P HI G AMMA D ELTA T HE B LUEGRASS F IJI N EWS A P UBLICATION OF THE B ROTHERS OF THE U PSILON K APPA C HAPTER OF P HI G AMMA D ELTA Fall 2009 Letter from the President Brothers, As my term as President draws to a close, I can proudly reflect upon the accomplishments of our chapter and the great strides we’ve taken on many issues. In general, I can sense our organization maturing and developing a firm sense of who we are and what we value. As always within the chapter, priorities and attitudes are changing, and there is a strong and coherent consensus on the movement of the chapter James Chapman in the future. I feel that our cabinet has UK ‘11 steered us through a transition period with great success, and the next leadership will have great potential for making improvements in all aspects. This semester, we have been fortunate to welcome the services of Ben Simmons (KY ’03) as our new Purple Legionnaire and the chairman of our newly-established BCA. His advice and leadership have been invaluable, and his experience and goal-oriented attitude greatly help to motivate us. We are also happy to welcome Nick Altwies (ASU ’90), former Assistant Executive Director of the Fraternity, as an advisor. His insight and sincerity have been of great help, and I look forward to his contributions for semesters to come. We have recruited the Alpha Nu pledge class, a group of 19 outstanding gentlemen. Colin Dempsey, our Recruitment Chair, deserves every brother’s admiration for his passion, organization, and ability to rally the chapter behind the commitment to recruit an uncompromisingly excellent class. Tyler Venditti, our Pledge Educator, deserves the respect of every brother for his exceptional treatment of the pledge class. He has instilled our values in them, effectively integrated them into the chapter, and has led our effort to attain the highest possible retention. Our committees are continuing to produce work and events of the highest quality. The chapter’s philanthropy, under the leadership of Murphey Letter from the Purple Legionnaire Greetings Brothers My name is Ben Simmons, the newly-elected Purple Legionnaire for the Upsilon Kappa Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta. I graduated from UK in May of 2003, and have lived in Lexington, practicing architecture at the local firm, EOP Architects. One of the first things I realized when I returned to the college and Ben Simmons fraternity setting was how much the UK ‘03 membership of our chapter has evolved. Gone are the days of brothers hefting calendars and notebooks - now they carry iPhones and laptops and all other things digital. Sharing information happens instantly, communication occurs with the touch of a button or the click of a mouse. The very speed at which things occur hasn't slowed, in fact, I'd say it's increased since the semesters I strolled through the Whitehall Classroom Building. Which can be beneficial...most of the time. The chapter was off to a fast start this semester, recruiting 22 pledges, and since holding onto 18 of them through this October. They've been incredibly active on-campus - not a day goes by that my Inbox isn't full with announcements regarding student organizations and activities which involve the brothers. They are a very social bunch, a very energetic bunch, and I'd be remiss if I didn't commend them on their hard work. Things can be improved, of course, not the least of which is their grad relations. I'll admit that the lack of communication has come from a lack of graduate initiative, that we, as graduates, have a responsibility, just as the undergrads have a responsibility to step forward and extend our resources and abilities...if nothing else, that precious commodity we know as time. We've formed a BCA of sorts, a collection of graduates who've offered to assist the chapter in specific areas: philanthropy, scholarship, pledge retention, brotherhood, and grad relations. Each graduate acts a Champion over a specific area to help focus their efforts and minimize the time commitment. \r\nP HI G AMMA D ELTA P AGE 2 President’s letter continued PL’s letter continued Coy, has produced a new major philanthropy event planned for the spring semester, a basketball tournament called Phi Gamma Delta’s King and Queen of the Court. Andrew Depew has greatly improved the Scholarship committee, and he has completely revamped our scholarship program to help both brothers and pledges. Justin Bowling, as the head of Campus Activities, has continued our chapter’s dominance of Greek activities and general campus engagement. He has coordinated a highly successful Greek Week and Homecoming and deserves congratulations. Josh Pascua recently organized and executed a major brotherhood retreat away from Lexington, which was viewed by all brothers as highly effective and beneficial. Our Graduate Relations committee is led by Jordan Ellis, and we all recognize that the chapter cannot be strong without a vibrant graduate community. We are beginning to see the blossoming of exactly that. I urge you to continue actively supporting the chapter and to stay involved with its activities. All the brothers in our chapter are propelling us into the future. We all share a common attitude that places highest importance on our chapter’s growth and improvement. We are rejecting the things done in the past that make little sense, while re-evaluating the most fundamental things we do. The result is a better chapter, one more focused on the areas that need improvement and one more cognizant of the things that work well. The stage has been set for unprecedented growth and improvement, and I am looking forward to helping the chapter advance from here. I have been very proud to lead this chapter over the past year. It has been the joy of my college experience, and it has helped me grow as a person. As new leadership takes the reigns, I am looking forward to my time remaining here and to contributing to other aspects of our operations. Thank you all for the support you’ve given me over this year, and I will be forever grateful to my fellow undergraduate brothers for allowing me the opportunity to serve as President. I’m especially encouraged by our potential for great improvement in this upcoming year. As I look to the future, more than ever, I’m very proud to be a Phi Gam. So far, we've received positive reactions from the undergrads and graduates and believe it will help us improve over the coming months. We do encourage your involvement, as always, even if it is but a simple phone call or suggestion. I'll admit, things have shifted a bit for me since college (the days of partying and planning the homecoming float replaced by those of grocery shopping and yard work), but there is still a little time I can give back to the organization which means so much to me, and I hope still means a great deal to you too. As always, stay in touch, and we hope to hear from you soon. Fraternally, James Chapman (KY ’11) Perge! Fraternally, Ben Simmons, KY '03 Reminder from the Upsilon Kappa Chapter: Join us for Pig Dinner at 6 pm on April 24, 2010, at the Hyatt in downtown Lexington. Invitations will be sent out at the beginning of the spring semester, so be watching for them. We hope to see you there. Recruitment Video Jordan Caldwell, a sophomore on the Graduate Relations committee, recently compiled a video of pictures and videos that we will be using as a recruiting tool this spring during rush. The video has been uploaded on YouTube and is available for you to view. To the left is a screenshot from the video. To see the chapter and many of its recent fraternal activities, feel free to check out the video posted at this link: http://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=iuzgpSrgrSY \r\nP HI G AMMA D ELTA P AGE 3 Semester at a Glance Russ Williams Plaque Rush Week – August 24-28 Since April, the Chapter has mourned the loss of our former Purple Legionnaire, Russ Williams. We had a memorial plaque made in his honor, and it will be placed, along with a Crimson King maple tree dedication, behind Scovell Hall on campus. We are currently scheduling a dedication ceremony near the one year anniversary of Russ’s passing, and we will inform you of the date when it is set. We hope to have President Todd and other high profile campus leaders speak at the dedication, and we would love to have you attend. Rush Week was held at the Kappa Alpha Theta house 18 young men are currently pledging themselves to the Phi Gamma Delta Upsilon Kappa Chapter. Brotherhood Retreat – October 17-18 The two day brotherhood retreat was held for all brothers and pledges at Ruggles Camp in Flemingsburg, KY Greek Week – September 28 - October 2 Fiji placed 2nd among all other fraternities in Greek Week. Events consisted of the following: Wear Your Letters Day, Greek Cookout, Greek Movie Night/Pajama Party, Greeks Take the Lead, Greek Game Night Homecoming Week – October 26-30 Fiji placed 2nd among all other fraternities in Homecoming Week. Graduate Event – November 21 A graduate event was held at the Sports & Social Club in 4th Street Live of downtown Louisville. Many graduates and undergraduates attended the event to watch the UK vs UGA football game. Parents Weekend – November 7 Parents were invited into town for a tour of IHQ and a tailgate for the UK vs EKU football game. Inter-Fraternity Council Elections – November 23 Kelsie Willett (UK ’11) elected IFC President. Congratulations, Kelsie! We would like to extend our most sincere appreciation to the following graduate brothers who supported Russ’ plaque with monetary donations: Pat Bean, Dave Matthews, Danny Vetter, Paul Simmons, Bill Straub, Scott Baker, Charles Gabe, Matt Douglas, Jon Anderson, Richard & Martha Bean. We appreciate all of your continued support! \r\nPhilanthropy: KET Volunteering and DanceBlue Fifteen undergraduate brothers and fice graduate brothers of Upsilon Kappa came out on Saturday, December 5, to volunteer answering phones for KET’s annual WinterPledge drive. We very much enjoy partnering with you all in philanthropy events, and we hope it will continue in the future. A very big thanks to those graduates who attended: Ben Harper, Ben Simmons, Joe Paul, Nathan Hall, and Chris Quevedo. On Sunday, November 8, Upsilon Kappa’s DanceBlue Adopt-a-Family was able to present the game ball at a home men’s soccer game. Big thanks to Rob Bergeron for his work with Mason and his mother. If you know of any graduate brothers—any of your pledge brothers, etc—who are no longer in active contact with the chapter, please send their names to either Murphey Coy (rmcoy2@gmail.com) or James Chapman (jtchap2@gmail.com). We are always looking to reconnect with lost brothers, and we would appreciate any of your recommendations. Spring Recruitment As winter settles in and the year comes to a close, we here at the Upsilon Kappa Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta gear up for another spring rush. This year, Colin Dempsey will be returning as Recruitment Chairman to run rush after a very successful week in the fall. This year we have made some changes, however, to how we will be running our rush. We have put more commitment towards dynamic recruitment, which is rushing throughout the year to produce larger numbers during the actual rush week. Another divergence from previous years is that we will now be rushing out of our own fraternity house instead of the Sigma Kappa sorority house. We feel that is a positive step for us simply to get our name and location out as we grow and increase our presence on campus. As many of you know, the condition of our house has been less than stellar for many years now. A temporary solution has been provided by a few of the current occupants of the house who have put in many hours of house improvement over the summer and previous semester. The house has received floor treatments which included refinished hard wood flooring, painting rooms throughout the house and other small repairs, maintenance, and aesthetic jobs which generally contribute to the betterment of the house and chapter image. To view these changes and see picture of the house renovations, go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/41272147@N06/ sets/72157622265702019/. These and other changes will help to propel the chapter and its members to higher places overall, getting closer to our ultimate goal as a fraternity of excellence.