Brightpoint Community College Students Inducted into the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society

Primary Media Contact:

Holly Walker
Director of Communications and Public Relations
804-594-1530

Secondary Media Contact:

Heather Busch
Director of Marketing and Brand Strategy
804-594-1532

CHESTER and MIDLOTHIAN, Va. – Brightpoint Community College celebrated the induction of more than 160 students into its Tau Rho Chapter of the Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society during a ceremony held on April 24, 2026, at the institution’s Chester Campus. Phi Theta Kappa is the official honor society for two-year colleges and is the largest honor society in American higher education. It recognizes the academic achievements of two-year college students and provides opportunities for individual growth and development through honors, leadership and service programming.

In addition to the inductees, several Brightpoint students were also recognized for Phi Theta Kappa honors they recently received:

• Barbara Aceves, Trevor Christian, Hailey Herbst, Samantha Joy Nowaczyk, Madison Parsons, and Hayley Williams, who were named to the 2026 All-Virginia Academic Team.
• Trevor Christian, who was named to the Top Ten All-Virginia Academic Team.
• Heidi Beneduci, who earlier this academic year, was awarded the Chime Workforce Scholarship, a new Phi Theta Kappa scholarship.

The following students were inducted into Brightpoint’s Tau Rho chapter of Phi Theta Kappa for the 2025 – 2026 academic year: 
Youssef Abdelhafez
Madison Acevedo
Barbara Aceves
Lineth Aguilar Gomez
Lisbeth Aguilar Gomez
Mohamed Alsaidi
Maria Alshami
Michaela Amburn
Latoya Austin
Catharine Barker
Christopher Barker
Aryana Bassard
Kristin Bauer
Nadiuska Beach
Laura Behringer
Tucker Biedler
Lauren Blankenship
Chloe Bouchard
Lydia Boyle
Julia Brown
Latoya Brown
Charles Burleson
Grace Butler
Tara Caldwell
Tracey Campbell
Chimika Canty
Katelyn Carlson
Crystal Cempron
Katherine Cevallos Villanueva
Charley Chambers
Maxwell Chambers
Catherine Charbonneau
Tyler Chrim
Trevor Christian
Kenyi Cisneros Balboa
Cherian Clack
Nailah Claiborne
Tiffani Clanton
Chana Clark
Joshua Cosby
Cade Countryman
Samuel Dalane
Ainslie Davi
Kierra Dockery
Antonio Donald
Kara Dorton
Sinh Dung
Gabriela Duran Umanzor
Tessa Edwards
Melissa Eggleston
Brittany Ellis
Jayanakadeja Erazo
Catherine Ezeobi
Eileen Fields
Harrison Fink
David Fiordelise
Chantel Friend
Phaedra Garrison
Jason Glidden
Joseph Gobert
Ingrid Gonzalez Huerta
Elizabeth Gouldin
Austin Greer
Sudie Halder
Lilly Hayman
Nia Hicks
Justin Hill
Kenneth Hilton
Shyann Hughes
Cleaven Jeffers
Prudence Jepkirui
Arianna Johnson
Vanessa Johnson
Allison Jones
Juliana Kane
Surleen Kaur
Andew Kemp
Kelvalan King
Joshua Krzemien
Christopher Kurth
Patrick Leahy
Alexis Lembke
Hannah Lief
Mia Lunetta
Katheryn Marroquin De La Cruz
Emma Mathis
Esther Mawougnon
Michael Mazion
Aidan McCarthy
Bernadette Mills
Catherine Mizzell
Saleh Mohamed
Madelyn Mohr
Kaelyn Moore
Sunithia Morales
Alastair Moreno
Ariel Newton
Vincent Nguyen
Leticia Nicholson
Chelsea Norng
Ariane Oelschlaeger
Ayotunde Olaoba
Karlo Ortiz Velez
Marisa Ozbat
Julia Paine
Elias Palmer
Madison Parsons
Natalie Paulis
Chloe Pedrick
Cademon Pfeifer
Sam Phelps
Haley Pope
Tierra Postell
Kristin Prince
Niphaphorn Pudinsay
Shawnta Pulliam
Brandon Ramos
Susan Reed
Allahna Reid
Kal Rhines
Kasey Richter
Kenny Rivera Torres
Joshua Roberts
Jaimie Roland
Cadyn Rudd
Christopher Ruiz-Torres
Catherine Ryan
Kahri Salyars
Joshua Sater
Ashley Seward
Khadeja Siddiq
John Simpson
Roxanne Simpson
Brayden Smith
Christin Sober
Alyssa Starr
Christina Stewart
Marquita Stewart
Whitney Stott
James Taccad
Gabrielle Taliaferro
Sarah Tarabay
Brenna Tatalovich
Sharan Thomas
Katherine Wakeland
Robin Warren
Heather Waters
Jonah Wilkinson
Alexander Williams
Hayley Williams
Miles Williams
Tahira Williams
Jessalyn Wing
Landon Wixted
Clare Wood
Diana Veronica Zelada Alfaro

Membership to Brightpoint’s Phi Theta Kappa Tau Rho chapter is open to all associate degree-seeking and certificate-seeking students at Brightpoint who have satisfied the following criteria:

• Minimum of 12 completed credit hours for degree-seeking students
• Minimum of 6 completed credit hours for certificate-seeking students
• 3.5 minimum GPA for both degree-seeking and certificate-seeking students
• Must adhere to the institution’s student conduct code and exhibit a commitment to honor and civility.

Photographs taken at the 2026 ceremony may be found in the college’s Trailblazer Asset Bank.

Brightpoint Community College, one of the largest institutions in the Virginia Community College System, envisions a success story for every student. Brightpoint offers students a high-quality, high-value education, with more than 80 majors that provide pathways to careers in in-demand fields; transfer opportunities to four-year colleges and universities; and industry credentials and licensures. The college, with campuses in Chester and Midlothian, online classes, and off-campus classrooms, served 12,686 students during the 2024-25 academic year. It also assisted 4,200 learners through Community College Workforce Alliance, the shared workforce division of Brightpoint and Reynolds community colleges.