A new Greek Man and Greek Woman of the Year were named at the Order of Omega banquet that took place on Sunday, March 26. FarmHouse, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Phi Alpha and Alpha Kappa Alpha took the title of Dean’s Cup at the banquet.
Ben Barnett, a junior biomedical sciences major from Warrior and brother of Pi Kappa Phi, was named Greek Man of the Year and said that he is humbled.
“I wasn’t expecting it,” Barnett said. “It’s a huge honor to me.
“It’s very humbling. I just wanted to serve other people; that’s all I really wanted to do.”
Barnett said that he rode a bicycle across the country for children with disabilities through Journey of Hope, and he wanted to take from the experience and help serve Troy’s community.
“It puts life in a different perspective for you,” Barnett said. “I was able to take some of what I got this summer and bring that fire back here to Troy with me, and it allowed me to serve people in my community.”
Olivia Melton, a senior math and economics major from Orange Beach and member of Chi Omega, was named Greek Woman of the Year and said she is honored.
“I was really honored, and I feel really special because I see a lot of my mentors came from older Greek women who I really looked up to, and even some of my fellow peers and best friends came from this (Order of Omega),” Melton said. “To have those women recognize me as someone that they see as an example — that’s really significant because I found a lot of my identity and confidence and encouragement coming from that community.”
Melton said that members inducted into Order of Omega need to be “somebody (a Greek organization member) who embodies Panhellenic behavior and gives back to the community, who has served both their Greek organization and their campus.”
Alpha Kappa Alpha received a participation award through the Greek Week events and was awarded the National Panhellenic Dean’s Cup. The Dean’s Cup was awarded to fraternities and sororities based on their overall performance, member involvement, community service, philanthropy amount raised and academics.
“We were thrilled to receive this honor,” said Amara Ihediwa, a senior biomedical sciences major from Huntsville and president of Alpha Kappa Alpha. “Our sorority strives for academic excellence, and we take our studies very seriously, as we have received the Dean’s Cup several times.
“We were happy that we were acknowledged for giving it our all.”
Joshua Summey, a senior psychology major from Powder Springs, Georgia, and president of Alpha Phi Alpha, said that the Dean’s Cup shows the qualities that organizations possess and the impact they have.
“Winning the Dean’s Cup to my organization is assurance that we are on the right path,” Summey said. “These categories (that the award is based on) prove that your organization is trying to make an impact not only on campus but also in your community.
“We are extremely grateful that we won it this year, and we hope to win it again next year.”
Andrew Dearing, a junior criminal justice major from Montgomery and president of FarmHouse, said winning the Dean’s Cup will promote continual hard work and service for him and his fraternity.
“We work very hard to make Troy University, the Troy community and FarmHouse the best it can be,” Dearing said. “We are honored to be recognized for our efforts and will continue to serve the university and community to the best of our ability.”
Dearing said that FarmHouse is continuously pushing to make progress and do better than before in everything.
“We should proudly state that ‘Progress shall mark our every step,’ which leads us to strive to become better as men and an organization each year, which is why we believe we have been awarded the Dean’s Cup for our fifth year in a row,” Dearing said.
Oakleigh White, a sophomore communication major from Cullman and scholarship chair for Alpha Gamma Delta, said winning the Dean’s Cup meant a lot to her and her sorority.
“It was such an honor to see my sisters get the recognition they deserve for all their hard work in the classroom, on campus and in the Troy community,” White said.
White said this award is about making a difference.
“It is so much more than an award,” White said. “It’s about making a difference for our university and our community, but at the end of the day, there is no award that could measure our sisterhood.”
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