Fraternity and Sorority Life awards honor Clemson’s best and brightest

Members of Clemson University’s Fraternity and Sorority Life community came together Thursday, April 18 to celebrate the past year and hand out awards to the top-performing chapters and individuals. The event was held in the WestZone Club on the fourth floor of Memorial Stadium.

“Our office is proud of all the hard work put into making fraternity and sorority membership at Clemson an impactful experience,” said Gary Wiser, director of Fraternity and Sorority Life. “I am in awe of the transformation of this community in the six years I’ve been here. We are being recognized by our peer institutions and would not be here today if our leaders had not bought into the vision of what a thriving fraternity and sorority community can be at Clemson.”

For the first time, Greek membership exceeded 4,700 students during the 2018-19 academic year. All four governing councils — College Panhellenic Council (CPC), Interfraternity Council (IFC), Multicultural Greek Council (MGC) and National Panhellenic Council (NPHC) — achieved an average GPA of over 3.0 for the first time on record during the fall semester. Seventy-five percent of members had at least a 3.0 GPA.

Chapter excellence awards recognized outstanding achievements in six areas of chapter operations: alumni development, campus involvement and leadership, chapter development, new member program, philanthropic service and scholastic achievement. Alpha Delta Pi met the minimum score in five categories to lead all CPC organizations, while Beta Theta Pi (IFC), Lambda Theta Phi (MGC) and Delta Sigma Theta (NPHC) led their respective governing councils with the highest number of excellence awards.

Following the presentation of chapter excellence awards, Order of Omega handed out a number of individual awards.

Unsung Hero Award
Megan Carter, Alpha Kappa Alpha (NPHC)
Haley McKee, Kappa Delta (CPC)
Alejandro Pardo, Lambda Theta Phi (MGC)

Personal Academic Achievement Award
Sean Cosh, Lambda Theta Phi (MGC)
Nicholas Iseman, Alpha Tau Omega (IFC)
Lisa Johnson, Alpha Kappa Alpha (NPHC)
Emily Scircle, Alpha Delta Pi (CPC)

New Member of the Year
Jack Debbout, Alpha Tau Omega (IFC)
Sophia Hennessy, Pi Beta Phi (CPC)
Demetria Middleton, Alpha Kappa Alpha (NPHC)

Emerging Leader
Jesse Blevins, Psi Upsilon (IFC)
Asha Boyd, Alpha Kappa Alpha (NPHC)
Emilie Hurley, Delta Zeta (CPC)
Dhruval Patel, Lambda Theta Phi (MGC)

Athlete of the Year
Devon Thomas, Alpha Phi (female)
Pearse Zbinden, Beta Theta Pi (male)

John Robert Clinton Unity Award
Taylor Dehart, Delta Zeta

Friend of the Greeks Award
Dr. Lori Pindar

Chapter Advisor of the Year
Kira Novack, Kappa Alpha Theta

The Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life concluded the ceremony by presenting awards for the members and chapters of the year.

Members of the Year
Zach Boykin, Alpha Phi Alpha (NPHC)
Taylor Dehart, Delta Zeta (CPC)
Diego Fuentes, Lambda Theta Phi & Raghed Al Dahabi, Delta Phi Lambda (MGC)
Andrew Levitt, Alpha Tau Omega (IFC)

Chapters of the Year
Alpha Delta Pi (CPC) – Amanda H. Hays Cup
Beta Theta Pi (IFC) – Dr. Jerome V. Reel Jr. Cup
Lambda Theta Phi (MGC) – Founders Cup
Delta Sigma Theta (NPHC) – Altheia L. Richardson Cup

Taylor Dehart, a senior microbiology major who will graduate in May, was honored with two major awards — CPC Member of the Year and the John Robert Clinton Unity Award. The latter is given in memory of a former Clemson student and brother of Alpha Tau Omega. The recipient chosen best displays his or her desire for Greek unity and caring attitude toward the Clemson community.

Dehart spent time following the reception with Clinton’s parents, who were in attendance.

“It was so cool to meet his parents,” she said. “Greek unity has been really important for me. I hang out with a lot of other smaller organizations and try to get our sorority involved in supporting them. I wasn’t expecting either of these awards. But my chapter and our advisor are very supportive.”

Diego Fuentes did a ton of award-collecting throughout the night, accepting on behalf of several fraternity brothers who were unable to attend the reception. But when it came time for the final award of the night — MGC Member of the Year — the Lambda Theta Phi president finally heard his own name called.

Fuentes is also a senior, majoring in industrial engineering. Set to graduate in May, he has lined up a manufacturing job in Pennsylvania after commencement.

“These awards are the cultivation of the work every member has put in,” he said. “We are a small chapter, so none of this would have been possible without active membership. To be considered for these awards is a huge honor and very humbling.”