Morgan Brown—Regional President

Morgan graduated from Kenowa Hills High School in the spring of 2015 and headed to Grand Rapids Community College in the fall. She started college as a Music Education major and entered the honors program. Time was very limited as an honors student, so student orgs were out of the question. Morgan found she wanted to change her major to Photography in the winter 2016 semester. While beginning her journey in photography, Morgan had more free time and found new life in student orgs. Phi Theta Kappa came into her life and she accepted membership in early March and was inducted soon after. Ever since, she has been highly involved. Morgan served as Chapter President for the 2016-2017 year and will be continuing that role for the 2017-2018 year. Morgan is a Pooh Bear in the 100 Acre Woods - with maybe just a splash of Tigger.

Morgan earned her Associate of Arts in the spring of 2017 and graduated with honors. She is returning to Grand Rapids Community College to continue her education in hopes to obtain an Associate of Fine Arts with a Photography focus. She currently owns her own photography business and gets hired for anything from senior pictures to weddings. Her involvement in PTK helps drive her academically and gives her passion and new perspectives in her work as a photographer. When she is not in class, at work, or working on PTK matters, Morgan enjoys hiking, camping, making jewelry, and spending time with friends.

Madelyn McLavy—Regional Vice President

Madelyn was born and raised in Clare County and has lived in Harrison ever since. She joined Phi Theta Kappa while taking classes at both Harrison High School and Mid Michigan Community College, where she later graduated as Valedictorian. Throughout high school, she was involved in student government, was the Vice President of NHS, and joined countless other committees.

As a member of the Alpha Omicron Omicron chapter of PTK at Mid, Madelyn served as the Vice President of Public Relations for one year. She made countless connections, amazing lifelong friends, and memories to last a lifetime, while she was taught just what kind of leader she was capable of becoming.

At only 18 years old, she is three credits shy of her Associate in Business Studies Transfer from Mid. She plans to transfer to Northwood University in fall 2018 to continue pursuing a double major in Business Marketing and Business Management.

Madelyn’s hobbies include duck hunting, camping, bowling, adventuring, service and fellowship opportunities, and above all traveling. Outside of the United States, she has traveled to Spain, Mexico, and Canada and has taken pit stops in Paris and Amsterdam. Her dream is to see the world, starting in her own backyard of Michigan, then to experience what every state in the United States has to offer, and then to experience more of the world and its vast culture.

Alexandra Briggs—Regional Secretary Treasurer

Alexandra graduated with honors from Elk Rapids High School in the spring of 2015 and began attending Northwestern Michigan College in the fall of 2015. She is a member of the Commitment Scholarship Program, which covered her tuition for 60 credits. She planned to go through school for Web Development after attending the Career Tech Center for Web and Game Programming her Junior and Senior year of high school. She graduated in the Spring of 2017 with her Web Developer 1-3 certificates, and decided she didn’t want to pursue a career in that field, switching majors completely.

She is now finishing up a Liberal Arts degree at Northwestern Michigan College, and is planning to work towards a Masters in Public Administration. Her dream is to work at her community college as a director or dean. Alexandra’s time at the college has been nothing short of busy, taking a full load of classes each semester. She was invited to join Phi Theta Kappa in the spring of 2016, and was inducted in March. At her induction ceremony, her advisor Kari Kahler stressed the benefits of becoming active and Alexandra immediately introduced herself to Kari after the ceremony and said that she would really like to be an active member. That summer, Alexandra met with the other officers and Kari to work on their Honors in Action Project, and became Vice President of College Project.

Her work with Phi Theta Kappa has been a driving force in her success at college. It helped her develop leadership skills, public speaking skills, as well as many friendships. Many doors have opened for Alexandra since joining Phi Theta Kappa, and she couldn’t be more proud of her journey. As mentioned in an article written by the NMC Foundation about her donation of two PTK scholarships for the upcoming year “Alex describes her PTK experience as “the gift that keeps on giving” because it’s given her much more than she expected: confidence, leadership skills, and friends that feel like family.” Her excitement over the past year in Phi Theta Kappa and the Catalyst experience gave her confidence to run for a Regional position.

Currently, Alexandra is a part of the Honors Program at Northwestern Michigan College, and is a Resident Assistant on her campus for the 2017-2018 academic year. She also works in her campus’ Advising Center, and loves the work she gets to do on a daily basis. Alexandra is the Alpha Rho Pi Chapter President for the upcoming school year as well. She enjoys going out to eat, fishing, and spending time at NMC.

Kristin Shoaf—Regional PR/Historian

Kristin Shoaf graduated Valedictorian of her high school class of 2015 and then began her college education at Mid Michigan Community College located close to where she lives. In her second semester, she became involved in Phi Theta Kappa. She was elected as the chapter's Vice President of History and Records. Kristin said, "When I first enrolled in college, my goal was to get in and get out with as little campus involvement as possible, because of course that takes up so much of my time! My plan was going well until my second semester when I was introduced to my chapter advisor. It was then that I agreed to attend a meeting. At my very first meeting, I put my name down for officer elections not knowing what I was getting myself into. I was very shy at that point in my life and I was extremely hesitant of this new opportunity. With the encouragement of my chapter advisor and support of my team, I began to pick up more responsibilities. I became heavily involved and inspired by Honors in Action, our College Project, and serving as a student leader on campus. I was overwhelmingly inspired by my team to be the best that I could be, which only inspired me to want to help others in the same way.

Kristin currently is serving on the Michigan Regional Officer team of Phi Theta Kappa as the PR/Historian. She graduated from MMCC with a Liberal Arts Transfer degree and is currently taking classes at Central Michigan University towards an Elementary Education Degree. Along with receiving the highest awarded community college honors student scholarship to CMU, Kristin is active at the PTK chapter level as well, serving as a chair on the Deadwood Grove-Haunted Trail Fundraising board. She currently works in MMCC's library. In her spare time, Kristin likes to read, fish, hunt, kayak, hike, and be creative. "I am looking forward to serving the Michigan Region and I wish to inspire PTK members to rise to their full potential.”