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Bay College recognizes members of the Community College 2021 All-Michigan Academic Team

Bay College President Dr. Laura Coleman is shown with Kyle Kelly, one of Bay College’s representatives on the PTK All-Michigan Academic Team. (Submitted photo)

From Bay College

ESCANABA — The annual Phi Theta Kappa Awards Ceremony, generally held in East Lansing, will be going virtual this year in a series of activities throughout March held by the Michigan Community College Association and Center for Student Success. Student membership into the PTK All-Michigan Team was selected based on academic achievement, community service involvement, and leadership accomplishment. The State Academic Teams are a division of the Academic All-American Team for Community, Technical and Junior College Students, an international program sponsored annually by Phi Theta Kappa and the American Association of Community Colleges.

Bay College congratulates Kyle Kelly and Grace Kraniak; they are Bay College’s representatives on the Phi Theta Kappa (PTK) All-Michigan Academic Team.

Kelly is finishing up his second year at Bay College. In December of 2021, he will be graduating with dual associate degrees in criminal justice and social work. He intends to obtain a doctorate in social work and hopes to teach at Bay College. He is active within the Bay community as part of the Diversity Committee, Wellness Committee, ally for Pride Club, member of CAB, member of Trio, Vice-President of the Aspiring Educators Club, Phi Theta Kappa, former Bay student ambassador, and tutor at the writing center. During his first year at Bay College, Kelly took the lead and formed the Health and Wellness Fair. Kelly is also a representative as a state board member for the Aspiring Educator’s Club. All of these accomplishments are even more impressive because Kelly is blind. Outside of Bay College, Kelly is a member of the League of Women, Vice President of the Bay de Noc Lions Club, and is on the fundraising committee for the Child Advocacy Center. At home Kelly enjoys being with his partner, Kasey, and their three pets: Harold, a St. Bernard, Hannah a black cat, and Dobby, their mixed-breed puppy.

Kraniak is a third-year student at Bay College, having started as a dual-enrolled student and recently completed her Associate in Arts degree. She is working toward a Bachelor in Fine Arts degree that she will finish at the University of Wisconsin Green Bay, so that she can work as a book editor and college instructor. Kraniak worked as a tutor for English and social science courses where she found her passion for helping others thrive in a learning environment. It also helped her learn to work through the many struggles common to learning and find ways to help students manage stress and anxiety around their courses. She’s loved reading and writing since a child and admired how words can be strung together to create meaning. Because of this, she wanted to help fellow students to share their stories through their own writing pursuits and decided tutoring was the best opportunity to do so. Outside of her studies, she tends to her family’s dairy farm and works a part-time job as a waitress. Kraniak enjoys writing fantasy fiction, playing with her many cats and experimenting with cooking in her free time.

In lieu of the annual luncheon Kelly and Kraniak will have the opportunity to attend a Tweet Chat hosted by the MCCA’s Center for Student Success under the theme #PTKProud: Celebrating #MiStudentSuccess where they’ll be encouraged to share their stories and answer discussion questions.

Phi Theta Kappa International Honor Society, headquartered in Jackson, MS, is the largest honor society in American higher education with 1,250 chapters on two-year and community college campuses in all 50 of the United States and throughout the world. More than two million students have been inducted since its founding in 1918, with approximately 100,000 students inducted annually.

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