Alpha Gamma Nu

Alpha Gamma Nu at their rechartering.

Alpha Gamma Nu is the University of California, Santa Cruz chapter of Alpha Phi Omega.

History

The following is a history of Alpha Gamma Nu derived from one written by Brother Wendy Seng.

Becoming an Interest Group

Alpha Gamma Nu began its rechartering process at University of California, Santa Cruz with a group of 34 people from different subgroups of the campus to form the founding class. These people came together to form Alpha Phi Omega on their campus for several reasons: some felt out-of-place in other fraternities and sororities, some wanted to find a means to serve others, some wanted to make their college experience and tuition worthwhile, and some just wanted to see what it felt like to have those letters on their chest. Whatever the reason, these founding members came together to successfully charter APO on UCSC grounds.

Alpha Gamma Nu's first president, Wendy Seng, de-pledged a sorority after 7 weeks out of discomfort with its process. Having heard about Alpha Phi Omega from friends at University of California, Irvine, she aimed to establish an organization where people could have a sense of belonging. On June 4, 2008, she sent a “How To Start a Chapter” form to the national office. While initially she did not believe she would get a response, two weeks later the Region X Director, Franklin Brodsky, notified her via e-mail that he would look for a sponsor for their interest group. Wendy quickly spread the word to friends--primarily ex-pledge sisters: Jessica Jung, Tyla Tran, Joanne Park, and Cherrylin Cawit. APO at UCSC spread quickly through word-of-mouth exposure. Wendy received several messages from unfamiliar people about their interest in joining.

Later, for almost a month, Wendy heard nothing about APO. The hype died down until she received notice that they had a prospective sponsor: Reed Musselman. He did not initially fully agree to sponsoring UCSC's chapter because he wanted to ensure he could commit to this huge responsibility. After about a week or two, he relented. Reed was fairly easy-going and never commanded the students to do things. His attitude allowed the founding members to truly feel that this chapter was their own and earned him the nickname “Dad”.

That Summer of 2008 began UCSC's recruitment. Wendy created a Facebook group for all of the interested members called “APO @ UCSC” to keep them updated with our efforts. Jessica Jung, Allen Vanevery Jr, and Wendy met with Reed for the first time at 1776 Powell St. in Emeryville, CA to discuss the chartering process over some milkshakes and soup at Denny's.

First Service Project

UCSC's first service event was with Gamma Beta, San Jose State University--later to be their brother chapter. Wendy picked up Austin Ngau, Chip Hayashi and Allen at Fruitvale Oakland's BART station to attend the service event despite none of them knowing each other very well. The group met up with Reed and some Gamma Beta Brothers in San Jose. Wendy admired their letter shirts and friendly attitudes. They walked about five blocks to the service event at an elementary playground. They had tasks to do all over: some cleaned dishes, helped children workshops, carry things, rake rugged leaves, etc.

The goal of the service project was to assist low income families in getting necessary supplies and toys. Each family was given a certain amount of "play money" to buy these things. Wendy held a little girl's hand to pick out which toys she wanted. Before we entered the realm of toys, her father sacrificed most of his play money to her and told her to get any toy she wanted. He said this in Spanish but she understood. That parent's sacrifice for their children reminded her of her own parent's sacrifices. At this moment, service began to mean much more to Wendy, and solidified her commitment to it as a prospective member of Alpha Phi Omega.

Chartering

By Fall 2008, UCSC's petitioning membership was in full swing. On December 5, 2009, Alpha Gamma Nu at University of California, Santa Cruz was re-chartered at San Jose State University, bringing their 17-month effort to fruition. In Spring 2009, AGN rushed 27 more members for a pledge class named after their first official chapter namesake, Reed Musselman.

Traditions

• AGN has 5 different families: Air, Earth, Fire, Metal, and Water
• AGN has an award called Sammy the Slug Doll that is given to a different member each week in recognition of their work