From left, Monmouth students Bronte de Zwart, Maddie Boley, Shannon Smith and Lea Selquist were the Order of Omega chapter's executive leadership team in 2024
MONMOUTH, ILLINOIS (March 31, 2025) — Monmouth College's Order of Omega chapter was named one of the top four among all colleges and universities for the 2024 calendar year.
The Order of Omega is a leadership honor society within the fraternity and sorority community, recognizing outstanding members who demonstrate high standards in scholarship, leadership, and involvement. The Chapter of the Year Award honors chapters for their scholarship, diversity of membership, and efforts to foster a positive image within their fraternity/sorority community, on campus, and in their local community. Four chapters are selected annually as recipients.
"The Delta Lambda chapter of Order of Omega at Monmouth College has re-established itself post-pandemic as one of the highest achieving groups on campus, greatly increasing its number of applicants, and initiating members from each organization on campus for the first time in years," read the citation.
"I give much — if not all — of the credit for the growth of Order of Omega in recent years to our recent chapter presidents: Tori Cook, Maddie Boley and Bronte de Zwart," said Cullen Marshall, Monmouth's assistant director of fraternity and sorority life and student engagement. "These sorority women have treated their leadership positions with the same dedication and passion as individual chapter presidents, and not just something to add to their resume or email signature.
“They involve members across Monmouth's entire Greek community, hold their executive team and myself accountable, and increase the quality and efficiency of chapter operations every single year."
The Monmouth chapter has increased its academic, social, and philanthropic programming, hosting sessions on good study habits, as well as a new member retreat in the fall and a new officer retreat in the spring. Other programming includes all-fraternity/sorority mingles at the beginning and end of the academic year, an annual pageant-style Mr Fraternity fundraiser, and sponsoring the ceremonies for the college's Fraternity and Sorority Alumni Hall of Fame and Fraternity and Sorority Life Awards.
"Membership in Order of Omega has become a competitive honor among our fraternity/sorority community, and not just something where we're pulling teeth to get people to apply for," said Marshall. "Based on our campus size, we can initiate up to 20 new members each year, and we always have more people apply than we can ultimately accept."
Boley served as president for the 2024 calendar year.
"Our campus community is small enough that we are able to specifically e-mail the application to eligible students," she said. "Once the application opens, we also push it in weekly Interfraternity Council and Panhellenic meetings, as well as reminding current members and chapter presidents to do so in individual chapter meetings. I think what works best is when current members encourage others to apply individually."
De Zwart, who is this year's president, was vice president in 2024. The rest of last year's executive leadership team was Shannon Smith and Lea Selquist, who served as secretary and treasurer, respectively.
