2016-2017 Top Four Scholarship Recipients & All-Teke Academic Team

The TKE Educational Foundation is proud to announce the members of the All-Teke Academic Team and recipients of our prestigious named scholarships offered through the Offices of the Grand Chapter. The second and final round of award winners for the 2016-17 Scholarships will be released on May 10, 2017.

Our mission is to establish and support scholarships and leadership training programs which promote academic achievement and strengthen moral, social and community values. Each of the Fraters below exemplifies the best of TKE. Please join us in congratulating them on their achievements in their community and campus environments! 

2016-2017 TKE Educational Foundation Top Scholarship Recipients 

RONALD REAGAN LEADERSHIP AWARD 
Timothy Cucci
Epsilon-Beta Chapter
University of Tampa

"If Tau Kappa Epsilon has given so much to me as a first-year student, I cannot even imagine what is going to come about in my future. TKE has made me such a better leader than I could possibly imagine. TKE has also taught me the importance of community service, philanthropy and most importantly, brotherhood. Tau Kappa Epsilon has allowed me to understand the importance of serving the community and giving back to philanthropy. It is so easy to forget how essential these two things are. Giving back makes us better men for a better world. Doing what you can for others is so rewarding in so many ways, and Tau Kappa Epsilon really opened my eyes to that. Along with that, TKE taught me what it means to be loyal. I would truly do anything for my brothers. I never would have thought I could love 65 men as much as I love my chapter. Having 65 guys at your back supporting you no matter what is one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. TKE really taught me what it means to be there for someone, and it gave me the knowledge that someone will always be there for me no matter what. TKE has and will continue to change my life for the better."

CHARLES R. WALGREEN, JR. LEADERSHIP AWARD
Gustavo Alejandro Grajales
Charles Walgreen Jr LA Alumni Association
Michigan State College of Law

"For the past eight years, this wonderful brotherhood helped me become the man I am through the relationships, lessons, and experiences I have made in that time. My mentors have provided me with their years of wisdom and insight on how to combat the challenges that life may throw at me. My chapter brothers have picked me up in my darkest moments and inspired me to endure. My Leadership Academy brothers have shown me that strong bonds of fraternal friendship and love cannot be broken by great distances or years of time passing between the next hello. The initiation of my Dad into the chapter gave me a chance to know the man who raised me not only as my father, but also as a man and my friend. TKE gave me an opportunity to travel outside of my small corner of southern Texas and see our beautiful country. From my road trip journeys to RLCs in Jacksonville and Atlanta, my excursion in the mountains of Colorado for Leadership Academy, to a visit to our nation’s capital for Conclave, a young Latino man of limited means was given a chance to go out and experience the larger world. TKE showed me the importance of living up to higher values and standards than that of the general world."

CHARLES R. WALGREEN JR. MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP 
Nicholas Ciccariello
Alpha-Tau
Drexel University

"Being a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon has provided multiple benefits to me since my initiation on June 7, 2015. Since that time, I have learned true responsibility, to lead in a positive direction, and to be social on both a casual and professional level. This is due to the people that I have met in the organization and their influences on me as a person. Ultimately, TKE has advanced me as a person, a friend, and as a professional and I am excited to see the future impact that my lifetime membership in the fraternity will have on my life."

JOHN A. COURSON TOP SCHOLARSHIP AWARD  
Gary Brotz
Alpha-Tau
Drexel University

"Having now experienced Drexel and TKE for four years, I am proud to follow in the footsteps of my father and grandfather (Alpha Tau, 475). Becoming a member of Tau Kappa Epsilon has been the most exciting and rewarding experience of my life. Joining TKE has allowed me to better myself as a person and to help others improve their personal situation as well. I have had the chance to meet an amazing group of men from my chapter and around the country to draw inspiration from, I have had the ability to look through another perspective and realize that I need to always continue to challenge my own way of thinking. TKE has created me into the man that I hoped to become when I signed the scroll on February 2nd, 2014."

2016-2017 All-Teke Academic Team
Jake Brooks
Xi-Theta
University of West Georgia

Thomas Geisinger
Beta-Theta
University of Missouri-Columbia

Mason Hargrave
Upsilon-Pi
University of California – Santa Cruz

Brandon Landowski
Epsilon
Iowa State University

Joshua Nixon
Beta-Eta
Missouri University of Science and Technology

Jesse Scott
Tau-Nu
Shawnee State University

Ali Shariati
Upsilon-Theta
University of Maryland, Baltimore County

Matthew Sheehan
Kappa-Kappa
Monmouth University

Jason Small
Beta-Epsilon
Trine University

Matthew Walters
Delta-Psi
North Dakota State University

Congratulations to the Tekes selected as the Top four Scholarship Winners and All-Teke Academic team! The remaining scholarship winners will be announced on May 10, 2017.