Alpha Upsilon News In This Issue: Introducing the Cabinet State of the Chapter 2 Brotherhood Events 2 Recruitment 3 Philanthropy 3 Compassion Project 3 Website 3 Pig Dinner 4 Alumni Update 4 Introducing the Cabinet Jack Albert (2020): President, Dallas, TX, Finance, jaa0044@auburn.edu “Over my time as president, I want to improve the brotherhood aspect of our fraternity. By making it easier to come up to the house and having set brotherhood events, I hope to cultivate a closer community. I also want to improve our graduate database through our new website. We hope to better engage our graduate brothers and include them in our plans for the future.” Rix Curtis (2020): Treasurer, Mountain Brook, AL, Building Science, rrc0007@auburn.edu “As treasurer, I want to make the operations of the fraternity run as smoothly as possible. I would like to focus on improving the uncollected dues from graduate brothers. I want to ensure that our funds are used efficiently and appropriately. As we begin our fundraising campaign for the new house renovations, I would like to help our alumni and advisors anyway I can. I want to leave the fraternity in better financial shape than a year ago.” New Cabinet from (L-R): Top Row: Ross Chandler, Recruitment Chairman; Joe Martin, Recording Secretary; Sean Griffin, Historian Bottom Row: Parker Hershey, Corresponding Secretary; Jack Albert, President; Rix Curtis, Treasurer Joe Martin (2021): Recording Secretary, Mountain Brook, AL, Mechanical Engineering, jgm0043@auburn.edu “As recording secretary, I have the opportunity to be an aid to the president and to the chapter. My goal is to not only maintain the integrity and overall standing of the chapter but to improve it” Parker Hershey (2020): Corresponding Secretary, Vestavia, AL, Industrial Engineering, pjh0017@auburn.edu “As corresponding secretary, my goal is to update the graduate information contact sheet and increase the attendance at Pig Dinner for graduates of the last 10 years. I have many ideas to encourage graduate relations, and I look forward to implementing them in the year to come.” Sean Griffin (2020): Historian, Mobile, AL, Political Science/English, sag0037@auburn.edu “As historian, I plan to preserve and record this chapter’s history so our brothers can have a shared sense of our past and present. I plan to continue educating the chapter on Fiji’s customs and traditions to help foster a better sense of unity.” Ross Chandler (2021): Recruitment Chairman, Guntersville, AL, Business Analytics, jrc0094@auburn.edu “As this year’s rush chair, I plan to bring in a group of men to uphold and value the principles and standards that Fiji is known for, as well as continue to represent this chapter well. If you have any questions at all, please feel free to contact me through email.” \r\n2 State of the Chapter The Alpha Upsilon Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta has had another great year on Auburn’s Campus. In December, we were awarded the James E. Martin Award by Auburn’s Interfraternity Council (IFC). This award recognizes the best all-around fraternity on Auburn’s campus in seven major areas: academic success, campus involvement, risk management, recruitment, philanthropy, community service, athletics and brotherhood. In addition to this award, we were recognized with academic awards by both Auburn IFC and International Headquarters for achieving the highest men’s average GPA for the year of 2018. With over 200 brothers, our cumulative GPA average was a 3.36. This was the 57th consecutive year that our chapter has beaten the all male’s GPA average at Auburn. In addition, our chapter was able to donate over $35,000 toward philanthropy over this previous calendar year. We also continue to remain very involved on and off campus. The chapter was able to achieve over 3,000 community service hours, which exceed last year’s total. In the summer of 2018, we brought in 54 new members that will continue to lead our chapter to success. We have hired a new chef, Terry Carr, who has been working full time with us since Luther D. Ford retired earlier this year. Terry has done an excellent job in filling the big shoes left before him. We are very excited about our accomplishments this previous year, but we expect even greater things in 2019. With hard working, smart and honest men, the sky is the limit for this group. Perge! Ben Conry (2019) Former Chapter President Former President Ben Conry (2019) receiving the Martin Award for Best Overall Fraternity on Campus with current President Jack Albert (2020) Brotherhood Events Former Social Chairs Parker Hershey (2020) and Rix Curtis (2020) planned an awesome fall semester this past year. We had tailgates for every football game, a Parent’s weekend, an alumni tailgate for the Texas A&M game with a great turnout of graduate brothers, multiple band parties, and some date parties at the house. We also enjoyed our semi-formal on board the Harriot II Riverboat in Montgomery. Our newly elected social chairs are Griffin Smiley (2021) and Jackson Weidler (2021). They planned our first ever Fiji Avalanche which included a date party on the first night of classes and a band party featuring The Brook and The Bluff the next night. This spring semester we will also have our formal in New Orleans, Phi Gam Lounge, Pig Dinner, and of course Fiji Island which will be April 11-13. Griffin and Jackson have also made the decision to bring back the “Burn the House Down” party next fall. This party will commemorate the Fiji house burning down in 1962, and our chapter’s ability to persevere even in times of adversity. When asked about the events planned for the year, Griffin said, “The best thing about social events is having all the brothers together at one place. We look forward to Fiji island and bringing back the historical Burn the House Down party this fall.” We are excited to have these opportunities to be together as brothers of the Fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta, and we hope to have as many alumni as possible for Pig Dinner and Alumni Tailgates in the future. Fiji Island from left to right: Jacob Welch (2020), Jack Albert (2020), Davis Casadaban (2020), Michael Boynton (2020), and Colin Mallory (2020). Stewie Austin (2019) with his family at Parent’s Weekend Date Party. Avalanche Date Party from Left to Right: Ellis Godwin (2021), Bennett Miles (2021), Murphy Mccallum (2021), Joe Martin (2021), Will Leitner (2021), Robert Cowen (2021). \r\nRecruitment 3 The Alpha Upsilon Chapter at Auburn always prides itself on the recruitment of members that hold to the Fraternity’s five core values: Friendship, Knowledge, Service, Morality, and Excellence. The same can be said for the 54 new members Fiji is welcoming as a part of its 2018 Fall Pledge Class, which was under the leadership of Pledge Educator Brayden Burkhardt (2019). “The new members did well in the eight-week pledgeship program. They learned about the core values and traditions of this Fraternity,” says Burkhardt. “They have already meshed well with the current members in the fraternity and I see bright things in this class’s future.” Philanthropy This year’s Philanthropy Chairman, Bennett Miles (2021), has decided to continue our philanthropy project with Auburn-Opelika Young Life. “I grew up attending Young Life in high school and built incredible relationships with leaders during my time there,” says Miles. “These relationships and experiences changed me, and they play a huge role in my story. I am now currently a Young Life Leader at Auburn High School along with a couple of other members of our fraternity.” Young Life is a non-profit organization that mentors high schoolers spiritually and emotionally. Together, we have raised over $35,000 to support this organization through events like our annual Phi Gam Open Golf Tournament and Peachtree Basketball Tournament. Bennett is very excited to be the philanthropy chairman and cannot wait to see our fraternity come together for a great cause. To learn more about Auburn-Opelika Young Life or to donate to this organization, visit www.auburnopelika. younglife.org. For more information on our fraternity’s involvement and Young Life, please feel free to contact Bennett Miles at mbm0036@auburn.edu. Compassion Project Throughout the past year, the Alpha Upsilon Chapter has had the privilege of sponsoring two young boys from Ghana, Kwaku and Alexander, through the Compassion International Program. The mission of this organization can be summed up in this one quote from their website: “Compassion International is a child-advocacy ministry that pairs compassionate people with those who are suffering from poverty. The ministry releases children Alexander, age 9 from spiritual, economic, social and physical poverty. The goal is for each Kwaku, age 5 child to become a responsible and fulfilled adult.” Because of our brothers’ generosity, these children are able to participate in a church-based program that offers life-changing benefits ranging from educational opportunities, healthcare, food and housing. As a chapter, we will be sponsoring these children until they complete secondary school and the Compassion Child Development Program. We are excited to see how God works in the lives of these two young men through our sponsorship. Please visit compassion.com for more information about the Compassion International Program and how you can get involved. Website We are beyond excited to announce that one of our brothers, Connor King (2020), has created a brand new website for our chapter. It has sections to talk about our history, recruitment, campus involvement and alumni. Under the Alumni section, there is a form for all of our graduate brothers to fill out in order to update the database. If you have any questions about our website or about how to get involved with our chapter, feel free to reach out to our Graduate Relations Chairman Colin Mallory (2020) at csm0036@auburn.edu. We highly encourage everyone to check out our website, www.aufiji.com, to learn more about the Alpha Upsilon Chapter and the values that have shaped our members since 1962. \r\n4 Pig Dinner The Alpha Upsilon Chapter is excited to host the annual Norris Pig Dinner on April 6 at the Auburn University Club. The address for the AU Club is 1650 Yarbrough Farms Blvd, Auburn, AL 36830. Our Pig Dinner Chair’s this year are David Martorana (2021) and Cal Rieke (2021). We are honored to be able to continue this tradition dating back to 1893 and live out the motto “Not for College Days Alone.” We would love to have as many graduate brothers as we can at this year’s event. Any questions or concerns about the Pig Dinner this year can be directed to David Martorana at dgm0011@auburn.edu or Cal Rieke at hcr0014@auburn.edu. Alumni Spotlight: Wright Draper We are honored to recognize Wright Draper (2018) as our Graduate Spotlight this year. Wright was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama. He attended Auburn University from 2014-2018 as a Business Finance major. He pledged with the Alpha Upsilon Chapter as a freshman and was a very active member by holding the positions of chaplain during his sophomore year and treasurer during his junior year. He even added to his very busy schedule by holding the position of Interfraternity Council (IFC) Chaplain his junior year. Wright Draper did everything he possibly could to make a positive impact on our fraternity whether it be leading a Bible study in the morning, grabbing lunch with an underclassman or keeping his door open at the Fiji house for anyone and everyone to hang out. Above all of this, he actively lived out his faith and encouraged our fraternity to do the same. When asked to give advice to the active members at the Alpha Upsilon Chapter, Wright responded by saying, “A small bit of advice I would give to my active brothers would be this: don’t wait to follow Jesus. This is an all too common mistake that many buy into, especially the young men. The saying is frequently made, ‘I’ll pick up Jesus after college but right now I want to live for myself.’ In some cases that might be true, but in many more cases most people never turn back to God. Life gets busier, problems get bigger, time gets shorter, and more importantly, sin gets stronger. J.C. Ryle describes the habit of practicing sin in this way: the longer you live in it, the harder it will be to leave it. So cast it aside and follow the one who gave you life and breath and all that you have!” Since graduation, Wright has been working as a Youth Director at Eastwood Presbyterian Church in Montgomery, AL. He hopes to attend seminary within the next two years and pursue a career in the ministry. If you have any questions for Wright or would like to reach out to him, please do not hesitate to email him at gwdraper@gmail.com. He has had such a significant influence on our Chapter and is the type of man that truly exemplifies our values as a Fraternity.