From Mark Bridgen, Professor and Pi Alpha Xi advisor:
Pi Alpha Xi (PAX), the national honor society for horticulture, inducted new members on April 23, 2014. Only the best students in the plant sciences are invited to join this national honor society.
Pi Alpha Xi was founded in 1923 at Cornell University and is the Alpha Chapter. Originally, it was the national honor society for floriculture, landscape horticulture and ornamental horticulture. In recent years it has changed and now honors excellence in all of horticulture.
Since its founding, PAX has grown to 36 chapters at baccalaureate-granting institutions. Its mission is to promote scholarship, fellowship, professional leadership, and the enrichment of human life through plants.
PAX was very active at Cornell University for many years, peaking in the 1970s. But the chapter went dormant for several years until its revival in 2013. This semester, the students hosted and organized a weekend bus trip to visit three major gardens in the Brandywine Valley: Longwood Gardens, Winterthur Gardens, and Chanticleer Gardens. The students also participated in the ROOTED project on campus and have organized a “Wellness Day” activity.
During the induction ceremony, honor cords of cerulean blue and Nile green (the society’s colors) were presented to graduating senior and graduate student members to wear during commencement: Rowan Bateman, Matthew Bond, Justin Kondrat, Madeline Olberg, Miles Schwartz-Sax, and Elizabeth Simpson.
Learn more about Pi Alpha Xi at the American Society for Horticultural Science website.
Front Row (L to R): Patrick McLoughlin, Andrew Harner, Jason Gregory, Jonathan Namanworth, Joshua Kaste, Danielle Park, Justin Kondrat, Sarah Odell
Back Row (L to R): Bryan Denig, Adam Karl, Miles Schwartz-Sax, Jeffrey Janusz , Christian Lesage, Kaitlyn Anderson, Dr. Mark Bridgen, Advisor