In The News-Scholarship
Sign of the Arrow Melissa Scholarship
The Sign of the Arrow Melissa Scholarship was fully endowed through the Pi Beta Phi Foundation by the St. Louis Alumnae Club and Sign of the Arrow in 2001 in memory of Missouri Beta Melissa Gail Aptman (tragically murdered in 1995, just two weeks before her graduation), to celebrate her life and commitment to community service.
Each year, at least one award of up to $10,000 is awarded to a collegian entering her senior year, recognizing exemplary community service and academic achievement. To this day, this award is still one of the largest undergraduate scholarships granted by a Greek letter organization. Each year a representative from the Sign of the Arrow, the Pi Beta Phi Alumnae Club, and the Pi Beta Phi Foundation evaluate all the applicants to determine the recipient.
The 2026-27 recipient is Danielle Buker
Danielle Buker is a senior at Drury University in Springfield, Missouri, and a member of the Missouri Gamma Chapter of Pi Beta Phi. She is pursuing a triple major in Management/Marketing, Economics, and Spanish, along with an Honors minor and a Certificate in Intercultural Connections. Danielle is a member of Drury Women’s Soccer and Missouri Reign Semiprofessional Soccer and is actively involved in campus leadership, serving as Treasurer of the Student-Athlete Advisory Committee, Vice President of Marketing and Communications for Student Government Association, and President of the Business Chamber of Commerce. Within Pi Beta Phi, she serves as Vice President of Inclusion.
Danielle has a huge passion for service. She has volunteered with organizations including Habitat for Humanity, Ronald McDonald House, Special Olympics, local food banks, nursing homes, and youth sports programs. She also helps elementary students learn to read, serves as a Freshman Orientation Leader and helped co-found the Capital City Festival of Lights to raise funds for Homemaker Health Care.
After completing her undergraduate degree, Danielle is excited have recently been granted the opportunity to continue playing NCAA college soccer for a fifth year while pursuing her MBA. She is keeping an open mind about where her next chapter will take her but ultimately hopes to build a career in business that allows her to combine her passions, continue growing, and make a meaningful impact. She also hopes to incorporate travel and her love of learning about different cultures into her future career.
The 2025–26 winner was Molly Feighny (KS Alpha). Molly will be attending medical school at KU School of Medicine starting the summer of 2026.
St. Louis Alumnae Panhellenic Scholarship
Sign of the Arrow provided scholarship funds to the St. Louis Panhellenic Alumnae Association. Each year the Association presents awards to local undergraduate and graduate women who have demonstrated the National Panhellenic core values of friendship, leadership, service, knowledge, integrity, and community in their daily lives.
The winner of the 2026-2027 Sign of the Arrow funded Panhellenic scholarship is Lucy Schlichting. Lucy pictured above with members of Sign of the Arrow and Pi Beta Phi.