Dr. Don L. Park honored with prestigious Order of the Golden Heart at 58th biannual Grand Chapter Conclave

At the Alumni Awards Dinner Saturday evening at the 58th Grand Chapter Conclave in San Antonio, TX, five longtime SigEp volunteers were honored with the Order of the Golden Heart. One of these longtime volunteers was Indiana Gamma’s own, Dr. Don L. Park.

The Order of the Golden Heart is the Fraternity’s highest honor, awarded to alumni who, with great personal sacrifice, have given exceptional service to Sigma Phi Epsilon. Any nominee for the award must have served with distinction at local, regional, or national levels for at least 30 years. The Order of the Golden Heart is awarded at Conclave and is a medallion and a scroll.

Dr. Park is the first Indiana Gamma brother to receive this prestigious award.

Because recipients are unaware they have been chosen as a recipient until they are called upon stage Saturday Evening, a script is prepared for each recipient that is read before they are honored. Below is the script read for Dr. Park before he was announced as a recipient:

“Those who know you well say that commitment is the theme of your life. As a SigEp alumnus, you’ve served many roles on your home chapter’s AVC and made an indelible mark on generations of brothers.

You joined the AVC soon after graduation and served as its president. You had to step away from the role when you left the area to take advantage of a great career opportunity, but SigEp remained close to your heart. When you returned, you found your beloved chapter was experiencing difficult times. So you committed. Once again, you stepped in to offer your guidance. It’s not a stretch to say the chapter wouldn’t exist today if it weren’t for your dedication.

But you didn’t just want to save the chapter — you pushed it to do more, and to be better. Your leadership ushered in a period of four consecutive Buchanan Cups in the 1990s and early 2000s. Some of the credit for this excellence must go to you because of your selfless encouragement and mentorship. Because of your commitment, my brother.

Every day, brothers are impacted by your dedication to their fraternity experience. They feel it when they walk into their home. When the chapter moved to its current facility, you oversaw a campaign that raised more than $200,000 to support that move. And you haven’t stopped. As AVC treasurer, you’re leading a $3 million campaign to build a new, state-of-the-art facility.

You’ve now served as faculty fellow for more than a decade and continue to challenge, mentor and inspire our brothers to be their best. You’ve connected brothers to university resources, created mentorship opportunities, and ensured the success of Balanced Man Scholarship dinners, newsletters, alumni outings and homecoming events. And you’re in the process of setting up a foundation that will support the chapter’s educational programming.

It’s clear my brother. You’re committed to a lifelong experience of brotherhood.

The love you have for SigEp is entwined with your love for your alma mater. Your family’s association with the university spans more than eight decades, and you’ve served much of your professional life as a professor and staff member. Through your roles in advancement and alumni engagement, you’ve conducted major fundraising campaigns for the university and have played a role in increasing the school’s national profile. In recognition of your many contributions to the university, you were named a distinguished alumnus.

Your fellow AVC members estimated it would take more than a dozen volunteers to accomplish everything you do in a year. What you’ve accomplished is impressive, but what inspires us, is how you do it – with a heart full of brotherly love.

It’s now our turn to thank you for your dedication to SigEp. Brother Don Park of Indiana Gamma at Ball State, it is our honor to present you with the Order of the Golden Heart.”

You can read more about the Order of the Golden Heart and the 4 other recipients honored in at Conclave this year by following this link: https://sigep.org/the-sigep-experience/awards/order-of-the-golden-heart/#:~:text=The%20Order%20of%20the%20Golden,a%20medallion%20and%20a%20scroll.