2013 Engineering graduate Michael Steltenkamp is more than just a varsity wrestler and fraternity brother — he is one of Alpha Tau Omega’s top national scholars.
In June, Steltenkamp —who served as Penn’s ATO chapter president for the past year — won the 2013 Thomas Arkle Clark award, the highest national honor for ATO undergraduate seniors.
This award was established “as an incentive for young brothers to seek excellence in scholarship, leadership, service and the personal qualities of character, integrity and responsibility,” according to its national website.
“I was surprised when I found out I won the award. I imagine there were a lot of very qualified candidates around the country from more prominent ATO chapters,” Steltenkamp said in an email.
However, ATO members were not surprised by his receipt of this award.
Rising College senior and Steltenkamp’s successor as ATO president Jordan Michelson, who wrote a recommendation for Steltenkamp’s application for the award, said in an email that “nobody who knew Stelt can really be surprised when he wins an award. I mean, the Thomas Arkle Clark Award is a big deal — Mike’s basically the ATO man of the year.”
Rising College junior and ATO Social Chair Charlie Lynch said in an email, “We were all really happy for him and felt a bit of pride that our president won over all the others. I don’t think any of us were too surprised that he won, nobody is more deserving of the award than him.”
Steltenkamp has already been featured in the Penn Engineering Magazine in an article titled “On and off the mat, with Scholar-Athlete Michael Steltenkamp.”
On the mat, Steltenkamp is a wrestler. He is at the gym weightlifting, conditioning and wresting drills at least 10 times a week, amounting to double-digit hours. Off the mat, he is a master’s submatriculant, a teaching assistant and fraternity president. Above all of that, he maintained a GPA of 3.91 in his major.
Besides his stellar achievements, what really differentiates Michael is his leadership.
“ATO has been steadily improving the last couple of years in terms of reputation, number of members and GPA, and having Mike as our president definitely helped improve all that.” Lynch said.
Scott Reikowski, director of Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, said in an email. “Mike leads by example, engages not only his brothers, but those in our office and other offices with whom the chapter needs to partner. He has also improved the general image of the chapter, relationships with other fraternity and sorority presidents and the student affairs offices.”
“My understanding is that he renders the same level of leadership, level headedness and role modeling to the wrestling team as to the chapter,” Reikowski continued. “He truly is probably the strongest leader the chapter has seen in the 20 years I’ve been at Penn.”
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