The Golden Eagle FIJI THETA TAU CHAPTER OF PHI GAMMA DELTA "The forces that have been greatest in my life have been God and the college fraternity that molded me." - Thomas Riley Marshall (Wabash 1872) VOLUME 26, No.1 Spring 2005 \r\n \r\nThe Golden Eagle Fiji Winter 2005 L ETTER THETA TAU FROM THE Optimism. A man can’t lead successfully without it. Optimism is this President’s creed. Why am I optimistic about the Theta Tau chapter? I am optimistic because we have endured a year long probation; a probation in which its intent was meant to stop us, or in the very least, break our spirit. However, that didn’t happen. Instead, we laughed in the face of adversity and accomplished what no one but ourselves thought was possible: a record Fall Rush. Brother Coolidge was right, “Persistence and determination alone are omnipotent.” The momentum from the Fall has continued into 2005, where we have added 29 brothers to our ranks and pledged another 10 men during our Spring recruitment. With the quality Some of the biggest changes are centered around scholarship and campus involvement. We have added study halls for brothers and pledges that will help edge us towards our goal of a 3.0 chapter GPA. We emphasize that success in life is more easily attained by striving for excellence, most notably in the academic arena. Brothers are filling leadership positions in IFC and we hope to add more brothers to the student government as well. We have brothers actively participating in several religious organizations and taking leadership roles in those organizations. It is these aforementioned C HAPTER R ETREAT Theta Tau spent Martin Luther King weekend in Lexington, KY for our annual chapter retreat. Over 90% of the chapter made the trip and the attitude of S PECIAL P RESIDENT of men we have in our chapter and changes we’ve implemented, we plan on continuing our dominance on Tennessee Tech’s campus. TO The new cabinet implemented some new changes to the traditional format and POINTS OF INTEREST : reasons that give me hope for our chapter and for our dream to be realized and continued in the generations to come. We are having fun and living that dream our founders intended. And for that I am optimistic. Fraternally, J.R. Gillette ‘05 JR and his girlfriend Andrea Turner at Formal (What does she see in him?!?) IHQ the brothers following the trip could best be described as enthusiastic. VOLUME 26 No. 1 allowed the chapter to have a vote on all their proposed policies, budget, and standing rules of order. (Continued Page 2) • Fall Rush • Beta Iota Pledge Class • IHQ Retreat • Fiji Leadership Academy • Scholarship Update • Athletic Update • Community Service Update • Highlighted Graduates • Pictures from Fiji Land \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 2 C HAPTER R ETREAT Cabinet also outlined their goals for the upcoming year. 1) To achieve a chapter GPA of 3.0. To achieve this we will be offering study halls for the pledges and brothers and providing positive incentives for good performance in class. 2) To achieve 85% pledge retention. This can be achieved by pledging smarter men, requiring study hall for pledges, and beefing up the pledge education scholarship program. TO IHQ CONT 3) To have fun and take pride in being a Fiji. After all, we are one of the top greek letter societies on earth. Finally, we brought into our midst 29 new brothers. These gentlemen are eager for knowledge and excited about our chapter! As an older brother it brings joy to my heart to see the passion these new brothers have for Phi Gamma Delta already. I am very excited about the future of our chapter, and I feel confident that men of this caliber will only propel Theta Tau to greatness in years to come. 29 New Brothers from the Beta Theta pledge class at IHQ in Lexington, KY V ARIOUS G RADUATE T ID -B ITS Wedding Bells are Ringing • Kevin Collins and Kathy Le are getting married on August 20th 2005. The wedding will be held at St. Jude Catholic church in Chattanooga TN. Once married they will be living in Chattanooga. We're both really excited and very busy saving money and planning wedding stuff. –KC • Brian Douglas (General) was married to Chandra K. McCall on February 12, 2005 in Nashville, TN. The ceremony was held at the Scarritt - Bennett, Wightman Chapel and the reception was held at Union Station Hotel. • Brian and Chandra Ryan Fulkerson will be marrying Emily Startup (a former Theta Tau Sweetheart) on June 18, 2005. I think the location is Springfield, TN, but I’m not exactly sure on that location. –Ciz \r\nV OLUME 26, N O . 1 P AGE 3 2005 FIJI L EADERSHIP A CADEMY In 1949 at Denison University, Phi Gamma Delta started a dynamic leadership program that would benefit chapters all across the nation by teaching chapters how to mold their future leaders into successful ones. Now fifty-five years later the FIJI Leadership Academy continues to fine tune brothers into guides for great leadership and service. The 2005 FIJI Academy was held in St. Louis, Missouri on January 7th through the 9th at the Union Station Hotel, a once thriving train station turned mall and hotel. Theta Tau had one of the largest representations of all the attending chapters. Composed of nine undergraduates: J.R. Gillette, Ben Goddard, Jared Medlin, Justin Jolly, Luke Denney, Kyle Davis, Mo Elbeitam, Matt Hickey, and Josh McGrew and two graduate brothers: Brian Douglas and Brent Ellis representing Theta Tau. permanent home there since it has enjoyed improved attendance and chapter involvement. The three day event featured several leadership seminars including sessions for the incoming President, Treasurer, and Recruitment Chairman. This years Academy focus was on improving recruitment and the theme was a “recruitment boot camp”. Kyle Davis , our 2005 Recruitment Chairman, attended the grueling three day boot camp and he left with great aspirations for our chapter’s recruitment strategy. Personally, this was my second Fiji Academy. And I can say the trip was well worth it. If you ever make it out to the Union Station Hotel during Academy I suggest you start the night at the Hooters in the station the rest will work itself out... Mo Elbeitam ‘05 This was the second consecutive year that the FIJI Leadership Academy was held in St. Louis . It has likely found a 2005 Fiji Leadership Academy Attendees From (L-R): JR Gillette, Brent Ellis, Brian Douglas, Kyle Davis, Jared Medlen, Matt Hickey, Mo Elbeitam, Luke Denney, Ben Goddard, Josh McGrew, and Justin Jolly \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 4 GRADUATE SPOTLIGHT J IMMY N ELSON ‘02 Jimmy and his wife Alex Hi, my name’s Jimmy Nelson. I graduated in 2002 with a degree in Chemical Engineering. Now, I live in Knoxville where I try to avoid most of the orange, and I work in Oak Ridge where I try and avoid most of the radiation. Currently, I work at the Y-12 National Security Complex in Oak Ridge. For those who don’t know what Y-12 is, Y12 is a part of the Department of Energy’s nuclear weapons complex. My official job title is System Engineer. I spend most of my day trying to keep a bunch of ancient equipment up and running. The down side is that I don’t get to share a lot about what I do. The bright side is that I get to deal with unique materials and problems every day. There just aren’t too many places in the world where you can do the kind of work that my com- pany does. So please be kind if an FBI agent shows up asking questions about me. I’m married to Alex (Donatell) Nelson, a Kappa Delta from Tech. Alex works as a physical therapist here at Patricia Neal Rehab Center. We don’t have any children, but we do have a golden retriever named Morgan who is pretty close to a real child. Morgan has graduated from obedience school though. So, I guess that should count for something. Actual human children aren’t in the near future for us, but we both really look forward to the time when kids enter our lives. For now, we are happy looking forward to full night’s of sleep. Alex and I are members at Church Street United Methodist. I love this church because I get to work with the youth group and play on the basketball team. The youth group at this church is made up of some very amazing junior high and high school kids, and it is a real treat to get to work with them every week. I’m still not very good at basketball, but our team is 4-1 so far this season. If anyone is coming through Knoxville, make sure that you look us up. Quite a few Fiji grads live around here, and Alex and I always have a spare bed for a Fiji. As always, I’m very proud of the fraternity and our chapter at Tech in particular. Aww, isn’t Morgan cute! I can’t say the same for Jimmy... J OHNATHAN S MITH ‘97 Jonathan and his wife Cassie Quite a bit has changed since my college days at Tech. I graduated with a BS in Accounting in 1997 after serving the chapter as Recording Secretary and President. I married Cassie Letner Smith, (the Fiji sweetheart of 1996) in May 1997 and promptly started graduate school – because that is what those of us do that cannot find jobs be- cause of too much fun in college. I soon started work for Service Transport, a local trucking company where I was promoted to the Network Administrator and my career in IT began. After graduating with my MBA from Tech in December 1998, I was offered the position of MIS Director at Spruce Pine Community Hos- pital in Spruce Pine, NC. Spruce Pine is located in between Asheville and Boone, just outside of ski country. I have been in Spruce Pine ever since and now serve the hospital as Chief Financial Officer. I am currently enrolled at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill where I am finishing up a Masters in Public Health/Healthcare \r\nV OLUME 26, N O . 1 Administration. Since moving to Spruce Pine, I have served as Scoutmaster of Troop 501. The troop has grown from 3 to 23 scouts and the troop has had three scouts earn their Eagle Scout award in the last year. I am a member of First Baptist Church in Spruce Pine and have traveled to Anchorage, AK as part of a Mission Team P AGE 5 from the NC Baptist Association. I am also a member of the Spruce Pine Kiwanis Club. I have enjoyed coaching my nephew, Lane (8) in baseball over the last 3 years. In my spare time, I love to golf, hike and take pictures. Most importantly, Cassie and I are expecting our first child in April 2005. I have stayed in touch with some of my Fiji brothers over the years and am thankful for the great memories I have from college. We hope to get back to Nashville/ Cookeville to see some of you later this year after the baby is born. Mark Redferrin '98 I became a brother in Phi Gamma Delta in the summer of 1994. After a hugely successful yet somewhat humble pledge class of 4 in the Spring '94 semester, 3 of us went on to be initiated. I served as as community service chairman for one semester, and served a couple of years as an officer. After graduating from Tech I went to work in the mental health field for a couple of years before deciding to return to graduate school. I've been working with the State Child Protective Services for about 3 years now.. It's very rewarding work, and I'm proud of the work I do (despite the bad publicity you see on the news almost every week)!! few times, we finally settled in Rutherford County to raise our family. I have a beautiful full-of-energy 6-year-old daughter named Abbey. Between her violin, modeling, soccer and dance, I occasionally have time to squeeze in a round of golf. We have 2 other children (of sorts), our dog Buddy and Abbey's new pet snake Angel. Although I am a relatively new grad, I've been gone long enough to see what life is like on the other side, and would like to share some thoughts on that. I wish I could say my service made a difference to the chapter, but I think it would be more accurate to say that the chapter made a huge difference in me. I have made so many friends through Phi Gamma Delta, some I keep up with, some who've moved on. But the thing I remember the most and still live today is that treasured and sometimes cliché motto "Not for college days alone". I remember hearing that thrown around in undergrad school and not paying it a lot of attention. I met my wife at my first Phi Gam Party in the Fall of '93. After getting married in 1998, graduating, moving a Even at all those Pig Dinners, seeing graduates come to town, party like there's no tomorrow (DJ, Reno, re- member?), then go home to "the real world", it never sank in. Until the day I woke up one day and realized, "I'm in this real world now". To this day I am still the best of friends with several brothers. We still get together a couple of times a year to hang out and watch our families grow. There's nothing more comforting than knowing that you've always got friends out there, even if it's been a while since you've seen or heard from them. It never ceases to amaze me when I look back. Some of the people I call brother I would have never chosen to be friends with otherwise. But That's the beauty of brotherhood, there's room for everyone! I hope each of you have gained as much from your fraternity experience as I have, and I look forward to what the future brings for myself, my brothers, and Phi Gamma Delta! “I wish I could say my service made a difference to the chapter, but I think it would be more accurate to say that the chapter made a huge difference in me.” \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 6 24th Anniversary Frank Norris Pig Dinner April 22-24, 2005 Schedule Friday: 4:00 -- Registration @ Phi Gamma Delta House 6:00 -- Brotherhood Cookout @ Phi Gamma Delta House Saturday: 7:00 -- Golf Registration 8:00 -- Golf Tournament (Place: Southern Hills Country Club) 2:00 -- McCarty's Meeting (Place TTWK) 5:00 -- Cigar Social @ Phi Gamma Delta House Sponsored by the 1848 Club 6:00 -- 24th Anniversary Frank Norris Pig Dinner @ Leslie Town Center 11:00 -- Party @ Crawdaddy's (Downtown Cookeville $3 cover, $1 drafts and $12 LIT pitchers) Hotel Lodging provided by Baymont Inn & Suites Phone: (931) 525-6668 Please call the hotel to make your reservation. Rooms are reserved under Phi Gamma Delta Our special Guest speaker will be Bill Bracewell, a 1968 graduate of the University of Georgia. He was the Phi Gamma Delta Education Director ( 1982-1988 ) and an Archon Councilor from 1988-1992. Brother Bracewell was the recipient of the Coulter Cup for 1996-1997 for his work at the Kappa Deuteron Chapter. Online Registration www.ttufiji.com/pigdinner **Please Direct any questions to: ** pigdinner@ttufiji.com (Mail in Registration card on page 13) \r\nV OLUME 26, N O . 1 P AGE 7 C OMMUNITY S ERVICE U PDATE Service is one of the values of Phi Gamma Delta and the brothers of the Theta Tau chapter are always giving back to the local community. We have many different service events that brothers are actively participating in. Several brothers have continued our support of the Cookeville Housing Authority’s after school program, Teenie Weenies. Brothers go to two different locations and tutor the children in the program 4 days a week. Our chapter cosponsored the Tennie Weenie’s Christmas party and the chapter will also be sponsoring their Easter party and Easter Egg hunt. Our chapter has continued its support of Multiple Sclerosis. By helping with their annual M.S. Walk for Life, brothers volunteered their time to pass out registration information and brochures to local businesses to promote the upcoming event. The walk will be held in April and our brothers will be actively involved the day of the event. Our annual car show will be held July 16 in conjunction with Clear Channel Communications. We hope that this alliance will enable us to reach more participants and raise even more money for M.S. Our chapter has also volunteered to help with Windows of the World, TTU’s international festival. Where brothers will help set up and take down the symposium which focuses on various facets of our world – study abroad, disappearing cultures, and dance expressions. These are just some of the aspects of how the brothers of Theta Tau have and will continue to serve Tennessee Tech as well as the City of Cookeville. Santa even made a stop at the Teenie Weenies Christmas party P HI G AM A THLETICS U PDATE Phi Gamma Delta continues to battle it out in athletics in the spring of 2005 with wrestling, basketball, and a whole host of other sports. FIJI Basketball has proved to be a fun time with everyone getting together to support our team. So far in the season we have dominated Beta Theta Pi and Alpha Gamma Sigma and only two losses. The season came to a halt, but only to start up the IFC Wrestling Tournament. Participating were brothers Jared Medlen, Bobby Norwood, Joseph Luncford, Brad Hodges, Josh McCaslin, Marcus Heflin, David Degrie, Ben Goddard, and Josh McGrew. They were also accompanied by two of our recent pledges, Kevin Casey and Marcus Heflin. Degrie, Goddard, and McGrew advanced into the second round, and Medlen brought it home for FIJI with 1st place in his weight class. Greek Week is upon us, and Phi Gam is out in force. With a win in arm wrestling, our presence has been strong thus far. Upcoming sports include softball, arena football, golf, indoor soccer, dodge ball, sand volleyball, a biathlon, ping pong, horseshoes, and billiards & darts. Wrestling for FIJI Kevin Casey (Heavyweight) Marcus Heflin (211-219) Bobby Norwood (201-210) Josh McGrew (194-200) * Joseph Luncford (186-193) Ben Goddard (171-178) * Josh McCaslin (163-170) David Degrie (148-155) * Brad Hodges (140-147) J ARED M EDLEN (131-139) ** *A DVANCED TO 2 ND R OUND **C AHMPION OF C LASS Fiji vs KA: Brad Tursky drives the lane! \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 8 T HE B ETA I OTA P LEDGE C LASS Graduates, Behold how good and pleasant it is for brothers to dwell together in unity. If you are reading this article, then it is evident that you still deeply care for our beloved chapter. As pledge educator, I am honored to be able to usher in a new generation of worthy men who desire to show their allegiance to Phi Gamma Delta through pledgeship. As you all know our recruitment is very selective, and as a result of Spring Recruitment, we were able to pledge ten gentleman who portray the values of a Phi Gam: Friendship, Knowledge, Service, Morality, and Excellence. Our new spring pledges consist of not only second semester freshmen, but also sophomores who have seen in their previous semesters how FIJI has impacted their classmates as well the TTU community. study halls for the pledges. These study halls are held in the library and consist of seven supervised hours of study per week with the brothers. The purpose is to create better, more consistent study habits that encourage peer/peer interactions at reasonable times of the day, not just after all the social events have ended in the evening. In addition to the study halls, the pledges will have to meet with their professors every two weeks to have a “Professor Evaluation” form signed pertaining to their performance and attendance in their classes. Along with the professor forms, they will also complete additional study hours with their big brothers. Frank Norris Pig Dinner and will host the graduates for their reunion weekend. This semester promises to be an exciting time not only for our new pledges but for the chapter as well. As always, we desire and encourage our graduates to be involved in our pledging process. If you have any ideas, questions, or want to come speak please contact me ( jahenry22@tntech.edu) so we can schedule you a time. PURPLE BLOOD, PURPLE PRIDE…! Jeff Henry ‘05 Pledge Educator 2005 Other highlights for the semester include an upcoming Pledge Retreat (March 18-20) to brother Ben Goddard’s farm in Dandridge, TN, a house improvement project, as well as This semester we are taking participation in selected fundnew steps in striving for continraisers and community service ual excellence, especially in the projects. The pledges will also area of scholarship. We have have a major role in this year’s successfully started mandatory S PRING R ECRUITMENT 2005 2005 started off right with a great rush. Spring rush started the first full week back, giving us only six days to get everything together, but a lot of planning went into it over the break. Monday started off official rush with the Phi Gam Disco. Straight from the Goodwill disco outfits, roller skating waitresses, and DJ BJ throwing down jams straight from Studio 54 were the highlights of the night. We had about 30 or more guys come down to the house each night thanks to flyers, talking to guys we already wanted, as well as some great dorm storming by the new brothers. The girls helped a lot with serving food as well as drinks to all the rushees. Also our sweetheart, Sara Johnson, made sure every- one who came through the door had signed in and a nametag. Tuesday, Fiji Sports Night, was a great night to meet guys. We had foosball, ping-pong, a Flickball tournament, as well as a Madden 2005 tournament with $10 gift certificates to Hibbet’s for each winner. We had girls bring desserts to go with the 200 wings we got from Craw- “This semester we are taking new steps in striving for continual excellence, especially in the area of scholarship.” \r\nV OLUME 26, N O . 1 P AGE 9 daddy’s. Wednesday was our last night to get people down to the house and really get to know the guys we wanted, so we threw down with the Black Diamond Casino. It went over great with Texas Hold ‘Em, Craps, as well as Roulette and Plinko. It was by far our biggest night, with a big turnout of guys and girls, with an auction at the end of the night composed of a bunch of “prizes” the brothers brought or bought. Gentlemen’s night was highlighted by Stroud’s BBQ and special guest speaker Mark Morgan giving some words of insight and inspiration to the 15 guys we gave bids to. Overall, we got 11 bids back and have a great Beta Iota pledge class. They are all either exceptional scholars, athletes, all around good guys, or a combination of the three. If this rush is any indication of what is to come in the fall, I’m very excited about the enthusiasm of the brothers and hope to top last year’s record-breaking fall rush. Sports Night is ALWAYS crazy! Luke Sadler ‘06 2005 Rush Co-Chair T HE B ETA I OTA P LEDGE C LASS C OMPOSITE Alex Barbeau Mt. Juliet, TN Video Games, Saturn Kevin Casey Cookeville, TN Car, Shooting, Fishing Marcus Heflin Nashville, TN B-Ball, Football Fadi Khayatt Nashville, TN Camping, Guitar, Swim Jacky King Jr. Carthage, TN God, B-Ball, Football Robert Lankford Graysville, TN Jeep, Mario Kart Chris McReynolds Cookeville, TN God, Paintball, Computer Chad Moore Franklin, TN Computers, God, People Matt Nobles Murfreesboro, TN God, Golf, B-Ball Jonathan Ricks Morristown, TN Hunting, Girls, God βΙ \r\n THE GOLDEN EAGLE FUJI PICTURES FROM FIJI LAND \r\n VOLUME 26, No. | PAGE Il PICTURES FROM FIJI LAND THE FRATERNITY PHI GAMMA ; eat le) TNS HEAD( ‘OUNDE! Renal \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 12 S CHOLARSHIP U PDATE 40 BROTHERS THAT MADE A 3.0 OR HIGHER WITH 14 MAKING THE DEAN ’ S LIST FOR GPA 3.5 OR HIGHER ! Scholastic achievement is very important to the brothers of Theta Tau. After all, scholarship is one of our five values. Last year our chapter performed very well academically, however we did fall short of our goal of a 3.0 chapter GPA. Our chapter’s average GPA was 2.86 with the pledge class average at 2.85. Moving forward it is imperative that we implement new ideas to improve pledge class scholarship. There were 40 brothers that made a 3.0 or higher out of our 80 man chapter, with three people making a 4.0. (Six Clicks!). We had four- teen brothers make the Dean’s list last semester, 3.5 or better GPA. Compared to the other fraternities we finished second to Sigma Chi who had a GPA of 2.962. Our chapter did better than both the all Greek average which was 2.685 and the all male average 2.616. Theta Tau will continues to push for our goal of 3.0 as we move into this new year. Last semester amendments were made to the by-laws increasing the minimum GPA to pledge, be initiated, serve as a committee chairman, and to be on cabinet. We hope that this across the board increase will help us attract and retain quality individuals to better our chapter. We will continue to raise the bar, and strive to attain our goals. P ARTY !!!! Fear not, Theta Tau is not all work and no play. After all, we are a social fraternity. Over the past few months there have been several parties thrown at the house. Many of which become the talk of campus. St. Valentines Day Massacre In December we had our annual Christmas party, that started at the house then moved to McClouds for refreshments later that night. Beta Zeta and Beta Theta battles it out for Christmas tree supremacy, this resulted in 2 burnt trees and a little late night mischief. graduates had a great idea with this party, and I was pumped to have it revived after several years. Nothing is better than having a house full of sorority girls dressed in mini skirts and stockings on valentines day. Needless to say, the house was rocking! As Phi Gams and gentlemen we continue to improve rela- tions with the ladies. This semester we have already had a Goodwill mixer with the Phi Mu’s and have mixers scheduled with the DGs and the KDs. The rest of the semester seems full of great times to be had with Formal, Pig Dinner, and the Heaven or Hell party coming up! February saw the return of a classic Phi Gam party… The St. Valentines Day Massacre Party. I have to say you Having the Ladies around makes everything better! \r\nV OLUME 26, N O . 1 P AGE 13 Pig Dinner Registration Name Street Address Address (Cont.) City State Zip Home Phone Number Work Phone Number Email Address No. of Pig Dinners Attended- Please mail completed form and check (made payable to Phi Gamma Delta) to: Select any of the following Options: Dinner [$35] Golf [$19] P HI G AMMA D ELTA A TTN : P IG D INNER C HAIR 527 N. P EACHTREE A VE C OOKEVILLE , TN 38501 T-Shirt [$12 ] (Size & Qty) Friday Night Cookout [Free] 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 Mitch Robinson (Chairman) Phone: 615-289-4515 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 spring issue please contact: Mitch Robinson (2005 Graduate Relations Chairman) Phone: 615-289-4515 E-mail: gradrelations@ttufiji.com 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