Every year, Missouri Beta at Westminster College competes for the Kansas City Trophy, which is awarded to the most outstanding Phi Delta Thea Chapter at an institution with less than 7,000 undergraduate students.
Missouri Beta has once again earned the trophy for the 2019-20 academic year and has surpassed all other Chapters in Kansas City Trophy winnings.
This award requires the chapter applying to write a six-page essay advocating why they are the most deserving chapter and collect three letters of recommendation to support their case. Missouri Beta is a top contender for this award every year for their dedication to defy negative fraternal stereotypes and has earned it for two years in a row.
This fraternity also won awards on a school level. During Westminster's virtual awards banquet, Phi Delta Theta was the only fraternity on campus to earn awards, winning 11 in total including Outstanding Fraternity President, Highest GPA and Outstanding New Member. They also earned Greek Excellence, which is awarded to fraternity and sorority chapters who achieved the highest recognition of excellence at Westminster College. The chapter remains the only fraternity on campus to ever do so.
In addition to the Kanas City Trophy, Phi Delta Theta at Westminster College also won many other prominent awards from their General Headquarters.
Nationally, Missouri Beta ranked in the top tier of Phi Delta Theta Chapters, winning 14 other awards in total recognizing the House Mom, Patsy MacDonald, as the Outstanding Live-In Advisor, and others including Bininger Stitt-Cultivation of Ritual, William Allen White Excellence in Communication, Outstanding Community Engagement and Programming, Gold Star, Excellence in Parent Communications, #1 Scholarship, Excellence in Academics, Excellence in Risk Prevention, Excellence in Community Service, Hayward S. Biggers Excellence in Ritual, Excellence in General Headquarters Reporting, Excellence in Recruitment and Improvement in Recruitment Award.
Missouri Beta won 15 awards total, making them the chapter with the most awards this year. Out of the 15 awards presented to this chapter, six could only be earned by one Phi Delta Theta Chapter internationally (out of more than 200 chapters).
The Phi Delta Theta Chapter at Westminster College is proud to receive all the recognition they do for their efforts to bring fraternity life a good name. They hope that by one good act at a time, they can turn around the negative perception of fraternity life.
With every dollar raised and every hour donated, they hope to impact the community, making the place we live better. Missouri Beta, Phi Delta Theta is proud to have received the Kansas City Trophy and all other recognitions this year. They hope this inspires other fraternities to follow in their footsteps, become the best versions of themselves and dare to defy the negative fraternity stereotype.
Ben Morrow is the president of the Missouri Beta Chapter of the Phi Delta Theta fraternity at Westminster College.