Nicodemus Wilderness Project -- Global Registry of Apprentice Ecologists

Three years ago my floor mates and I resurrected a co-ed fraternity, Alpha Phi Omega, which had died on our campus nearly a decade back. The fraternityâ€™s cardinal principles are leadership, friendship, and service; in addition it is based mostly on the beliefs of the Boy Scouts of America. There are four areas of service covered by the organization: nation, community, campus, and fraternity. As my floor mates and I were freshmen at the time we decided to resurrect the fraternity, none of us had the experience and knowledge of what it took to maintain a successful fraternity let alone resurrect one. The challenges we faced were the lack of experience related to a Greek organization were the experience in the plan and execution of community service and fellowship events, a budget for the organization, and most of all bylaws that would govern the fraternity. While the path to a successful re-charter was contained many obstacles what helped us most was our passion to give the community something that was within our capabilities.
We travelers with no means to arrive at our destination, however under proper guidance, adequate time, effort, and a passion to succeed us successfully overcame the challenges presented to us. Our big brother fraternity at Stevens Institute of Technology assisted us in laying out our foundation, providing us with a thorough working of how a successful fraternity is run, and led us step by step in establishing our own. From the events at our school we gained over $2000 for our organization and from the pride in our hearts and passion in our work we encouraged several students to become part of our organization. The Lambda Delta chapter of Alpha Phi Omega at the New Jersey Institute of Technology officially chartered on April 6, 2008 with over 40 brothers, 4 alumni, 2 advisers, and over 1000 hours of service for the 2007 â€“ 2008 school year. The organization has an established rush program, the marketing end of the organization to attract brothers, an established pledge program to train aspiring brothers and provide them with the tools and knowledge needed to succeed in the fraternity, as well as successful fund-raising programs that happen on a weekly basis.
The Apprentice Ecologist Initiative generally awards individuals those whom have performed a single successful community service program; however I am the co-founder of a successful organization whose basis is community service. Being part of the organization I have been active in many of events that have been executed. They include the beach clean ups at Point Pleasant, maintaining a clean parking campus, in one instance we assisted a group of construction workers rebuild the home of a woman of low income and son with down syndrome whom received the goodwill of her community that came together to finance the project; in addition we are active in assisting those organizations in the vicinity of our campus that seek to better the lives of those less privileged. While it is beneficial for the community to have the assistance of a single individual whom desires the cleanliness of his habitat, it is even more beneficial when there are numerous other individuals that dedicate their time and interest to the effort in cleaning the environment. Rather than limiting ourselves to a single cause we seek to assist the environment in as many aspects as we can as well as impact the lives of those we come across. We may not be superheroes, but we possess the ability to help environment and its residents.