Service to K-State Student Union helps student from Massachusetts receive winter scholarship

Media Relations
9 Anderson Hall
Manhattan, KS 66506-0117
Phone: 785-532-6415
Fax: 785-532-6418

Information provided by K-State Media Relations, K-State's news service, may be reproduced without permission. The marks and names of Kansas State University are protected trademarks and may not be used in any commercial or private endeavor without the approval of the university.

Source: Bill Muir, 785-532-6269, billmuir@k-state.edu

Wednesday, May 9, 2007

SERVICE TO K-STATE STUDENT UNION HELPS STUDENT FROM MASSACHUSETTS RECEIVE WINTER SCHOLARSHIP

MANHATTAN -- Kansas State University's Sarah Morton, senior in accounting, East Longmeadow, Mass., has been awarded the 21st Stanley L. Winter Alpha Tau Omega K-State Student Union Leadership Scholarship. Worth $1,000, the scholarship was presented May 5 at the annual banquet for the Union Program Council and Union Governing Board.

Morton has been involved with activities at the K-State Student Union for the last two years, serving as the president of the Union Program Council and as a member of the Union Program Council's After Hours Committee. She also has been elected 2007-2008 president of the Union Governing Board.

At the awards banquet, Morton was described as a receptive leader who is open to constructive criticism and who has taken the Union Program Council down a positive path, as a student advocate, as a team player and as someone who has led the Union Program Council in a very professional manner.

Other activities Morton has been involved with include being recognition and programming chair of K-State's National Residence Hall Honorary; serving as president and as vice president of the Goodnow Hall Governing Board; and serving as a K-State student senator.

The Winter Scholarship, established in 1992, is named in memory of Stanley L. Winter, who earned a bachelor's degree in agricultural economics graduate in 1986 and a master's degree in student counseling in 1989, both from K-State. He was a member of K-State's chapter of Alpha Tau Omega fraternity, where he served in various offices including scholarship chair, brotherhood chair and a member of the executive committee. He received both the chapter's Thomas Arkle Clark Outstanding Senior Award and Adviser's Brotherhood Award in 1986. He was involved in numerous campus activities, but most prominently at the K-State Student Union. He was president of the Union Program Council and a member of the Union Governing Board. He received the Union Program Council's Outstanding Leadership Award in 1986. Winter was a former K-State Student Union program adviser. At the time of his death, in February 1992 at the age of 27, he was program director of the University of Northern Colorado Student Union.

The Kansas State Alpha Tau Omega Students' Aid Endowment Fund established the Winter scholarship with donations from the Winter family, members of Alpha Tau Omega and friends. To be eligible, a student must have at least a 2.5 grade point average; judged to be of good character and sound academic standing; and have contributed to the quality of programs and activities of the K-State Student Union. Nominations are reviewed by a three-member committee composed of the president of the endowment fund, a member of the Alvin Winter family and the director of the K-State Student Union, or their designees.

"We are very pleased to be able to again offer this scholarship to outstanding students involved in Union programs and activities," said Bernard Pitts, assistant vice president, K-State Student Union. "Special thanks to the local Alpha Tau Omega Endowment Fund and the Winter Family for making this scholarship a reality, and congratulations to Sarah Morton on being the scholarship recipient."

Kent Winter, representing the Winter family, said: "We are extremely proud to have this scholarship named after my brother. Sarah is the K-State Student Union's outstanding student leader, and possesses good, all-around qualities that fit the criteria for this scholarship. I know that Stan would be proud of her."

"We are extremely proud to have the opportunity to award this scholarship in memory of Stan Winter to outstanding students like Sarah Morton," said William L. Muir, president of the Kansas State Alpha Tau Omega Students' Aid Endowment Fund. "Stan loved the Union, he loved his fraternity, he loved K-State, and he loved life in general. It is very appropriate that we memorialize his life of service with this scholarship."

A permanent plaque about the scholarship is on display in the Union's main concourse; Morton received an individual plaque. Presenting the scholarship to Morton were Muir and John Bensman, who both represented the endowment fund and the fraternity chapter; Kent Winter for the Winter Family; and Pitts.