The Golden Eagle FIJI THETA TAU CHAPTER OF PHI GAMMA DELTA VOLUME 27, No.1 Fall 2005 A Renewed Pride in FIJI \r\nThe Golden Eagle Fiji Fall 2005 L ETTER THETA TAU FROM THE VOLUME 27 No. 1 S PECIAL P RESIDENT In December I will join the rest of you as a graduate brother of Theta Tau. In doing so I can’t help but reflect on the influence Fiji has had on me and I would like to ask all our graduates to think of the role the Fraternity has played in your development. I remember coming to Tech anxious for the new life before me, eager to make new friends and meet girls (OK, mostly meeting college girls). If it wasn’t for my roommate being moved in by Preston Cloud, John Warmath and Kevin Collins as well as the Fijis who sat at the lunch table nearest the door in the cafeteria, I may have missed out on the greatest Greek letter society known to man. Just think. That cafeteria table has been the dinner table of Fijis for 25 years. The same tables you ate at, we eat at. The butter pads we’ve thrown and stuck on the ceiling rest with your butter pads that are nothing but grease stains on the ceiling tiles. Your legacy lives on whether you realize it or not. I want you to think about the good times you had in college and chances are your memories will drift to your Fraternity brothers with whom you have a bond that can only come by fraternal association. If you haven’t done so, now is the time to renew some of those bonds. It’s already evident that many of you are already doing just that. At Rush we had several graduates stop by the house and give us encouragement and advice. POINTS OF INTEREST : During this year’s Islander weekend we had 15 graduates from many different pledge classes relive their party going days! It is for the reasons stated above that I am excited about becoming a graduate brother. While the glory days of my youth may be passed, a new page must be turned and it’s evident that the fun will not necessarily subside unless I choose it. I only mention this because the future of the chapter has never been brighter than it is this day. Now is a moment in our chapter history where you graduates have an exciting yet formidable task before you; and with the recent strides in the improvement of graduate relations I think we are more than up to this task. The house at 527 N Peachtree Ave is within one week of being paid off which means the groundwork for a new house and new property will rest on the shoulders of the graduate brothers and the undergraduate fundraising efforts. Damn this is exciting! In closing think about the contributions you can make to continue fulfilling the dreams of those who came before and who have and will come after you. May our Star continue to shine brightly over the campus of Tennessee Tech and in all places where a Theta Tau Fiji stands. Always proud to be a Phi Gamma Delta! Fraternally Yours, J.R. Gillette • Homecoming 2005 detailed schedule (Pages 14&15) • Pig Dinner...It’s coming, be ready (Pages 12&13) • General Wins Durrance Award (Pages 2&7) • Islander Returns (Pages 2&17) \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 2 F IJI I SLANDER R ETURNS !!!!! After a year of hiatus of one of the most coveted Fiji events around, undergraduates and graduates alike were ready for the infamous Fiji Islander. Islander 05 was quite eventful. We were proud as undergraduates to see all the graduates that came out. This really shows that fraternity life is not for college days alone. Saturday at about two in the morning some brothers got the idea to create a rather large campfire. Our engineers get together to build some really wild things. Well, this some how sparked (no pun intended) the chanting of PHI GAM and FIJI in between different campsites. It was awesome, because it was about two in the morning and everybody started getting fired up about our fraternity. We all woke up Saturday morning at about six from our alarm clock, Chip chopping down trees and beginning work, with several other grads, on one heck of a tree house. This was the beginning of an eventful day. This equation was thought up for the first exciting event of the day: tall rotting tree + tent in a bad spot = graduate (Meadors) paying undergraduate (Ubelhor) $120. Ah! The memories of Island (Continue Page 17) G ENERAL C OMMANDS V ICTORY We in the Theta Tau chapter of Phi Gamma Delta strive to for and to uphold a high ideal of excellence. In this endeavor are always we often encounter different awards and recognition for our efforts. Recently Brian Douglas, and long time Purple Legionnaire for the chapter received a highly esteemed honor. He was the 1st place recipient of the Durrance Award. This is an incredible honor for Brian and for the chapter as well. Brian, who has devoted a great deal of time to the chapter of the last several years, is nothing short of the excellence that this award recognizes him for. Brian, better known as General for his tour of active duty and the army before attending Tech and his service in the army National Guard during his years at Tech, has been a leader in the chapter since he first became a FIJI. His service as Purple Legionnaire is nothing short of the commitment that we saw from General as an undergraduate brother, where as President of the chapter he is noted for significant improvements in many lacking areas of the chapter, such as finance and scholarship, but most importantly leading the chapter to its first victory as Fraternity of the Year. This is a title that would continue to be claimed for years to come, as many of you well know. As Purple Legionnaire, General has continued the same type of leadership, and influence in the chapter that he did as an undergraduate brother. It is for the year of 2004 that Brian was most recognized for his aid, counsel, and contribution to the chapter in his many years as Purple Legionnaire. (Continued Page 7) Go prepared for the terrain. \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 3 P HI G AMMA D ELTA S CHOLARSHIP U PDATE The chapter did well the spring semester scholastically. The chapter’s semester GPA was a 2.93 which was above the male average. There were just fewer than fifty brothers that acquired a GPA of 3.0 or higher. Those that did get a 3.0 or higher will receive a free steak dinner at some point during the semester. The scholarship committee is working hard to keep the chapter’s grade point average as high as it can possibly be. We are give our brothers more incentive to work harder, such as more rewards for good test grades and possibly better rewards and gift certificates that really will try to push the brothers to achieve better scholarship. During the week brothers are encouraged to put their top grades up on the Brag Board located in the study room and after each week the top grade getter receives a coupon from a local restaurant for their efforts. Other things are also being implemented to try to continue to raise the chapters GPA. That is, after all, why we are all here at Tech in the first place. P HI G AMMA D ELTA F ALL R USH 2005 Rush started with a bang this year and was a non stop sprint until it was over. With Rush being the first week of class, we only had seven days to find the guys we wanted and talk them into taking one of the greatest opportunities anyone has ever offered them. Since Rush was only a week long, we had to take advantage of every opportunity possible. Thank you to all the graduates who emailed me names and numbers, that was great tool that I hope is used from here on out. Thursday night, we had a band party/cookout on the south patio. There was an incredible turnout of many freshmen guys and girls, and many of the guys that came out to the cookout continued to stick around and come to many of the various Rush nights. Friday morning, there was an extreme slip n’ slide set up in Sherlock Park. It was a rainy morning but still a few brothers set it up and called potentials to come out and a good time was had by all. In the afternoon, there was a cookout with the Phi Mu’s. We had chicken kabobs grilled by our very own Chef Preston Cloud, followed by ice cream sundaes. It was a great mixer to get to know the Phi Mu’s, but it also was a way to show rushees that we really are the gentlemen on campus. Saturday, we took our annual Rock Island trip with the biggest group I have ever seen. This time was one of the most crucial in getting to know new guys and show them what Phi Gam is all about, brotherhood. That night, we had a dance party and volleyball at the house, so we showed that we knew how to have a good time too. Monday was the Phi Gam Golf Classic and the brothers came together to build eighteen amazing, not your average miniature golf holes inside the Multipurpose Room of the RUC. 115 people The often imitated but never duwalked in the first 45 minutes. With the plicated Island Night many attractive Fiji girls caddying for us, guys were lined up going down the stairs. Over 120 guys signed in for Golf Night. Tuesday was the Black Diamond Casino held A full 18 better than anything at the house. Wednesday was the infamous Cookeville can offer. Fiji Island Night. Much work and preparation went into this night and it went spectacular. Island chicken, Miss Fiji Island 2004 – Jennifer Kisabeth, and many festively dressed brothers all were in appearance. It was fun times and the last chance we had to meet rushees and decide if they were worthy of a bid. Thursday was Gentlemen’s Night at the house with guest speaker, Michael LeMarbe. We had Stroud’s Bar-B-Q and President Bell makes an apshowed a video with various pictures and pearance at Phi Gam’s Rush videos from the last week. All in all we only gave out bids to less than 25% of the guys that came out to rush. It was a good Rush considering the circumstances of it being the first week, but Rush 365 and hopefully we will have a great turnout in the spring. \r\nV OLUME 27, N O . 1 P AGE 4 F UTURE FACES OF P HI G AMMA D ELTA T HE B ETA K APPA P LEDGE CLASS F ALL 2005 Daniel Baldwin Justin Bullock Daniel Burke Logan Cook Goodlettsville, TN Brotherhood Athletic Committee Social Wrestling Nashville, TN Nolensville, TN Andersonville, TN Football Hunting Drumming Phillip DeBerry Paul Golden Clay Hammer Daniel Kennedy Woodbury, TN Nashville, TN Andersonville, TN Historian Guitar Soccer Hunting Fairview, TN Sports Alexander Kirchhoff Jack Lee Doug May Ryan Rishel Homecoming Community Service President McDaniel, MD Franklin, TN Franklin, TN Hendersonville, TN Firefighting Paintball Golf Wakeboarding Jeff Sparrow Robert Stewart Jim Weakley Erice Wiens Jacob Mcknight Scholarship Pledge Treasurer House Recording Secretary Hendersonville, TN Morristown, TN Hendersonville, TN Clarksville, TN Hendersonville, TN Baseball Cars Disk Golf Hunting Rock Climbing \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 5 P LEDGE E DUCATION ….B UILDING B ETTER B ROTHERS Here’s a pie in your eye big bro. It is now fall 2005 with another semester of Rush and another semester of deciding pledges of Phi Gamma Delta. This fall we started out the semester with a pledge class of twenty-five guys. Due to unforeseen circumstances and some dropping out of the program we are now down to seventeen quality guys. Though this sounds like a small pledge class for a fall semester the fraternity is expecting big results from this pledge class as brothers. As pledge educators we are trying to build better brothers not better pledges. A part of building better brothers is the part of meeting the graduate brothers as well. We encourage the pledges to introduce themselves to each graduate brother that comes in town. Along with showing the pledges the importance of attending events and meeting the graduate brothers, we are also introducing new ideas of creating brotherhood amongst the chapter. This semester we are trying a new fundraiser idea for the pledges. Hopefully this idea will become a tradition for pledge classes to come. The idea is that the pledges will host some kind of formal dinner for the brothers and their dates. They will charge a certain amount of money which will help with raising funds for the pledge project. This will help with uniting a pledge class and also with getting the brothers together for a formal dinner. We have many goals as a pledge education committee. One of our biggest goals is educating the pledges about the fraternity. After the basic weeks of introduction we held elections for pledge class officers. Electing; President: Doug May, Treasurer: Bobby Stewart, Recording Secretary: Eric Wiens, and Historian: Dan Kennedy. These officers have really taken to the responsibility of their offices. Each one of them has put forth great effort in organizing and leading the pledge class. Weeks have gone by since their first week of basic introduction; now the task of completing the pledge project and getting ready for the Christmas party in now upon them. They seem to be ready for the task at hand. As pledge educators we are trying to instill in the pledges the values and traditions of Phi Gamma Delta. Showing them the commitment that joining Phi Gamma Delta involves. That once a person is through with there pledging and then they take that step into brotherhood their job is not through. P HI G AM C AMPUS S OCIAL E VENTS Fiji makes a power appearance at Phi Mu’s Halloween crush party. Our chapter has been around campus quite often so far this semester. We participated and won ADPi’s Diamond Days philanthropy which benefited the Ronald McDonald House. From winning we were able to benefit by having a meal cooked for us by ADPi. Brothers have also organized movies at the house, which consists of bringing your favorite old abandoned couches to the volleyball court for a movie projected on the side of the house. This has brought a lot of people down to the house. Also we have held mixers with both Phi Mu and ADPi sororities. We threw a “Hicks and Chicks” party with Sigma Chi at their house which was very well attended with brothers dressed in their finest Wranglers and cut-off plaid shirts. \r\nV OLUME 27, N O . 1 P AGE 6 T HE K ING OF THE H ILL IS R ECLAIMING H IS T HROWN Theta Tau started off this year with the mindset to reclaim what was ours and put Phi Gamma Delta on top again. We have succeeded thus far though sports. Being able to compete for All Sports again has fired everyone up and the intensity level in every sport is higher now than it has been in years. The football team started off the season with great determination but poor performance in losing to SAE, Sigma Chi, and going into 6 overtimes with Beta until we finally pulled out the win. Despite adversity, the fan turnout was still good and everyone knew it was just a matter of time until we put things together. In the final game of the season against TKE, we proved we were not to be taken lightly by defeating them 27-13 in a heated battle where there were at least four instances of bench-clearing brawls. This game sparked an intensity which carried us into the playoffs. In the first round, we faced our rival fraternity, Pike. The fan turnout was incredible and we dominated the entire game. Despite not being a major sport, Fiji participated in ultimate Frisbee and we were very successful. We went into the semi-finals boasting a 3-1 record as we faced the toughest team so far this year. Half the team had to leave in the second half to play our first soccer game and we were not able to pull out the win. The ultimate Frisbee team ended up finishing third for the year in all-campus. The scoring has changed in All Sports this year in the fact that soccer is now considered a major sport. As you well know, Fiji has dominated soccer for more than a decade and is looking to continue that trend as we begin this new season. We have started off well by defeating Kappa Sigma, the winner’s of football, 5-0. With Justin Givens and our powerful offense leading the way, we are sending a message to the rest of IFC that the night they play Phi Gam is the night they get embarrassed. Not to leave out our intimidating defense, we will not only cause embarrassment by running circles around them, but if they are able to get it on offense, our D will push them around with seemingly effortless ability. With our high placement in football and the expectation of beating everyone in soccer, we should rank first in All Sports by the end of the semester. P HI G AM C AR S HOW This year’s car show was another success raising over $1600 dollars for Multiple Sclerosis. There was a lot of hard work that went into preparation for this show. We returned to the fair grounds once again, and it was a large success. Our audio show was provided B.A.D. audio of Cookeville, which generated almost half on the money, plus the car show, with a wide range of vehicles from classics to current models. A few brothers and a couple of guys from Rhino Linings provided a little bit of a show with their jeeps, which was followed by a little random drag racing. Aside from a little rain it was a great show so if you’re in the area next July, and have a car you like to show off, grads are more then welcome to stop by and see what Phi Gam is up to. All stories aside we have to contribute our success greatly due to the efforts of a special graduate, who I give a big thanks to, Lee Wray. He set me up with Clear Channel Communications to originally help them put a car show together, and it led to a joint collaboration of our man power and their ability to put our name out around town. They set up vendors and helped with advertising, which took a lot of weight off of our shoulders. This allowed us to stay focused on the task ahead. Making this car show one that will set the president for others, and raise the bar again for Phi Gam. Fiji pride is contagious and even our girls caught the disease. Jorge Rojas & Mike Brockman ready to stampede right over Pike and into the IFC finals. Coach Jeff rallies the troops and reviews the game plan. \r\nP AGE 7 T HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI G ENERAL C OMMANDS V ICTORY C ONT ’ D Brian really worked with the chapter and with cabinet to turn the chapter around. With so much diversity in the chapter many problems can potentially arise with trying to get the group to work together, and agree. Brian really pushed the chapter to rise above, and prove our greatness despite the adversity set before the chapter. He constantly reminds the chapter of the strengths we all have, and that the only way to accomplish our goals, and to maintain our high standards is to stay together as a chapter. Divisions would only hurt the chapter. Overall Theta Tau not only works together and betters the chapter internationally, but once again dominated the campus in rush, with one of the most memorable and largest rushes yet, as well as most other things that we participated in. “During my 20+ years of involvement with the chapter and International, I can honestly say Brian is one of the most outstanding Purple Legionnaire’s that has served our great International Fraternity. Brian Douglas is an outstanding Purple Legionnaire and during the 2004 year went above and beyond the call of duty in serving his fraternity and its members. Brian is truly deserving of this year’s Durrance Award. “ –Robert Lee Wray DURRANCE AWARD The family of Francis M. Durrance (Washington & Lee 1907) donated a plaque to the Fraternity in 1966 in memory of their beloved father and devoted member of Phi Gamma Delta. The Durrance Award is presented to the most outstanding Purple Legionnaire in the Fraternity judged on the basis of personality, leadership, rapport with Chapter, and Fraternity service. Brian has also undertaken a few other projects for the chapter in his time as Purple Legionnaire. One project in specific was our new pledge manual. This was something that the chapter did to help improve pledge education, and accomplish the task of producing better brothers through our Pledging process. This manual took many hours, and really helped pledge ed in its endeavor to train and produce better brothers through its program. Another major task that he undertook was to help create an easier and more efficient way to pass information, and files from one cabinet to another. Previously there was a file cabinet in the care of the president that contained a hard copy of most of the information needed. This way of doing things contributed to many things being misplaced over the years. Brian has created a CD of all the important information needed to pasted on. This has greatly improved communication between the cabinets, and makes the transition much smoother and easier. There is no Phi Gamma Delta that is more deserving of this award. Brian is by far the best the Purple Legionnaire to have served for our chapter, and tops the rest with his dedication. It is an honor to have Brian honored with this great prestige, and Theta Tau is proud to have had such an outstanding brother and continue to benefit from his counsel and services. \r\nV OLUME 27, N O . 1 P AGE 8 ONLINE DONATIONS PROGRAM The TFI 1848 Club is one of the annual fund programs established by the Theta Tau Graduate Association. While the majority of your donation will go directly to funding House Corporation projects, a portion of your donation dollars are used to fund Graduate Development programs, like the Cigar Social at the 24th Anniversary Pig Dinner and the graduate dinner at Kingston Alley in Knoxville. If you join, $18.48 will be charged to your major Credit Card or deducted from your checking account automatically each month via PayPal, a leader in fast, easy, and secure online payments. Signing up is easy, just go to http://tinyurl.com/by34e and complete the secure online form. Don’t you think its time to give back to the Fraternity for all that it has given to you? Fraternally, J. Brent Ellis, ‘99 Perge! TECH FIJI, INC. | P.O. Box 1141 | Cookeville, TN 38503 | www.techfijiinc.com Any contributions or gifts made to Tech Fiji, Inc. or the Theta Tau Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta through this pro- \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 9 GRADUATE SPOTLIGHT H AL B ALTHROP C LASS 1984 Recently we have been focusing a lot of recent graduates of the chapter in our spotlights, as well as one or two of our soldiers due to the activity in Iraq over the recent years. With the 25th annual Pig Dinner coming up very soon Theta Tau thought it would start digging a little deeper into its past to highlight some of its older graduates. One of our graduates, Hal Balthrop, has recently become more involved with Tech and Theta Tau again because his daughter Caitlin started school this year at Tech as a freshman. Hal has obviously been a enthusiastic FIJI from the day he pledged on through until now. He is yet another great example that Phi Gam is not for college days alone. His daughter was one of our best rushers that we had this year. We asked her if her dad ever talked much about being Fiji, and what he did in college. “I grew up my whole life hearing about how Fijis were such great guys, and coming to Tech confirmed it for me. My dad really enjoyed his experience as a Fiji in college, and obviously shares a unique bond with most of the Fiji guys I've met here, even though he really didn't know them. I don't know all of the secrets of Fiji, but I do know that somehow I now have about 60 brothers looking out for me on campus. It has been a blast getting to know them, and I am really glad my dad is a Fiji,” was what she had to say. While Hal was an undergraduate brother he served in various committee chair positions through the years. Brother Balthrop was commonly known as the "dancing king" as we enjoyed many parties at the old Fiji House! On campus he was a TTU Cheerleader and also served on many school-sponsored committees and events. It was this type of involvement that was representative of most of my contemporary Fraternity Brothers that made the Theta Tau Chapter known and respected at Tech and in Cookeville at large. Brother Balthrop can honestly say that although we didn't all pal around together all the time, all of the Brothers contributed something that made us special as a group. He says that he can understand and appreciate the importance of that better now. He expressed great pleasure to see that that heritage, the conventional wisdom and local reputation exists and flourishes today! After graduating from TTU with a BS in Civil Engineering in 1984 he worked in Environmental Engineering in both the private sector and the public sector. Most of his experience has been with Metro Water Services in Nashville, Tennessee's largest Water Utility. He is currently an Assistant Director responsible for the water distribution system and sewer collection system. They serve 500,000 customers with a total operating and capital budget of $180 million. He is also an Officer in the Tennessee Society of Professional Engineers, President of my local Kiwanis Club and Past-President of their children's school, Martin Luther King, Jr Academic Magnet in Nashville. Over the years he has taught Sunday School, coach league sports and served in various civic and community events. More importantly, since graduating from TTU, he married Kerri (Elrod) a 1983 TTU graduate in 1985 and am happy to say that we are still married and happier than ever. They now have three children, identical twin daughters, Keely (4th Class at the United States Coast Guard Academy) and Caitlin (Freshman at TTU!) and a son, Halston (Sophomore at Martin Luther King Magnet). All are studying Engineering or pre-Engineering (Halston). Brother Balthrop had this to say about his involvement over the years in Phi Gamma Delta. “I learned many things through my involvement with Phi Gamma Delta and they include: 1. That it is best being part of something that is not just for you or about you, not only for the group but mostly for you as an individual - selfsacrifice for your Brothers. 2. There is honor in the persistence to continue to do what is right even when it is unpopular (I have been on both sides of this lesson).” \r\nV OLUME 27, N O . 1 P AGE 10 25 years of Phi Gamma Delta at Tennessee Tech started by this outstanding group of men. \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 11 25th Annual Frank Norris Pig Dinner April 22, 2006 Come enjoy a fine meal and some great brotherhood. Remember spouses and significant others are able to attend. This year we will have the pleasure of hearing Bill Martin, the Executive Director, as our guest speaker for this year’s pig dinner. We are excited to have such a prestigious Phi Gamma Delta to come and speak at this event. This Pig Dinner promises to be one of the biggest one’s we have had to date at Theta Tau. We look forward to the arrival of our graduates, both new and old, and near and far. Without you all Pig Dinner isn’t Pig Dinner. If you haven’t been to a pig dinner in a while this is the one to make it to. After all, Phi Gamma Delta is not for college days alone. So start planning now to be here this year if you haven’t already. You’ve got to give it to the pig. \r\nV OLUME 27, N O . 1 A N OTE F ROM P AGE 12 THE P IG ... Waking up everyday knowing your own destiny is hard on a person. You wake up every day thinking, is today the day? Well after this agony, you start to thinking whether it will really happen or not. Should I try to fight it or should I just welcome my destiny and just let everything go? It’s hard going through these things everyday, especially when all you do is lay in your own filth with nothing to do but just look around at what’s going on and eating just about anything that’s put in front of you. After several years of these days strung together I had realized and come to welcome my destiny. Now that I had become welcoming of my destiny, I tried to imagine how it would happen. I thought will it be quick or will it be drawn out and torturous? What will it feel like? Will the person in charge of my destiny know exactly what they’re doing to me? These questions used to haunt me, until I realized it was about to happen. Signs of my destiny were seen, such as when ‘the boss’ came to see if I was ready to go. I was like what the #@%!, let’s get it over with. And I’ll be damned if it didn’t hurt like #@%!. All the worst possible scenarios were coming true. It was long, drawn out and torturous, it hurt like #@%!, and the person in charge didn’t know what his #%@ was from a hole in the wall. After this, I made it my life’s work to let each and everyone of the readers of this note to know that if you are going to cook a pig. PLEASE! PLEASE! KNOW WHAT THE #@%! YOU’RE DOING! FOR THE SAKE OF EVERY PIG EVERYWHERE, KNOW HOW TO KILL AND COOK A PIG THE RIGHT WAY! Thank you. Your former friend, Pig Don’t miss what new ways the Theta Tau Pledges come up with to somehow take a perfectly edible pig and transform it into something that looks like it is only suitable to be served at a bad Chinese buffet. Pig Dinner Pig 2005 \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 13 HOMECOMING 2005 SCHEDULE DATES AND EVENTS TIME/ LOCATION Wednesday, October 26 Window Painting 8:00 A.M. /SBS Bookstore Monday, October 31: Banners 8:00-8:30 A.M./Tech Pride Room Tuesday, November 1: Canned Food Drive 8:00-10:30 A.M./Tech Pride Room Western Movie Night 6:00 P.M./Derryberry Auditorium Wednesday, November 2: Field Games 3:00 P.M. / President’s Yard or Sherlock Park* Thursday, November 3: Pie Eating Contest 11:15 A.M./South Patio** Tech Star 7:00 P.M./Derryberry Auditorium Friday, November 5: Pep Rally 4:00 P.M./Memorial Gym Saturday, November 6: Parade 10:30 A.M./Dixie Ave. *FIELD GAMES WILL BE HELD IN OVC ROOM IF IT RAINS!!!! Game Against Sanford Bulldogs 1:30 P.M. / Tech Stadium Directions To The Float Site The float site will once again be at the barn this year, for those of you who are more recently graduated and familiar with the site. For those who aren’t and would like to come out. Go south on Willow past the interstate to Ditty Rd— Turn Left onto Ditty Rd. (Road will be right after 2nd convenience store on your left. Go down Ditty to Verbal Sheryl Rd. (Road is unmarked, so turn left on to the road at the Cookeville Trash/Recycling Deposit. Drive down this road, and you will see the barn on your left. This is the float site. \r\nV OLUME 27, N O . 1 P AGE 14 G ET R EADY F OR H OMECOMING 2005 Tennessee Technological University’s 2005 homecoming will be west of the wild. That is WILD WILD WEST themed. We will be doing homecoming with Phi Mu this time around. This is going to be a great homecoming. We have already started working on many events. Phi Mu’s have been putting many hours into the pep rally cheer, and it looks to be shaping up well. We have a great float idea and working out the details at the present moment. For those of you that have worked on the floats in the past during your undergrad year, you know how much time and effort goes into this. The idea now involves several moving parts, and the use of pledge power on the float. If you would like to help out here is how to do so: donate money or canned food to help out with the canned food drive, come out and help work on the float. Most importantly come out and participate or show your support for kazoo band and then head to the game and represent the great fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta. Remember this event really is for you guys, and is another chance to stay involved with the chapter, and see where we are now. We have been really trying to strengthen graduate and undergraduate bonds, and what better way to do that than being able to meet, hang out, and share great stories, and make new ones. Let’s start now with Homecoming 2005. S UMMER P ARTY R EPLINISHES S PRING ’ S L ARGE V ACANCY This summer we added six new brothers of the Beta Iota pledge class to the chapter. The chapter celebrated by having the annual summer party which this year was held at the Hog Barn, a local bar here in Cookeville. Brothers and girls came back into town to get together and enjoy some good brotherhood and have a good time. These six individuals will fill the shoes of those that graduated during the spring semester. The brothers that graduated were integral in helping run the chapter. We lost several former cabinet members in Mitch Robinson, Dave Price and Mohammed Elbeitam. We lost several others that also led the chapter such as Chip Walton, Zeke Shaver, Wes Hicks, Luke Sowards, Tim Yandell, and Andrew Smith. Although these brothers have graduated and will be missed the chapter looks to both last years fall and spring pledge classes to fill the gaps that those that graduated have left behind. Brothers from the Beta Iota pledge class have already stepped up to the challenge to fill such big shoes. Phi Gamma Delta’s first float back in 1979, when we were still a colony. 1st prize even then. \r\n PAGE 15 THE GOLDEN EAGLE FUJI Fil LAND PICTURE BOARD \r\n VOLUME 27, No. | PAGE 16 Fiji LAND PICTURE BOARD \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 17 I SLANDER R ETURNS C ONT ’ D Even the smaller vehicles were pleased with the festivities of the weekend Who says the outdoors aren’t comfortable This event would not have been as funny, but the fact that the tent was moved before Meadors knocked the tree down makes it hilarious. If the tent would not have been moved it would have been fine, but ironically it was moved and the tree demolished it. Saturday was full of a great time for those brothers that really enjoy a good time offroading. For those of you have access to the graduate email have already heard Ryan Cizmarik confess to a tragedy from the last island during this time of festivities. Ciz managed to plant his nice luxury 4-runner into this sinkhole. This year, though, we were prepared. Several brothers brought their project cars out, and were able to drive in and through the sink hole that island never fails to provide us with. For those of you that have lost the battle with the hole in past years, this year we got the best of it. Not to fear though, Saturday night was fun. The pledges built a huge bonfire. It was awesome. All the brothers stood around with all the ladies singing our songs such as American Pie and Boo-bah-ba-loubop. After singing we all broke it down, and it echoed off the hillsides. We later proceeded to the dance party that was held at the elaborately built tree house that graduate brothers Chip and Demo built. We had a generator powering a home audio surround sound set of speakers. We all got down, and danced with some of the finer ladies that Tech had to offer. All in all it was a good weekend other than Ubelhor being pissed off about his tent being smashed. We all are looking forward to seeing more graduates at Fiji Islander 06. Never forget the brotherhood and all the memories of fraternity life, and more importantly always remember that it is not for college days alone. Oh, and just for the record the chapter did stay and clean up all of the mess that can accompany a successful and eventful island. Lets face it despite some of our best efforts it is hard to keep a camp site from becoming a bit of a trash heap. Especially when you take 150200 people on one of the largest camping trips I have ever seen. You think that we’ll be able to roast a marshmallow on that fire? Roadside cleanup, always a favorite community service event C OMMUNITY S ERVICE U PDATE Many community service events have also taken place so far this semester. As in past semester we are helping tutor middle school aged children at a after-school program called Teens-need-Training, TNT. Several brothers volunteer their time to go tutor on Monday and Wednesday afternoons at the Luke Denny helps hurricane CookevillethPolice Department’s office located victims clean up after disaster on West 7 Street. Our chapter was recognized for helping with TNT in the Herald Citizen, the Cookeville paper, which included brothers and the kids as well as the police officers that help out with the program also. Brothers are also helping the local Cookeville community by helping with Cookeville’s Fall Fun Fest, which was held in downtown Cookeville. \r\nV OLUME 27, N O . 1 P AGE 18 Brothers acted as carnies, taking up tickets to games for kids and also partaking in the same games when it got slow and getting to see the local Cookeville residents. A road side cleanup also took place with several brothers and pledges assisting in cleaning up a long section of 10th Street from beside campus all the way to the highway 111 junction. Our chapter has also organized a blanket drive to help get supplies for Cookeville’s local homeless shelters. Brothers set up a table outside of Wal-Mart and took donations and new and used blankets to give to the shelters. WalMart agreed to give twelve hundred dollars worth of blankets to the cause. Brothers of Phi Gam willing to give up their fall break to help out those in need. They did 720 hours of work all in all for the group over the course of their trip. Also on a national level brothers are donating their time and energy to help those that need it. About five brothers volunteered their fall break weekends to travel down to the New Orleans area to help that area to recover from the devastation of Hurricane Rita. Your Thoughts... Please provide any feedback on the Golden Eagle Fiji and Graduate Relations you might have. Also, if there is anything you would like to see in future issues or if you would like to be the Graduate Spotlight, please let us know. Quality of the articles? Good Fair Poor Graduate Communication? Good Fair Poor Good Fair Poor Additional Comments: Name Address Email Address Phone Please detach and return to: Phi Gamma Delta Attn. Graduate Relations Chairman 527 N. Peachtree Ave Cookeville, TN 38501 E-mail: gradrelations@ttufiji.com Topics covered? Would you like to be featured as a Graduate Spotlight? Yes No \r\nIf you have any comments or suggestions about the Golden Eagle Fiji or would like to be featured in the next issue please contact: Robert Porter (2005 Graduate Relations Chairman) Phone: 843-906-4915 E-mail: rjporter21@tntech.edu IMPORTANT DATES: 25th Pig Dinner: April 22nd, 2006 Homecoming: November 5th VISIT US ONLINE WWW. TTUFIJI. COM PERGE`! P HI G AMMA D ELTA 527 N. P EACHTREE A VE C OOKEVILLE , TN 38501 NON-PROFIT ORG. U.S. POSTAGE PAID PERMIT #241 COOKEVILLE, TN Address Label