UNK Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity president, 402.770.6225
For the second consecutive year, Pi Kappa Alpha social fraternity at the University of Nebraska at Kearney has received the Robert Adger Smythe Award, an annual award presented by the organization’s national office to the top 5 percent of its collegiate chapters.
The UNK fraternity was recognized at the ceremony as the most outstanding community service chapter and a finalist for the most outstanding philanthropy chapter.
The fraternity’s top philanthropic event last year was the Dr. Kent Estes Memorial Golf tournament, an event where fraternity members worked nearly 8,000 hours and raised more than $8,000 to help endow two scholarships at UNK. Dr. Estes was chair and professor of the UNK Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology.
R.J. Gildea of Lincoln, chapter president; Gregory Graham of Wilber, internal vice president; and Cody Sasek of Parker, Colo., recruitment chairman, all traveled to the Walt Disney World Hilton Resort Hotel to receive the Robert Adger Smythe award. More than 450 undergraduate members, encompassing 213 chapters, were present at the award ceremony in Orlando.
“We worked very hard this past year, and it is an honor to receive such an award,” Gildea said. “It says a lot about the experience our fraternity is able to give to its members.”
During the past year, the fraternities that have won the Pi Kappa Alpha Smythe award have cumulatively completed 59,000 community service hours, donated $110,000 to philanthropy, maintained an average 3.0 GPA and 95-100 percent current membership involvement with other school-related organizations. Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity is an international organization of 218 chapters
over the United States of America and Canada with more than 215,000 initiated members worldwide. It was founded in 1868 at the University of Virginia. Currently, its headquarters are located in Memphis, Tenn.
