On Feb. 14, Alpha Phi Omega (APO) presented bids to their new pledge class, concluding this semester’s competitive recruitment process for Wake Forest’s only service fraternity. This was APO’s first recruitment cycle since introducing a fall rush option in 2025, which proved extremely popular and left many hopeful members without a bid.
“Up until this year, we’ve only had spring rush, so this is a very atypical year for us,” Diversity, Equity and Inclusion Chair Ella Jones said. “We had 75 new members join in the fall, and over 400 people rushed, which was monumental for APO.”
Jones believes APO attracts significant numbers of students every year because it offers members a sense of belonging and purpose when they arrive at Wake Forest.
“APO has a huge draw for a couple different reasons,” Jones said. “Community service, first and foremost. There’s a huge chance to get outside of the ‘Wake Bubble.’ That ability to leave campus is really huge, but also the ability to be part of a brotherhood appeals to a lot of people. It’s a cool community of people who see something larger than Wake Forest and who have perspective beyond themselves.”
Founded in 1925 and chartered at Wake Forest in 1952, APO facilitates student service to the University and Winston-Salem. To meet their required 25 hours of service per semester, brothers regularly volunteer with organizations including Campus Kitchen, Campus Garden and Virtual Tutoring as well as traditional Wake Forest service events including Wake ‘N Shake and Hit the Bricks.
President Henry Wolfe believes the popularity of the organization’s first fall rush can also be attributed to the fact that many freshmen are less busy during their first semester.
“Since rush for a lot of the social organizations is in the spring, [freshmen] weren’t involved with any of that yet,” Wolfe said. “We were really overwhelmed, but obviously excited with how many people rushed in the fall.”
Because APO takes about 150 new members per year, they did not offer bids to many potential new members. Executive members emphasized that they did not make these decisions lightly.
“Obviously if you are coming to Wake Forest, you are holistic, and you are smart, and you are well-rounded and you have done community service at some point in your life,” Jones said. “Off of that premise, everybody who fills out the application to do APO rush is qualified to be a part of the community service frat. In my dream world, everybody on campus would be part of APO and we’d all be better for having that incentive to do service. Unfortunately, we can’t have an organization with 3,000 members, so cuts are a very pervasive part of APO.”
While fewer rushed this semester, the recruitment process was still a challenging undertaking for APO leaders, who could only admit about 75 rushees. Membership Vice President Jack Tompson explained that APO rush is a two-week process filled with applications, interviews and nightly events designed to showcase the experience and personality of potential new members.
“Our motto is Leadership, Friendship and Service,” Tompson said. “Those are the three qualities and activities that we look for in our rushees.”
While APO is a service organization, the club also emphasizes its social opportunities. Rush included events such as making gratitude posters and speed dating to allow brothers to get to know the prospective new members as friends as well as community leaders.
“We do a mix of events between social events where the brothers get to meet a lot of the rushees and just hang out with them, see more faces and see more personalities,” Wolfe said. We also do more service-oriented events where the rushees get to hear about the needs of Winston-Salem.”
Freshman and new member Alina Vinokur said she enjoyed the Service Shark Tank rush event, where potential new members are placed on teams tasked with inventing a service project in under 30 minutes and pitching it to brothers as if they were participants on the entrepreneurship show “Shark Tank.” While the invented service projects are often humorous in nature, the event facilitates innovation, collaboration and recognition of Winston-Salem’s needs.
“It’s not like each person is contributing 25% or each person is contributing 50%,” Vinokur said. “Every person in the team contributes 100%. It is a little bit competitive, but it’s a form of uplifting competition.”
APO’s strong sense of community, exemplified in rush, is one of the cornerstones of the organization.
“It’s super cool to see such a large group of people come together and all do service,” Wolfe said. “It’s a really fun common interest, and makes it a lot more rewarding to be doing it with your friends who also have the same passion as you.”
Jones agrees that APO is an appealing organization for many due to the service opportunities and friendships it provides.
“I love APO – it’s very easily my favorite thing that I’m a part of on campus,” Jones said. “I did comprehensive community service in high school and do comprehensive community service in Winston-Salem. More than anything, APO has given me people to do it alongside me… community perpetuates community.”
