Members of Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology’s Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity chapter will be trading their swimsuits for hammers and shovels to assist hurricane recovery efforts near Galveston, Texas, and New Orleans in February, March and April through an alternative spring break program supported by Liberty Mutual insurance company.
Pi Kappa Alpha is among 10 collegiate student programs supported through Liberty Mutual’s Responsible Scholars — Alternative Spring Break Grant. Each $2,500 grant will help cover costs for approximately 35 students to travel to help Mercy Response, an American natural disaster relief organization, two times this spring. Students will lend assistance to recovery efforts involving home demolition, and replacing drywall and flooring in homes damaged by Hurricane Ike, which hit the Galveston area, or Hurricane Katrina, which devastated areas near New Orleans.
Sean Cody, a senior chemical engineering major from Sheridan, will lead Pi Kappa Alpha volunteer work crews in visiting the areas between the winter and spring academic quarters, a period lasting from Feb. 26 to March 7, and Rose-Hulman’s spring break period, from April 3-11.
Pi Kappa Alpha members have assisted Mercy Response officials in Galveston and New Orleans during spring breaks the past two years.
Liberty Mutual’s Responsible Scholars-Alternative Spring Break Grants support student organizations to help rebuild and strengthen communities across the globe. Five organizations involving 15 or more students were awarded $2,500 grants (like Pi Kappa Alpha), while five smaller groups received $1,000 grants.
Rose-Hulman’s Pi Kappa Alpha chapter has received the Robert Adger Smythe Award, presented to the top 5 percent of chapters nationwide, for overall excellence. The chapter also received national 2009 awards for chapter finance, academic performance, recruitment, risk assessment, hosting a spring work day and organizational rituals. Pi Kappa Alpha’s vision is to “set the standard of integrity, intellect, and achievement for our members, host institutions, and the communities in which we live.”
