What is Alpha Phi Omega?
Alpha Phi Omega (APO) is a coed service organization that provides a service to a variety of Columbia's causes, and agencies.
APO traces its roots to 1925 with its founding at Lafayette College in Pennsylvania by Frank Reed Horton, whom after his military service in WWI saw a need for a collegiate organization to promote a set of values that could stant the test of time, namely the Scout Oath and Law. Today the fraternity has chapters on over 300 campuses in the USA and around the world.
In APO one can do as much as one chooses to participate in, or a little. Each member is however asked to give a minimum of 15 hours of service, or which 8 hours need to be from chapter organized events.
One can be in APO and a Greek House, think of APO as a campus organization with Greek letters but with a strong sense of brotherhood, history and purpose.
The service projects undertaken by the chapter are both short term and long term in duration. The range of projects span benifiting the young, and the young at heart.
Some of the organizations APO has recently worked with include: Ronald McDonald House, Rainbow House, Relay for Life, the Food Bank, Head Start, retirement homes, the Boy's and Girl's Club, and many more!
Beyond service, APO has friendship and leadership as core values. The chapter organizes a number of social events each semester such as camping trips, bar-b-ques, and rec. sports teams.
College should be more than the acquisition of facts and figures: it should also broaden your experiences, and expand and test your inherent abilities, and sharpen your social skills. Alpha Phi Omega, through its unique program of leadership friendship and service, can add this necessary but often lacking aspect of college life and at the same time enable you to help others while helping yourself.