Madison’s Balzer inducted Mercer honor society

Mercer University sophomore Edmund Balzer was recently inducted into the Mercer chapter of Phi Eta Sigma National Honor Society, a first-year student honor society. Balzer is a student in Mercer’s College of Liberal Arts.

Phi Eta Sigma invites students of good character who have maintained a grade point average of at least 3.5 during one of the first two semesters of their first year to join the organization. Inductees receive a pin in the shape of a key with the letters Phi, Eta and Sigma to represent the motto “Lovers of Wisdom.” The Mercer University chapter was established as the 32nd chapter of the organization in 1932.

Phi Eta Sigma was founded at the University of Illinois in 1923 to recognize and promote superior scholarship among freshmen. The Society has established chapters in more than 300 institutions of higher learning in the United States. Phi Eta Sigma was originally a freshman men’s scholastic honor fraternity having a formal grip, password and secrets. In 1974, the society dropped the word “fraternity,” accepted both men and women into membership, and opened the induction ceremony to non-members.