NITTANY FIJI NEWS PHI GAMMA DELTA | GAMMA PHI CHAPTER | FIJIPSU.ORG News From the Actives Intramurals - by Co-IM Chairs Lucas Elliot (2019) and Jack Brusco (2020) Gamma Phi will be participating in three indoor IM sports to start off the 2018 spring semester. Hosting a team in the basketball league will be a success with the influx of brothers wanting to play. This year, for the first, time indoor soccer will be played in the newly renovated IM building turf fields. Brothers are excited to practice their footwork before the intense outdoor soccer season starts in late March. A few brothers will also be individually wrestling for Gamma’s Pride. Philanthropy - by Co-Philanthropy Chair William Dreese (2020) The Phi Gam Carnival was held on October 21, 2017 with the Alpha Chi Omega Sorority and raised almost $800 for the Centre County Women’s Resource Center. The event featured carnival games, food and prizes. The event was the highest amount raised through paid attendance of any event in the 2017 fall semester at Penn State. This upcoming semester, we plan on hosting Fiji Island as a week-long philanthropy to raise money for the National Foundation for Suicide Awareness. The week will feature multiple events with different sororities. \r\nNews From the Actives, cont. Recruitment - by Recruitment Chair Zackery Wold (2020) The Gamma Phi Chapter is pleased to announce the initiation of our four new brothers from our fall 2017 pledge class: • Brandon Michael Falzon (2020): Basking Ridge, NJ. Majoring in economics and advertising with a minor in sociology. • Jack DiPietro (2020): Towson, MD. Majoring in information sciences and technology. • Matt Thomas Fisher (2020): Asbury Park, NJ. Majoring in business and finance. • Dylan Tyler Rich (2020): Mechanicsburg, PA. Majoring in chemical engineering. We have also completed spring 2018 recruitment. One highlight was hosting our “zone day,” which is an event where we give a tour of the lodge to the potential new members and offer them an opportunity to meet brothers. This event was our largest in quite a long time, with over 250 rushes attending. This gave us a great opportunity to choose new quality men to pledge Gamma Phi and help further our efforts in being a thriving chapter at Penn State. A Word from Our President - Tyler Fuller (2020) When the new restrictions on Greek Life came out —limiting the number of social events each chapter may host to up 10, further restrictions on recruitment and social events, etc.— every organization went into a state of emergency with the thought being just to survive. Some fraternities are still in this state, but we have truly turned the corner and are now looking to thrive, even with the setbacks in place.We have adapted our risk management plan, which has become the example after which other fraternities at Penn State are told to model their own, and are trying to excel in our community service and philanthropy efforts to rise above those who are remaining stagnant. FIJI By the Numbers A recent summary of our statistics: • Fall 2017 - 39 living in the house, 75 total members, 4 new pledges, All-Brothers’ GPA 3.36, one noise violation from West Halls, 1 alleged social with “over occupancy level” (new occupancy levels set by State College Borough; basement. 43, first floor 114, total 157!) • Spring 2017 - 23 living in the house, 80 total members, 13 new pledges, All-Brothers’’ GPA 3.17. • Spring 2018 - 35 living in the house, 75 total members, 4 new brothers, 20 new pledges, 1 alleged violation for offering alcohol at a rush function which resulted in no social functions at the house with alcohol for the rest of this spring semester. • Fall 2018 - 46 expected to live in the house \r\nGamma Phi 2018 Annual Fund Honor Roll ANY THANKS to our generous alumni who have helped us raise over $13,000 for our 2018 Annual Fund! We are now within $12,000 of our goal for this year and are so grateful for those who have donated. We extend our appreciation to the following alumni. David B. Watson (1979) James C. Clawson (1971) Frank H. McKean (1948) Mark C. Krauss (1976) Edward C. Graham, Jr. (1979) James M. Nagle (1960) Richard L. Stover (1965) Calvin E. Burgart (1965) William L. Oliver (1967) David E. Freas (1971) Douglas B. Henderson (1957) David C. Necker (1967) Kenneth A. Schwartz (1976) Michael J. Stewart (1972) Edward E. Birkinshaw, Jr. (1955) Daniel B. Kohlhepp, PhD (1969) David L. Young (1966) T. Seth Rothey (2001) Robert A. Absalom, DMD (1969) Robert P. Bookman (1958) J. William Bowman, III (1966) Frank L. Carpenter (1963) Robert S. Cole (1963) A. Wayne Cole (1950) Dean P. Guerro (1980) Gregory A. Hanks (1978) Robert K. Knechtel (1972) Ronald P. Moehler (1969) Matthew D. Nee (1999) John M. Reihner, DDS (1975) Richard D. Roth (1980) Louis C. Tronzo (1959) Michael L. Zboray (2003) F. Spencer Grauch (1965) J. Robert Banks (1963) William C. Ericsson (1971) Raymond H. McCune (1967) A. Bennett Orme, Jr. (1967) Frank D. Tussey, USAF(Ret.) (1954) Become a member of our Honor Roll of Alumni and keep giving back to your fraternity to ensure its proper upkeep and continued success. Non tax-deductible donations are to be made directly to Gamma Phi Chapter, either online or via check. Visit https://fijipsu.org/give to donate online. To pay by check, please print the form on the last page of this newsletter and mail it, along with your check to: Gamma Phi Chapter, PO Box 953, State College, PA 16804. Tax-deductible donations to the Phi Gamma Delta Chapter Housing Educational Foundation (CHEF) are still made to our International Headquarters in the name of Gamma Phi. Please contact Ben Robinson at 859-255-1848 x133 prior to making these contributions. These can be cash or equity donations. Several of us have inflated stocks that we do not want to pay taxes on. An excellent way to dispose of them, tax free, is to donate them to this CHEF fund! \r\nTHON 2018 Having raised over $51,000 for THON 2017, FIJI THON had a fantastic outlook for this year in 2018. This year we embarked on a wide variety of fundraising initiatives including the final canning weekend at Penn State, canvassing trips to the Altoona and Mechanicsburg areas, hot chocolate sales and various restaurant alternative fundraisers. Together, we were determined to exceed our fundraising total for THON 2018. Gamma Phi recently applied to adopt a family and are now also benefiting the Ramirez family, in addition to the Smith’s. The dancers selected to represent Phi Gam in THON 2018 were Spencer Harlan (2018), James Kaltman (2018) and Kevin Bannon (2018). All in all, we were extremely excited to raise funds for the Four Diamond Funds and support our amazing dancers in the Bryce Jordan Center THON weekend! The overall Gamma Phi goal this year was to be among the top 10 Greek organizations to receive donations “For The Kids”. A lot of long hours and hard work by Brian Failor (2018), Spencer Harlan (2018), James Kaltman (2018), Kevin Bannon (2018), Ian Dinda (2019), Michael Schwenger (2020), Matt Johnson (2020), Max Griffith (2020), Brandon Falzon (2020), Nick Reinhart (2019) and Erik Wallace (2020) paid off as Gamma Phi collected $143,873.50! This is the highest amount ever raised for Gamma Phi and 6th out of all Greek organizations. What a challenge, and what an excellent result! Our family relations was handled by Sam Corazza (2020) and Nate Land (2020). Thank you to all alumni who donated to our THON 2018 fundraising efforts! And congratulations brothers! \r\nIntroducing Our Spring 2018 Pledge Class We are proud to introduce the 20 members of our spring 2018 pledge class and look forward to seeing all that our new members have to contribute to the future success of FIJI! Kyle Francis Ampthor (Ashburn, VA) Finance Alec Barrett Baxter (Whippany, NJ) Finance Anthony Ralph Gennaro (Pittsburgh, PA) Civil engineering Jack Everett Gularson (Cornelius, NC) Finance Tyler Channing Harkness (Reading, PA) Biobehavioral health Charles Michael Hastings (Katonah, NY) Undecided with a focus on business Frederick Forrest Hayton (Richmond, VA) International politics Connor Thomas Hulslander (Scranton, PA) Finance Brendan Michael Jocsak (Oley, PA) Chemical engineering Nicholas Lopez (Miami, FL) Economics and philosophy Matthew Joseph Moffitt (Lebanon, PA) Mechanical engineering Edward Kevin Molloy (Chalfont, PA) Political science and economics Ryan James Okuniewski (Birdsboro, PA) Secondary education in math Andrew Lane Parks (Reading, PA) Electrical engineering John Michael Paulik (Reading, PA) Biology on a pre-med track Owen Richard Pusey (Birdsboro, PA) Agribusiness management Samuel Barry Roberts (Duxbury, MA) Advertising Matthew Bruce Rutherford (Stamford, CT) Finance Owen Allen Weisenfluh (Alexandria, VA) Finance Sammy Yuen (Fort Lee, NJ) Finance \r\nGamma Phi Chapter of Nonprofit Org U.S. Postage Paid Lexington, KY Permit # 540 PHI GAMMA DELTA PENNSYLVANIA STATE UNIVERSITY 1201 Red Mile Rd P.O. Box 4599 Lexington, KY 40544-4599 Pig Dinner 2018 The 2018 Gamma Phi Pig Dinner is April 7! Rooms at the Days Inn State College will be held until March 7. Questions? Please send all inquiries to Pigdinner1888@ gmail.com. This year’s keynote speaker will be Bob Capretto (1968). See you there! Join Us Blue-White Weekend! There will be a House Corporation meeting Saturday morning, April 21, at 10:00 am at the FIJI house. All alumni are invited!