T h e F ra t e r n i t y o f P h i G a m ma D el t a ~ A l p h a G a m m a Ch a p t e r Not For College Days Alone Volume 4, Issue 2 Phone: 810-232-9174 Website: www.ketteringfiji.com Graduate Relations: Pat Burnham Matt Jokerst Aaron Pavlak Inside this issue: The President’s Gavel 1 Recruitment 2 BCA Capital Campaign Update 3 Randy Hampkins Memorial Golf Tournament 4 Academics 4 Save the Date! 2012 Norris Pig Dinner 5 Shining Stars 5 BCA Roof Replacement Project 6 House Manager’s Report 7 Graduate News—Visit with Dick Veazy 7 Graduate Questionnaire 8 Winter 2011 The President’s Gavel Brothers, that will further improve our Chapter. Six Brothers from our combined chapter have graduated this past term. Aaron TenHuisen, Pete Klebba, Kyle Leppek, Ross Harvey, Jon Palmer, and Adam Miller will stop the 3 month work/school rotation we all enjoy for four (and a half) years and instead begin the never-ending work term that is the real world. We are saddened that they will no longer enjoy the college life with us, but are happy that the bonds that we share will last well beyond our undergraduate lives. As we see six brothers leave, we welcome eight new Pledges into our midst. James Bailey, Cody Adams, senior student Tyler Babinski, Charlie Bierstetel, Justin Cargill, Mike Neal, Brent Ray, Mitch Sloboda have all accepted Bids to Phi Gamma Delta. We look forward to their next term where they will undoubtedly prove themselves and become full members of the Chapter. With Elections approaching quickly for A-Section, and recently passed for B-Section, we are excited to see what new ideas our fresh cabinet will have to offer. The Brothers elected (and to-be elected) have our utmost confidence and respect, and we know that they will take the Alpha Gamma Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta to even greater heights. I am proud to say that the state of the Phi Gam is brighter than ever! We have made enormous strides these past terms not only around campus, but also between the two sections. Academically our chapter is also on its way up; so far we have a house average of just under a 3.0 GPA for the past term. The dedication to Academics can be seen by simply walking into the newly re-finished Library. At most hours of the day you can expect to see one or more Brothers reading or studying, and often one Brother tutoring several others! FIJI has a strong presence on campus, and not only among Greeks for that matter. There are many of us with membership and even leadership in independent clubs and organizations. We have 4 Members in IFC alone, and 2 of which are on Executive board as President and Secretary. A Fiji also is the President of Student Alumni Council and Mudboggers. We have also had several members initiated into the Greek honor organizations: Robots Society and Order of Omega. We are still striving to improve, and will always try to outdo ourselves. This year we have 6 members from both sections that have signed up to attend Fiji Academy. Members will be focusing on their respective committees, we Fraternally, hope that the delegates from the AcaMatt Palm A-Section President demic and House Manager committees Austin Christy B-Section President can bring back new and innovative ideas \r\nPAGE 2 N O T F O R C O LLE GE D AY S ALO N E Recruitment A Section This past recruitment term, we finished strong with seven bids returned from men of principle wishing to join our great Fraternity despite the still relatively low enrollment numbers at Kettering. As always, the winter term, although not necessarily big with respect to recruitment events, will still provide us opportunities to get more bids turned in. Our goal continues to be to recruit 24/7/365 and to grow the house's membership. Our intents are: Brent Ray Charlie Bierstetel Cody Adams Justin Cargill Mike Neal Mitch Sloboda Tyler Babinski We all look forward to watching these men mature and grow during the pledging process and hopefully seeing them initiated as our brothers in Phi Gamma Delta! B Section During the refounding of B-Section in the spring, we were able to recruit another brother to the cause. Brian Mills, the sole member of Beta pledge class, was initiated this fall term; along with a founding brother who had been studying overseas, Adam Miller. It was a great pleasure to have brought them into the house, and their zeal for Phi Gamma Delta is astounding. Adam will be graduating shortly, but Brian will be taking on new duties, most notably Recording Sec on cabinet. We look forward to his efforts in bettering the house! For the fall term, B-Section sent out six bids. As this letter is being written only one has been returned, James Bailey. Although we look forward to seeing him become a PhiGam, it's clear that there is a lot of work to be done, especially in the hearts of the brothers when it comes to recruiting. This was the first true recruitment term for B-Section since its refounding, and it has been a humbling and educational experience. Going forward, a lot has been learned from our intersection meetings, and our triumphs and failures this spring. Again, persistence is key, and we will strive to bring Phi Gamma Delta back onto campus like it has never been seen before. V O LU M E 4 , ISSU E 2 \r\nV O LU M E 4 , ISSU E 2 N O T F O R C O LLE GE D AY S ALO N E PAGE 3 Alpha Gamma Capital Campaign Update The Alpha Gamma Capital Campaign started just over a year ago and has been a great success thus far. A total of 87 graduate brothers have combined to pledge more than $110,000 over the duration of the campaign. So far, almost $50,000 has been collected. Through the generosity of these fine graduate brothers, the campaign has been able to fund $5,000 for the initial B-Section recruitment, $11,000 for the sanitary sewer repair, $8,000 for the storm sewer/structural repair, and $24,000 for the recently completed new roof on the main section of the house. Future priorities for funding include replacing the roof on the formal living room, replacing the doors and windows, and finally addressing the 50+ year old boiler. As some of us are driven by competition, I thought it would be fun to take a look at a breakdown of giving by decade of graduation. Number of donors by decade: Top graduating classes by number of donors: 1960s – 21 ‟87 – 6 2000s – 20 „65 – 5 1980s – 17 ‟69 – 4 1970s – 13 ‟91 – 4 1990s – 10 ‟02 – 4 1950s – 3 A full list of donors organized by level of giving can be found on the Alpha Gamma Chapter website. While the campaign has been a success so far, there is room for improvement. So far, less than 10% of our graduate brothers have contributed. If you have not yet made a donation and/or pledge, please consider doing so now. Just send a check to: Phi Gamma Delta Attn: Alpha Gamma Capital Campaign 1702 Flushing Rd. Flint, MI 48504 Include a note with your graduation year, current contact information (including email address), and amount you wish to pledge in 2012, 2013, and 2014. Fraternally, Bradford Grems (‟00) BCA CONTACTS: BCA Graduate Relations Chairman Name Position Email Phone Bradford Grems Graduate Relations bgrems@ludwigseeley.com 248-750-1700 Chris Mikola Financial Board cmikola@yahoo.com 248-980-3116 Ed Kiell President hugh_edward@yahoo.com 248-345-9046 Jameson Fee PL\Chapter Operations jameson.fee@gmail.com 248-520-9126 Mark Jacobsen Graduate Relations mark@markjacobsen.net 517-803-2254 Rex Luzader rluzader@hotmail.com 732-996-6544 Ron Leonard Financial Board Ron_lionheart@hotmail.com 248-219-1070 Vince Ferro Secretary vnferro@gmail.com 248-807-1408 Joe Horak Financial Board Josephhorak@gmail.com 586-808-0520 Dan McConnon Recruitment mcco9259@gmail.com 616-856-0927 Steve Purvis House Manager sdpurvis@yahoo.com 810-423-4223 Nick Woodall lb_squeaks@hotmail.com \r\nPAGE 4 N O T F O R C O LLE GE D AY S ALO N E V O LU M E 4 , ISSU E 2 Randy Hamkins Memorial Golf Tourney The Randy Hamkins Memorial Golf Tourney raised $1000 for the Randy Hamkins Scholarship fund. We had 40 golfers in attendance that included Randy‟s Family, Graduate Brothers, current Brothers, and even a few non-brothers. Everyone was then welcomed back to the house for the Grad BBQ. Some local business‟s contributed over $200 in gift cards that were given away as prizes for the 1st through 3rd places in the golf tournament or raffled off. In order to get the whole house involved some brothers decided to build a single hole putt-putt course that was changed everyday in order to keep it challenging. The winning team was the Palm family – Doug, Matt, Luke, and Jake who are pictured with the second and third place teams below. All in all for a first year effort the success of the event was outstanding. Academics Since Scholarship is one of our five values in Phi Gamma Delta, we always strive to do our best when it comes to schoolwork. A Section We realize achieving scholarship is the reason why we attend this University, and over the Winter 2011 term we were able to raise our house GPA by 0.3 from the summer before, going from a 2.62 up to a 2.94. Unfortunately, we were still 10th out of eleven fraternities as the Greek Wide GPA rose from a 2.92 to a 3.11. Over the Summer 2011 term, 15 brothers were able to achieve a term GPA above a 3.0. Of those who had a GPA above a 3.0, 7 made the Dean‟s List, and they are as follows: Cory Dorfner, Matthew Jokerst, Kevin Lucka, Andrew Mazzola, Matthew Palm, Kevin Waggoner, and Michael Wroblicky. With everyone working hard we plan to continuously improve our house GPA over these next terms and achieve academic excellence. B Section Over this past spring term, B-Section had 3 of its 7 brothers above a 3.0 GPA for the term, and all the brothers showed an increase of at least 0.2 in their cumulative GPA's. There is still much work to be done, as we are ranked 10th out of the 11 fraternities, and as a chapter still below the men's average. For the fall, many of our brothers are showing strong A's and B's for their midterm grades, and we are looking forward to seeing another jump in the house GPA. Balancing the reconstruction of the fraternity, school, and work can be tough, but we're already on an upward climb. We just need to keep at it; "Nothing in the world can take the place of persistence." \r\nV O LU M E 4 , ISSU E 2 N O T F O R C O LLE GE D AY S ALO N E PAGE 5 Save the Date! 2012 Norris Pig Dinner Pig Dinner for next year has already been set up and is reserved for May 5, 2012 at 6:30 pm at River Crest Banquet Hall located on 900 West Avon Road, Rochester Hills, MI 48307. If you would like more information, please visit their website at www.rivercrestcatering.com. The cost for attending is $50 for a single and $75 for a couple. There will be a golf outing prior to the dinner at a location in the area. When tee times and a course have been chosen, updates will be sent out! There will be further information regarding the event sent out soon, but consider this a save the date. If at all possible, please plan on attending. Come for the great food and golf outing, but stay for the company of your brothers and lifelong friends. If you would like a spot reserved early or have any further questions, please email Steve Root at stephentroot@gmail.com or RSVP on the website http://ketteringfiji.com/grad-relations/ pig_dinner/2012-pig-dinner/rsvp/ Shining Stars Our Chapter continues to demonstrate Service and Excellence through campus involvement. In the past few months, many of our undergraduate brothers received awards and recognition as well Bradford Grems (2000) and our lovely Faculty Advisor, Brenda Lemke. Bradford was awarded Greek Alumnus of the Year and Brenda was awarded Faculty Advisor of the Year by the Inter-Fraternity Council – A Section. Stephen Root (2013) was awarded Chapter Officer of the Year. FIJI was awarded with the Most Philanthropic Chapter on campus for all of our work with organizations such as Highway Cleanup, Crim Festival of Races, and the Flint Children‟s Museum. Mark Symons (2015) and Nathan Ward (2013) were elected onto Student Alumni Council while Stephen Root was elected Vice President and Patrick Burnham (2012) elected President of SAC. We also made a big mark on IFC-A, as four of our brothers were elected into positions Stephen Root (President), Matthew Palm (2013, Secretary), Nathan Ward (Recruitment), Joel Laber (2014, Risk Management). Aaron TenHuisen (2012) has been named a Sobey Scholar and Matt Jokerst (2014) has been inducted into Eta Kappa Nu and Tau Beta Pi. Also, many of our brothers lead clubs around the school. Matt Palm (2013) is the Treasurer of Cliffhangers, Mike Wroblicky (2013) is the president of Mudboggers, Kevin Lucka and Taimen Taylor (2014) are the President and Vice President of Rock Club, and Matt Jokerst (2014) is Vice Chair of KSG Academic Council. \r\nPAGE 6 N O T F O R C O LLE GE D AY S ALO N E V O LU M E 4 , ISSU E 2 BCA Roof Replacement Project Brothers, In early November the main part of the roof was replaced. This included removing all of the old ballast stone and installing new roofing material over the old roof. New ballast stone was laid down along with new sheet metal and flashing. The roof comes with a 20yr warranty and the roofing company will be providing follow-up inspections in the spring and fall next year. Unfortunately, there was not enough money to replace the roof over the formal living room or balcony over the dining room. The good news is most of the water damage resulted from leaks in the main roof which has been replaced, and with all the recent rain, the house experienced no leaks from the balcony or formal living room. Hopefully with continued graduate support, we will be able to tackle the other two roofs next year. Fraternally, Steven D. Purvis (‟02) BCA Member \r\nV O LU M E 4 , ISSU E 2 N O T F O R C O LLE GE D AY S ALO N E PAGE 7 House Manager’s Report There was much done to the house in the past few months. A boiler valve has been unseized to allow hot water and heat flow again into the foyer, formal living room, and dining room. The broken drain pipe going into the grease trap from the sink was replaced and one of the toilets in the downstairs bathroom, after being unusable for a few months, was fixed when the replacement part finally came in. Locks for the front and back door were replaced and new flood lights were installed in the back parking lot, greatly improving the security and safety of the house. Also, A section‟s Xi class completed their pledge project, which was drywalling and painting the library, staining the bookshelves and computer table, and buying a new library table. Feel free to check out the website for pictures! Graduate News - Visit with Dick Veazy Fairly recently, Dick Veazy was presented with one of the Alpha Gamma Chapter history books, written by Keith Councell (Class of 2003) and released at this past Pig Dinner. Dick Veazy is a graduate brother from Alpha Gamma Upsilon, graduating back in 1948! Since he lives out in Arizona and doesn't get around as well as he used to, it was a challenge to get the book to him, but some more recent graduates, Jake Obradovich (Class of 2010) on the left, Brandon Schinzel (Class of 2009) in the middle, and Alex Brodie (Class of 2010) on the right, who live in Arizona, got it done! Jake and Alex had a 3 hour drive from Yuma, AZ, and Brandon had a 2.5 hour drive From Flagstaff, AZ, but their travel was well worth it. He loved the book! Dick and his wife had quite a few stories about his GMI days, his career, and his involvement in the house after graduation. Dick told them about how there used to be a 4 week and 8 week section (depending on if you were from in state or out of state), which was a surprise to the recent graduates used to an 11 week schedule. Dick also talked about how he and his wife have been down in Arizona for 25 years and they love it down there. They told Dick about the award named after him and how Brodie actually won it! Also, they shared with him some of the BCA accomplishments in the last 2 years and how we have really started the process of taking this house to the next level with re-colonizing B-Section and the house getting paid off. \r\nV O LU M E 4 , ISSU E 2 N O T F O R C O LLE GE D AY S ALO N E PAGE 8 ATTENTION GRADUATES! This chapter newsletter is published twice a year by the undergraduates at no cost to the graduates. If you wish to relay information, have any interesting stories of your college days, suggestions, comments, or wish to donate any photographs for publication, please contact the chapter. We would appreciate your getting in touch with us by completing this graduate questionnaire and mailing your responses to the chapter at 1702 Flushing Rd, Flint, MI 48504. We look forward to hearing from you. GRADUATE QUESTIONNAIRE Name______________________________________________________ Class Year___________________ Nickname______________________________ Offices held at Fiji________________________________ Wife’s Name____________________________ Children_________________________________________ Company ___________________________________ Home Phone_________________________________ Email Address_______________________________ Cell Phone__________________________________ News to share, Announcements____________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ __________________________________________________________________________________________ Would you like any of the above information in the next newsletter? Yes  ___ Yes, I‟ll be attending this year‟s Pig Dinner on May 5, 2012. No  ___ No, but maybe next year. Comments, Suggestions______________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ _________________________________________________________________________________________ *There is a new PayPal link on our website, www.ketteringfiji.com, if you would like to make any donations toward the house. We appreciate any financial support and hope you enjoy this newsletter and remember that Phi Gamma Delta is “not for college days alone.” Please provide any feedback, comments, suggestions or any additional information you would like to see in the next edition of the newsletter by emailing: Matt Palm: palm.matthew@gmail.com