Loyola fraternity named ‘best chapter of the year’
Out of more than 300 chapters in the nation, Loyola’s chapter of the professional business fraternity Alpha Kappa Psi recently earned “best of the year” for the 2011-2012 school year.
“The members of Alpha Kappa Psi should be extremely proud of this accomplishment, [and] Loyola should be extremely proud of this accomplishment,” said Catlin Wojtkowski, coordinator for registered student organizations in the Student Activities and Greek Affairs office.
The president of the Gamma Iota chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi said she hopes this award will bring more respect and recognition to the fraternity at Loyola.
“Since we haven’t gotten this [award] before, I think our chapter has been overlooked because it’s one of the smaller ones compared to some other chapters,” said senior Kristin Papierski, 21, a finance major.
The fraternity currently has about 50 active members and 17 pledges (new members).
“Now, I think we’ll start to get a lot more recognition regionally and nationally,” Papierski said.
The fraternity applied for chapter of the year at the end of spring semester 2012 and received an email in September from the fraternity’s national headquarters informing them they earned the award.
The members will be recognized at the 2013 Principled Business Leadership Institute in Chicago on Feb. 15-17 at the Palmer House Hilton. The Principled Business Leadership Institute is the fraternity’s annual conference.
“I think we earned best chapter because we are extremely hard working and dedicated,” said junior Elizabeth Harb, 20, vice president of administration in Alpha Kappa Psi. “Not only do we host professional, service, social and fundraising events, but we’re also a tight-knit family away from home. We truly care about each other and that shows in what we do and how we function,” said the economics major.
Fellow member of the fraternity, senior David Moscatelli, 22, agreed.
“It’s natural to strive for success, but our commitment to one another has given us an edge,” said the accounting, finance and economics triple major.
The coed professional business fraternity holds about three to four professional events per semester that are open to the entire Loyola community.
In fall 2011, for example, Human Resources Specialist Anne Brown gave tips to improve a resume. In spring 2012, Lauren Berger, an entrepreneur and the CEO of InternQueen.com, shared advice on landing internships; and Bethany McLean, co-author of The Smartest Guys in the Room (a book exposing the corruption of Enron), explained the financial crisis to students. In addition, Adam Braun, founder of Pencils of Promise, will be speaking at Loyola on Thursday, Nov. 29.
“Alpha Kappa Psi has put on some very successful programs over the past year,” Wojtkowski said. “They continue to be one of the largest and most active groups on campus.”
While some business fraternities are only open to business majors, Alpha Kappa Psi is open to all majors and all ages.
“In the real world, you’re not going to be only interacting with business majors,” Harb said. “[A student] must be able to professionally interact with others in the field of their choice and we teach those skills that are applicable to all majors.”
Alpha Kappa Psi recruits members at the beginning of each semester. Students must sign up for an interview to be eligible to receive a bid, an invitation to join the fraternity, then undergo an eight-week pledge process, consisting of hosting various events. After successfully holding these events, as well as completing other tasks and quizzes, the pledges are initiated, becoming active members in the chapter.
by Emily Study
estudy@luc.edu
Posted by Tyler Langan
on October 31, 2012. Filed under Featured,News.
You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0.
You can leave a response or trackback to this entry