The Golden Eagle FIJI THETA TAU CHAPTER OF PHI GAMMA DELTA VOLUME 27, No.4 Spring 2006 25th Annual Pig Dinner...Don’t miss it! \r\nThe Golden Eagle Fiji Spring 2006 L ETTER FROM THE THETA TAU VOLUME 27 No. 4 S PECIAL P RESIDENT Graduate Brothers, As our chapter begins an exciting new year, I would like to take this opportunity to thank all the graduate brothers for providing us with your examples and for providing us with the opportunity to be a part of this great fraternity. I want to thank you for not letting the fraternity fade away in times of struggle and for not being content with being just another fraternity. Without the efforts of you, our graduates, our chapter would never have become what it is today. For that we are all eternally grateful and we will strive to continue in your footsteps by achieving excellence each semester. Putting our personal interests aside and realizing the importance of helping others, we continue to increase our efforts in the community. This past year we raised a substantial amount of money for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society and also participated in several other philanthropies on campus. As a chapter we have been active in the TNT After School Program, assisting underprivileged children with completing their school assignments. We also continue to take part in the Adopt-aHighway Program doing our part to keep the community clean. Last year our chapter once again had the best grades among all fraternities on Tech campus continuing a tradition well worth seeking. As always we are striving to surpass the chapter GPA goal of 3.0. Each brother has made an individual GPA goal and giving their best effort to accomplish it. Our pledge program, one of the best in the nation, is taking new steps to ensure the scholastic achievement, leadership development, and overall growth of pledges into successful and productive brothers. This spring we have pledged eight potential members that will hopefully one day become great brothers. The chapter is currently leading the points race to win the “All Sports Champion” title, much to the dismay of several neighboring fraternities. So take pride and take ease in the knowledge that the chapter you hold dear is continuing to seek glory and obtain success for Phi Gamma Delta. You should also know that it is you, our graduate brothers, who ultimately hold the key to our success. You each have the wisdom that only experience can bring, experience that we as undergraduates have yet to encounter. I realize that your lives are busy and your days are filled, but take a moment to think what it is you can do for Phi Gamma Delta as a graduate brother. Share with us stories of your experiences; let us know how being a part of this chapter affected your life. Guide us to succeed in the ways you have or help us to avoid the mistakes that you have made. Volunteer to conduct a short seminar to help us grow into gentlemen and leaders. I encourage you to not only think about how you could aid the chapter in molding these young men, but also to take the initiative to act on it. Send us emails and give us your ideas and thoughts, it would only take a few minutes and would be greatly appreciated. Once again I thank you, Graduate Brothers, for giving us the opportunity to be a part of Phi Gamma Delta. Fraternally, Bo Byers POINTS OF INTEREST : • PIG DINNER!! • New Section Chief in Town • Graduate Spotlights ...reflecting a little deeper on our chapter \r\nV OLUME 27, N O . 4 P AGE 2 A W ILD , W ILD W IN Homecoming was busy with several different things going on. Working on the float continuously and still having to do several other events for homecoming made it a very challenging win. Every brother put in a lot of work to be able to win homecoming last fall. Teaming up with Phi Mu we tied with Alpha Delta Pi and Kappa Sigma for first place overall. We placed first place in four other events, the canned food drive where we raised 5.41 tons of canned food, the window painting event, the pie eating contest, and Tech Star a singing competition where Ashley Garrett and Cayla Armistead from Phi Mu sang and won first place. We placed second in the banner contest and the field games. We also placed third in the float competition. We appreciate all the graduates that showed up for homecoming and helped out; your efforts were well awarded and appreciated. Also, Kazoo Band again won first place for the open division parade contest. This wacky group of Fiji’s never ceases to be the talk of the parade. Dressing up in whatever random array of outrageous apparel you can find and running through the streets screaming and singing to girls. The crowd is never disappointed with the spectacle. We always the enjoy the sentimental graduates that run with us. This year we even had the Shoney’s Bear run with us this year. A stage coach worthy of Phi Gamm \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 3 C OMMUNITY S ERVICE Brothers are continually active in campus and local service opportunities. Many brothers continue our tutoring of middle school age children through Cookeville Housing Authority and Cookeville Police Departments’ Teens Need Tutoring after school program (TNT). Brothers go to a Cookeville Police Station on 7th street twice a week to tutor and play with the kids in the program. Many other service opportunities are planned for the rest of this spring semester. Again as last year, brothers have signed up to participate in helping to set up and take down exhibits in Tennessee Tech’s international festival, Windows of the World. Also, once the weather begins to be better, several roadside cleanups will take place in the chapters adopted stretch of 10th street from campus all the way to state highway 111. S PRING 2006 R USH This semester started out in a hurry with rush being the second week of classes. However, it wasn’t quite as bad as last semester when rush was the very first week of school, but this semester we were able to start the semester off on the right foot. Having the rush retreat the weekend before classes started, we were able to cover some very important topics and get our game plan together for rush. Although formal rush started on a Monday, we started the informal rush at the beginning classes. We had people going out to eat and hanging out all week long. This week concluded with a big Disco party at the house on Friday Night. The actual rush week started out with the Fiji Sports Night. We had ping-pong, darts, x-box, and even a flick ball tournament. The night was fun for all and very successful. We had around 20 guys come to the house. For the second night of rush, we started a new night called the Arctic Night. For this new night, we turned all the walls of the house white and filled the main room with styrofoam shavings to create the effect snow. We served hot chocolate and ice cream sundaes. This night created a huge mess, but it was a blast nonetheless. Again, around 20 guys came down to the house. This night was very critical because the rush week was only three days long rather than the four that it normally is. We needed to have a good night on this night because the next night was Gentleman’s Night. This was held at the Wesley Foundation. We ate Stroud’s Bar-B-Q and had desserts brought to us by some of the lovely Fiji ladies. The night was not complete without singing some of our favorite songs to our lavaliere girlfriends and a special song for our Fiji Sweetheart, Christy Blucker. We also watched a great video filled with clips and pictures from last semester. This was a lot of fun and a lot of work, but it all paid off when we got back eight bids. We even had a few penguins at arctic night \r\nV OLUME 27, N O . 4 P AGE 4 GRADUATE SERVICE T HERE IS A NEW Brian M. “General” Douglas has served the Theta Tau Chapter at Tennessee Technological University for the last 6 years (2000present) as our Purple Legionnaire. As an undergraduate he served as Chapter President, Recording Secretary, Pledge Education Chairman, Pig Dinner Chairman, and Graduate Relations Chairman. This January, Brian was selected to serve as Chief for Section XVI. The Fraternity is divided into approximately forty geographical territories, known as Sections, and each one has an appointed Section Chief. As a general rule each geographical Section of the Fraternity includes three undergraduate chapters. Section XVI spans the state of Tennessee and includes the University of Tennessee (UT), Tennessee TTU TAKES OVER “C HIEF ” IN TOWN ... Technological University (TTU), and the University of the South (Sewanee). The Section Chief position is one of seven Appointed General Officer volunteer positions which are selected by the Archons. The Section Chief serves as the primary recruiter for graduate volunteers, ensuring that each chapter has an active, trained and productive Purple Legionnaire, Board of Chapter Advisors, and House Corporation. The Section Chief also advises and assists with other Fraternity activities in his territory, including the investigation of schools as expansion prospects, coordinating section convention or state day functions, and fostering graduate chapter activities. Brian currently lives in Nashville, Tennessee where he works at the headquarters of Bridgestone-Firestone as the Senior Manager of Global Strategic Sourcing & Supply Planning. His responsibilities include developing and managing product sourcing and supply strategies for passenger/light truck tires to be sold in North America. His professional responsibilities have taken him to Japan, Brazil, Argentina, Chile, Costa Rica, Mexico, and various places in the United States. Brian and his wife Chandra recently moved into a new home in Brentwood, Tennessee. They will be celebrating their 1st wedding anniversary this February. The Brothers appreciate her support for his continuing service to the Theta Tau Chapter and the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta. F LORIDA ! J. Brent Ellis has been named Chief of Section XIII. Section XIII covers Florida State University and a future Delta Colony at the University of Florida. Brent recently moved to Florida to pur- sue a new career opportunity at the University of South Florida. Or so he says…. Those who know will tell you that he was in pursuit of a young lady. Fortunately things are going well for Brother Ellis as there are no signs of her shipping him back. Brent was previously serving as the Chief of Section XVI. His positive contributions to the success of our Section will be sorely missed. B RIAN M. D OUGLAS C HIEF OF S ECTION XVI T ENN . T ECH . U NIV . ‘98 • Durrance Award Winner 2004 (Outstanding Purple Legionnaire) • Purple Legionnaire: 2000present (Brian will continue to function as PL until the Chapter has selected a new Purple Legionnaire) \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 5 P HI G AM A THLETICS D OMINATE Phi Gam is on its way to winning allsports for one more time. This year we haven't won 1st in any major sports, but we have placed 2nd in most. As many graduates know, Fiji has a long standing tradition of a good soccer team. This years team was no exception to that. We pretty much dominated as usual. However, it is my sad duty to report that for the first time in many years the team took 2nd. TKE was able to score off a freak shot to win what was a very intense game. Givens schools another player in soccer Basketball held its own. We started the season off not knowing who would play and scrounging for players, but we were fortunate to have a couple of graduates return to Tech. They played for the team a helped us out a great deal. Jorge Rojas coached for us and Matt Spencer played for us. That really got the team going in the right direction. We appreciate them donating their time to the team. Phi Gam took 3rd place over all after losing the semi-final game. S OCIALLY IN THE Wrestling was a spectacle as always. A few brothers that knew what they were doing coach a great many that did not have a clue. The most entertaining moment was watching Alex Sauls show up to wrestle in boat shoes, plaid shorts and a collared shirt. Needless to say the match didn’t last five seconds. He wrestled a rather large Kappa Sig. Jim Weakley and Nathan Putman both wrestled flawlessly to the finals and won their class. Jim was awarded most valuable wrestler of the tournament. He absolutely manhandled everyone that he wrestled. I’m not sure that he broke a sweat once. Others were not so lucky and were lucky to make it through the first match without throwing up. We have golf and softball left to play before the points are tallied to see who is all-sport champion. As it stands we need to win golf and place only 3rd in softball to win the trophy. Now for some groups that may not seem that easy or simple, but for the Theta Tau chapter of Phi Gamma Delta it is an everyday thing. M IX The chapter recently has done several things around campus. We recently had a mixer with Delta Gamma with a GI Joe and Barbie theme that was well attended. The chapter also has several other mixers planned with several other sororities. Also this semester we held the St. Valentines Day Massacre Party at Cookeville’s own Hog Barn, a biker bar about a mile or two outside Cookeville on Spring Street. The party was very well attended and with that many people singing ‘American Pie’ we broke the floor just enough to give it a nice trampoline effect. Last semester’s Christmas Party hosted by the Beta Kappa pledge class went well with singing at the house and then the party at Crawdaddy’s, a bar and restaurant in downtown Cookeville. Also last semester, we held a mixer with Alpha Delta Pi with a drive in movie theme. The movie showing was ‘The Longest Yard’ starring Adam Sandler. We rented a projector, hooked up speakers, and showed the movie on the side of the house. \r\nV OLUME 27, N O . 4 P AGE 6 FIJI I SLAND W EEK B ENEFITING M ULTIPLE S CLEROSIS W E ENCOURAGE S ERVICE . W E HAVE THE ABILITY , THE OPPORTUNITY , AND THE DUTY TO SERVE OUR FELLOW HUMAN BEINGS . O UR REWARD IS THE SATISFACTION THAT COMES FROM SERVING . Because other members of society hold a claim to us for our great efforts in worthy causes, Theta Tau places a great importance in holding philanthropy events to raise money for local charities. This past fall, the Theta Tau chapter eagerly embraced yet another great philanthropic activity that will always be near to our hearts…yes, that’s right kids…FIJI ISLAND WEEK!! The week of September 26 marked another consecutive year that FIJI has raised money to support the Multiple Sclerosis Society, our local philanthropy. This year’s participants included Phi Mu, Delta Gamma, Kappa Delta, Alpha Delta Pi, and Tau Kappa Epsilon. On Monday, the participating organizations decorated the University Center with banners supporting FIJI as well as the M.S Society. Tuesday’s events included an island chicken cook-off and sand castle competition during dead hour judged by our wonderful TTU faculty. Tuesday evening included the ever-soentertaining Island Olympics as the participants packed out the fraternity house and made the scenery look and smell a lot better. This year’s Island Week wouldn’t have been complete without the infamous Ms. FIJI Island Pageant completing the events on Wednesday. This year’s pageant included cheerleaders, tumblers, singers, and of course, beautiful islandclad ladies. This year’s pageant winner was Ms. Megan Deising (Kappa Delta) whose special talent was playing songs on crystal wine glasses. Theta Tau continued its tradition of excellence by raising close to two-thousand dollars. “Six” to all the brothers that stepped up and helped make this great tradition of helping the M.S. Society such a great success. S CHOLARSHIP To achieve scholarship is the reason for every brother to be here attending Tennessee Tech and every brother is doing his part to try to accomplish that goal. Our chapter GPA from the fall semester was a little low for Phi Gam standards achieving just above a 2.7 average. However, for being so low compared to other semesters, we were still able to have the highest GPA of any other fraternity on campus. With the GPA dropping about two tenths, a new step has been initiated to help ensure that we reach our goal of an average GPA of a 3.0 or better. Cabinet has asked for every brother to list what their personal goal that is achievable by their own standards that they can reach this semester. Throwing out a few 4.2s, the average of all the goals of every brother is roughly a 3.3 GPA. If every brother meets or comes close to their goals the chapter should be able to achieve the lofty goal of an average of 3.0. Scholarship is really looking good so far this semester. \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 7 GRADUATE SPOTLIGHT J EFF G ARR ‘82 After leaving Tech in 1982, I worked as an engineer for about 5 years. It was during this time that I came to realize that I was a ‘religious’ person. After a concentrated time of seeking the Lord, I repented of my sins and surrendered my life to him. Many of my fraternity brothers celebrate this event with me a few months later. It was this decision to follow Christ that led to what I am currently doing today. I am currently a missionary doing work in Guyana, South America. I am helping to start an evangelical Christian Church in Kwakwani, a remote mining town with a population of about 4,000 people. My wife and I are working along side of another missionary couple. But for the moment, Cheryl and I are in the states for our furlough after spending four years on the field. Lord willing, we will be returning to Guyana in June, 2006. We plan on working in Kwakwani until we have national church leaders that are mature enough to take over the church. Kwakwani is on the northeastern portion of South America, just east of Venezuela, so it is a tropical climate. Guyana is considered a ‘developing’ country, but the town where we live seems to be more of a ‘third world’ type of country. The people are poor and very friendly, but they tend to live very wicked lives. Even though it is a hard place to live, we enjoy what we are doing and the friendships we have developed. In Kwakwani, I function as an associate pastor. I am in charge of the youth ministry and Sunday school. I also lead Bible studies, disciple new believers, help with the music, and preach when needed. My wife assists me and leads a women’s Bible study. I recall some embarrassing moments, like not remembering what I was supposed to say at Pig Dinner. I am sure it was the shortest speech ever given by a president. This is humorous to me because I speak a good bit in what I do now. I also have some regrets, in college I tended to be an introvert, so I used to drink to ‘loosen up,’ but it led to things that were not good. Even so, God has used my experiences and past mistakes to help mold me into the person I am today. I have very fond memories of my time at TTU, especially the friends I had at Phi Gamma Delta. As an officer in the fraternity, I was challenged in the role of being a leader. I couldn’t have done it without the support I received from several of my fraternity brothers. It definitely was a learning experience for me -- one that helped me grow and develop personally. Jeff Garr Galatians 2:20 \r\nV OLUME 27, N O . 4 P AGE 8 R OB S IMPSON ‘83 Being a member of the very first pledge class of the Theta Tau chapter of Phi Gamma Delta and with my younger brother, Mitch also being a Fiji from Tech there are many good stories that I remember. Some being part of the first ever Fiji Kazoo Band, the Phi Mu PJ Party, the St. Valentines Day Massacre Party, getting locked out of my room while my roommate was ‘busy,’ and having my VW carried into the backyard and buried in leaves so that I wouldn’t find it the next morning. These are just some of the things that I have carried past graduating from Tennessee Tech in 1983. I have been married to Cori for twelve years with no children, and am living in Dallas, Texas. I have spent my career working for Texas Instruments where I now have had a Vice-presidents role for the last three years. I have worldwide responsibility for all our purchasing, logistics, import/export, trade compliance and accounts payables. It is a job that has taken me to work with people all over the world. I have traveled to over a dozen countries and traveling to Japan alone close to over forty times. Cori is an account manager for United Health Care and also an amateur chef, taking classes to pursue her passion of cooking. I am a big wine fan with a cellar of 300 bottles of mostly Italian and Californian reds. We bicycle quite a bit. Working out 2-4 days a week in spin classes and riding outside in the spring and summer. We take a bike tour vacation every year and have cycled in California, New Mexico, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Czech Republic, Austria, France, Canada and Texas. Looking back at my days at Tech it was a unique and exciting time. I was not a person looking to join a fraternity, but Phi Gams were not your ordinary fraternity. We had the chance to start and shape something special. Charting those new frontiers gave us and myself a chance to really grow. It was a chance to grow up and build something. You got as involved as you wanted or could. There were lots of great chances to grow as a person and as a leader. I think that has really helped me be a better leader in business. It also taught me to work with others that are different from me and that is all about what happens in the business world and in life. For example, rush is so much like what I do in meeting so many companies that want to work with TI, my company. I know I can't remember all the great things that I learned being a brother. I was an officer for two terms, both corresponding and recording secretary. But the friendships that I made as a Tech Phi Gam are always with me even though I don't always get to see brothers or talk to them often enough. They are life connections that I know are always there and brothers that I can always count on and they can count on me. My big brother, Matt Graves, was a huge influence on me along with Lee Wray. They both taught me so much about being a brother and being a friend and about growing up. I know when I see certain brothers at Pig Dinner it will be like we never left campus away from one another. We will pick up right there. And in some cases, brothers have grown closer after school which is really great. \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 9 25th Annual Frank Norris Pig Dinner Friday, April 21, 2006 4pm Registration at the house 6pm Cookout & Volleyball Tournament *form own team (4 - 6 players)* 10pm Traditional Pig Roast Saturday, April 22, 2006 7am Registration Cookeville Country Club 8am Shotgun start of Pig Dinner Golf Tournament 12pm Picnic Lunch (Sherlock Park) 4pm Tech Fiji Inc. Informational Meeting (Place TBA) 5pm Cigar Social at the Fraternity House 6pm 25th Anniversary Frank Norris Pig Dinner at the Cookeville Town Center 10pm After Party at Vinnie T's Club House Hotel Accommodations Provided by: Baymont Inn & Suites Phone 931-525-6658 Direct: 931-510-6924 1151 South Jefferson Ave Cookeville, TN I-40 at Exit 287 Group Name: Phi Gamma Delta Rate is $65/night Other Information Ladies are invited to this 25th Anniversary Celebration Guest Speaker is Bill Martin Phi Gamma Delta Executive Director Register Now! \r\nV OLUME 27, N O . 4 P AGE 10 The Pig is ready and will be there in one form or another, you should be too. This is an event you don't want to miss. So ask off work, talk it over with your family, register for Pig Dinner, and make travel plans. Remember that your dates and wives are welcome at the dinner this year. \r\n PAGE IL THE GOLDEN EAGLE FUJI Fil LAND PICTURE BOARD \r\nVOLUME 27, No, 4 Ful LAND PICTURE BOARD \r\nT HE G OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 13 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 \r\nV OLUME 27, N O . 4 P AGE 14 Theta Tau 2006 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