. At the same time, adolescents were navigating relationships and identity in environments increasingly shaped by social media and digital communication. That intersection gave us an opportunity to investigate something happening in our own community while connecting it to a much broader question about the future. What happens to relationships and identity as the environments surrounding them change? That became our work.
Meet the Honors in Action Project Team
The people behind the research
Sierra
Phi Theta Kappa Chapter President
Belinda
Phi Theta Kappa Chapter Vice President
Arthur
Phi Theta Kappa Chapter Executive Secretary
Karen
Phi Theta Kappa Chapter Member
Elizabeth
Phi Theta Kappa Chapter Member
Kevin
Phi Theta Kappa Chapter Member
Sydney
Phi Theta Kappa Chapter Member
Members located and reviewed research, analyzed findings, examined Indiana data, participated in project discussions, conducted or supported interviews, developed the Action, created toolkit resources, built community relationships, gathered feedback, and helped implement the project. The exact contribution was different for each person. Together, those contributions became Connect Phone-Free.
From Members to Scholars & Leaders
Honors in Action isn't only intended to create an impact outside the chapter. The process changes the people doing the work too.
Question Assumptions
Our initial ideas weren't always where the evidence led us.
Work with Evidence
We had to distinguish what our research actually demonstrated from what we expected it to demonstrate.
Listen to Different Perspectives
Researchers, educators, administrators, families, and students may experience technology differently.
Turn Research into Something Useful
Understanding a problem wasn't enough. We had to decide what we could contribute.
Work Together
Different members brought different strengths, perspectives, and responsibilities to the project.
Accept That Impact Has to Be Measured
Creating something we believe is useful doesn't prove that it is useful. We have to ask the people using it.
Our Advisors
The guidance behind the project
Esthela O'Neill
Phi Theta Kappa Chapter Advisor
Our advisors supported the chapter throughout the Honors in Action process by providing guidance, asking questions, helping members navigate challenges, and encouraging us to make decisions grounded in our research. This remained a student-led project.
Thank You
Connect Phone-Free exists because people were willing to: Share what they knew. Question what we thought we knew. Help us learn. And help us act. We thank the educators and administrators who shared their experiences during our investigation, our advisors and campus community, our collaborators, and the educators, families, and students willing to use these resources and tell us what happened.
This Project Is Still Teaching Us
The website may be built. The resources may be published. But our Honors in Action journey doesn't end when we click: Publish. As people use Connect Phone-Free, their experiences become part of what we learn next.
We started with a question. Now we're inviting others into the answer.