The Beta Nu Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc. were the first place winners of the Lilly Community Service Project | Photo credit: Myles Millsap
Rattlers welcomed Eli Lilly and Company (Lilly) to Florida A&M University (FAMU) on Oct. 12 in the Grand Ballroom to award students who made a commitment to making their communities flourish.
Lilly is an American pharmaceutical company that is headquartered in Indianapolis, Indiana. According to the Lilly website, the company was founded in 1876 by Eli Lilly who was “committed to creating high-quality medicines that met real needs in an era of unreliable elixirs peddled by questionable characters.”
Lilly has been a corporate participant in FAMU’s Career Center annual career expos and has also been a staple partner in FAMU’s School of Business and Industry’s (SBI) Internship Program. “Lilly has been supportive of Dean Mobley and SBI since its inception,” said SBI Dean Shawnta Friday-Stroud, Ph.D. in 2016 to FAMU Forward, the official FAMU source for news and events.
Lilly gave away a first place $1,000 prize, a second place $500 prize and a third place $250 prize, to student organizations for the Lilly Community Service Project.
The requirements of the project were to engage in a community service project related to healthcare. Teams were to include a one paragraph summary of the project and its intent, at least one group photo, names, majors, and resumes for all participants, and a video about why the project was chosen and the outcome in four minutes or less.
The first-place winner of the community service project was the Beta Nu Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated; the second-place winner was the Business Living Learning Community; the third-place winner was the College of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences.
The Beta Nu Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated held a sickle cell awareness walk on Sept. 30 in honor of Sickle Cell Awareness Month to inform the community about the disease.
Myles Millsap, the First Vice President of Beta Nu Chapter of Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Incorporated, said “We basically partnered with the FSU SISTUHS program and put together a sickle cell walk just to bring awareness to sickle cell anemia.”
Millsap also acknowledged that he and his fraternity brothers are familiar with individuals who suffer from sickle cell anemia, and it was an accomplishment to win first place in the competition.
“I have family members who have the sickle cell trait or the disease, a lot of my brothers have people or know people who have the disease also,” Millsap said. “It makes us feel good… We were pretty confident that this would be something that a lot of people would see the benefit and the necessity for it, and it definitely paid off,” said Millsap.
Students had the opportunity to hear from distinguished FAMU alumni that included Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer, Antoine Ezell; Associate Consultant, Porschia Jordan; Director Information Technology, Terry Morris; and Lead Marketing Recruiter, Reginald Wesley.
The recruiting team was at several locations on campus – the SBI courtyard, the School of Agriculture, the Department of Computer and Information Sciences (CIS), and the School of Pharmacy, from 8 a.m. to 11 a.m. and provided coffee and donuts, while giving students a chance to interact with the Lilly recruiting team.
The recruitment team left students with a keynote message from Lilly Chairman and CEO Dave Ricks, “We must better understand our changing and rapidly diversifying health-care marketplace, and first-hand experience is the best way to start.”