NIC Press Release
Fraternity Receives Award for PR Efforts
The Alpha Tau Omega Fraternity received the Laurel Wreath Award from the North-American Interfraternity Conference in recognition of the fraternity's efforts to tell the "good news" about the efforts of its members. The ATO Roadshow is a one of a kind public relations vehicle widely distributed within the fraternal world.
The NIC chose to recognize Alpha Tau Omega's ATO Roadshow because it highlights the achievements of the fraternity's chapters and members in a news magazine format. The positive focus of the stories showcases the positive influence the fraternity has in the many communities in which they live.
According to the fraternity, the ATO Roadshow was implemented in the spring of 2001 as an experiment to promote the good works of ATO men and ATO chapters and is a success story of its own. Loosely based on ESPN's College GameDay, the ATO Roadshow travels with a camera crew in tow to a host campus in which the ATO chapter has achieved a noteworthy initiative. ATO chapters have organized and participated in events ranging from Soak-A-Thon, a 24 hour hot-tub based fundraiser for a local charity to, Penn State's Thon, where Alpha Tau Omega fraternity members have consistently raised hundreds of thousands of dollars each year for the Four Diamond's Fund
William D. Jenkins, past president of the NIC, stated that the "ATO Roadshow taps a need to acknowledge and applaud the good things that fraternity life produces both on an individual and corporate level."
The North-American Interfraternity Conference represents 65 inter/national fraternities hosted on over 800 campuses in the United States and Canada. There are currently 350,000 undergraduate members of fraternities and over 5 million alumni members.
The Laurel Wreath Award was established in 1988 and is presented annually by the conference to the individual(s), program or organization that best exemplifies the advancement of fraternal ideals.