Alpha Tau Omega - University of Nebraska-Linocln

3 Alpha Tau omega www.atonebraska.org W hen he was 12 years old, in junior high, Ward Reesman '83 was dropped off at Cornhusker football games near fraternity row. He remembers a moment walking by a particular fraternity that had speakers on the lawn playing "Who Are You," a classic anthem of the time by The Who, while members of the fraternity hung out across the lawn. Upon this sight, which was just the coolest group of people he'd ever seen, young Ward thought to himself, "Man, I have got to be part of that." Through his hometown buddies and others he knew, he pledged ATW less than 10 years later and found out that these were the guys he had seen on the lawn years ago. Gamma Theta has been a part of Ward's life ever since. Ward earned a bachelor's degree in business administration and a juris doctorate from Nebraska Lincoln. He worked as a special agent for the FBI and is now retired. He credits ATW for giving him the confidence necessary for his job. "Coming from a small town, I really forced myself to be a part of a community. I had to get out of my comfort zone. ATW developed me into the person I am today; from etiquette training to learning how to study well, I learned so many life lessons living in the chapter house," Ward said. Ward encourages alumni to search for the motivation to reconnect with their brothers from the chapter. He wants to see people taking responsibility for all that Gamma Theta gave them in their undergraduate years. "Go to the house, meet the current undergraduates," Ward said. Serving on the campaign board since 2014, Ward speaks to why he gives back to Gamma Theta. "The active chapter is thriving and taking advantages of the resources they're being given; they just need a quality house to go with that. This is the little thing that I can do to give back to Gamma Theta. I'll never be able to repay for all that Gamma Theta gave me, but this is a start," Ward said. Ward and his wife, Cheryl, live in Omaha. They have two children: their oldest, Matt, is a sophomore at the University of South Dakota, and their youngest, Eryn, is a junior in high school. Ward spends a lot of his time catching up with Gamma Theta brothers, riding his Harley, and playing guitar from his vast guitar collection. You can reach Ward at hinrees@ aol.com. giving Back to gamma theta Ward reesman '83 shares his gamma theta experience Pledge brothers Pat Prieb '83, Ward Reesman '83, and Bill Carr '83 on a recent trip to Las Vegas. T his spring semester, the hard work of Gamma Theta undergraduates and our dedicated alumni paid off with a reinstatement nod from the university. Since then, we enjoyed a summer of recruiting a great class of 23 young men. The school year is off to a smooth start as we have hit the ground running with our new leadership development program. We believe that this will be a strong year to build upon the ground of our strong alumni base. plans in place to raise gpa Last semester, we received a 3.08 GPA. We sit mid-pack compared to other chapters on campus and plans have been put in place to improve. "We are excited about the opportunity to work with members on creating proper study habits and relationships with professors. We believe with the proper guidance, each member will be able to succeed in all of his classes," Scholarship Chairman Mitch dudley '14 said. future philanthropy events Last semester, ATW hosted the sixth annual Tau Tee Off philanthropy benefitting the Campus Veterans society. This semester, we are in the process of planning a small philanthropy event and focusing our efforts on a larger- scale signature event next spring. We are really excited to be able to work on something new for a staple philanthropy that will accompany ATWs return to being a chapter that is incredibly active within the Greek community. a successful recruitment Our recruitment process this summer was considerably beefed up from previous years. We elected a committee of seven active members to analyze each potential new member and vote whether they were worthy of a bid from Alpha Tau Omega. This system helped guarantee a quality class of 23 new members. We are really thrilled with the quality of men we were able to recruit this summer. We think this does a great job of demonstrating what a positive reputation ATW has on Nebraska's campus. homecoming 2016 This year for Homecoming, Alpha Tau Omega ATW undergraduate members at a goal setting retreat last spring for the 2016-17 school year. Jacob Havranek '13 volunteering at the Miss Amazing Pageant. (Continued on page 4) gamma theta off to a strong start plans in place to Continue strength of Chapter and Members

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