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UTD Chapter History, Fall 1997

At the beginning of the fall 1997 semester, UTD staff member Roger Stearns set out to establish a chapter of Alpha Phi Omega on the UT-Dallas campus. Roger was quickly introduced to the first interested student Luci Wong by Section 41 Chair Kari Logan. From this point, the two began actively recruiting students to begin an Alpha Phi Omega chapter on the UTD campus.

Roger moved to Dallas in August 1997 to work for the UTD Police Department. Originally from Illinois, Roger spent 8 years with APO in Fayetteville, Arkansas. While in Fayetteville he, along with seven other Eagle Scouts, re-established the Beta Rho Chapter of Alpha Phi Omega in Spring 1990. He graduated from the University of Arkansas with a bachelor's degree in communications and worked for the University of Arkansas Police Department.

Luci's first contact with Alpha Phi Omega had been earlier that spring. She was introduced to APO by Amy DeLisse, a high school friend from Richardson, Texas that was a brother with the Beta Rho Chapter at the University of Arkansas. Luci attended the Section 41 conference with Amy that semester, and decided she would endeavor to get the fraternity chartered on the UTD campus when she returned to school after the summer break.

Roger and Luci posted flyers on campus, set up an information table, and held information meetings to recruit more sutdents interested in LEADERSHIP, FRIENDSHIP, and SERVICE. The group officially became an Interest Group on November 13, 1998. Alpha Omicron Chapter at Southern Methodist University (SMU) was assigned to be our sponsoring chapter. By the end of the Fall semester the group had recruited 15 students and 6 advisors.

The students were: Daisy Blake, Valerie Britton, Jay Cordaro, Somchai Paiboonfungfuang, Nicole Johnson (Sigma Nu Chapter Alumni), Robyn Jordan, Huan Le, Jason Mercer (Eagle Scout), Daniel Rathburn, Christine Shek, Terry Serna (Beta Sigma Chapter Alumni), Christian Sparks, Minh Hai Tran, Steve Westdyk (Eagle Scout), and Luci Wong. The Fall 97 Officers and Advisors were:

President	Luci Wong
VP Service	Christian Sparks
VP Membership	Terry Serna
Secretary/Treasurer	Steve Westdyk
University Advisor Student Activities Office	Patty Atchley
Fraternity Advisor SMU AO Chapter Alumni	Michael Hayes
Scouting Advisor GSUSA Representative	Amanda Owens
University Advisor University Police Chief	Colleen Ridge
Advisory Chair University Police and BP Chapter Alumni	Roger Stearns
Methodist minister and BP Chapter Alumni	Jeff Warrick

The group also participated in a handful of service projects the first semester. These projects included helping Habitat for Humanity remodel a house, picking up trash around campus, running the homecoming king and queen elections, and a joint "Trick or Treat for Canned Goods" food drive with Alpha Omicron.

In October of 1997, the group participated in its first regional conference, which was held at Texas
A & M University. The three members attending were Luci Wong, Christian Sparks, and Steve Westdyk.

UTD Chapter History, Spring 1998

On January 25, 1998 the group officially gained Petitioning Group status, and began its second semester on the UTD campus. With a new set of officers and much enthusiam, the petitioning group continued its work toward chartering. The new officers and advisors were:

President	Luci Wong
VP COLD	Jay Cordaro
VP Membership	Christian Sparks
VP Service	Robyn Jordan
Secretary	Christine Shek
Treasurer	Jason Mercer
University Advisor Student Activities Office	Patty Atchley
Fraternity Advisor SMU AO Chapter Alumni	Michael Hayes
Scouting Advisor GSUSA Representative	Amanda Owens
University Advisor University Police Chief	Colleen Ridge
Advisory Chair University Police and BP Chapter Alumni	Roger Stearns
Methodist minister and BP Chapter Alumni	Jeff Warrick

During this semester, treasurer Jason Mercer set up the group's bank account. The account was set up at Community Credit Union just down the street from the university on Campbell Road. The beginning balance was $325.00.

Membership Vice President Christian Sparks began the first planned fellowship program with a weekly movie night at the Waterview Park clubhouse. The group also held a tradition of going to supper together each Sunday after the meetings.

The biggest step forward made by the group was the service program which was developed by Vice President of Service Robyn Jordan. The projects done by the chapter included:

Campus Escorts: An ongoing project with the UTD Police Department that offered accompaniment for students to walk to their cars at night upon request.

Visiting ill children at Children's Medical Center (this was everyone's favorite). We went and made valentine decorations and cards with the children staying in the hospital over Valentine's Day.

UTD Career Day: Made "wish packs" for the Make-a-Wish foundation.

UTD Health Fair - Handed out home inkless-fingerprinting kits for parents to fingerprint their children at home.

Work Day at BSA Camp Constantin - This was a joint project with Alpha Omicron. Members helped rebuild the dining holl and enlarge a campsite.

Buckner Children's Carnival - Ran a bobbing-for-apples booth. Very fun!!

Cleaned Trash along Floyd Road - Helped in a campus/neighborhood effort to clean up trash alongside Floyed Road near the entrance to UTD.

Section-wide Garage Teardown - Tore down a condemned garage for a low-income elderly woman so that she wouldn't have to pay someone to have it done.

The first annual spring banquet was also held. The menu was potluck style. Kelly Severns did a wonderful job of coordinating and playing Master of Ceremonies for the banquet. Perhaps one of the most unique things that we did was to invite family to the banquet. There were around forty people present (impressive for a chapter of 12).

The first awards were given out at this banquet. Christian Sparks received the Outstanding Service award for Active members. Christine Shek received the Outstanding Active award. Deirdre Fisher received the award for Outstanding Service - Pledge, and Leigh Anne Hutchison received the Outstanding Pledge award.

UTD Chapter History, Fall 1998

Petitioning Group Elected Officers and Advisory Board

President	Jason Mercer
VP COLD	Christine Shek
VP Membership	Luci Wong
VP Service	Robyn Jordan
Secretary	Deirdre Fisher
Treasurer	Leigh Anne Hutchison
Advisory Chair University Police and BP Chapter Alumni	Roger Stearns
University Advisor Student Activities Office	Patty Atchley
Fraternity Advisor SMU AO Chapter Alumni	Michael Hayes
Scouting Advisor GSUSA Representative	Amanda Owens
University Advisor University Police Chief	Colleen Ridge
Human Resources and OD Chapter Alumni	Tina Sharpling
Methodist minister and BP Chapter Alumni	Jeff Warrick

Fall 1998 was very important to our chapter. First of all, the chapter welcomed: Clare Fisher, Russell Fluitt, Frank Kozel, Roxana Kazempour, Shelly Lindahl, Art Newton, Tanh Tranh and Steve Wilt as pledges. Luci Wong served as Membership VP and initiated the pledges in the "Ways of APO" with the chapter's first formal pledge program.

The UTD petitioning group took on some big projects in the Fall. The cornerstone of those projects had to be the Trick-or-Treat for canned goods drive. Organized by Robyn Jordan and the members of the service committee, the project consisted of having many student organizations on campus go out into Richardson neighborhoods and see which student organization got the most canned goods donated. The project was a success. 1862 canned goods were donated to charity, and the project got the chapter a writeup in the campus newspaper.

The really big event in Fall 1998 for the chapter was the Chartering Ceremony on December 12, 1998. The UTD Petitioning Group became Alpha Epsilon Zeta. Petitioning group members who became full APO members during the Chartering Ceremony included: Jay Cordaro, Jason Mercer, Robyn Jordan, Dierdre Fisher, Leigh Anne Hutchison, Luci Wong, Christine Shek, Kelly Severns, Clare Fisher, Russell Fluitt, Frank Kozel, Roxana Kazempour, Shelly Lindahl, Art Newton, Tanh Tranh, and Steve Wilt, as well as the chapter's first alumnus, Somchai Paiboonfungfuang, who thankfully didn't get his name engraved on anything.

Finally, 9 AEZ members capped the semester by attending the National Convention in sunny (and very cold) Minneapolis. The outside temperature sometimes dipped below -40 with windshill, but Christine Shek and Luci Wong hardly took notice because they were in committee and in session for much of the conference. One day they each spent over 17 hours on the debate floor, representing APO's newest chapter. Christine said the experience was "tiring, but educational."

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