On Alpha Phi Omega

The Delta Omicron chapter of APO, the national service fraternity, held its first meeting this week. And it’s a good thing we didn’t wait until any later in the semester, or I might not have been able to contain my excitement. I hopped out of bed that morning, laced up my shoes, and counted down the hours until the fun began. The meeting was a typical one: we got together and talked for a short time about community service projects that are happening throughout the semester. We discussed continuing projects like running the concession stand at Basketball games (the money goes to charity), walking dogs at the Humane Society, and volunteering with Habitat for Humanity. The whole thing took about twenty minutes. We’ll do the same thing next week as well as give up a little time throughout the semester to do the projects we talked about and help our community. And that’s APO. Sound boring? Well, it’s not. It’s fun. In fact, I’d go as far as to classify it as super-fun. And believe me, I’m very cautious about throwing that term around.

The thing that makes APO so neat is that it’s an organization that is dedicated to several values, and it actively demonstrates its commitment to those values. Now chances are that as a college student, you and your peers don’t have too many exciting conversations about “values.” Values are just something that old people like to talk to you about every now and again while you have to smile and listen, right? They most certainly are. But they’re also matters of principle that have some real impact on how you govern your life—even if you’re not old! You can do a lot to make yourself a better, more selfless person if you take some time to decide what you believe in and how you can put it into practice. And it’s the practice part that makes APO so cool.

We’d all like to see the world become a better place, but most of us don’t have the initiative to get up on a Saturday morning, round up some pledge brothers, and build an orphanage. By pledging APO, you make a commitment to the values of friendship, leadership, and service.  And you get to put it into practice. APO provides the organizational structure needed to meet the energy and time you’re willing to give and pair them up with projects that benefit our school and Montgomery County.  And did I mention that it’s super-fun? The same conversations I could be having while sitting on the couch with my friends are many times more exciting when held while walking dogs or working outside.

It’s also very rewarding to see some good happening out there. I was volunteering with Habitat for Humanity one Saturday morning with two of my pledge brothers; we worked all morning and into the afternoon on one of the homes across from the new baseball stadium.  And by the end of the day, we could see the improvements made to the house. It felt good. On top of that we got to learn a little bit about construction, and we got to hang out and have fun while actually doing something. For all the time I spend lying on the couch and “chilling out” with my friends, I sure don’t remember most of it. But I have vivid memories of all the good times we spent working that particular morning.

I relish the opportunity to preach my ideas (Mother always did want to see me behind the pulpit), so as long as I’m all fired up from talking about values and the joys of service, I want to express my belief that we have a moral obligation to serve others. Everyone depends on the community, with no exceptions. We didn’t raise ourselves; we didn’t educate ourselves; I bet most of us didn’t manage to finance our Wabash educations with our summer job money. I believe we’re called upon to help others as we’ve been helped, and APO is a good place to get started.

So, freshmen, as you get settled in and start looking for things to get involved with on campus, consider coming out. And, upperclassmen, if you experience a mid-Wabash career crisis and need to search for meaning in life, here’s a good place to look! If nothing else, you can put it on your resume, and then those old people mentioned earlier will think you have “values” and will want to hire you. But on top of that, you really will be spending your time valuably and making your community that much nicer.