Local Students Wow The Crowd at Gamma Pi’s Annual Omega Talent Hunt Program

A brilliant group of Prince George’s County high school students showcasing a wide range of exciting talents, from proficiency in instrumental music to octave-stretching vocals; and from  swift, sophisticated acrobatic dance moves, to the astoundingly realistic portraits and paintings of visual arts; all “stole the show” at the Annual Omega Talent Hunt sponsored by Gamma Pi Chapter at Charles Herbert Flowers High School on Saturday afternoon, March 14, 2026.

With family, friends and the Brothers of Gamma Pi in attendance, the Helena Nobles-Jones Auditorium at Charles Flowers High School in Springdale was transformed into a local version of America’s Got Talent for little more than two hours. Every one of the performers did an excellent job. It took the judges to sort it all out when it came time to award the top performers, though everyone was deserving of praise.  Tara Jones, a local media arts educator and member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., served as the Host.

This year’s overall winner was senior Markai Tatum, of Charles H. Flowers High School, who won the judges and audience over with a classical piano performance of “Prelude in C-sharp Minor” by Sergei Rachmaninov. As the overall winner, he received $500 and will represent Gamma Pi at the Omega Psi Phi 2nd District Conference held on April 30-May 3 at the National Harbor in Oxon Hill, Maryland, hosted by the Gamma Pi and Iota Mu Mu Chapters.

Judges also announced category winners for Vocals (Madolin Crim, Charles H. Flowers, senior); Contemporary Dance (Dior Brown, St. Stephens/St. Agnes High School, junior); Visual Art (Aiden Cheewah, Duval High School, senior); and Tatum won the instrumental category. This year’s competition included 17 participants representing eight local schools. The only category that did not have a contestant was drama. Cash prizes for category placers ranged from $100-300. Each non-winner received $50. 

To enhance the impact of the visual arts entries, Gamma Pi added a new video component last year that allows the artists to showcase their works on screen before the entire audience. In prior years, visual artists had to depend on patrons to voluntarily review their work by dropping by tables in the lobby where their handiwork was placed. In presenting their work this way the visual artists are able to elaborate on the thinking and meaning behind their creations. 

Congratulations to Talent Hunt co-chairs Brothers Don Myles and Marcus Davis and the entire Talent Hunt Committee for putting on a fantastic Talent Hunt 2026. It was a show to remember!

MORE PHOTOS AND VIDEO CLIPS

Gamma Pi Chapter's Social Action Chair Reviews and Previews the Chapter's Work in the Community

    WATCH THIS EPISODE NOW

An episode of our public affairs show, Community UPLIFT, that ran late last fall is back on the air for a short rerun. For the past couple weeks, the program featuring then-Basileus Eric Fields and former Social Action Chair John Morgan, Jr. has been airing in our Friday (8 p.m.) and Saturday (4 p.m.) time slots on Comcast (channel 76) and Verizon FiOS (channel 76). The focus of this episode is on Gamma Pi's aggressive Social Action work in the Prince George's County community.  Our show is taped at the Community TV (CTV) studios in Largo, MD. Shortly after this program was originally broadcast, Bro. Fields became Immediate Past Basileus, Bro. Morgan became Vice Basileus and Bro. Terance Hare became Basileus as Gamma Pi changed over to a new year on the Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. calendar. Enjoy watching online at the link above or check the show out at the appointed times on Comcast or Verizon. Watch this space for our next episode! Here's a clue: The QUES are coming to National Harbor...

During a Cold, Snowed-in Week, Gamma Pi Covers Two Bases for the Community: Meeting with Our Lawmakers and Leading Students to STEM

During the week of February 9, when the DMV was still plagued with the aftermath of a heavy snowfall, a slew of Brothers from Gamma Pi Chapter were out and about in the snow navigating the challenging roads to make an impact in the local community. One group was helping to introduce young students to STEM during a group visit to Amazon's Headquarters in Arlington VA.  Another group was at the State Capitol in Annapolis representing the community in a series of meetings with our state legislators. This is how Gamma Pi Chapter does it -- The Super Chapter often pulls "double duty."

On Wednesday, February 11, Gamma Pi's STEM chairman Bro. Aaron Ajani along with Bro. John Wilson and several other chapter members arranged for approximately 95 students from Oxon Hill High School and Bowie State University to visit Amazon's Headquarters in Arlington, Virginia. 

The visit was an activity of Gamma Pi Chapter's two-year-old STEM inititive, which is designed to introduce more Black students to the tech fields. Bro.Wilson works at Amazon as a Senior Sales Manager for Startups.

Gamma Pi STEM, started in November 2024, has sponsored previous visits to the DMV Amazon headquarters in the past couple of years. The highlight of the recent visit was an onsite demonstration involving a fully automated robot who greeted the group upon arrival.

In addition, the students learned about GEN AI, Amazon’s Sustainability (data centers) program, career opportunities, scholarship opportunities sponsored by Amazon. The keynote speaker was Delta’s very own Phylicia Fant who is the Director of Global Music Culture with Amazon Music, who spoke on staying ahead of market, and AI disruption in the music industry.

STEM is a major priority of Omega Psi Phi Fraternity, Inc. across the Fraternity. Gamma Pi's new STEM program has three components:

• Mattaponi Elementary School STEM Initiative: Focused on elementary education by introducing students to Robotics, Science Club, and the Science Bowl. The Science Bowl is a program where students tryout to be part of a 5-student team that competes against other elementary students on a televised show to answer science-related questions.
• AWS STEM Partnership Program: Collaborating with the tech giant, Amazon (AWS). In addition, the students learned from a collective group of amazonian that looks like them, exposes students to the vast possibilities for them within the STEM industry. It includes visits to Amazon HQ. In 2025, it included an internship for one of the participants.
• Prince George’s Area Science Fair (PGASF): The Gamma Pi STEM Committee participates in the PGASF by judging several science categories and sponsoring the awards for some of the categories

For information on Gamma Pi STEM and how students can participate, visit gammapi.org and leave a messsage for Bro. Ajani and the Gamma Pi STEM team.                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                        

The next day, Thursday, February 12, the Super Chapter numbered several Brothers among about 100 or so Omega men who participated in the annual Ques in Annapolis visit to the Maryland State House.  The event is for Second District Omega Psi Phi members.

Led by Second District Representative Bro. Amir Shareef, the Brothers spent several hours meeting with state legislators and staff about key issues impacting the communities we serve. The event included a chat and photo with Gov. Wes Moore.

The focus for this year's Ques in Annapolis was Senate Bill 0078, the Prostate–Specific Antigen Testing (Protect Our Prostate Act), which calls for certain disclosure requirements before testing to inform men of certain activities or substances that can artificially inflate PSA scores, possibly leading to unnecessary medical procedures. Brothers were able to sit in and watch a sub committee vote on the legislation.

Ironically during the Omega visit, the Buddhist Monks, who are on a 2,300 mile walk-for-peace across the U.S., passed through the venue, allowing the Brothers to be in the right place at the right time to capture and be a part of some history in the making.

Bro. William Battle's Upcoming Prostate Cancer Health Fair Gets Media Mention

Gamma Pi Brother William Battle's (Delta Psi-80) upcoming community Prostate Cancer Health Fair is drawing media attention beforehand. Today, Bro. Battle, a retired Bowie State health professor who founded and runs Emmanual Health, was interviewed in-person by local news outlet CTV  for a preview segment about the health fair that will be held on Saturday, February 21, from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. at the Largo/Kettering/Perrywood Community Center.

Bro. Battle is a staunch advocate for actively addressing health disparities and he especially focuses on Black men and prostate health. He was interviewed at the station today by reporter Brandon Williams. The interview aired throughout the afternoon and evening. Watch the interview below.

For more information about this weekend's prostate cancer health fair, visit this recent blog post.

WATCH THE INTERVIEW