Students who are looking for more than social mixers and keggers in their college experience are turning to co-educational fraternities as another potential alternative. One such group is Alpha Phi Omega (APO), a co-ed service fraternity with chapters at 360 colleges nationwide and 17,000 members during a given school year.
Bob London, APO's executive director, explained that members originally had to be former Boy Scouts in order to join until that policy was changed in the 1960s. Then in the 1970s, the group changed its requirements again to allow co-ed membership.
"We're an inclusive organization," London said. "We take anybody on campus."
The College of William and Mary, Miami University of Ohio and the University of California at Davis are among the schools with the biggest APO chapters nationally.
The organization tends to grow its leaders organically. Members typically go on to become alumni mentors, and each student chapter has four advisors. London said that APO has roughly 45 alumni associations and about 450 alumni volunteers. The group still has strong ties to the Boy Scouts and will mark its 80th anniversary in the fall.
Volunteer Learning
So why are so many college students taking the volunteer route?
"Service learning is such a big deal at colleges," explains London.
He claims that 20 years ago, you didn't see colleges offering volunteer opportunities. However, providing community services and volunteering is now an accepted way of learning outside the classroom.
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