Gamma Tau of Phi Gamma Delta GAMMA TAUK Spring 2010 PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS What’s News? By: John Crupie (2009), Chapter President John Crupie (2010), Chapter President Brothers, As we close out another year at CreightonVail Hall, I would like to take this opportunity to update you on yet another outstanding semester from the brothers at Gamma Tau. The year started out with another exceptional rush, with FIJI landing the 3rd largest pledge class on campus. Even more exciting is this year’s retention rate, as 22 of the original 24 men are still with us. The brothers are extremely proud of the achievements this group has compiled and await their addition as brothers in the near future. Special thanks to the many of you who provided rush contacts this fall. Please continue to submit names to the rush chairmen at www.gtfiji.com and help us continue our recruit- ment success. Academics and philanthropy continue to shine as the semester comes to a close. With a spring GPA of 3.06, Gamma Tau once again placed in the top 5 chapters on campus. Our annual fall break Habitat for Humanity trip was again an overwhelming success, as nearly 100 brothers and guests traveled to Daytona for a weekend of home building at the beach. And finally, the brothers teamed up with the brothers of Kappa Deuteron at UGA to host the 3rd annual FIJI Run for the Kids, with a combined total of nearly $25,000 raised for Children’s (Continued on page 2) HOUSE CONSTRUCTION INITIATIVE UPDATE rus Group is a well-respected firm that has worked exclusively with fraternal organizations, including several at Tech, and will help provide the necessary professional services experience that will make this initiative a success. Their experience and impartiality will provide the right atmosphere for the creative discussions that will ultimately guide the recommendations on how we proceed. As the study progresses, Gamma Tau had the 3rd largest pledge class on campus. • Nearly 100 brothers traveled to Daytona this fall to assist Habitat for Humanity. • FIJI Run for the Kids raised almost $25,000 this year! • Visit www.gtfiji.com for more news and updates! • The chapter fall GPA was 3.22 and pledge class GPA was 3.37. SAVE THE DATE! PIG DINNER By: Alex Demestihas (2005) - HCI Committee Chair Thank you for your continued interest and support of the house construction initiative. We are currently under contract with Atlanta-based capital campaign company, The Laurus Group (www.thelaurusgroup.net), to engage in a feasibility study that will evaluate the Gamma Tau Chapter’s readiness to move forward with the fundraising and construction of a new house at 841 Fowler Street. The Lau- • representatives from both The Laurus Group and the House Committee may be contacting you to further discuss this initiative. Keep in mind that this study is only the first step of this process, with many more to come. We are also evaluating the financial projections that a new house will require, ensuring that it will be financially feasible. It has been overwhelmingly (Continued on page 3) Saturday, April 24 Guest Speaker Inman Houston (1997) Knight Plantation 3550 Knight Road Marietta, GA 30066 More details coming soon... \r\nGAMMA TAUK Page 2 HOMECOMING SUCCESS Homecoming was a great success this year for Gamma Tau. The theme was “Buzz Under the Big Top”, and homecoming chairmen Andrew Elkins (2012) and Neal Toomey (2012) did a great job with all the homecoming competitions and pomp display. The highlight of competition was a 3rd place finish in the Mini 500, the highest finish in many years. Around 60 gradu- ates and their families joined the undergrads to watch the parade and catch up with each other. Graduate brother Alex Demestihas (2005) presented a display with the new house plans that excited both graduates and undergraduates. For the homecoming football game, the Yellow Jackets defeated then fourth ranked Virginia Tech and proceeded to tear the goalposts down in Bobby Dodd. WELCOME NEW INITIATES! Gamma Tau’s new initiates are: Grayson Mitchell, Stephen Fausel, Brad Zani, Sean Arnold, Ben Belden, Daniel Domanico, Judson Green, Zac Kannan, Ryan Kearns, Brett Kubica, AJ Prior, Patrick Wallin, Clay Williams, Matt Mills, Scott Horvath, Ben Reck, Trey Zepernick, Scotty Parker, Mike Ross, Nick Keith, and Chas Plaisance. PRESIDENT’S ADDRESS continued... “Your support is always welcomed, encouraged and appreciated at Gamma Tau. ” Healthcare of Atlanta. This brings Gamma Tau’s three year total to nearly $70,000 raised. Please see the homepage of our website for event coverage by the AJC and Athens Banner-Herald. Campus has been a buzz this semester with the football team’s overwhelming success in the second year of Paul Johnson’s (hopefully) long tenure on the Flats. The brotherhood has shown its support and taken part in the excitement. More than 50 brothers and guests travelled to Nashville on Halloween night to watch Tech run past Vanderbilt. The chapter hosted another exciting homecoming this year, and the House Corporation launched the first fundraising campaign of the new house construction project, as the jackets slipped past Virginia Tech in a mid-season thriller. The year was capped as over 40 Gamma Tau’s joined the team in Tampa when they brought home the school’s first ACC Championship since 1990. As we are just begin- ning 2010, I invite you to take an interest in the chapter and the achievements of its brothers. Your support is always welcomed, encouraged and appreciated at Gamma Tau. Please see the website for more information and explore www.gtfijigrads.com for updates from your fellow graduates. “Not for college days alone...” Perge! \r\nPage 3 GRADUATE SPOTLIGHT WILLIAM HOHORST (1982) What's going on in your life (family, travel, etc.)? I’ve been married to my wife, Lisa, for 27 years. We met at Tech, she was a FIJI little sister and an IE grad. We have two sons, one in 8th grade and the other is a freshman at the university that resides in Athens, GA (the scholarship offer was too good to pass up). The annual Tech/UGA football is now quite an event in our house! We like to take our vacations on cruise ships. We’ve been to the Caribbean numerous times and have climbed Mayan temples at Chichen Itza and Uxmal – both awesome experiences, especially when you consider what ceremonies they performed at those temples! In this country, I spent a week on a backpacking trip from the north to the south rim of the Grand Canyon with a group of fellow Air Force buddies. It was a grueling hike, but every view made it worthwhile. There were also times in the canyon where there was not a sound to be heard – it was really weird to be in a place so enormous standing there in absolute silence. Have you had much contact with other FIJI's recently? Recently, none. But back in the 1990’s, I met fellow pledge brother Steve Ramsey in Lake Tahoe for some skiing. We had a good time skiing a mountain topping 10,000 ft that has both a Nevada and California side. We still keep in touch at Christmas each year and other times when one of us travels for business. Last I heard, Steve was working as an environmental consulting expert in the Houston, TX area. Where are you working now? After spending time as an engineer in the Air Force and doing some project management consulting, I ended up back in Georgia working as a civil servant. I’m an IT Project Officer working for the Marine Corps in Albany, GA. I work in the post deployment software support area for Systems Command. I’m responsible for maintaining a joint supply system with the Air Force and also managing a logistics data information web portal. I never thought my ME degree would land me in the IT world. Any good stories or words of wisdom? mean you’ll be doing engineering. My engineering knowledge led me down the path of engineering management. In 1986, I earned my MBA from Pepperdine University and have been in the engineering and business management fields ever since. As for words of wisdom, I would say to always obtain the certification that is relevant to your field. Take the EIT and get the PE. If you are in the computer science field, look at getting the Security+ and CISSP – these are hot credentials to have today. In these tough employment days, these kinds of certifications help build your network, get your foot in the door (get your resume read), and give you a leg up on the competition. I’ve been on hiring panels and seen the benefits of being certified. As of today, I have two certifications from the Department of Defense Acquisition Corps: 1) Program Management, and 2) Systems Planning, Research, Development, & Engineering. I’ve also obtained the Project Management (PMP) certification from the Project Management Institute. I’m glad I spent the time and effort it took to earn these – I know it’s paid off for me. I found out that just because you get an engineering degree doesn’t necessarily House Construction Initiative Update continued... (Continued from page 1) agreed to that as a Chapter, we will only move into the design phase of this project if our graduates are in support, the timing is right, and the house will be financially sound now and in future by making this level of investment. We are all very excited and energized by the prospect of making the “new” 841 Fowler Street the best physical house on campus. We are always seeking graduate brothers who wish to help see this dream a reality. For more information or if you’d like to be involved, please visit our information page on www.gtfijigrads.com. Gamma Tau enjoying the first annual brotherhood paintball tournament in October. \r\nNonprofit Org Phi Gamma Delta Fraternity 1201 Red Mile Road Lexington, KY 40504 US Postage Paid Lexington, KY Permit # 540 Contributing editors: Chris Padgette (2011) and Morgan Doty (2011) 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: _________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ Occupation ___________________________________ Employer ____________________________________ Spouse’s name __________________________________ Anniversary Date ______________________________ Children/Grandchildren Names and Ages: __________________________________________________________ _______________________________________________________________________________________ DONATE I am pleased to make a contribution to Gamma Tau 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: Gamma Tau Chapter, 841 Fowler St NW, Atlanta, GA 30313. 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