In the beginning there was Mrs. Kaiser who happened to be reading a scout magazine with an APO article inside of it. In the beginning elsewhere there was Christian Paolino and some of his close friends, who formed a group called Alpha Phi Omega.
Meanwhile…Mrs. Kaiser told Don and George Kaiser about the APO article. Don wrote a letter to APO’s national office (at that time in Kansas City) and received information on how to start a chapter.
Cheryl Lynn Smith, Section 99 Chairperson, told Christian about George and Don on campus. Christian called them, and they met and decided to merge into an Alpha Phi Omega interest group.
The first unofficial meeting of APO was held in February of 1990 and continued bi-weekly, until April. It was then that the group decided that meetings every week might be necessary until they really got going.
Though we lost a few members that first summer, we tripled our membership during the next fall semester. It was soon after that when the national office gave us two groups of people that would prove to be the best things that could have happened to our still struggling group. The first was our big brother chapter at Montclair. The Nu Psi chapter was just 15 minutes away and welcomed us with open arms. A few of us sent and sat in on their meetings, and still more of us helped them build their 1990 homecoming float. (Okay, they helped us build it!) This big brother/little brother relationship not only increased our excitement in the fraternity but helped rekindle theirs as wells.
Secondly, we were given Betty Rauch as our liaison. Betty was an alumni from Rutgers’ Delta Rho chapter who was anxious to become active in APO after a few years absence. To us, she represented all that was meant by leadership, friendship, and service. In the often trying months that followed, Betty was always there to help, bending over backwards every time.
For the rest of the fall 1990 semester, we struggled against one major setback – the William Paterson campus’ moratorium disallowing new Greek organizations on campus. However, in December 1990, the moratorium was lifted and the campus was now on our side. Now all that was left to do was meet APO’s national requirements.
Though still only an interest group officially, George Kaiser, Michelle Rossi, Christine Sente, Kristy Mowery, and Ed Fuhr, set out on the road trip of a lifetime to St. Louis for the 1990 National Convention. While there, our little group lobbied hard and won when it was voted that the Chartering Fee for new chapters be eliminated. In addition, they met such distinguished brothers as Stan Carpenter, the National President at the time, and Gerald Shroeder, the new President elect. Finally, the William Paterson representatives also learned more about just how APO business worked in general.
Though we’d actually started nearly a year before, we at long last became a Petitioning group in an official APO ceremony on February 8, 1991. Alumni and brothers from all over Section 99 and Region I came and joined in the celebration. However, our work was still cut out for us. Many hours of paperwork, Chapter Program Planning Conference meetings, and just general preparations still needed to be done.
In the meantime, we were training our first pledge class, or members-in-training as we called them. Though it did get off to a rough start, we managed to get ourselves organized. We held elections for pledge class officers with the following results: John Salzano, President; Donna Meyers, Vice-President; Sheri Moehring, Secretary; Carrie Zinna, Treasurer; and Denise Meyers, Sergeant-at-Arms. For both this Alpha Class and the founders this time became a learning experience. Through much trial and error we figured out what was going to work and not work for the semesters to come.
Also, in the work at this time were all the preparations for our chartering ceremony. Mike Santacroce headed up the hardworking committee that took care of all the details. Now we just needed national’s approval. So far we’d gotten the go ahead from Cheryl Smith, Mrn Tomusiak, the Region I Director, our advisors and just about anybody else we thought might help. Our list of service projects was enormous, (almost as big as our fellowship list!) We were well on our way. Once word finally did come from the national that approval as granted, all that was left was acceptance from our section. That victory came at the Spring 1991 Sectionals held at the Pi Rho Chapter at Rider College. It was at the business meeting that section representatives voted unanimously to give our charter approval.
Finally, on June 1, 1991, the Alpha Gamma Mu chapter became official. On that day, the 28 founders became brothers and our 20 members-in-training became official pledges. Joining us were such distinguished brothers as Mern Tomusiak, and Membership and Extension Chairperson Fred Pollack. Also present were brothers from all over the section and region as well as our advisors and community leaders. Some of the highlights included the presentation of a banner from the Montclair’s Nu Psi chapter and of course the presentation of the charter itself. Everyone breathed a sigh of not only relief but of accomplishment as well, once George actually held the charter in his hands. All of our hard work had at last paid off. Finally, we now had the foundation we needed to make this chapter the best it could possibly be.