Alpha Phi Omega Co-Ed Service Fraternity hosted its annual Merit Badge University event Saturday, Feb. 15 from 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. This event is the biggest one APO does each year and has always been based upon scouting.

There were 430 Boy Scouts in attendance this year. These scouts come from all over Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, one from Tennessee, and one from Kentucky. Their age groups range from seven to 18.

The members of APO taught classes to help the scouts fulfill the requirements for merit badge. Each scout was only there to obtain one badge. The counselors that taught the scouts had guidelines set that they needed to fulfill before they were allow to teach the Merit Badge that they elaborated on. These guidelines included submitting a lesson plan that meet approved requirements. It is the duty of the Beta Psi Chapter to ensure that qualified teachers teach scouts the skills they will learn when attending Merit Badge University. The scouts are taught different subjects that will help them grow as leaders, humanitarians, and develop proper morals and fellowship in life such as crime prevention law and different types of athletic sports.

Committee members in charge of the event include MBU chairman Dalton Knott, Mary Wibbenmeyer, Payton Knapp, RJ Wood, and Jack Dunn.

"The thing that I like most about Alpha Phi Omega is how we come out in the service that we do," MBU chairman Dalton Knott said. "We are a family and we don't exclude anyone from anything that is going on in the chapter and we help each other out in any way we can."

Alpha Phi Omega is a national service fraternity that is founded on the ideals that are found in the Boy Scouts of America. The Beta Psi chapter of Alpha Phi Omega has had a strong influence in scouting in the past, which is continued today. MBU is not overseen by the Boy Scouts of America. The event is organized and carried out completely by people who volunteer.

The Southeast APO chapter has served the community since 1939. The Beta Psi Chapter is Southeast Missouri State University's only co-ed service fraternity and has a long and storied history and they assist many organizations in service projects which range from fundraising for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital to sponsoring a local cub scout troop.

The chapter plans several local service projects throughout the year, including blood drives, Boy Scout Merit Badge days, campus escort initiatives, scouting events, used book exchanges, tutoring, charity fundraising events, housing construction and rehabilitation. Signature projects include the annual National Service Week in the first full week of November, and the Global Spring Youth Service Day in April. Many of the operations of individual chapters are left to their own discretion, though most chapters have membership requirements requiring a certain number of hours of service be performed each semester.

In the United States, on April 14, 2003, the collegiate fraternity received a Daily Point of Light Award in recognition of its members, who give their time and energy on a daily basis, and who cumulatively donate an average of 300,000 hours of community service each semester.