Leukemia couldn’t stop 2023 Tyler Trent Award winner Andrew Kinder
From the moment of his leukemia diagnosis, Andrew Kinder had just one goal in mind: resuming a normal life as soon as possible.
As an honors student with a 4.3 GPA in high school, Kinder had to temper his expectations as he started his freshman year at Purdue while continuing oral chemotherapy. But in joining Beta Theta Pi, he felt the wholehearted embrace of his fellow Boilermakers.
“All the Beta kids really just made me feel welcome,” Kinder says. “They didn’t treat me for how sick I was. They kind of just treated me for the person I am, and that really helped.”
Being able to walk around campus, make new friends, attend class — the things most freshmen would take for granted — all helped keep Kinder moving forward.
“As a Boilermaker, you always keep pushing,” he says. “You can’t let anything stop you.”
The Tyler Trent Courage and Resilience Award is awarded annually to an undergraduate student who has persisted through serious adversity in their pursuit of higher education.
