At the Alpha Phi Omega national convention this past December, the Epsilon Zeta Chapter received their fourth Dean Arno Nowotny Service Award and the Frank Josiah Historian’s Award. The awards recognize outstanding service in pursuit of the fraternity’s ideals and exceptional retention of historical activities and heritage, respectively.
Every two years at the national convention, a chapter is chosen that is deemed to have best exemplified service to their campus, community, chapter, and nation by a national selection service committee. The committee holistically examines the service program of every chapter nationwide that applies. It particularly looks at the depth and breadth of programs available, and how much each member tends to contribute to a project. Last year marked the fourth time the Epsilon Zeta project won the Nowotny Service Award. Current Service Vice President Jim Esson said “Many chapters don’t even apply for lack of a completed application, but the field of participants is still considerable and competitive.”
However, getting the Nowotny award involved a somewhat complex application policy, according to Emily Germaine, the person tasked with last year’s application. She noted that the brothers need to be careful over the course of two years to select at least one project in the areas of campus, community, chapter, and national service in order to qualify for the award in the first place. Some of the activities highlighted in the application were the Meanest Man on Campus campaign (during GM week) and Boy Scout outreach activities in the capital district (Boy Scout membership was formerly required for APO membership).
Prior to the convention (last year’s was in Denver, Colorado), the brothers prepared a booklet highlighting the activities and community service they had undertaken in each of the four areas. This is where many chapters tend to fall short, pointed out Germaine, as they don’t get enough momentum behind the booklet to finish it in a reasonable time. As for the actual authoring of the application during her tenure, Germaine found that most brothers were extremely cooperative and giving of their time when the award application process came around.
Already, Epsilon Zeta is preparing its slate of service programs for the coming two years in preparation for another Nowotny Award application. Programs like Meanest Man on Campus raise money and awareness of Epsilon Zeta’s program. Though the chapter currently has about thirty “brothers”—it is a co-ed fraternity—a number not particularly large by national comparison, this past year’s award marks their fourth award. This is two more than any other chapter.
With a nearly 100 percent participation rate among the brothers, Epsilon Zeta is hopeful for yet another Nowotny award two years from now.
