BY STEWART COARD – STAFF WRITER
While volunteering at Soups-on-Us one Saturday morning, sophomore David Kim noticed that a large portion of the student volunteers belonged to Centre’s co-ed service fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega (APO). “I thought these people were pretty cool to be spending their weekend helping others,” Kim said. Inspired by their values, he began considering joining the organization, and is now a member of their spring pledge class.
APO dedicates itself to service on campus, in the community, and throughout the nation. “We focus on Service, Leadership, and Friendship, bringing people together and creating a sense of community,” explained Kaitlyn Goodwin, the fraternity’s president.
Centre’s chapter of APO, Theta Theta, was first formed in 1948 but later disbanded. In 1998, several Centre students decided to recharter APO on Centre’s campus and the chapter has continued to serve to this day. Members of APO are part of a fellowship much like social fraternities, but are also dedicated to service to others.
One of 375 national chapters, “[We aim to] benefit the campus as a whole [by] cleaning up the campus or holding events to promote ideas or gather donations which benefit the community around Centre,” Goodwin said.
Members of APO have taken part in several local service projects, including cleaning up the Shelby African-American cemetery, packaging food for families in need with Soups-on-Us, and volunteering with the Humane Society. The fraternity organizes several events of its own as well, such as a human trafficking awareness campaign and an annual box sleep-out.