AEZ Chapter History - Fall 1998
Petitioning Group Elected Officers and Advisory Board for Fall 1998:
President
Jason Mercer
VP COLD
Christine Shek
VP Membership
Luci Wong
VP Service
Robyn Jordan
Secretary
Deirdre Fisher
Treasurer
Leigh Anne Hutchison
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
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, Sharon Hogue, Frank Kozel, Roxana Kazempour, Shelly Lindahl, Art Newton, Jennifer Sata, Thanh Tran, 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 attempt at a pledge program. Although the new members were not technically pledges since the chapter had not chartered, they were treated as such. They had pledge meetings, pledge quizzes, a pledge project, and all of the standard pledge treatments. The pledge class namesake was Joseph F. Kuchta.
A trip to the State Fair was the first fellowship of the semester. Although it was intended to attract potential pledges, only one showed up: Russell Fluitt. While at the fair, Russell got separated from the group and began a tradition of getting lost, which has hounded him and his clan to this day.
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 write up 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, Brian Halvorson, Sharon Hogue, Leigh Anne Hutchison, Luci Wong, Jennifer Sata, Christine Shek, Kelly Severns, Clare Fisher, Russell Fluitt, Frank Kozel, Roxana Kazempour, Shelly Lindahl, Art Newton, Thanh Tran, and Steve Wilt, as well as the chapter's first alumnus, Somchai Paiboonfungfuang, who thankfully didn't get his name engraved on anything. The chartering banquet was a special event for the entire chapter, but especially for Roger Stearns, who received a Chapter Distinguished Service Key.
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 wind-chill, but Christine Shek and Luci Wong hardly took notice because they were in committee and in legislative 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."
Chapter Awards for Fall 1998:
Outstanding Active
Deirdre Fisher
Outstanding Active Service
Robyn Jordan
Outstanding Pledge
Shelly Lindahl
Outstanding Pledge Service
Russell Fluitt