Oklahoma State University Native American sorority nabs national honors

Wednesday, July 19, 2017

Gamma Chapter at Oklahoma State University was named the 2016-2017 Undergraduate Chapter of the Year during Alpha Pi Omega’s national award ceremony July 15 in Oklahoma City.

To be considered for the award, the chapter submitted a portfolio, highlighting its members’ campus involvement, individual awards and commitment to academics and community service. In addition to volunteering at the Stillwater Humane Society and the annual Remember The 10 run, chapter members regularly co-hosted social stickball and other events for the benefit of the OSU community.

With its members averaging more than five hours of community service per month each, the chapter also earned the Busy Bees of the Year award. 

“Gamma Chapter is honored to receive not one, but two awards,” Gamma Chapter President Marly Fixico-Hardison said. “We are thankful for the recognition from our sisters and the Grand Keepers of the Circle. We have put in a fair amount of work this past year to get Gamma Chapter to where it is today. Our success comes from love and determination, not only from us, but from our sisters.”

Fixico-Hardison was also named Honeycomb of the Year, presented to the most outstanding new member nationally. A citizen of the Seminole Nation and a graduate of Seminole High School, Fixico-Hardison is majoring in chemical engineering with an option in biochemistry.

Choctaw Nation citizen Twauna Williams was named PI of the Year. A resident of Durant, Oklahoma, Williams is president of the Delta Pi Chapter, serves on the sorority’s national board and was named to the 2016 NextGen Under 30 Oklahoma list. She is also on the board of directors for the Oklahoma State University Alumni Association’s American Indian Alumni Society.

With more than 100 tribes represented nationwide, Alpha Pi Omega Sorority, Inc., is the country’s largest and oldest Native American Greek-letter organization. Founded on Sept. 1, 1994 at the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill, the sorority strives to provide a support network for collegiate and professional Native women in contemporary society while embracing traditional cultural practices. The chapter at Oklahoma State University was established in November 2002.