Fresno State Alpha Zeta chapter receives top national awards

(March 22, 2016) – The Fresno State Alpha Zeta Cal Epsilon student organization received the Founder’s Cup Award at the National Agriculture Leadership Conference, Saturday, March 19 in Gainesville, Fla.

“This is quite an honor,” said senior Anthony Drumonde (Hilmar), club chancellor and an agricultural education major. “The judges use an elaborate system of criteria that look at our membership, community outreach and volunteer activities while promoting agriculture’s importance.”

The organization’s high council also selected Fresno State for its most prestigious national award based on conference, national and regional advisory board participation, publicity efforts and timely submission of reports.

Fresno State senior Debrah Silva (Lemoore), an agricultural education major, also received its National Treasurer of the Year honor for her fiscal oversight, fundraising and leadership.

Jordan College of Agricultural Science and Technology students are invited to join based on their academic standing and are among 3,000 student members at 74 universities. The nation’s oldest collegiate society for agriculture has initiated more than 115,000 men and women since its founding in 1897.

At the three-day national conference, Fresno State’s five-student contingent attended weekend workshops, met with other chapters, toured a local dairy and biotechnology incubator, and participated in a community service activity at a girls camp.

Since re-initiating the chapter in 2005, Fresno State also won the Founder’s Cup in 2010 and hosted the national conference in 2012. Other alumni that won recent officer of the year honors include Brittany Hitchcock (censor, 2014), Beatriz Rodriguez (chronicler, 2014) and Monique Bienvenue (chancellor, 2013).

The organization is one of the most active among the Jordan College’s 30 student organizations. In February it hosted a weekend career development summit for Jordan College students and Alpha Zeta members from Cal Poly and Chico State.

In March, the Fresno State chapter hosted a healthy eating and nutrition booth for 3,500 area third-grade students at the Fresno County Farm and Nutrition Day and sold newspapers at the Fresno Bee Kids Day Valley Children’s Hospital fundraiser. Last fall, it collected items for a holiday toy drive and volunteered at a family Halloween event and the Clovis Veteran’s Day celebration.

The club holds meetings for its 41 members twice each month and engages in social activities such as a bowling event with the Chico State chapter, a Christmas Tree Lane trip and laser tag.

In upcoming weeks it will host a yard sale (April 9) and food booth at Vintage Days on campus (April 15-17). It will also hold its formal gala for students, faculty, alumni and industry members at 5 p.m. on Saturday, May 7 at the University Square Hotel. Tickets are $30 for the event that includes a silent auction and guest speaker.

More info is available at its Facebook page.