Scholarship Chairman Strifler

Richard Strifler, a Sophomore from St. Louis, MO, is the current scholarship chairman of the ATO fraternity at Mizzou. Rewinding to Strifler’s high school days, he played lacrosse and attended Christian Brothers College High School. This high school is an all-boys school, and Richard had a great experience there, which is part of the reason why he knew he wanted to join a fraternity in college, as Strifler explained, “The common qualities of brotherhood that are shared between a private high school in Missouri along with the qualities of brotherhood in a fraternity are very similar, and I think that’s what ends up leading a lot of people to join fraternities.” When applying to schools for college, Strifler applied to a few out-of-state schools, but his heart was always set on Mizzou because his parents attended Mizzou and the price range for the in-state academics at Mizzou was better than any of the other schools. Strifler mentioned, “They (Mizzou) give you the best return for your investment for your schooling … They are definitely one of the top schools in Missouri.” Strifler was admitted to Mizzou about two years ago, and his search for a fraternity began once he arrived on campus. Richard doesn’t have any brothers, so he didn’t know a whole lot about fraternities when he had first gotten to campus. Throughout the rush process, Strifler narrowed it down to a few fraternities, one of which was obviously ATO. When thinking back on the rush process, Strifler said, “When I rushed ato and went to the event, I really did feel the brotherhood and I got along with everybody really well, so I think that’s one of the main factors that led me to making the decision to becoming an ATO.” Strifler accepted his bid to ATO and he began his pledgeship in the Fall of 2019. Richard completed his pledgeship and then he was officially initiated into the ATO fraternity, “After a full semester of joining and learning about the fraternity, it was really special to be able to officially become brothers with not just my pledge brothers but the entire fraternity and the upperclassmen. I thought that was a great bonding experience. Learning the fraternity was really great. I loved that aspect of it too.” A little less than a year after Richard’s initiation, it was time for the fraternity’s elections of the new executive board. Being an executive in the fraternity was always something that Richard wanted, and academics is something that is very important to him, so he was interested in becoming the fraternity’s next scholarship chair. In addition, Strifler wanted to have a role in which he could help out his brothers a lot: “That’s really one of my values: Helping other people with things that they need help in.” The election results were announced, and Strifler was thrilled to find out that he was elected as the new scholarship chair: “I was proud and very honored that I was selected to become the scholarship chair … It’s definitely a proud thing to be the scholarship chair of a house that is above the Greek average in terms of academics.” Richard is now the current scholarship chair of Mizzou ATO and he is very much enjoying it: “Being able to help out my fraternity brothers is something I really enjoy”. Overall, Strifler has very much relished the opportunity to be a part of the Alpha Tau Omega fraternity and there is no place he’d rather be, as he explains: “I wouldn’t have it any other way. I’ve absolutely loved my time at ATO and I can’t wait for two more years at ATO. I think two things that really stick out about ATO would be the brotherhood along with the quality friendships that you make.”