t'P. LITTLE H££K GIANT Miife Wi3? sipSSMli (Psi of(BHi Qamma (DeCta at WaBasfi CoCCege Volume 44, Number 1 Phi Gamma Delta, Wabash College, Crawfordsville, Indiana Winter, 1997 Psi Edges Out IU to Take Hold of Beta Cup! we hope to follow-up with a mailing of special folders which advertise the fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta. It presents information on the ideals of Looking for THE Class of 2001 The start of the second the fraternity, along with some paragraphs designed to help parents semester signals the beginning of our rush program. This year, we are searching for new ideas and become strategies in order to attract a fantastic pledge class. and letters sent to announce special events. Each spring, the Honor Scholar Weekend represents our first opportunity to offer bids to high school seniors. It is essential during this weekend to impress high school seniors not only with our overall achievement in awards and recognitions, but also with our close brotherhood. would be beneficial during the weekend. We need something to not only excite the high school seniors about Phi Garrnna Delta, but also excite the brothers to become active in In order to The college is also putting pressure on the p ush chairs to dedicate need to organize activities to not only allow high school seniors to participate with the brothers, but also allow the to feel comfortable with in conversing with the rushees. In the past we have ignored planning any special activity in favor of just letting the rushees visit the house and talk to the brothers. We feel this strategy is not proving as effective as it has in the past. Through this article we hope to receive ideas from you on what events awesome first impression. If you have any ideas, or names or high school seniors you feel would make a great addition to Psi Chapter please contact us. You can reach Ethan at (765)-361-7788 and Scott at (765)-361-7825. Thanks again -Ethan Olberding '99 Rush Co-Chair the Rush program- expose our strong brotherhood, we brothers comfortable This year we will never miss a chance to make an Personal contact with strong hopefuls will be stressed more fraternity life. a lot of energy to this weekend. With a successful Honor Scholar Weekend, the enthusiasm in the high school students will soljdify their decision to come to Wapash. This extra expectation has inspired us to outline ideas for a wonderful weekend. For example, ttfU designing colored pamphlets whicj., are eye catching and informational- ^^e will send these to PHILANTHROPY! Philanthropy has exploded at Psi Chapter. When one thinks of Psi Chapter the first thing that comes to mind is their outstanding scholastic reputation. In the fall semester of 1996, the men of Psi Chapter managed to garner a total of 1410 hours of social service. In only one semester, we have already toppled last year total hours by 400 percent. Our projects include a wide range of diversity. We all high school seniors before Honor have raised money for the Boys/Girls After the weekend, Scholar \r\nIndianapolis, the March of Dimes, their respective squad. We hope all other FIJI chapters have as good of built luck in IMs as we have had this year. club, the Greek Orthodox Church of houses with Habitat for Humanity, gave swimming and tennis lessons to the community, coached basketball to 10 year old boys at the Boys/Girls club, volunteered time to the local hospital, Head-Start and nursing home. These are only eleven of the thirty-three different projects brothers have participated in during the Fall Semester. Some ideas for the Spring include a community Easter Egg hunt, a can drive and coaching baseball to the handicapped. This explosion of social service was instrumental in our Beta Cup win at State Day. At Phi Gamma Delta we are extremely pleased with our improvement. I guarantee this will not be a one year phenomenon. Please give a round of clicks to the brothers and their ever increasing involvement Heikki Nels Larsen James Scott Minor John Randolph Worth Good job brothers, keep up the great work. —Seth Little '99 —Patrick W. O'Donnell '98 SCHOLARSHIP Psi Web Page Psi Chapter again held up the Visit us at: tradition of academic excellence by having a house cumulative grade point average of 3.30. Wabash college recognized Psi as having the highest GPA on campus for the 6th straight semester in a row. http://www.wabash.edu/fratemity/fiji/ As well, twenty eight brothers were named to the Wabash College Dean's List for the fall semester of 1996. With the house, campus, and community tutoring that continues into the spring semester of 1997, Psi is already on its way to another outstanding semester. The following brothers were named to the Dean's List: in community service. -Gregory Talmage '99 Freshman Corey Dean Barnard INTRAMURALS James Dirk Hamstra This year marks a new beginning for FIJI intramurals. Along with our Todd Francis Witte Sophomores dominance in academics, we are now Andrew Russell Arnold dominating IMs. Out of the twelve Christopher Jason Gegg events that have been completed so far this year, FIJIs have placed first in five Jacob Jeffrey Kamenir events. There seems to be a new found Ethan Anthony Olberding enthusiasm for IMs causing participation from all the classes. Whether the superior play of Corey Barnard (Freshmen) in basketball, the dominance of two time cross country champion Seth Little (Sophomore), the stellar performance of golf champion Andy Michel (Junior), or the consistent play of tennis champions Kinjal Amin (Senior) and Rob Garza (Sophomore) is the key, the FIJI house draws participation throughout. Perhaps most surprising of the events won are basketball and weightlifting. Much of the basketball victories are due to the addition of three freshmen into the starting lineup. Next year's IMs are going to look very strong as well because all of the first place teams return every member of Joshua Adam Kline Matthew Franklin Rose Kenneth Evan West Alexander Temple Wimberly Juniors Scott Steven Benedict Carl Douglas Drew James Matthew Goodin Mark Andrew Hannah Ryan Christopher Kamp Patrick Woods O'Donnell Christopher Bauer Pesavento Adam Durat Quick Peter Maxwell Suffield Aaron Robert Wamke Adam Gabriel White Brian James Woebkenberg Seniors David A. Brown Gregory Charles Hancock Brian James Kerr WRESTLING Three top-notch wrestlers are representing the Phi Gamma Delta house this season. Wabash Co- Captain and junior, Daniel Emerson at 177 pounds, returned from fall semester overseas study in Rome, Italy, and along with sophomores Jacob Heffernan and John Altman at Heavyweight and 158 pounds, respectively, have big plans for the remainder of the season. The team is currently 4-1 and still have a large part of the season left. A summary will recap the season in the next issue of 'Little Giant FIJI.' —Daniel Emerson '98 For a copy of Phi Gamma Delta at Wabash. 1966-1991, by Robert Bracken,'43, — please contact Christopher Gegg at(765) 361-7710 or eMail at geggc@wabash.edu. \r\nthe ICAC last season with an 18-19 record, however nine of the ten starters (including Designated Hitter) are returning so the future is bright for this year's Little Giant Baseball Team. —Jeff Cromer '98 NO MORE PLEDGESHIP 1996 was a year of new beginnings for the pledge program at Psi Chapter. Along with a less stressful, more condensed program, the pledge class was introduced to a sense To Play the Game by Kevin Brechting '00 of unity and brotherhood early on. The night of initiation followed a day's meditation on what it meant to be a You must understand the reason you are there. You must have the drive to show that you care. You must show sacrifice for your seriousness to be icnown. You must have teamwork so they know you are not alone. You must have heart which is the soul purpose to be. But most importantly pledge at Phi Gamma Delta, and, more importantly, what our new status as brothers would do for ourselves, our House, and our Fraternity. Our initiation into Psi brought with it new privileges and new responsibilities. Our first chapter meeting only four days away, we were quickly taught the procedures and principles needed to instramental Baseball Spring is just around the comer, and the Wabash baseball team is hard at work preparing for another successful season. The baseball team consists of three Phi Gams: Junior Jeff Cromer, Designated Hitter and First Base, and two Freshmen, Brad Schmitt, a catcher, and Eric Ramos, a centerfielder. The team had a successful fall season which included a 9-7 win over Depauw. After an off season of individual lifting and running, the team officially began its season with Coach Boone when students returned from winter vacation. The Little Giants are now in shape and have just recently begun hitting and throwing indoors. upper-classmen and pledges that were to ultimately culminate in brotherhood. Although the door of pledgeship is closed to all but memory, we are now on the threshold of a new experience. The course of Phi Gamma Delta's Psi Chapter is partly in our hands, and I am sure that I speak for the entire class of 2000 when I say that we will endeavor to uphold the friendship, knowledge, and glory that are embodied by the brotherhood. Moreover, I know that each of us will retain with fond remembrances the relations fostered in pledgeship and promised throughout our tenure as "Little Giant FIJI's" as we leave Wabash behind and put our faith in Phi Gamma Delta and her guiding character. —Dave Kellam '00 guide us through the weekly meeting. Gregory Talmage, Psi's Historian, was you must be a FIJI! We have certainly retained the unity and friendship inherent among our pledge brothers, along with the relationships formed between the ceremony in both and the the initiation subsequent education of the new brothers. It was startling at first to receive a warm handshake and a word Cycling Regardless of the fact that the Wabash College Cycling team is only 2 years old, two brothers of Psi have high expectations for the upcoming of congratulations from a man who only a day before had been so much a role model: his position as a brother of Phi Gamma Delta meriting respect and emulation, but we quickly warmed to our new roles as brothers to the members of the Active Chapter. Now more than three weeks after our initiation, we have room enough to look back and compare. Now that we are brothers, we have lost the fraternity within a fraternity that we were as pledges. We have, however, gained the right to call ourselves FIJI's. Their season begins in Florida on March 8 season. Looking into the bleak and dreary February days, Patrick O'Donnell and Tim Craft (Wabash's two top cycling hopes of 97') train hard for the spring racing series starting March 1st at the University of Ohio. The spring racing series will match Wabash's top cyclists against such intimidating universities as and in Atlanta against Ogelthorpe. They will then travel to Panama City for the week and travel through Indiana, Purdue, and Northwestern. Nevertheless, O'Donnell and Craft Tennessee on the way home to play the chances this season. Wabash Always Fights!! University of the South. The Little have high expectations about their in rK IHAMO Giants baseball team finished fourth in ' —Patrick W. O'Donnell 98' \r\nState of the Chapter "Initiation, State Day, and the year ahead." This has been a very fast-paced year Psi Chapter. The first semester flew by, as usual, and the second semester began at full speed. The Chapter has been active in almost every possible aspect of fraternity and campus life, adding further honors to our proud traditions. In fact, my only difficulty in writing about our accomplishments was keeping track of everything the Brotherhood of Psi is doing. First and foremost I would like to announce the initiation of the Class of 2000 into the ranks of Brothers in Phi Gamma Delta. On January 30, 1997, Psi Chapter welcomed these sixteen young men as active members in what is consecutive wrestling and soccer, respectively. The semester. Impressively, ten percent of the Brothers earned grade point averages of Fiji's are in first place in intramurals, campus for the sixth 3.90 or ahove. One of our newest Brothers, Todd Witte, was nominated for the Freshman Writing Award, and poetry by Brothers Jacob Hcffcrnan and Evan West were published in the Wabash Review. This has also been a banner year for Service at Psi. Under the leadership and initiative of Brother Gregory Talmage, Psi's Historian and Philanthropy chair, we undertook over thirty different philanthropy projects in the last semester alone, totaling over 1400 hours of community service. This semester we have already planned over a dozen projects, from Habitat for Humanity to highway cleanup. At the present pace we expect to be over 2500 hours by the end of the year—a record at Psi Chapter. undoubtedly the best fraternity on the Wabash campus. This year's pledge program was aimed at removing the Striving for excellence, the Brothers of Psi have been recognized all over campus. Former chapter president, Jeff barrier between the incoming freshmen Cromer, has been elected as president of the student council. Ethan Olberding was elected as the vice-president of Alpha Phi Omega, the campus social service fraternity; Scott Benedict has been and the upperclassmen, and the seamless transition of these men from pledgeship to brotherhood is proof positive of it's effectiveness. Clicks to Brother Kinjal Amin, the Pledge Educator, and the Pledge Education Committee. Academically, Psi Chapter retained the Jordan Bowl for the highest All-Fiji CPA for another year, making this the 34th consecutive year above the allfraternity average. At Wabash we In athletics, Psi Chapter claims twenty varsity athletes, four of whom are accumulated a chapter grade point average of 3.30, the highest CPA on all-state. In addition, Dan Emenson and Scott Schroeder are team captains in appointed head of programming at WNDY 91.3 FM, the Wabash College radio station; David Kellam, class of 2000, has already become a senior editor for the Wabash Commentary. Psi Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta leading the campus with first place finishes in golf, tennis, cross-country, and basketball. The financial stability oi' Psi Chapter has allowed us to have the lowest house bills on campus. If you consider that Wabash College was named the best value in liberal arts education by Newsweck magazine, you could say that the Fiji's offer the best bang for the buck in the country. All of these accomplishments have not gone unnoticed. At State Day 1997, held on February 1. Psi Chapter was recognized as the Most Outstanding Chapter in Indiana and took home the coveted Beta Cup for the first time in four years. Our phenomenal performance in social service—which took Psi Chapter from last to first in the state in one year— was rewarded Award. with the Social Service And, as become our tradition. Little Giant Fijis won has the Scholarship Award. All this is not to say that we are resting on our laurels. We are constantly looking for ways to improve, to live up to yet higher standards. The Brotherhood at Psi is stronger than ever, and we arc all looking forward to what promises to be another fast-paced year. — Jake Kamenir '99 President Thanks to all who helped contribute to this issue of the Little Giant FIJI. NON-PROFIT ORGANIZATION 213 W. Jefferson St. BULK Crawfordsviile, IN 47933 PERMIT RATE NO. 181 CRAWFORDSVILLE, IND. ?0 llltlllllJn'ijHjuMill.'iniillllliiiiMHlilillll!'}!!!!!