It all started in the Spring of 1998 when two brothers from the Beta Chapter, Shanti Frausto and Arturo Sanchez, and one from the Kappa Chapter, Jesus Armendariz, decided to pursue their education in the great city of Albuquerque. Shanti, who was President-Elect the previous year at Beta, and Jesus would enroll at the University of New Mexico while Arturo, a Chemistry major, took an internship at
the Sandia National Laboratories. Finding each other in Albuquerque, the idea of starting a chapter started to culminate that fall and they began to talk to a few guys at UNM. Two high school friends of Lorenzo’s, Terrance Gallegos and Alonso Archuleta, were playing football for UNM when they were approached about joining this new fraternity. While working at Circuit City, Shanti befriended Ivan Olay, and began living with him at his house, which would become AH legend, known as “The Castle.”
With these 7 gentlemen ready to make history, the group would become an officially recognized student organization at the UNM campus on February 22, 1999. That semester they would perform over 80 hours of community service per member and set the foundation for what would become the Knights of the Alpha Eta chapter. That summer Shanti, Jesus, Tury, Lorenzo and Ivan would travel to the Omega Delta Phi National Conference in San Antonio and obtain club status. Lorenzo would later say, “during opening ceremonies, they started it with the brothers strolling to that song ‘Wanna Be a Baller’ and from there I knew that I wanted to do this.”
During the summer Jesus left UNM to go back to NMSU but another brother, Aaron Salas from the Zeta Chapter, at Eastern New Mexico University, would transfer to UNM and join the group as they began the founder’s program in the Fall of 1999. “That spring, some of the UNM brothers came up to Zeta for the annual Pig Roast. I talked to Tury about what they were doing, and instantly bonded with Lorenzo. From that day I knew I wanted to help bring my fraternity to my hometown,” Aaron says. Arturo would also decide to stay in Albuquerque and finish his degree at UNM, thus completing the group of 8 that would become the Founding Knights of the Alpha Eta Chapter. That Fall, with Shanti as President and Tury as Prospective Member Educator, the group completed the founder’s program while continuing to establish itself on campus. The club would seek out affiliation with IFC as well as begin long-term relationships with Ronald McDonald House and El Centro de la Raza. During the Southwest Regional Conference in El Paso, Texas, Regional Director Ruben Hernandez tabled the colony status decision and asked the group to hold the first ever Southwest Region Leadership Summit in Albuquerque in the Spring of 2000 as part of their process of obtaining colony status. The first annual Southwest Leadership Summit was attended by over 40 brothers and included workshops, leadership meetings, a banquet at El Pinto and a community service project at Carrie Tingley Hospital. And on the afternoon of April Fool’s Day 2000, the UNM Club was granted colony status by Ruben and regional chapter leadership. Although many brothers thought the UNM Colony was ready to obtain chapter status at nationals that year, the brothers from UNM, which now included Michael Vanderwoude, Fernando Morales and Joseph Sanchez of the Alpha L.O.B.O.S. Charter Class, decided to wait one more year so that they could grow stronger as an entity. During the fall of 2000 and the spring of 2001, 9 new knights would be initiated into the UNM Colony through the Beta and Gamma Charter Classes. Some memorable events that occurred during this year include the 1st Annual ODPhi Formal @ UNM, acceptance into Inter Fraternal Council on campus and participation in UNM’s Greek Week. The 1st Annual Easter Egg Hunt was held with members of the Kappa Delta Chi interest group and benefited kids from the Boys and Girls Club, and the 1st Annual Parent Luncheon would be held at Gardunos. The UNM Colony would also graduate its first Alumni as Shanti would complete his Biology degree that spring. That summer, 12 members of the UNM colony would make the 15 hour trip to Houston, Texas for the Omega Delta Phi National Conference. “We spent the whole night preparing for our presentation. I remember waking up about five in the morning and seeing Mike, our President-Elect, sitting in a chair going over his outline. He hadn’t slept all night, and that’s when I realized how enormous this thing really was,” Aaron says. With this committed group of young men in place, the Alpha Eta Chapter was voted in as the newest chapter in ODPhi on July 13th 2006. Since that summer of 2001, over 30 brothers have crossed over into the AH Chapter. We have continued to make an impact at UNM including continued involvement on campus as well as in the community. Twelve brothers from the Alpha Eta Chapter have now become alumni, including all of the founding fathers. We have established ourselves not only on campus and in Albuquerque, but all over central and northern New Mexico. We have laid the foundation for our history to continue to be written, as the brothers continue the standard of “A New Tradition of Brotherhood,” at UNM.
“We started this chapter not just for us, but for all the brothers that will come after us. I look forward to the future of Omega Delta Phi at UNM.”- Terrance Gallegos, Alpha Eta Founding Father.
