“Committed to lives of excellence” is the motto of Delta Tau Delta fraternity. The Epsilon Phi Chapter of Delta Tau Delta here at Southeastern was recently recognized for its notable excellence in the past year. They travelled to Atlanta, Ga from Feb. 10-13 to attend the The Great Southern Division conference. During the gathering, the fraternity received a great honor in the form of several awards.

The first is the prestigious Hugh Shields Award, which is the highest honor that can be given to a chapter. This award, named for the first vice executive president of the fraternity, is annually given to the top 10 chapters in all of the United States. The award is in the form of a purple and gold flag, bearing the greek word protimoi, which means, “first among equals.” A chapter earns this honor through exceptional accomplishments throughout year.

Winning this award is very meaningful to the chapter.

“We went 20 years without winning any,” said Josh Price, member of Delta Tau Delta and junior majoring in engineering technology. “Now that we’ve won three in a row, it just means we’re getting back on track to being the best we can be and living our true motto and following our values.”

The second award given to Delta Tau Delta was the Court of Honor award, which is given to the top 20 chapters in the entire country. This award comes in the form of a special inscribed gavel and base. This gavel, a symbol of authority, will remain in the chapter’s possession for the entire year. It is encouraged that the brothers use it during the regularly scheduled chapter meetings to remind them of their success and achievements.

Epsilon Phi was also named the brotherhood chapter of the year in the southern division of the fraternity. This title is given to the chapter that shows outstanding dedication to building the bonds of brotherhood.

“It gives great pride to attend our divisional conference and be able to be recognized nationally as one of the premier chapters in the United States. Epsilon Phi brothers have committed tremendously hard to distinguish ourselves from any other chapter or fraternity. It is evident our chapter is headed in the right direction and is committed to continuing living lives of excellence,” said Delta Tau Delta vice president M.J. Ahmad, a junior finance major.

In addition to the 1, 500 hours of community service completed by members during the fall semester, the fraternity is ranked first in academics out of all the fraternities at Southeastern. The chapter also had a very successful rush in the fall, adding 24 new pledges to their brotherhood, bringing the number of members to 51.