The Golden Eagle FIJI THETA TAU CHAPTER OF PHI GAMMA DELTA VOLUME 32, No.2 Summer 2010 Pig Dinner 2010 O VER 75 G RADUATES AT TEND P IG D INNER !! T TU F RATERNITY OF THE Y EAR 2009! \r\nTFI is proud to introduce the 2009-10 Lineup of Online Donation Programs. TFI’s Online Donation Programs are powered by PayPal and are completely secure. All you need to get started is an Email Address and a Credit or Debit Card. The 1848 Club-Monthly $18.48 per month HTTP://WWW.1848CLUB.NET The 1848 Club-Annually $221.76 per year HTTP://WWW.1848CLUB.NET/ANNUAL The 527 Club$5.27 per month HTTP://WWW.527CLUB.NET Why PayPal? Convenient Secure Easy to Use Why Donate? Foundations for the Future: Your monthly donations will help lay the foundation to form a capital campaign committee and successfully launch a campaign. So, while these monthly donations will not directly allow us to build a new house, portions of your donations will be earmarked for campaign expenses. This will help ensure that our capital campaign committee will have the funds to move forward with all due diligence. For the Betterment of the Chapter: a secondary goal of the Online Donation Programs is to support the Chapter’s Graduate Relations efforts. The ability to “raise the bar” in the area of Graduate Relations and Graduate support is paramount to both the Chapter’s goal of one day winning the coveted “Cheney Cup” and TFI’s goal of one day providing them a new chapter house. Benefits for Donors: Beyond the knowledge that you are “giving back” to the organization that gave so much to you during you college years, you will receive other rewards as well. Currently, donors receive gift certificates redeemable at Pig Dinner weekends. We are also exploring a variety of other ways to recognize Club members. Questions or Comments: please contact John Solis at donations@TTUFIJI.COM \r\nThe Golden Eagle Fiji Summer 2010 THETA TAU VOLUME 32 No. 2 L ET TER FROM THE P RESIDENT Brothers, I want to begin this letter with a large thank you to all the brothers who have been at the house helping with all of the renovations that we have been doing. Your help has not only given us the needed skills to complete some of the larger projects but showed us all the Phi Gamma Delta truly isn't for college days alone. The house is looking incredible and has turned into something that we can truly be proud of. The brotherhood that has been gained by these last few months of hard work on this house has not only given us the motivation for this summer but has turned into an incredible motivation for fall rush. The fall rush will start the 13th of September and will include our golf night, a county fair night, and our traditional island night. I would love to see all of you out at least one of our nights. The school has brought in more freshman than have ever come into Tech before and we are more than happy with the abundance of potentials coming by the Fiji house. Seeing the younger brothers of our chapter being our leading rushers for this falls recruitment gives me a Senior here at Tennessee Tech great confidence in the direction of our chapter. As this will be last semester on cabinet before I graduate I have been able to participate S PECIAL POINTS OF INTEREST : • President’s Letter • TFI Plans for the Future • Pig Dinner 2010 • BCA update • Graduate Spotlight • Chapter Updates (Continued on page 14) TFI P LANS FOR THE F UTURE Brothers, I’d like to begin this edition’s TFI update by formally introducing our newest board member. Please join me in welcoming Brother Hal Balthrop, our new Executive Vice President, to the house corporation. Hal has been very active in both graduate and undergraduate activities over the years, and will undoubtedly prove to be an invaluable asset to the board. Welcome aboard, Hal. We’ll try to make the ride as smooth as possible. Hal couldn’t have joined us at a better time. I have no doubt that 2010-2011 will prove to be the most exciting time in the history of TFI. We’re gearing up for the final push toward a new chapter house, and there’s still a lot of work to be done. Our first goal is, of course, the procurement of the additional property. I wish I had some specifics to report on this, but I can tell you that the wheels have been set in motion. With any luck, I’ll have more information to share in the near future. Our second, and perhaps most daunting, task for the upcoming year is the planned kickoff of our capital campaign at next year’s 30th Anniversary Pig Dinner. We’ll be assembling a committee for this purpose in the very near future, and we’ll need all the help we can get. Whether you have fundraising experience, or just want to help out, all comers are welcome. Contact me, or any other TFI member, for more information. (Continued On Page 7) TFI President Matt Leonard \r\nP AGE 3 V OLUME 32 N O . 2 29 TH A NNIVERSARY P IG D INNER We are ready to see you for the 30th Anniversary Pig Dinner in 2011! This year’s 29th Anniversary Pig Dinner was a success as always. Thanks to all for the largest turnout in years. The weekend started off with an ode to rush days with the Island Night. Nostalgia was present for all as many ate the pineapple chicken, played volleyball and simply caught up with Brothers past and present. Saturday kicked off with another chance to socialize at the Barbeque lunch at the house. Later on the formal events commenced with the cigar social on the front porch of the Fraternity House. While the rain attempted to scatter those who showed up, the Brotherhood was still apparent while everyone huddled under the shelter. The official dinner then kicked off with a pig presented by the Beta Tau pledge class who had cooked up an edible pig unlike some other years. The keynote speech this year was given by brothers Randy Wilmore, Lee Wray, Hal Balthrop, and Todd Arrants who discussed the beginning of the chapter and their experiences at the start. The Exile’s Toast this year was written by Dustin Turner, Chapter President 2009, and read by Jon Vaughn, Chapter President 2008. Three brothers received the wonderful honor of a Silver Owl which goes to a Brother who has been a member of Phi Gamma Delta for 25 years. This year, the Cheney Cup was on display as it was the first time the chapter had won this great honor. As mentioned in the State of the Chapter, this is a good sign of good things to come for the chapter if the chapter is able to stay focused. We hope to see you all next year at both homecoming and the 30th Anniversary Pig Dinner on March 11, 2011. \r\nG OLDEN E AGLE F IJI P AGE 4 This Year’s attendance: Graduates: Over 80 Brothers! Total: 150 Brothers Key Note Speakers: Randy Wilmore ‘84, Lee Wray ‘84, Hal Balthrop ‘84, and Todd Arrants ‘84 Exiles Toast: Purple Legionnaire Bo Byers (TN Tech. ‘06) and Section Chief Brian Douglas (TN Tech. ‘98) Dustin Turner ‘09 read by Jon Vaughn ‘08 \r\n2 2 No VOLUME 3 Z Oo o & Zz. Z Qa L a = z ate Zz ww Z, Z