Phi Gamma Delta The Bluegrass Fiji News A Publication of the Brothers of the Upsilon Kappa Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta: Spring 2009 Letter from the President Brothers, I begin my term as President with great pride, excitement, hope, and expectations for the Upsilon Kappa chapter for the coming year. We have assembled James Chapman a great cabinet and a team of fantastic UK “11 committee chairs, and we are all hard at work accomplishing the chapter’s goals. Like all organizations, our chapter must evolve. I sense that our chapter is now in a period of transition and change. Cabinet is young this year; four of the members are sophomores. Three of our newly initiated brothers have stepped into important committee chairmanships and are succeeding greatly. Coming out of our chapter’s many victories of the past year, both fraternity awards and UK Greek awards, we have renewed our drive for continued, and greater, success. We do not allow ourselves to become stuck in the past. The constant improvement of our chapter is our motivation every day, and we have set a list of goals for our chapter to move us forward toward even more success. We have greatly enhanced our Graduate Relations program. Bradley Heil took over the committee this semester, and he has planned some amazing events. With the great help of David Leever, we have released our monthly updates on schedule, and we hope they are informative and interesting to all of you. Graduate Relations has some big plans for Pig Dinner this year, so please mark your calendar for April 25. As always, we are open to suggestions from any of you, and we would greatly appreciate advice and ideas. We established a new committee this semester to serve as an open forum to all brothers to propose ideas and see action taken on them. We called this committee Special Projects, and it is chaired by Dustin Smith, our past Corresponding Secretary. Immediately after its creation, cabinet passed down two of our big ideas: the creation of a new IGPA event and the establishment of a large-scale philanthropy event, possibly partnering with a nearby Phi Gam chapter. I am personally very excited for the possibilities of this committee. It will be a great way for brothers to see their ideas acted upon. Section Chief Report Brothers, The chapters in Section XVII continue to show themselves to be leaders within the Fraternity. Strong cabinet leadership, improved academic performance, and attention to campus, community and philanthropic activity are common denominators in their successes. Committed graduate involvement and interest supplies the essential continuity to each chapter. Upsilon Kappa Chapter at the University of Kentucky is putting together another strong performance to back up its Condon Cup-winning performance as the Fraternity’s most improved chapter for 2007. The brothers have also supported the development and growth of the new Fiji colony at Western Kentucky University and the UK officers conducted the initiation ceremony for the University of Cincinnati chapter pledge class on February 7th. The Chi Omicron Chapter at the University of Cincinnati resumed operation in the fall of 2008 and has a strong group to build on, based on their excellent scholarship and involvement in campus organizations. Sigma Chapter at Wittenberg University has surpassed the All-Men’s average for five consecutive semesters, tripled chapter membership and dominated campus athletics and activities since resuming operation in August, 2006. Sigma will celebrate its 125th anniversary on April 17-18-19, 2009. Mu Upsilon Chapter at Miami University (Ohio) is on track to resume operations in August, 2009 after a two-year suspension. Any graduate brothers interested in serving on a House Corporation, Board of Chapter Advisors, or as a Purple Legionnaire should feel free to contact me. Fraternally, Dave Prescott (Wittenberg ’77) dprescott31265@yahoo.com Cell# (614)-282-1341 \r\nUpsilon Kappa Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta President’s Letter Continued... Our Scholarship Committee is also undergoing a comprehensive overhaul. After the recent visit of Jonathan Hilliard and Jon Vaughn, two of the Fraternity’s Field Secretaries, we decided to revamp our scholarship program, and the full plan will be finished by mid-March. While we maintain an average GPA of 3.2, which is 4th among fraternities on campus, we are not satisfied. Our aim is to be #1 in grades, and our Scholarship Chair, Andrew Depew, will be working diligently toward that goal. Our Pledge Educator, Kelsie Willett, will also be instilling in our pledges the utmost importance of scholarship to our fraternity. We currently have a pledge class of seven men of the highest quality. We know that, as a chapter, we want to grow in numbers, and we will work toward that goal with much enthusiasm. We also have had the pleasure of working with the Fraternity’s new Delta Colony at Western Kentucky University. We will certainly develop that chapter relationship, and we will be glad to have that partnership in the years to come. I am excited for all our possibilities and confident in our ability to accomplish our goals. Besides our brothers holding leadership positions, we have some of the most high quality men as brothers that anyone could ask for. Everyone in our chapter realizes the responsibilities that come with bettering our chapter, and I couldn’t ask for a better group of brother to work with. We have fun together, we share experiences together, we accomplish goals together, we laugh and cry together, and in the end, we all love this Fraternity, have passion for its cause, and rejoice in the brotherhood it provides us. Fraternally, James Chapman (UK ’11), President Perge! Semester at a Glance January 2-4: FIJI Academy Brothers Travers Manley (UK ‘11), Jon Donahue (UK ‘10), and Matt Dempsey (UK ’11) attended the leadership Academy in St. Louis, MO hosted by the International Fraternity January 19-23: Rush Week Rush week took place at the Sigma Kappa House—seven young men are now pledging themselves to the Phi Gamma Delta Upsilon Kappa chapter February 7-8: Brotherhood Retreat Two day retreat for all the brothers at International Headquarters February 21: Greek Sing Fraternities from all over campus competed in this song and dance competition raising money for the Make a Wish Foundation. Fiji placed second in the competition. March 31-April 3: Greek Service Week Fiji will look to take home the trophy and make it five victories in the past six years. This year each Greek organization will be cleaning up a park in Lexington. April 4: Parent’s Weekend There will be an IHQ tour a 9:00am, Keeneland tailgating, and a dinner at 7:00 at Logan’s on S. Broadway. Graduates are welcome April 17: Islander Service Week A week full of philanthropy activities including a Fiji Islander Auction to raise money for the Red Cross. April 25: Pig Dinner Our annual Norris Pig Dinner is the biggest graduate event of the year. We hope to see you all there. Pledge Luis Mesa (UK ’12) Food from 6-8pm \r\nUpsilon Kappa Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta Dance Blue 2009: Once again a number of the Upsilon Kappa FIJIs participated in Dance Blue. Dance Blue is a year-long fundraiser organized by UK students that culminates in a 24 hour dance marathon. The dance marathon took place on March 6th – March 7th and FIJI was represented by six dancers: Kyle Berry, Brad Heil, Travers Manley, James McCullum, Tyler McLaurine, and Dustin Smith. Also, several members were involved on committees; including Matt Dempsey, Colin Dempsey, Joseph Amundson, and James Chapman. In order to help all the brothers make it through the 24 hour marathon, many brothers and pledges visited the dancers and committee members and brought along snacks and drinks. Their visitation was much appreciated by all those involved. Overall Upsilon Kappa raised more than $1,700 for Dance Blue and the final total raised for Dance Blue was over $600,000! The money raised will go to the Golden Matrix Fund, which will aid the lives of children and families suffering from childhood cancer and specifically those at the UK Pediatric Oncology Clinic. The chapter plans on beginning its fundraising efforts for the 2010 Dance Blue Marathon at the conclusion of Spring Break. -Dance Blue Raised $600,888.82. Travers Manley (UK ‘11). Corresponding Secretary -Phi Gamma Delta was represented well. We had dancers, committee members, committee chairs, and volunteers. Pop Tab Collection Way for Graduates to Help The Upsilon Kappa Chapter is currently in the midst of a yearlong philanthropy project helping benefit the Ronald McDonald House. The brothers and pledges are collecting the aluminum “pop tabs” off of a wide variety of cans. The plan is to donate the entire collection before Christmas. The pop tabs are a means of the Ronald McDonald House to make money to help the guests of the facility. We strongly encourage all graduates to collect these pop tabs as it is an easy way to not only help out our chapter’s goal, but it also goes towards a great cause. A collection bucket will be brought to Pig Dinner in April for graduates to drop off their collections, or the tabs can be dropped off to the chapter house at any time. The Ronald McDonald House creates, finds and supports program that directly improve the health and well being of children. 400 million pop tabs will raise $4 million for the Ronald McDonald House. To break it down more, one pound of tabs is worth 57 cents. For more information regarding the collection drive, visit http://www.rmhclexington.com/poptabs.htm or email Bradley Heil at Bradley.heil@gmail.com Bradley Heil (UK ‘08) \r\nUpsilon Kappa Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta Where are they NOW? Larry Heil (UK ‘67) now lives in Florida in the winter and Kentucky in the summer. Joe Paul is moving back to Lexington, having moved to the Charleston, SC area last summer. Pat Billig (UK ‘07) is taking a job in Louisville, KY at Humana. Rob Oakley (UK ‘07) has been selected as a Yale School of Medicine administrative fellow for 2009-2010. Tom Scovic (UK ‘07) is getting his Sports Business MBA from Arizona State University (class of 2010), and of course, living the dream. Nick Bluhm (UK ‘11) says “hello.” Vincent Tortora (UK’09) was accepted into United Technologies Corporation’s Financial Leadership program in Hartford, CT. He begins his first assignment in July. Dustin Smith (UK ‘09) has accepted a position as a financial analyst in the leaders in motion program of the Defense Finance & Accounting Services, located in Indianapolis, IN Graduate Emails If you have not been receiving emails sent to all graduates on the “ukfjiGrads” yahoo list serve, we would like to make you a part of that. These emails include monthly updates from the Upsilon Kappa Chapter. Please send your email adress to Brother Brad Heil at brad.heil@uky.edu. Thank you, Graduate Relations Committee Graduate Relations Committe 2009 Brad Heil. David Leever. Bobby Reagan. Luis Mesa