T he T iger F iji Chi Sigma Colony at Colorado College ‐ Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity ‐ Fall 2011 Edition CHI SIGMA READIES FOR CHARTERING By: Andrew Baird (2012) - Colony President Almost one year ago, the Chi Sigma Colony of Phi Gamma Delta initiated a class of 14 young men. Today, we have grown the Fraternity into a group of 40 brothers, each determined and motivated to making Phi Gamma Delta the best it can possibly be. We have The brothers of the Alpha and Beta classes with the newly pledged done just that. Our Gamma class on November 1. The pledging of the Gamma class brought colony stands the Chi Sigma Colony’s total membership to 40 men. among the top Greek life recently held an Colorado Springs region that fraternities in Colorado, for event, cooking pasta for the stucombat issues such as homewe hold the highest GPA dent body and local community, lessness, hunger and rape among all Fiji chapters in in which we raised over $300 to crises. Brothers also volunColorado, an impressive 3.52. go towards the Empty Stocking teer every Sunday at the ColoWe also continue to uphold Fund. The Empty Stocking Fund rado College soup kitchen, our duties to the community is dedicated to raising and disrun by our own Colin by contributing to philanpersing charitable funds to McCarey (2012). thropic events, both our own (Continued on page 2) many worthy non-profits in the and across campus. Things to Know • Chi Sigma welcomed its Gamma Class into brotherhood on December 9. • Persistence has paid off! Chi Sigma is looking to charter and host its first Pig Dinner on March 9-10 2012. • On November 16, FIJI Hosted Psychedelic Bowling, its largest social event to date with over 750 attendees! • What are you doing now? Send us your updates to include in a future newsletter. See the form on the back page to find out how. CHI SIGMA WELCOMES GRADS TO CAMPUS By: Adam Meek (2013) - Corresponding Secretary This past October, close to 100 current and graduate Chi Sigma brothers came together in Colorado College’s Tutt Alumni House for the Chi Sigma Colony’s first homecoming reception. The Colony has been working tirelessly at starting itself again over the past year and took great joy in hosting the event and getting to meet some of our graduate brothers. Everyone in attendance thoroughly enjoyed sharing stories about their time as Chi Sigma Fijis, and it was great to be able to meet the graduate brothers and inform them of our accomplishments and plans. “It was really great to see graduate brothers come out from so many different classes,” Nate Liss (2012) said. “They all seemed excited to see the progress we’ve made. It was interesting to hear the graduate brothers talk about some of FIJIs old (Continued on page 3) \r\nThe Tiger Fiji Page 2 PSYCHEDELIC BOWLING - ANOTHER SUCCESS By: Johnny Reed (2013) - Social Chairman In the midst of high altitude, unpredictable weather, the encroaching holiday season and a rigorous course load, the men of the Chi Sigma Colony still find time to socialize. So far this semester, the Colony has hosted a number of social events with other Greek organizations as well as with the Colorado College community as a whole. For the second semester in a row, the Chi Sigma Colony hosted Psychedelic Bowling on November 16. Over 750 Colorado College students showed up to bowl on that Wednesday night dressed in their finest psychedelic, neon attire. It was easily the largest Psychedelic Bowling to date and while not everyone bowled, everyone had a good time. In addition to being one of the highlights as far as social events this semester, the Colony also managed to raise over $300 for the Zuia Project, a newly started African philanthropy and service engagement. Socializing with our sister fraternities has also been an absolute pleasure for the men of the Chi Sigma Colony. A group of brothers sang, brought flowers to and smooth talked with each sorority’s pledge classes in order to show them that we are Fiji gentlemen. We have also had the opportunity to woo the girls of Kappa Alpha Theta, Delta Gamma and Kappa Kappa Colby Diamond (2013), Adam Meek (2013) and Jacob KirkGamma at a number sey (2015 ) enjoying themselves at Psychedelic Bowling. The Colony hosted Psychedelic Bowling for the second time this of socials, including fall with over 750 students in attendance. the Kappa Alpha Theta formal. Needless to say, the sorority with the men of Sigma Chi and more ladies love having FIJI back at Colorado events with Kappa Sigma are in the College and we’ve loved having the oppormaking. tunities to socialize with them. Nonetheless, the men of the Chi Sigma Additionally, as men among men, we are Colony have certainly become men woralso in the process of finally establishing a thy of recognition. Most importantly in stronger foundation and bond with our the process, we have also become social fellow fraternities. More specifically, we butterflies ready and willing to take have participated in alcohol education Friendship, Morality, Knowledge, Excelevents with the men of the Kappa Sigma lence and Service in a more creative and Sigma Chi in addition to the residendirection. tial life administrators. Moreover, we have scheduled upcoming social events CHI SIGMA READIES FOR CHARTERING continued... (Continued from page 1) On top of our scholarly and philanthropic pursuits, we have been continuing to increase our presence on campus. This semester, the college administration came to us and asked us to host an event called Psychedelic Bowling. Nearly 750 students attended this event (over a third of CC’s student body) dressed in psychedelic attire. We look forward to once again hosting the event next semester with the Sigma Chi Fraternity on campus. We have also been increasing our presence in the Greek scene at CC as well, hosting parties with sororities and building relations with the other fraternities on campus. “Our goals are set high for the rest of the year as we ready ourselves for chartering.” Our goals are set high for the rest of the year as we ready ourselves for chartering. The administration is happy to see us become a full chapter and for us to stand side-by-side the other Phi Gamma Delta chapters across the nation. It has been an honor and a privilege to build the Chi Sigma Colony back to where it was years ago and we cannot express how excited we are to call ourselves brothers of this wonderful institution. The friends we have made thus far truly will continue years after our time here at CC, for Fiji truly is not for college days alone. Please don’t hesitate to contact us with questions about the chartering process or what is happening on campus in general. We would also love to hear about your lives and bring the Chi Sigma Colony back into them! \r\nThe Tiger Fiji Page 3 CHI SIGMA WELCOMES GRADS TO CAMPUS continued... (Continued from page 1) traditions and stories.” Many of those attending the event were graduate brothers celebrating their 25th reunion from the class of ’86 including, Pete Whire, Brian Meek and Steve Vela. Also attending were Basel “Ted” Blume (1958), Frank Daly (1958), John Marr (1991), Mike Gross (1991) and Tres MacCollum (1979). It resulted in a very successful and enjoyable afternoon. The event was a great success not only for the Colony members to meet some of our graduate brothers, but also to inform them on our pro- gress through the chartering process. We’re very excited to keep our graduate brothers further informed on our chartering progress and hosting another reception next year. You can track our progress on our newly created website ccfiji.weebly.com. It was a great opportunity for the Graduate Brothers to share some of their experiences and traditions with the Colony members and we all look forward to continuing the thriving Chi Sigma FIJI tradition here at Colorado College and sharing similar stories in the years to come. Dan Epstein ’13 meets one of the many graduate brothers who came to the Homecoming Reception in October. It was a great opportunity to meet graduate brothers and inform them of our progress. A NOTE FROM THE CHAPTER TREASURER By: Colby Diamond (2013) - Treasurer In May 2011, I was proudly elected as the treasurer of Chi Sigma Colony for the fall 2011 and spring 2012 semesters. I cannot be more thankful for my predecessors Matthew Friedman and Andrew Baird for creating the sound financial framework for our Colony. Because of their careful monitoring and fiscal conservatism, we entered the fall 2011 semester with a strong budget surplus. With 40 members currently in the Chi Sigma Colony, 11 pledges and 29 brothers, one can imagine that as treasurer it is a daunting task to collect dues in a timely manner. Despite this, I am proud to say that all of the brothers and pledges have paid their dues entirely and expediently. This has allowed for the proper allocation of funds for our budget for the fall and upcoming spring semester. As it stands, each fund in our budget will have a surplus by the end of the se- mester. In light of the need to recruit new brothers, fundraise for chartering, and save money for the financial security of our colony, the largest percentage of the current budget was allocated to the recruitment, graduate relations, and savings. Despite the pressing need to grow fiscally and in size as a colony, we have had rewarding opportunities to give back to the community through our philanthropic ventures. This semester, we raised nearly $600 for philanthropy from the popularly-attended school event Psychedelic Bowling and from the Colorado College event Cardboard City. This money will be divided between The Zuia Project and the Reading is Fundamental Foundation. As we look forward to the spring semester, the Colony will be both honored and challenged with chartering as a recognized chapter of Phi Gamma Delta. The financial obligations that come with chartering have required us to reach out to our extensive network of Phi Gamma Delta alumni in an attempt to raise the necessary funds. We are very pleased with the financial generosity we have received so far from the alumni and will continue to make our demonstrated financial needs for the historic day of chartering a priority for the colony. It has been a privilege to work with 39 other outstanding gentlemen over the past two semesters. As an economics major at Colorado College, I have been able to demonstrate my ability to instill fiscal responsibility with our budget—the true lifeline of the growing Colony. Our progress— academically, philanthropically, socially, and financially—over the past year has been exponential. We will continue to hold ourselves to a higher standard and impress the student body and the community-atlarge as the largest and finest fraternity at Colorado College. \r\nWELCOME GAMMA CLASS By: Juan Pelaez-Arias (2012) - Pledge Educator The fall pledge semester has been very strong for the Chi Sigma Colony. During our recruitment period, we were able to gain the interest of 12 good men—the majority of them first-year students—seeking to pledge their values and hard work to a greater cause. Over the course of their education period, they have learned the meanings behind the values of Phi Gamma Delta, as well as the effort that will be required of them to represent those values to the rest of their peers at Colorado College. As part of their pledging, each new recruit was required to perform at least 12 hours of community service, and many of them did so by taking part in the volunteer community soup kitchen, with which our FIJI men help out every weekend. The pledges even went a step beyond and participated in the soup kitchen’s “Cardboard City” event on November 12 to raise awareness surrounding hunger and homelessness issues. They plan to continue their group service work as a pledge class next semester as well, despite the fact they will soon be activated as full colony brothers. The pledges have also gotten to know each other and the Fiji brothers through a variety of events, ranging from latenight bowling to a CC vs. DU hockey game. The pledge class itself encompasses a wide variety of interests and talents, with Erik Jacobson 2013 (second from left) with a group of Gamma Class pledges working on the FIJI cardboard pledges doing everyhouse for Cardboard City in November. thing from kayaking, to music lessons, to acting, to professional photography, to serving on comThe pledge class is definitely strong in mittees for sexual safety and education. values, commitment, and scholarship, In addition, there is an impressive numboasting a GPA that is already in line ber of varsity, club, and intramural with our ranking above the all-men’s sports teams that count our pledges as and all-Greek averages. They have part of their roster. One of our candishown nothing but willingness and perdates is even in the process of beginning sistence in their approach to the pledge a non-profit organization; he will cereducation period, and we are excited to tainly have the support and help of his welcome them into our brotherhood as FIJI brothers as he continues with such a we continue developing as a new colony worthy endeavor. of Phi Gamma Delta. Information Update - Tell us about you! Please detach and return with your contact information so we can update our records. We will feature graduate updates in upcoming newsletters. If you want to share your recent news, fill in the news section for your information to be published. Name________________________________________________________ School/year__________________ Address_________________________________________________________________________________ City/State/Zip_____________________________________________________________________________ Phone (H)______________________________________(W)_______________________________________ E-mail__________________________________________________________________________________ News to share with classmates: ____________________________________________________________________________________ ____________________________________________________________________________________ CONTRIBUTE TO CHI SIGMA I am pleased to make a contribution to Chi Sigma of : $1,000 $500 $250 $100 $50 $25 Other $_______________ I would like my donation to be used in the following area: ____________________________________________. Donations can be sent to: Chi Sigma Colony of Phi Gamma Delta c/o Andrew Baird, 902 N Cascade Wb # 1637, Colorado Springs, CO 80946-0001. Make checks payable to Chi Sigma of Phi Gamma Delta. Design, printing and mailing services provided by the International Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta.