Theta Chi Fraternity has named NDSU senior Kyle Sebesta as the 2013 recipient of its highest undergraduate honor, the Reginald E. F. Colley Award.
The honor recognizes recipients for their lifelong excellence in leadership.
Sebesta a civil engineering major, has been a student leader, scholar and mentor during his time at NDSU. He participated in the university’s Summer Leadership Institute as a freshman, and returned as a student leader who facilitated seminars in 2010 and 2012.
Sebesta also was involved with the Move-In Crew and the NDSU Conference, Orientation and Recruitment Leaders who help students better adjust to college life. He participated in NDSU’s Transfer Student Orientation, worked on campaigns for student body president and vice president in 2011 and 2012 and served on the 2012 Homecoming Planning Committee. Sebesta was nominated for Student Leader of the Year as a junior and senior.
Within the Greek community, Sebesta participated in a number of events and projects hosted by fraternities and sororities at NDSU. He was selected 2012 Greek Man of the Year, and was a nominee in 2011 for Greek Man of the Year and Chapter President of the Year.
At his Theta Chi chapter, Sebesta was elected recruitment chair, vice president and president. As a senior, he was elected to serve as chaplain.
“What amazes me is his work ethic and everything he does for the fraternity,” chapter president Daniel Kvasnicka said. “He pushes himself and his brothers to constantly be thinking of how the chapter can be better.
Sebesta is the second recipient of the award in three years from NDSU’s Theta Chi chapter, joining 2011 winner Cory Loveless.
He is the fourth Phi Chapter member to earn the award: Roman E. Meyers in 1934; Maj. Gen. Larry F. Tanberg in 1941 and Loveless.
“I have had the pleasure of knowing Kyle throughout his time as an undergraduate, and I have seen him develop into the student leader he is today,” Loveless said. “Kyle represents the best of Theta Chi in my eyes, and I am very proud of him.”
Colley Award applications were reviewed by a committee composed of top Theta Chi alumni from around the country, including past Colley Award recipients. William W. Palmer, Theta Chi National vice president, chaired the committee.
Sebesta will receive the award later this year. Information about the award presentation will be released later this semester on Theta Chi’s website, www.thetachi.org.
First presented in 1929, the Colley Award is named for Reginald E. F. Colley, an NDSU graduate, World War I veteran and past member of Theta Chi’s board of directors, the Grand Chapter. He graduated in 1915 and eventually headed overseas to fight for the U.S. Army on the Western Front. Colley died at the age of 39.
NDSU is recognized as one of the nation’s top 108 public and private universities by the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education.