AKL Badge

The Official Badge of the Fraternity is made of ten carat gold, and is set with eleven whole pearls.  Among other principles, the eleven pearls represent the original founders of the Los Amigos Club.  The badge is worn only on collared shirts, sweaters, or suit vests, and in the traditional position over the heart.  The badge may only be worn by initiated members of the Fraternity. 

Coat of Arms

During the 1914-15 school year, a committee was appointed to establish insignia for the new fraternity.  Among those who served on the committee were Robert I. Daley and Bryant Hall.  As Brother Hall recalls:

"We discussed the general ideas first.  It was soon agreed that both Los Amigos and the new Fraternity should be represented by a design, and especially that there should be something to symbolize the place of origin, for we were much impressed by the fact that no other fraternity had ever been founded on the West Coast.  Many ideas were suggested and discarded but the idea of the sun setting two 'headlands' won unanimous approval.  A commercial artist familiar with the many complex rules of heraldry made many subsequent sketches, finally arriving at the accepted design."

The painted original of the Coat of Arms remains, and is one of the treasured possessions of the Fraternity.  Members are encouraged to explain the heraldic symbols and insignia to non-members.  We are quite proud of our Coat of Arms or "crest" as it is sometimes referred.

The Motto of Our Fraternity

Alethia kai Logos

The motto of The Fraternity of Alpha Kappa Lambda is "Alethia Kai Logos," which in Classical Greek means "The Truth and the Word."

"The motto is a symbolic statement of our Ideals. We are seekers after Truth, the highest Truth, if you please . . . And the Word, which again lends itself to interpretation," explains Past National President William B Herms (Alpha).

In addition, Herms continues, "Somebody has said, 'This is the Logos of Alpha Kappa Lambda--Service.' Or fully stated, our motto means 'Devotion to God through Service to Man.' It is abstract enough for any philosopher, and is meaningful to us all."

Gail Cleland, one of the founders of Los Amigos, said, "What is the signifigance of our motto? As Plato suggested, an Ideal is permanent thing, but as Aristotle supplemented, (an Ideal) is effective in the actual world of reality only as it becomes embodied in a concrete expression in the life of a man or an institution. As we (explained) to President Wheeler, 'We don't want to preach Christianity, we want to live it'."

The Yellow Rose

The Souvenir de Claudis Pernet, described as a tantalizing yellow rose was adopted as the Fraternity's Official Flower at the 6th National Conclave in 1927, because "it was not expensive, and its deep golden color matched well with the colors of AKL."  The flower was a popular rose in early 1900's.  While the Souvenir de Claudis Pernet itself is no longer widely grown, it has many hybridized descendants.  The rose was originally bred by a famous French rose-breeder, Joseph Pernet-Ducher, who named the rose after one of his sons who died in World War I.