About APO
Alpha Phi Omega (APO) was founded on the principals of leadership, friendship, and service. Through APO, members have the chance to gain leadership opprotunities while creating strong friendships through service work to the campus, community, nation, and fraternity. As a national organization APO has over 17,000 members on 366 different campuses throughout the United States. APO's mission is to prepare campus and community leaders through service.
The University of Vermont's chapter, Alpha Gamma Eta, is currently celebrating its 20th year on campus and was recently awarded the Club of the Month award from the Student Government Organization for its community service work. The fraternity is expanding rapidly, with twenty eight active brothers and eighteen students currently pledging.
Since its founding in 1925 at Lafeyette College in Easton, PA, APO has had more than 350,000 people join. The fraternities motto is "Be a Leader, Be a Friend, Be of Service".
HISTORY
Alpha Phi Omega was founded in 1925 at Lafeyette College in Easton, Pennsylvania. After serving aboard a minesweeper in WW1 stationed in the North Sea, Frank Reed Horton, the founder of APO, made a resolution to do two things. First he wanted to create an organization that would help young people get the right start in life. Second he wanted to try to help the nations of the world settle disputes in a more sensible way than war. As a student at Lafeyette after the war, Frank Horton met another man who had been an officer in the navy and was currently a local Boy Scout Executive. This man was Herbert G. Horton. Herbert Horton introduced Frank Horton to the Boy Scouts, through which our founder became acquainted to the Scout Oath and Law. Using the ideals of these scouting principals, Frank Horton founded APO with an inaugural fourteen members intending to have the fraternity become international.
National Conventions have been taking place at locations all over the US since 1931 and are now biannual with the 41st Convention happening in Atlanta this year. In 1976, the National Convention voted to allow women to become members, making APO a co-ed fraternity.
Alpha Phi Omega came to the University of Vermont 20 years ago and has provided a strong organization for friendship, leadership and service since.