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-ALPHA NUS-


 
Alpha Scholarship

and the

Active Chapter
2021-22 Alpha Scholarship Recipients
 
Scholarship Campaign

The Alpha Alumni Association is embarking on a program to make our scholarship awards more meaningful to deserving members of our Active Chapter.  We are taking the bold step of doubling the Alpha Alumni Scholarship Fund in order to award scholarship payments the equivalent of one year’s tuition.  You will hear more of this as the program progresses, but we will sincerely need your generous donation support to achieve our goal.

Until then, this newsletter will focus on the status of our Active Chapter and this year's scholarship recipients.

This Year’s Scholarship Recipients

We hope you will enjoy seeing the effect even our limited scholarship award has on the Fraternity and the quality of its members.  Alpha is the only fraternity on the UMD campus that offers scholarships to its members and we anticipate that you agree that this can be greatly extended.
 
This year three John L. Banks Scholarships were awarded to members based on their scholastic achievements and dedication to the Fraternity.  All have GPAs of 3.4-3.6 and have provided dedicated leadership to the Fraternity.
 
To see the quality of our scholarship recipients, here are this year’s selections and their responses to receiving their scholarship.

Justin Clark - John L. Banks III Scholarship $2,667
 
Receiving the John L Banks scholarship this spring has been very valuable to me. As an LSBE honors student, I am very dedicated to my studies, which is a degree in both marketing and professional sales. The last time I checked I have a cumulative 3.48 GPA through the last 6 semesters. In the fall of 2021, I will become a senior at UMD. I have been super busy with my job, an internship, being involved in Alpha Nu Omega, and other organizations on campus the past three years. With that being said, I hardly have any extra free time for leisure.
 
What this scholarship does for me is provide me with some financial relief and allow me to take a step back to enjoy the moment this next year. Without this scholarship I would be in a tight place financially that would have put unnecessary stress on me this next year. Now I can actually focus my time on my studies, ANO, and spend some quality time with my college friends.
 
With that being said, I thank this organization very much for all they have done for me and countless other students. If one can relate to my story in some way, please don't hesitate to reach out and ask the ANO association what they can do to help this great organization strive for years to come!
 
Thank you!
 
Thiago Augusto Kono - John L. Banks III Scholarship $2,667
 
I would like to begin by saying thank you for everything. I’ve been honored with both the Warren Orrick Award, and now the John L. Banks III Award. The Alumni Association has had a colossal impact on the Active Chapter. These scholarships mean the world to us. For me it meansI have more time to spend volunteering in the community, and with my brothers. These scholarships also saved me from having to take out loans. As the coming year will be my last I’m deeply grateful that I don’t have to accrue debt. It relieves a lot of stress. So, I can invest more of my time on academics, and brotherhood rather than finances. I would like to iterate just how much your contributions aid us. The donations have also been life changing to fellow brothers in the past, and present. I’m sure it’ll continue to be impactful to future brothers. It helps us financially, mentally, and inspires all of us to strive for greater heights. I’m thankful that my future is ensured, and look forward to being able to have the same impact on future brothers.
 
Lucas Koecher - John L. Banks III Scholarship $2,667
 
Alpha Nu Omega has been a large part of my life for the last three years. Our fraternity has helped develop me as a man by instilling strong moral values based on our founding principles and has led me to think of a long-term future regarding who I want to be after graduation. I would like to become an active member of the alumni association upon graduation and to continue to expand upon the opportunities I have been given.
 
Since I started my college career I have been a Biology B.A. major, seeking to get into a medical program, which would either mean nursing school or medical school. In the time I have been here I also found myself interested in economics and personal finance, of the two, I chose to minor in economics. I thought this was a good way to diversify myself for future years because it gives me more options and opportunities.  Through hard work, I have achieved a 3.381 cumulative GPA while working 30 hours a week at BestBuy and maintaining active involvement in Alpha Nu Omega, serving as Treasurer, Pledge Master, President, and now Vice President.
 
Over the last few years, I have received about $5,250 from the alumni association in scholarships and will be receiving another $2,667 from the John L. Banks III memorial scholarship in the next academic year. This has been a lifesaver when it comes to student debt because before these scholarships I was taking in about $9,000 in student loans every semester. Receiving these scholarships has alleviated a lot of financial stress for me. Along with helping me manage my debt, the scholarships have made me want to pay it forward to further our brotherhood, and my goal has been to continue to build our fraternity and seek out new members so that we may continue long after I am gone. We are making big plans for a great recruitment semester in the coming fall. These scholarships have also made me aspire to one day become a donor to the scholarship fund once I have the means to do so. I hope to see a lot more of you all in the future.
 

Active Chapter Status

Alpha has weathered the COVID-19 storm that has severely affected the campus and the Greek organizations that have suffered both social interaction and recruitment. With the COVID-19 restrictions that were put in place much of the year there was no getting a rush class together and therefore the Actives were unable to get any members this semester.
 
However, these restrictions have allowed them to focus on brotherhood.  They held a brother event basically every week including things such as cooking out and grilling, playing different outdoor activities like Frisbee golf together.  They even did one tie-dye night. This is also the 3rd straight year they have had one of their members as the Beta sorority’s beefcake, which is like the sweetheart of a fraternity.
 
Summer activities have not been formalized, other than wanting to find a time to have the alumni come to Duluth for a weekend and do some grilling out, golf or hanging out with us at the house (Actives have a rented house in which a number live).
 
The expectation is that this fall will bring a return to normality and high expectations for thriving membership.
 
Currently the Active Chapter has 7 members, and 4-5 guys who will be pledging next semester already with more expected (aiming for at least 10-15 pledges for the fall rush with more in the spring).  They have spent a good amount of time working out how they want this next semester’s pledging to work and have also come up with a week of rush events.
 
Root beer keg party on Griggs beach on the week before rush week.
 
Rush Week Projected Schedule (No set dates for the events for rush week yet)
  • Monday - Grill out / social afterwards
  • Tuesday - Skyline
  • Wednesday - Game/Poker night
  • Thursday - Pallet Fire
  • Friday - Spaghetti Dinner
Designing rush shirts and possibly shirts to give to the alumni.
 
They are hoping to have their rush week events being open to the alumni to come if they want to see the potential new pledges. Otherwise, as a group they are looking for ways to host events for alumni for fundraising events or other activities.
 
New officers are as follows:
  • Ben Staub – President
  • Lucas Koecher -  Vice President
  • Andrew Strapko - Pledge Master,
  • Thiago Augusto Kono - Secretary.
The fraternity ended the semester with an average GPA of 3.11.
 
Members of the Active Chapter were presented with Alpha blazers courtesy of John Erickson’s initiative to “Bring Back Blue Blazers.”  They all love the blazers and will be wearing them for tabling during next semester and will have one day a week that they all dress up and wear them either on campus or to a meeting.
 
Here is a photo of the members with their new blazers with John Erickson, Mike Dean and Alumni president Jeff Gaylord.
 
 
 

The Active Chapter had one member graduate this year—former scholarship winner Eric Franzwa.
 

 
Copyright © ALPHA NUS NEWSLETTER 2021
ALPHA NU OMEGA ALUMNI ASSOCIATION
All rights reserved.

Alpha Alumni Association mailing address:
Jim Klang
Alpha Nu Omega Alumni Secretary
28W181 Belleau Drive
Winfield, IL 60190
Alpha Alumni Email

 






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Alpha Nu Omega Alumni Association · 28W181 Belleau Dr · Winfield, IL 60190-1723 · USA

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