MONMOUTH, ILLINOIS (August 29, 2023) — During the course of his studies at Monmouth College, Corey Pevitz (’24) of Naperville, Illinois, has applied more than once for a scholarship from his Zeta Beta Tau fraternity.
This spring, the process grew a little more lengthy, and that’s because the ZBT Foundation was targeting Pevitz for something special.
The process reached its conclusion this summer at a restaurant in Naperville, where Monmouth alumnus and ZBT brother Jeffrey Bakker (’90) presented Pevitz with a check for $17,500 — the largest scholarship the foundation has ever awarded to a student. Also present was Bakker’s mother and one of Bakker’s 1990 Monmouth classmates, Julie Ziegler Robinson.
“He got up in front of the whole restaurant — which was full of just random strangers — and he said, ‘I have a very special announcement. I’m here to present a very special scholarship,'” said Pevitz. “And then they presented me one of those giant cardboard checks for $17,500. There was lots of showmanship there. People started clapping in the restaurant. It was a really humbling and awesome experience.”
One of Pevitz’s fraternity brothers at Monmouth, Ethan Panganiban (’25) of Wheeling, Illinois, received a $7,500 scholarship from the ZBT Foundation.
On being involved
Pevitz said the foundation is “the philanthropic wing” of the fraternity, and that it awards scholarships that are “need- and merit-based.” As in years past, he wrote essays as part of the application process, discussing the personal significance of ZBT’s credo and what receiving a scholarship would mean to him. He listed the credo’s tenets as social responsibility, intellectual awareness, integrity and brotherly love.
“They can be internalized to make any man a more responsible, truthful, and just member of society,” he said.
This year, Pevitz also had to take part in an interview component to the scholarship application, with a committee made up of three alumni.
“I jumped on a Zoom call with them in late April or early May and answered some more questions, including about my involvement on campus,” he said.