Senior Stacy Yowell and junior Milan Piva, members of Baker University’s Order of Omega Upsilon Tau chapter, each received a $500 scholarship from Order of Omega for their achievements and leadership in the greek system and on Baker’s campus.

Fraternity and Sorority Life Coordinator Jen Letner said each Order of Omega chapter in good standing could nominate two members of the chapter to receive the national award.

If the chapter initiated the full amount of members allowed each semester, it could send in an extra application, too.

“(Upsilon Tau) had a chapter meeting in the fall and the group nominated four or five people and then voted on who would apply for the scholarship,” Letner said.

Yowell and Piva were two of 135 scholarship recipients nationwide.

“Honestly, I had almost forgotten I had applied,” Yowell said. “It was a nice surprise (to find out I won a scholarship).”

Yowell and Piva are the fourth and fifth Zeta Tau Alpha sorority members on Baker’s campus to receive the scholarship in the past three years, as well as two of the 11 Zeta Tau Alpha members nationally to receive the scholarship this year.

“It shows the good programming (Zeta Tau Alpha has),” Piva said. “It just shows that (Zeta Tau Alpha has) really been trying to concentrate on (its) academic and service projects.”

Letner said Yowell and Piva’s involvement in a variety of extracurricular activities on Baker’s campus likely set them apart from other scholarship applicants.

“It’s not like I focus all of my time on one activity,” Yowell said. “I have been able to be involved in a variety of things on campus.”

Yowell is involved on campus in parMentors and Gamma Sigma Alpha. She is also a university admissions assistant, captain of the golf team, parent club coordinator for Zeta Tau Alpha and is currently the president of Order of Omega.

Piva is a member of parMentors, orientation leader executive council and Baker Art Club. She is the public relations chair for Earth We Are, member selection chair of Cardinal Key, Zeta Tau Alpha president and service chair for Order of Omega.

Letner hopes the success of Yowell and Piva will encourage greek students to get involved and take advantage of the opportunities available to them.

“I’m hoping this will draw attention to it for younger (greek community) members,” Letner said. “It’s one of the great advantages of being a greek-affiliated student.”