- Name: Anthony Schmidt (Tony)
- Major: Computer Engineering &
Computer Science
- APO: Chapter President
at Alpha Zeta
- Email: tony@apoonline.org
Support the efforts of APOonline.org:
About Me
Hello! I'm Tony, or more formally known as Anthony Schmidt, and I'm the founder of APOonline. I initiated in Alpha Phi Omega in the fall of 2006 at the Alpha Zeta Chapter at the University of Kentucky and became a Life Member on October 16, 2009. I am currently serving as the Chapter President of Alpha Zeta Chapter and have completed the entire APO LEADS program.
APOonline History
Here I quickly became the VP of Communications which was in charge of the website (which was 4 years out of date) and the email mailing list. After only one active semester I quickly noticed the weak communication between officers and actives and poor record keeping. As a Computer Engineering and Computer Science double major I put my technical skills to use and began to create the solution to Alpha Zeta's problems. After two years of devotion to this project and continuous feedback from my chapter I created the first version of what is known today as APOonline. Fellow brothers from nearby chapters took interest in the system and from there APOonline was born with it's first external chapter: Alpha Zeta Kappa Chapter, our little brother chapter, of Eastern Kentucky University in spring of 2009. Presenting the system at the Section 67 sectionals got the entire section online and within the following few months and visits to several region conferences APOonline has grown to serve over 50 chapter, sections, and regions!
The Future
APOonline is a continuous project that is updated monthly with a laundry list of new features and options to better customize your APOonline website to your own chapter. But along with the future innovations in APOonline, I will be announcing a new social community custom designed for use by Alpha Phi Omega brothers. APOonline Community will be an extraordinary leap forward for Alpha Phi Omega's presence online by hosting one central location for all brothers, current and alumni, to gather and share resources and accomplishments of their own lives. After participating in an Officer Roundtable workshop at the Region VI conference someone commented, "This was so helpful, I wish we could do this much more often." Well APOonline Community is your answer. It will offer online round tables for officers to help each other through difficult times and offer resources and knowledge for all APO brothers to use. Alumni will many features as well including ways to get back involved with APO and other career resources. I will be very excited to announce APOonline Community come Fall 2010.
Q & A
Why did you choose APO ?
If I had to attribute one thing to forming my character today it would be the Boy Scouts of America. After earning the rank of Eagle I found myself asking, "Now what?". After learning about Alpha Phi Omega's history I immediately knew that it was the answer.
How long have you been a member of APO ?
I initiated in the fall of 2006 so it will be coming up on 4 years as a brother of Alpha Phi Omega.
What about APO got you interested in rushing?
APO's commitment to the principles of scouting was an immediate selling point for me. Any organization that could proudly advertise this was exactly the type of organization I wished to join.
What influence has APO had on your life?
Alpha Phi Omega has taken all of the skills and experiences accumulated from scouting and has transferred them to the real world. For example take my Communications Merit Badge, APO has transferred it into being in charge of an 80 person organization, serving as Chapter President.
What do you like the most about being involved in APO ?
The brotherhood. Any organization can teach you leadership skills or require service hours but only APO can give you the powerful and defining sense of brotherhood that it provides. Where else can you go to a convention, meet someone you've never seen before, and feel like you've known this person for years? No where but Alpha Phi Omega.
Where did you get the idea for APOonline?
APOonline was my answer to several problems at my chapter. Our meetings were long and boring and we had little to no method of keeping records. We did excellent service but each year was like starting from zero trying to keep the chapter alive.
Since starting APOonline and using it with your chapter what changes have you seen in your chapter?
APOonline has completely revised the way we run our chapter and has relieved a lot of stress that had been put on our chapter's officers. For the first time we have had meetings under an hour (previously between 2 to 3 hours) and we have records from semesters past so we no longer have to reinvent the wheel each semester. Financial records are in order and audits are a breeze. Hopefully APOonline can be as useful to other chapter's as it has been for Alpha Zeta. After adopting APOonline, we have much more free time to focus our efforts on requirement, retention and brotherhood which has allowed us to initiate and retain record setting numbers for the past two years!
What, if any, plans do you have for future projects?
I am always adding new features to APOonline, some to highlight are: Chapter of Excellence and Pledge Program of Excellence progress, Facebook integration, Paypal donation integration, advanced reporting for use by section and region chairs, and the list goes on and on. But I'm not stopping at just APOonline, come Fall 2010 I will be announcing APOonline Community. This is an online community custom designed for use by Alpha Phi Omega brothers both current and alumni. It will host many advanced features including up-to-date news feed from chapters, a live blog feed from APOonline chapter sites, a live calendar of events of all APOonline chapters in the nation, and best of all a forum for brothers around the country to collaborate resources and discuss on topics relevant to APO. Are you a chapter president? Well now you have a place to meet other chapter presidents and ask for help if any issues arise. Are you a service vice-president? Ask other service chairs what new projects they've come up with, or begin relationships with nearby chapters to create larger projects. The possibilities are endless.
Got a question? Ask me a question to be added here by emailing me at tony@apoonline.org or tweet your question to @APOonline or comment on APOonline's Facebook Page. |
