Rho Phi Chapter at Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology - Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity 2014 Spring Edition 2 0 1 4 S p r i n g P l e d ge s Dates to Remember: RHO PHI SPRING 2014 PLEDGE CLASS  September 4: Classes Resume  September 19 & 20: Fiji Football Run  October 1: Fall Career Fair  October 4: Homecoming  December 13: Pledge Retreat  May 9: Pig Dinner and Rho Phi Open In this issue: 2014 Spring Pledges 1 Strong Chapter Led by a Strong Cabinet 1 Graduate Brother Mentors Rose Freshman 2 A Letter from the President 3 Landwehr Garners Honors 3 Rho Phi Diamond Men 4 Benedict Honored for Tennis 4 Continued Track and Field Excellence 5 Service Project Success 6 Graduate Relations 7 For the first time in a few years, the Rho Phi chapter took a spring pledge class. These 5 men represent a cross-section of the campus--some were interested in the fall but did not rush; some became interested as the year progressed. PLEDGE CLASS PHOTO and BIOS. They are, from L to R: ALEX COLE: From Terre Haute, IN, Alex is a CS and is a hurdler on the Rose track team. Fellow track member Phil Korentang is his pledge father. ZACH GLICK: From Highland, IN, is an ME major. He participates in AFROTC, and recently traded emails with grad. brother Casey Boley who has made a career as an Air Force pilot stationed in Germany. Brandon Bullitt is Zach's pledge father. ADAM WILSON: From Mecca, IN, (near Rockville) is an ME. He participates in track in dashes and relays. His pledge father is fellow runner Ryan Meyer. CONNOR McCLARAN: From Aurora, CO, is a EE. At Rose, Connor is involved in track and field where he throws with active brother Andy Hunkeler who is his pledge father. COLLIN WOJCIK: from Schererville, IN. A Civil Engineering major, Collin plays basketball for Rose. His pledge father is fellow Rose hoopster Michael Hallstein. Here are the spring pledges in the same order as in their photo with their pledge fathers identified by full name. Kneeling: Brandon Bullitt and Andy Hunkeler. Have a Recommendation for the Fall Pledge Class? If you have a young man in mind for the upcoming fall pledge class of 2014, please contact our rush chair, Chris Grable, at cgrable@rosefiji.com. Chris Grable, Class of 2016 Strong Chapter Led by a Strong Cabinet Submitted by Brian Soller In March of this year, we had new cabinet elections in the fraternity for the 2014-2015 academic school year. As a chapter, we believe that our new cabinet members are some of the strongest, most well respected members in our fraternity. We have high expectations for them to improve our chapter this upcoming year. Our new cabinet consists of Tyler Rockwood (President), Zach Erba (Treasurer), Koby Close (Recording Secretary), Jake Whitacre (Corresponding Secretary), and Ethan Kroh (Historian). These men have worked hard to earn the respect and admiration of their peers. They strive to be successful in everything that they do. For example, four out of the five cabinet members are dual sport athletes at RoseHulman, which shows that they have worked hard to be successful athletically. However, this example is not to highlight there athletic ability, rather it is to highlight their hardworking mentality. They have been able to apply this mentality to (Continued on page 2) \r\nRose Fiji 2 Strong Cabinet Continued... many aspects of their lives, and our chapter is confident they will apply it to their duties as a chapter officer. Additionally, throughout their individual time as a FIJI they have made significant impacts in our fraternity before being elected to their cabinet positions. As a freshman, newly initiated brother, Jake Whitaker coordinated our chapter’s first annual FIJI 5k Run for the Relay for Life this past spring. That is just one example of individual impactful involvement in our chapter, but there are many more examples that could be mentioned for anyone of these newly elected men. They truly live out one of our fraternity mottos, which is “Scholarship, Fraternity, Self”. They continually put the success of our fraternity above themselves. Since these five men have already made large strides in our fraternity, our chapter is eager and excited to see the other influences that they will have in our fraternity as the leaders of our chapter. All 112 of our undergraduate members have confidence to follow and support their guidance and direction as leaders of our growing fraternity. They have a tough challenge of managing our chapter do to the fact that we will have five houses of fraternity brothers on 6th Street next year. However with this high concentration of Fiji’s on 6 th Street, they have an amazing opportunity to impact our fraternity in a way that has not been possible in recent years. Jacob Whitacre Corresponding Secretary Class of 2017 Zac Erba Treasurer Class of 2015 Tyler Rockwood President Class of 2016 Koby Close Recording Secretary Class of 2017 Ethan Kroh Historian Class of 2015 Graduate Brother Mentors Rose Freshman Submitted By Tim Harlan Freshman brother Brandon Benedict wants a Rose-Hulman degree, but not necessarily the typical engineering job that comes with it. Graduate brother Brian Green (08)--CE, Economics and Spanish--thought outside the box, too. That's why he took his math, science, computer and economics skills to Chicago where he has worked since graduating as a commodities trader for TransMarket group L.L.C. Over spring break, Benedict spent the day in Chicago where Brandon shadowed Brian and found out what the work day of a commodities broker consists of. Said Brandon of the experience, "Brian showed me what else is out there for someone with an engineering degree. He was great; now I am looking into adding some economics courses to my degree." Green, who has been with the TransMarket Group for over 6 years, was featured in a recent Alumni Success article for graduates with degrees from the Rose Humanities and Social Sciences Dept. Brian Green : Class of 2008 Brandon Benedict : Class of 2017 \r\nRose Fiji 3 A Letter from the President Brothers and Parents, My name is Tyler Rockwood and it is my honor to be writing to you as the new President of the Rho Phi Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta. We’ve been working towards maintaining excellence as habit in the classroom, recruitment, athletics and in service. For the first time since I’ve been a Rho Phi, we have taken a spring pledge class of five excellent men and we are excited to see them join our ranks. Each of these men are involved on campus in either ROTC, Track or Basketball. They are motivated young men who exemplify our values of Friendship, Knowledge, Service, Morality, and Excellence. I am enthusiastic to see the impact that they have on this fraternity. The chapter and its members have been staying involved and representing FIJI well on campus. Athletically, this winter we won intermural championships in both A and B league basketball. In varsity athletics we had: many FIJIs greatly contribute to the Track & Field Team’s HCAC championship season, two brothers named as football team captains, a strong presence and starters on the baseball team that won the HCAC tournament, and one brother lead the tennis team to a second place finish in the conference. In addition to keeping our tradition of a strong athletic presence, we’ve had a great winter and spring of philanthropy events. In the winter we had our annual Happiness Bag dinner, Bikes for Tykes event on campus, Clothe-a-Child, and we also participated in a blood drive on campus. The spring has been equally as busy with Neighborhood Clean-Up, Campus Beautification, a Highway Clean-Up and the FIJI 5K Run/Walk for Relay for Life, a new event organized by our Fall pledge class. The 5K was successful in raising $1100 for the Relay for Life with over 90 participants and it is an event that we plan to now hold every year. The chapter had another successful quarter in the classroom as the chapter earned a grade point average above both the All-Student average and All-Fraternity average, with eight brothers earning perfect 4.0 GPAs. Pig Dinner was a great success this year, we had more graduate brother in attendance than we’ve in recent years and it was great to see everyone back. I would like to thank Zack Howe and Wes Bolsen for coming back and speaking at the dinner. Brother Howe did a great job enlightening everyone on the history of the Exile’s Toast and Wes Bolsen did a fantastic job as our keynote speaker. Lastly, on behalf of the Rho Phi chapter, I’d like to wish our graduating seniors the best as they leave Rose-Hulman and the chapter to graduate school and the work force. They have been a great influence on the chapter. Their leadership and constant faith in the five values has lead the fraternity to glory for the last four years, and we hope that we can carry on the traditions that they set forth. Even though they are leaving, they will always be welcome, as Phi Gamma Delta is truly, “Not for college days alone”. Fraternally, Tyler Rockwood ‘16 Chapter President Landwehr Garners Honors; Will Join Fellow-Rho Phi in the Workplace Submitted by Tim Harlan After being named First Team Football Academic All-American in the fall and participating as QB in Mexico in the D-III All-Stars vs Mexico Tazon de Estrellas game, former Rho Phi chapter President and senior Ryan Landwehr continues to be honored by Rose-Hulman. Landwehr was recently named as the John A. Logan Award winner for having the highest cumulative GPA of any senior athlete: 4.0. In addition, Landwehr has been honored by the Rose Varsity Club as the Most Outstanding Senior Athlete at Rose-Hulman for the 2013-14 year. At Commencement, Landwehr will receive the Heminway Scholar gold medal for graduating with a perfect 4.0. He is a EE with minors in mathmatics and Spanish. Following graduation, Landwehr will begin work with the engineering firm DMC in their Boston office. He will join Rho Phi graduate brother Dan Freve, EE 2007, Project Director for DMC, who interviewed and hired him for the position. This further exemplifies our "Not for College Days Alone" motto, and adds Freve to the long list of graduate brothers who come back and hire fellow Fijis. \r\nRose Fiji 4 Rho Phi Diamond Men Contribute to HCAC Title Submitted by Chris Grable En route to the Heartland Collegiate Athletic Conference championship game, the Fighting Engineers defeated Anderson University and Manchester University. To earn their fifth HCAC postseason title, the third seeded Engineers again bested the host team and tournament favorite Manchester Spartans 6 runs to 3 in the championship bout. There are 11 phi gams who contributed to the championship season. Pictured below in the top row from left to right are sophomore Evan Witsken, sophomore Nevin Fansher, freshman Cody Sunderhaus, sophomore Gunnar Hutchison, and freshman Drew Schnitz. Pictured in the bottom row from left to right are senior Michael Bush, sophomore Chris Grable, sophomore Patrick Kilma, and freshman Zach Trusk. Not pictured are two freshmen: Jacob Whitacre and Koby Close. The team made it all the way to the regional finals—the farthest any Fightin’ Engineer squad has made it in history. Throughout the season and double elimination tournament, the phi gams stayed true to the FIJI way. Friendships were strengthened in pursuit of a championship season: a season of excellence. Patrick Klima started Left Field during his sophomore season this year Zach Trusk started catcher as a freshman for the Fightin’ Engineers Benedict Honored for Tennis Michael Bush pitched a 1.26 ERA during his senior season Submitted by Tim Harlan Rho Phi freshman Brandon Benedict, ME, from Indianapolis, IN, has distinguished himself on the tennis courts this spring season. Finishing the season with a team-high 27 total wins--13-5 as number-one singles and 13-5 as number-one doubles with partner fellow freshman Georges Adam-Benedict was named Conference Freshman of the Year in addition to the making First Team on Evan Witsken saw action at 3rd base during his sophomore season the All-HCAC squad. \r\nRose Fiji 5 Continued Track and Field Excellence Submitted by Ryan Meyer The 2013-2014 indoor and outdoor seasons for the Fighting Engineers was another one of continued excellence. They continued the tradition of success by winning the Indoor conference title for the 4 th time in a row and the outdoor title for the 7th time in a row. The Indoor season had many highlights for the Fiji men, one being Senior Andrew Thompson setting the school record in the 3000m. At the conference meet, Fiji’s were responsible for scoring 75.5 of the 200.5 points. The men swept the pole vault taking first through 5 th scoring 33 points. Freshman Nathan Green placed 1st, Junior Blake Schulthies placed 2nd, and his brother Freshman Lucas Schulthies placed 5th. Blake also went on to compete in the 60m high hurdles placing 4th and as a member of the 4x400m relay team which placed 3 rd. Another member of the Schulthies family, Austin Schulthies, placed 4th in both the high jump and long jump. Freshman Andrew Okruch placed first in the shot put. Junior Ryan Meyer and Sophomore Brandon Bullitt competed on the Distance Medley Relay team which placed third. Senior Andrew Hunkeler competed in the shot put placing 7th and in the weight throw placing 2nd and Junior Zac Erba placed 3rd in the weight throw. Andrew Thompson crossing the The conference meet for outdoors is a two day event, the first day hosting the preliminary events to qualify for the finals and finals for some of the field and distance track events. On Friday, the men scored 100.5 of the 252.5 points setting the tone for Andrew Okruch throwing shot put at the Saturday and on track to win another conference title. Ryan Meydouble dual meet er placed 5th in the 3000m steeplechase and 10th in the 1500m. th Freshman Adam Wilson placed 4 in the 100m. The men’s 4x100m relay team placed 2nd led off by Wilson who handed off to Senior Phil Koranteng. Koranteng went on to compete in the 200m placing second. In the 800m Andrew Thompson placed 6th. In the 110 hurdles Sophomore Tyler Rockwood placed 8th and Blake Schulthies placed 5th. Blake also competed in the 400 hurdles and placed 3rd and on the 4x400m relay team which placed 2nd. finish line breaking the 3k record Blake Schulthies and Phil Koranteng in the 110 hurdles The field events also experienced much success among the Fiji men. Austin Schulthies placed 4 th in the high jump and 3rd in the long jump, and 4 in the discus. Again the pole vault took 1st through 4th as well as 6th place. Nathan Green again placed 1st, Blake placing 2nd, and Lucas placing 6th. Okruch brought home 1st in the shot put for the second time and Andy Hunkeler brought home 2nd and Freshman Connor McClaran placed 8th. Hunkeler also competed in the discus bringing home 2nd for the men, Okruch taking 3rd, and Freshman Nic Keller taking 6th. Erba also competed in the Hammer throw and placed 4th followed by Hunkeler placing 5th. The Schulthies Brothers continued to go on and show their dominance in the Javelin with Blake taking 4th, Lucas taking 6th, and Austin taking 11th. Erba competed in the Javelin as well placing 5th. th Overall the men averaged 13.5 points in every event and the Fiji’s scored 130.5 of the total points. The Fighing Engineers destroyed the competition with second place Franklin taking only 118.5 points and Manchester taking third not even breaking 100 points. Green, Okruch, were awarded first team all-conference awards for their first place finishes at the HCAC conference championship. Second team all-conference awards were given to Wilson and Koranteng for their effort on the 4x100m, Koranteng for his performance in the 200m. Blake and Hunkeler were also awarded second team all-conference awards for how they performed in their respective events. Already the men look to win next year’s Ryan Meyer running the 1200m leg of the DMR \r\nRose Fiji 6 Service Event Success Fi r st An nu al FI J I 5 k B e gin s G r an d Tr ad i t io n The first annual FIJI 5k Run/Walk for Relay for Life was held at the local Hawthorn Park. This event, coordinated by Jacob Whitacre, was the fundraiser completed by the fall pledge class of 2013. Even being the first annual race, the FIJI 5k was able to raise over $1100 for the Rho Phi chapter’s Relay for Life team. The event had over 90 participants ranging from elderly cancer survivors, to local elementary students. More than fifty brothers contributed to this event, including brothers Andrew Thompson finished first in the annual 5k from the Iota Sigma chapter of Indiana State. Please mark your calendars for the second annual FIJI 5k on March 28, 2015, to have a great time while supporting a wonderful cause. Chapter President Tyler Rockwood and Coordinator Jacob Whitacre Brothers from the Rho Phi and Iota Sigma Chapters Volunteered for the first annual run Ne i ghb o rh oo d Cl e anup Barry Tomasetti and Chris Sander helped local neighbors haul off scrap wood. This year the men of Phi Gamma Delta participated in the annual Neighborhood Cleanup in the Farrington Grove Neighborhood. For over two decades, the men of the fraternity have volunteered a Saturday in the spring to help improve the area around the fraternity house. For the cleanup, brothers volunteer their time and effort to perform manual labor job in exchange for donations to the Red Cross. This year brothers in the fraternity served 19 different families in the neighborhood, as well as a family in Paris, Illinois. Brothers performed jobs ranging from hauling away storm debris to cleaning up local gardens. The people helped by the fraternity’s efforts ranged from families within the neighborhood to a retired veteran who had a tree fall on his house. After Cleanup the fraternity raised around $700 for the Red Cross. Matt Palla And Wes Byers unload brush from a local man’s yard. Many brothers helped the Farringtons Grove community with “Spring cleaning” jobs. \r\nRose Fiji 7 Graduate Relations R h o Ph i G r ad s P rov i de O p p or tu n i t i es t o Bro t h e r s Graduate relations at the Rho Phi Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta had several major events this past spring, all of which were greatly enjoyed by brothers of all ages. Something we are proud of at Rose-Hulman is the ability of our graduates to provide opportunities for their under-graduate brothers. This quarter, we had several brothers obtain positions in such a way. Eric Schaible received an internship with Endress+Hauser through graduate brother Brent Frizzel. Blake Schulthies received an internship with Texas Instruments through the recommendation of Garrett Roecker. We are very happy for the continued support of our grads through these recommendations. Submitted by Michael Bush Pig Dinner Success Submitted by Colton Motz On May 10 we had our annual Rho Phi Open. Each spring, we welcome graduate brothers back for the golf scramble. It is a chance for brothers to socialize in a less formal manner with graduate brothers about how the chapter was in previous years. This year’s event included 10 graduate bothers joining us for a day of golf at Hulman Links in Terre Haute, IN. Following the Rho Phi Open this year was our biggest event of the spring, the annual Frank Norris Pig Dinner. Each year we look forward to having our graduate brothers join us for a night of fun and reminiscing. This year we had about 20 graduate brothers join us for the dinner, including Wes Bolsen, who was the keynote speaker for the night. Brother Bolsen’s speech centered on the importance of loving abundantly, and making your brothers better; as iron sharpens iron, another man sharpens another. Brother Bolsen presented a knife to a sophomore brother, Joseph Woodley, to symbolize this. Brian Greenblatt and Tim Harlan participated in the infamous tradition We had many brothers receive honor awards for maintaining above a 3.00 GPA Pig Dinner Award Winners Pig Dinner is also a time to honor some of our undergraduate brothers who have acted most according to the five values that set our fraternity apart. The service award went to Barry Tomasetti, who is also our service chair. The knowledge award went to Chris Sanders, and the morality award went to Michael Bush. Most impressively, the friendship, excellence and most outstanding member awards went to Brian Soller. Above: President Tyler Rockwood presents the keynote speaker, Wes Bolsen, a gift for his speech. From left to right: Chris Sander, Brian Soller, and Barry Tomasetti. \r\nRho Phi Chapter Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity PO Box 3047 Terre Haute, IN 47803 Mailing Address Line 1 Mailing Address Line 2 Mailing Address Line 3 Mailing Address Line 4 Mailing Address Line 5 NOT FOR COLLEGE DAYS ALONE Find us Online! rosefiji.com Information Update — Tell us about you! Please detach and return with your contact information so we can update our records. We will feature graduate updates in upcoming newsletters. If you want to share your recent news, fill in the news section or email jwhitacre@rosefiji.com for your information to be published. Name: _____________________________________________________________ School/year: ______________________________ Address: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________ City / State / Zip: _______________________________________________________________________________________________ Phone: Home :_______________________ Work: ________________________ Cell: ___________________________ Email: ________________________________________________________________________________________________________ News to share: _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Occupation:____________________________________________ Employer:_______________________________________________ CONTRIBUTE TO THE RHO PHI CHAPTER I am pleased to make a contribution to Rho Phi of: $1000 $500 $250 $100 $50 $25 Other: $______________ I would like my donation to be used in the following area:____________________________________________________________________________. Donations can be made online at www.phigam.org/netcommunity/rosedonations or send checks payable to PhiGamma Delta—Rho Phi Chapter/RoseHulman Donations, PO Box 4599, Lexington, KY 40544 and include this form \r\nHelp us Celebrate the first Indianapolis Ekklesia in 102 Years In 1912 Phi Gamma Delta held the Ekklesia is Indianapolis. It is hard to believe it took 102 years for Indianapolis to once again host this important fraternity gathering. We invite you to participate! The Ekklesia, the biennial convention of Phi Gamma Delta, is a gathering of Phi Gams from all over North America and provides for some of the largest social gatherings in our Fraternity. The Ekklesia will be held at the Indianapolis Marriott Downtown from Thursday, July 24 through Saturday evening, July 26. Typically about 600-700 graduates, undergraduates and family members attend the Ekklesia. If you would like to participate, there are several opportunities: Attend the entire Ekklesia. If you would like to attend the entire Ekklesia, including all luncheons, dinners and the Friday night event at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the cost is $425 and you can register at the link listed below. Attend the Friday night special event. On Friday night we have a pavilion reserved for the Brickyard Grand Prix race (remember, this is Brickyard 400 weekend). Included in this event is entrance to the track, entrance to the Pavilion hospitality area, evening picnic, entrance to the track museum, and pit passes. This event is included for Ekklesia delegates. If you wish to attend this event separately, you can purchase tickets at the registration link below. Tickets are $50 per person, and family members are welcome. Attend either the opening or closing banquet. Both the opening and closing banquets (Thursday and Saturday evening) are open to brothers and wives. Tickets for either banquet can be purchased at the link below. The closing banquet is formal - typically business suit - but is black tie optional. Banquet tickets are $100 each. Just come hang out. If you just want to pay a visit, there will be informal gatherings each evening. You can contact someone on the host committee or the Beta Graduate Chapter and they can let you know where we will be each evening. Family members are welcome as well. There will be a full family program visiting museums and other downtown sites. They can also attend the Friday night event. Some events are at no cost while others are at minimal pricing. More information is at : http://www.phigam.org/family-program-ekklesia. We hope you can attend some part of the Ekklesia either in a formal or an informal capacity. It will be a once in a lifetime opportunity to take part in an Indiana Ekklesia! For a schedule and to register please visit this link: http://www.phigam.org/EkklesiaIndy. Questions can be emailed to info@rosefiji.com. \r\nSave the Date - Upcoming Graduate Events Indianapolis Indians Baseball Outing You are invited to an Indianapolis Indian’s baseball game on Tuesday, July 22. We will gather near Victory Field at 5:30 pm for food and drinks and head to the game right before 7:00 pm. Brothers, dates and kids are invited to attend this outing. Tickets courtesy of Rho Phi House Corporation and Rho Phi Chapter. Grand Prix Race at IMS Offered as Part of Ekklesia Programming On Friday, July 25, Phi Gamma Delta will be attending the Grand Prix race as part of Brickyard 400 Weekend. Tickets are $50 and the event is open to brothers and family members. Ticket price includes entrance to the IMS and dinner in the track. If you are interested in attending, you can register online at: https://www.phigam.org/EkklesiaRegistration Questions, email info@rosefiji.com Graduate Events for 2014-2015 Year Indianapolis Indian’s Outing—July 22, 2014 Indianapolis Ekklesia—July 24—25, 2014 Indianapolis Grand Prix Race—July 25, 2014 Homecoming 2014—October 3-5, 2014 Rho Phi Open Golf Tournament—May 9, 2015 Frank Norris Pig Dinner—May 9, 2015