Alpha Gamma Rho - Penn State University

7 alpha gamma rho Agriculture at Gamma M y name is Cole, and I am a junior from the eastern corner of Berks County, Pennsylvania. I am majoring in agricultural science and dual-minoring in wildlife fisheries science and agribusiness management. With a long history in Alpha Gamma Rho for many of my family mem- bers, including my grandfather, Dr. Gene L. Swackhamer, Purdue University '57, my dad, Scott Swackhamer '83 (Γ1202), and my brother, Clay Swackhamer '12 (Γ1602), I was constantly surrounded by professional agricultural men. Although I was not born in letters, I was raised by successful men in the field of ag- riculture who taught me the principles of re- spect, leadership, and professionalism from a young age. Now that I have become an Alpha Gamma Rho brother myself, I am refining these principles my family has taught me and applying them to further my education and become a better man. Involvement in ΑΓΡ has led to multiple opportunities for me, in- cluding an internship with a start-up biotech- nology company specializing in maize genet- ics called LignoLink Inc. in the summer of 2016, and an internship with a commercial tilapia grower during the summer of 2017. Both of these opportunities were present- ed to me from Alpha Gamma Rho alumni whom already found success in the field of agriculture and were looking to give back to the undergraduate brothers of their beloved fraternity. Not only have I interacted with active broth- ers whom were raised on farms in Pennsyl- vania like myself, but many of my brothers are from a wide variety backgrounds as well as the educations for which they are seek- ing, allowing me to see agriculture from a broader perspective than I could have at- tained alone. Overall, with the knowledge and principles that Alpha Gamma Rho has taught me to become a better man, I hope that one day I can teach these same prin- ciples to my children and that they can be fortunate enough to reap similar benefits from the same national organization that has made me the man I am today. Fraternally, Cole Swackhamer '15 (Γ1727) O ver the past couple of years, one of our be- loved trees at ΑΓΡ became diseased with bacterial leaf scorch. This disease has become common in the Penn State College area for many of the local trees. Through its decline, we had noted individual branches dying and later fall- ing. We recently had a branch fall from our red oak onto an undergraduate's car and had to assess the safety around the tree. Thank you to alumnus Bob Good '88 (Γ1275), owner and proprietor of Good's Tree and Lawn Service, out of Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, for his help with that process. The alumni association opted to cut the tree down. When one thinks about the history this tree has seen and been a part of at Penn State, it spans many generations of Gamma alumni, ΑΓΡ life, and how we spent it in our brief time in State College. We don't know exactly when the tree was planted, but it was not there prior to the ini- tial building completion in 1929. The tree was likely planted in the Great Depres- sion. It survived through WWII and when the Army occupied our 322 home. It saw a great in- flux of veterans coming back from the war in the late 1940s and 1950s. It lived through unofficial brotherhood events, even being used as a prop. During the next few months, another fellow alumnus, Dane Lauver '90 (Γ1288), is going to take a piece of this ΑΓΡ history and create pens out of our red oak. These will be up for bid dur- ing our fundraiser for Gamma Chapter. The red oak tree can be seen peeking behind the chapter house as it welcomes a new class of brothers in 1952. John Weller '71 (Γ989), Ross Orner '72 (Γ1021), and Bob Norris '70 (Γ986) jokingly tied Tom Movinsky '72 (Γ1001) to the red oak tree as undergraduates. Saying Goodbye to Gamma's Beloved Red Oak Members from the 1990s enjoy the shade of the red oak in the fall. The red oak provided a beautiful accent to the house during the spring. Bob Good '88 (Γ1275) after the tree's removal in July.

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