History of Alpha Gamma Sigma

Dr. William T. Boyce was, in 1925, Head Administrator of Fullerton Junior College. He is chiefly responsible for the formation of the California statewide community college Honor Society that eventually became the Alpha Gamma Sigma we know today. Its purpose is to foster, promote, maintain and recognize academic excellence through scholarships among its members; develop programs offering cultural, social and enrichment activities as part of the total college experience; to promote service to the college, the community and the organization and judgment.

Here is a quote from Dr. William T. Boyce's book:

"In 1925 I conceived the idea of promoting a state- wide junior college honor scholarship society. I saw in it an intellectual stimulus, comparable to that of Phi Beta Kappa in the higher colleges. Superintendent Louis E. Plummer supported the idea. With his backing, I invited Merton Hill, Chaffey Junior College administrator and Dr. K. Hammond, administrator for Santa Ana Junior College, to come to Fullerton to join Plummer and me in a consideration of the proposal. I emphasized specific advantages in the plan as follows:

* It would be an incentive to study and strive for scholastic honor.
* It would be an inter-junior college enterprise in scholastic achievement.
* It would commend the junior colleges to the higher education institutions.
* It would add luster to commencement exercises to recognize the graduating student who had qualified for membership.

The proposal was heartily endorsed, and I was asked to formulate the plan and present it for adoption by all the junior colleges in California. The response was approval, adoption and the formation of chapters."

According to Dr. Boyce, the original constitution of the society was adopted in 1926. Those members and advisors who attended the Alpha Gamma Sigma Spring Convention at Asilomar in April, 1986, can tell you that the sixtieth anniversary of the founding of AGS was grandly celebrated.

At the Principals' Convention in May, 1926, a special committee was appointed consisting of Dr. Albert M. Williams (Fullerton), Chairman, Miss Kathleen D. Loly (Pasadena), Miss Belle Collidge, Mr. W. W. Mather and Mr. C. S. Morris. The committee was given full authority to select the design for the pin, to have the pin made and to call meetings of the Advisory Board.

The Advisory Board was to consist of the faculty advisors of the local honor societies that had met the minimum requirements provided for by the constitution and had been formally notified to that effect by the committee.

During the first year, chapters were established at Bakersfield, Chaffey, Fullerton, Pasadena, Santa Ana, Santa Maria and San Bernardino. The next year brought in Citrus, Sacramento, Compton, Glendale, Long Beach, Taft and Pomona.

These fifteen chapters were invited to send representatives to the first meeting of the Advisory Board on November 24, 1928, in Pasadena. Sacramento withdrew, and the other fourteen chapters were represented at the first Spring Convention of the society which, judging from the date on the printed program of the second convention, has to have been held in 1931.

At first, the pin was a flat, one-piece gold pin with an open book and a blazing torch on a shield with the word "California" across the top, the words "Honor Society" across the book and the letters "JC" at the bottom.

A request came from the students that a Greek letter name be adopted instead of the cumbersome name " California Junior College Honor Scholarship Society. "

Accordingly, in 1932 a committee consisting of Dr. Grace Baumgartner, Miss Kathleen Loly and Dr. Albert Williams selected the motto:

"Add to good character, knowledge and judgment."

They took the three Greek words "Arete", "Gnosis", and "Sophrosyne" as embodying the meaning of the motto, and then chose the initial letters of those three words, Alpha Gamma Sigma, as the name of the society. The design of the pin was changed to include the Greek letters.

At the second Spring Convention at San Bernardino on April 2, 1932, chapter names were drawn by lot; and Pasadena, much to their satisfaction, drew the coveted Alpha slip. Since that time the society has undergone a number of changes.