Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society earns national recognition

Liberty University’s Alpha Lambda Delta Honor Society chapter has earned the 2012 National Order of the Torch Award, ranking it among a select group of elite institutions nationwide.

Only five other universities received the award this year, including Duke University, the University of Maryland, the University of Texas (Austin), Georgia State University, and the University of Texas (El Paso).

The award requires the club to submit a comprehensive report to show it meets all 13 rigorous standards. Liberty’s chapter was recognized especially for its engagement in community outreach, including its work with the Lynchburg Jubilee Center for at-risk youths, gathering Thanksgiving baskets for families in need, coordinating a Teddy Bear Drive for the pediatric unit at the local hospital, donating care packages for Hope for the Homestead to aid area families at Christmastime, and supporting Liberty’s Students Behind Our Soldiers program.

“Preparing our entry for the Order of the Torch Award was an excellent project to encourage us to work together as a club,” said Sarah Lynn Compton, Liberty’s 2011-12 ALD vice president. “Members and officers wrote articles, took pictures, and came up with the final design for our entry. It provided our society with a tremendous opportunity to showcase the various projects we had been involved in that year.”

In addition to the Order of the Torch, Brian Mauldin, Liberty’s 2011-12 chapter president, received a $1,000 2012 National ALD Trow Scholarship Award and Dr. Marilyn Gadomski, a professor of psychology and a chapter faculty advisor, received one of five Executive Director’s Awards at the National ALD Leadership Conference in San Antonio, Texas, Oct. 19-21.

Alpha Lambda Delta, founded in 1924 at the University of Illinois, is an honors society that recognizes the achievement of first-year students. Today, there are more than 235 chapters nationwide. Membership is open to full-time freshmen who earn a scholastic average of 3.5 or better at a four-year college/university. Liberty’s chapter began in 1986 and has since initiated nearly 2,500 members.

Sandrea Williamson, a member of the ALD National Council, presented the award to Liberty’s chapter in the Grand Lobby of Arthur S. DeMoss Learning Center on Friday, Oct. 26.

“You all have contributed to the success and truly understand the purpose of Alpha Lambda Delta,” Williamson said. “Those of you who were initiated last spring and the spring before that have passed your torches on into the world. We encourage you to continue to do that and be role models for those that come behind you. You are setting a standard for the campus; you are setting an example for our colleagues.”

Liberty last received this honor in 1993.

Chapters are not eligible to apply for the award again in the next four years, but are able to receive the Maintaining the Flame Award for each year it can prove it has maintained the standard of excellence.

Liberty’s chapter will hold its next induction ceremony during the Spring 2013 semester. Eligible candidates will be notified and invited to join. Visit the chapter website for more information.