I thank you for the article and valuable space allotted me in the Aug. 30 edition of The Northern Star.

I was pleased to gain attention for accepting the position of National Student Representative for Golden Key National Honor Society, and I believe the NIU community should share the pride this prestigious position bestows upon me and this institution.

However, I was dismayed that the author of the article, Mr. Sean Thomas, neglected to mention the outstanding contributions and accomplishments of other members for the the NIU chapter of Golden Key.

Understandably, Mr. Thomas had a difficult task to tackle: he was presented several press releases, each from a differnet source, to meet.

He is most likely unfamiliar with Golden Key and its goals as an organization. As a journalism major, I sympathize and I can relate to his predicament. He had to find the fact that would create the best lead for his story; a student elected to a national office would indeed fit that bill.

Perhaps in his haste to make deadline, or perhaps in the flurry of press releases before him, Mr. Thomas and his editors missed the names of other Golden Key members who excelled and won great honors as well at the national convention in Arizona a few weeks ago.

We must give credit where credit is due. It is not solely because of my presence or capabilities that the NIU chapter won the Key Chapter Award. Recognition for that honor should go to last year’s executive members and the general members who give life to the organiztion.

As an officer of the NIU chapter of Golden Key, I thank you for your positive attention and your efforts to publicize outstanding accomplishments of the student body.

As a member of a unified student organization, however, I ask you to lend more care to news items that acclaim individuals of large groups.

I was not interviewed for the article about my accomplishment. Had I been contacted, I would have told the reporter that were it not for the local chapter, I could not have risen to the national role I have accepted.

In all fairness, I owe much of my success to my fellow NIU members. That is something they need to know, I need to acknowledge, and you must print and remember when printing such news items in the future.

Beth Terpening-Miller

Golden Key National Student Representative and NIU Chapter Vice President