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APO: Serving the Community
by Yvonne Degrow
r
m or most student
groups, raising $25,000 would
be quite a challenge. But for
Alpha Phi Omega it’s all in a
weekend’s work.
With 125 active members
and 170 pledges this semester,
APO sometimes has trouble
finding projects that are big
enough, says Staci Cook, vice
president of membership.
APO, a co-educational
service fraternity, intends to
raise the $25,000 for the
Muscular Distrophy Association
at its dance-a-thon this Friday at
the Aggieland Inn.
“My personal goal is to raise
$250,” says Cook, a senior
finance major from Dallas.
A
A As if raising
$25,000 in 12 hours (7 p.m. to
7 a.m.) isn’t enough, APO has
so many other projects going
it’s hard to keep track.
Just a few of its projects
make an impressive list.
• APO plans and runs one
of the largest blood drives in the
nation each semester with the
help of Omega Phi Alpha, its
sister sorority, and Student
Government.
A&M students donate more
blood to Wadley Blood Drive
than any other group in Texas
and consistently rank among
the top three in the United
States.
• It provides manpower for
Special Olympics of Brazos
County.
Cook says APO will need
support from the student body
for the April 24-25 event.
“We’ll need coaches and
trainers for the kids,” she says.
• APO works on at least one
major project each weekend,
such as painting a community
service building or cleaning a
park.
• It is working to form a Boy
Scout troop at the Bryan boys’
club.
“We are founded on the Boy
Scout principles and we do a lot
of things with the boy scouts,”
Cook says.
APO was formed in 1925 by
a group of Eagle Scouts who
wanted a college equivalent of
Boy Scouts.
photo by Tom Ownbey
APO member Ken Pecus, a senior electrical engineering major, watches the A&M vs. University of Southern
Mississippi game with members of the Bryan Boys Club.