Source: Bill Muir, 785-532-6237, billmuir@k-state.edu
Friday, April 24, 2009
TWO K-STATE STUDENTS RECEIVE MUIR ALPHA TAU OMEGA BLUE KEY SCHOLARSHIPS
MANHATTAN -- Erin Gettler, a senior in biology and gerontology, Louisburg, and John Lantz, a senior in finance, Town and Country, Mo., are the recipients of the 11th annual William L. Muir II and John T. Muir Alpha Tau Omega Blue Key Leadership Scholarships.
The scholarships are each worth $1,000. They were presented, along with plaques, April 19 at the Blue Key awards banquet. A permanent scholarship plaque is in the K-State Student Union.
The scholarships are awarded by the K-State Alpha Tau Omega Endowment Fund to one male and to one female member of K-State's Blue Key, the senior leadership honor society. Recipients must have at least a 3.0 cumulative grade point average; be of good character and sound academic standing; and have substantially contributed to the quality of student life and outstanding leadership at K-State.
This year's recipients were selected by Michael E. Brown, treasurer of the K-State Alpha Tau Omega Endowment Fund; William L. Muir III, representing the Muir family; and Pat Bosco, K-State vice president for student life and dean of students.
Gettler, a K-State honors list student, is president of Blue Key. She also is a member of the K-State Student Foundation, Alpha Chi Omega sorority and Alpha Epsilon Delta, the pre-health honorary. She has served as a Wildcat Warm-Up counselor and was a member of Chimes, the junior honorary; Silver Key, the sophomore honorary; and Quest, the freshman honorary. She received the June Sherrid Hull Scholarship from K-State's Terry C. Johnson Center for Basic Cancer Research and was the recipient of the Most Promising Student Award from the Division of Biology. She has participated in medical mission trips to Guatemala, where she combined her passions for service and medicine. After graduating from K-State in May, she plans to enter medical school.
Lantz is Blue Key's co-director of Quest, the freshman honorary. He was a resident assistant for two years through K-State's residence halls. He also has been a campus tour guide for more than three years; served as co-director of programming for Wildcat Warm-Up; and was a K-State orientation leader. In addition, he was a member of the Student Tribunal and the Student Alumni Board. Lantz plans to graduate from K-State in December 2009.
The William L. Muir II and John T. Muir Alpha Tau Omega Blue Key Leadership Scholarships, donated by the Muir family through the K-State Alpha Tau Omega Students' Aid Endowment Fund, were established in 1999 to perpetuate the memory of William "Bill" Lloyd Muir II and John Thomas "Tom" Muir on the K-State campus.
They also were established to provide educational opportunities and assistance to upper-level students who possess exemplary attributes in leadership, scholarship, fellowship and character. Bill Muir, who received the Silver Star during World War II, died in 1943 while serving with the U.S. Army in Italy. Tom Muir, a prominent businessman from Norton and Manhattan, died in 1990. Both were members of the K-State chapter of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and of Blue Key.
"We are very pleased to be able to offer these two scholarship to outstanding Blue Key members who are involved in university leadership activities and programs," Bosco said. "Special thanks to the local Alpha Tau Omega Endowment Fund and the Muir family for making this scholarship a reality, and congratulations to both Erin Gettler and John Lantz on being this year's recipients."
"My sister Betty and I are extremely proud to have these scholarships named after our uncle and father," said Bill Muir III. "Erin and John are two of K-State's outstanding student leaders, and possess good, all-around qualities that fit the criteria for these scholarships. I know that Dad and Uncle Bill would be proud of them and of this day."
"We are extremely proud to have the opportunity to award these scholarships in memory of Tom and Bill Muir to outstanding students like Erin Gettler and John Lantz," Brown said. "The Muir Family has been involved with K-State and its programs for more than 60 years. Tom and Bill Muir were both members of Alpha Tau Omega and Blue Key. It is very appropriate that we memorialize their lives of service with these scholarships."
