Spring 2015 Raj Das | Chapter President Brothers, To the newest graduates who might be receiving this newsletter for the first time, it’s been an honor, and I cannot say that more truthfully. You left the house a better place, and will leave us all with many memories and as better people. To those graduates who supported us over the past year, thank you for your commitment and for remembering that Phi Gamma Delta is not for college days alone. We rely on your support and advice to help us improve as a chapter, and without you we would not be where we are today. You should all take pride in the current status of the house, for, as I’m sure you will deduce from this newsletter, things have been going well at the Temple. We have been planning and are beginning to undergo a major kitchen renovation, a subject upon which Troy Kirwin and Ray Humiston will elaborate further in this newsletter. With the disappointment of being forced by the Administration to cancel the Run Across Virginia last year, we are redoubling our efforts in expanding it this year. Reaching out to new resources and introducing an on grounds component are the main focal points, and we believe it will serve a dual purpose of increasing Omicron Announces the return of a full time House Chef in fall of 2015! funds for the charity as well as building a good name for our fraternity and all of Greek life in the community. In the same vein of making a good name for ourselves, I would like to report a full, successful, and incident-free, semester socially. I would like to thank all the graduates who managed to attend our Foxfield graduate event as well as those who came to the reception during Reunions weekend this year. I know I am not alone in saying Foxfield was a blast, and also not alone in regretting the inability to attend reunions. I have heard nothing but positives from the undergraduate brothers who really enjoyed meeting you. Speaking for the rest of the undergrads who missed out on the opportunity, I would like to remind you all of the Pig Dinner coming up in the Fall. This year, the Pig Dinner will be held Friday the 16th of October, and we would all enjoy being able to revel in brotherhood with as large a group of Omicrons as possible. Things are well at 128, and I sincerely hope that you will manage to come and see for yourselves. It speaks volumes to me about the strength of the brotherhood that we have such empirical support for the house after undergraduate years, and I can only hope that we continue to live up to your example. Fraternally, Raj Das President Save the Date Frank Norris Annual Pig Dinner Friday, Oct 16th at the Fiji House Please be sure to make hotel reservations now! Homecoming Saturday \r\nSpring Pledges Connor Briggs | Corresponding Secretary Brothers, The Temple is ecstatic to share that recruitment this year was a huge success. After a record breaking pool of over 800 rushees coming through our house, we extended 22 bids with 100% acceptance. Our Final Hours attendance was slightly lower than last year, but still impressive given our third round numbers at 30. This incoming class spans from Chile to Dubai and back to Charlottesville with excellent academics averaging a 3.3 GPA; this group is involved with myriad of service organizations such as Big Brothers Big Sisters and Make a Wish Foundation; they also play club golf, club beach volleyball, club rugby, club Frisbee, and club wrestling in addition to many IM sports. I am truly thrilled with the diversity and excellence of this group. Fraternally, Connor Briggs Corresponding Secretary • • • • • • • • • • • • Sheppard Ansel Walker of Earlysville, VA Kevin John Grubiak of Virginia Beach, VA Luke Francis Shields of Alpharetta, GA William Frederick Carbaugh of Great Falls, VA Sheldon Brooks Gray of Houston, TX Nathaniel Reid Fox of Keswick, VA Nicholas Americk D’Addio of Fredericksburg, VA Jack Cutri Stanganelli of Cohasset, MA Joseph Basil Tidwell of Charleston, SC Oliver Edelmann of Dubai, UAE William Kyle Burnett of Rumson, NJ Henry Austin Pollard of Charlottesville, VA • • • • • • • • • • Gregory Johnson of Franklin, VA Tyler Craig Sudbrink of Greensboro, NC Atticus Eugene Keane of Purcellville, VA Christian Lee Mitchell of South Hill, VA Thomas Logan Mitchell of South Hill, VA Benjamin Robert Schools of Mount Pleasant, SC Caleb Anderson Vineyard of Purcellville, VA Thomas David Nganele of Fincastle, VA Daxton Kimes Leiter of Davie, FL Kurt Wesley Diduch (Brother of Tyler Wallen Diduch and Austin Graham Diduch; both undergraduate brothers) of Charlottesville, VA Class of 2015 Please join us in congratulating: Danny Scholz - IT management consulting for Captech Matt Dorrite – FBI agent Connor Davis - Sands Capital Management in Rosslyn VA Jeff Ruland - Medical Scribe UVA Emergency Department Ben Campbell - Medical Scribe: UVA Orthopedic Surgery Hand Center Sam Gips - Associate Program NBA Clayton Betts - CapTech Consulting Matthew Kochard - Cambridge Associates James Hardardt - Deloitte Federal consulting Max Van Vleet - Clark Construction Group Adam Thomas - Clark Construction Group Tyler Diduch – Pursuing MS in Commerce at UVa Concentrating in Marketing and Management Ben Wolf - PhD Program at the University of Tennessee Brian Head - Walt Disney Company Dixon Wallace - Analyst at Stout Risius Ross in their Dispute Advisory & Forensic Services group in DC Hampton Webb - CCMP Capital Joe Gibson - AmeriCorps NCCC Team Leader Sacramento CA Alex Charters - Program Manager at Microsoft; Seattle WA Charley King - Working for Northrop Grumman in DC Will Emmanuel – Working for Captech Tyler Brusie – Working for Appian 2 \r\nKitchen Renovation “All great change in America begins at the dinner table” -Ronald Reagan This past fall at our annual Pig Dinner, I found myself listening to a lively discussion amongst graduate brothers from the ‘70s telling tales of dinners at the Temple. One-by-one these brothers explained to me how the glue to their brotherhood was their shared meals. Myself and some of the other undergraduates began to wonder how our fraternal experience might be improved by introducing a chef back into Omicron. An exploratory committee was formed to research and reach out to food service management companies that specialize in providing chefs to fraternity and sorority houses. After meeting with various companies, we selected Campus Chefs, a company that already has a presence in several UVA Greek houses, to move forward with. Campus Chefs sources, trains and manages chefs for Greek houses, promising healthy, flavorful and quality meals. When the plan to push for a chef and a full meal plan at the house was brought forward to the current brotherhood, the prospect was met with near unanimous support. Not only would a house meal plan bring the brotherhood closer together than it already is, it would also save brothers up to 15% from what they are paying for a University meal plan. An overview of the meal plan Campus Chefs would provide includes: • Dinner: Sunday-Thursday • Lunch: Monday-Friday • A “continental breakfast” Monday through Thursday • Brothers who plan to miss a meal can have a “late plate” arranged for them by the chef • A kitchen manager would meet with the chef on a weekly basis to plan out a menu tailored towards the chapter In order for the chapter’s goal to become a reality, we need to renovate the current kitchen to make it a commercial grade facility for the incoming chef. In tandem, the Chow Room needs a facelift to offer adequate meal serving space and equipment. With the help of Ray Humiston and other local graduates, we hired an architect to draft the necessary renovations. The designs have now been drawn and various contractors have been interviewed. Based on the contractor’s initial estimates, the cost of the project will be $100,000 with all the kitchen equipment. In order to make this a reality now, we need your help. Please consider making a donation to the Omicron Chapter Chef Campaign. All monies raised will be used to fund construction for our new facility. With this new space, we’ll be able to serve more brothers and bring everyone together for meals, which will have a positive impact on the brotherhood for years to come. All donations are needed and appreciated, regardless of size. Please think about your great memories from the Omicron house and how you can contribute to ours moving forward. If you have any questions about the project, please feel free to contact any of the brothers listed below. Perge! 3 Troy Kirwin Class of 2016 tbk2ab@virginia.edu Omicron Chef Campaign- Chair Chapter Historian Jake Ellis Class of 2016 jke5cm@virginia.edu House Management Chairman Raj Das Class of 2017 rpd6jz@virginia.edu Chapter President Ray Humiston Class of 1974 rhum3@me.com Omicron Chef CampaignGraduate Advisor Nick Feakins Class of 2005 invausa@yahoo.com Omicron Chapter House CorporationPresident Chris Anderson Class of 2005 chrisanderson11@gmail.com Omicron Chapter House CorporationTreasurer \r\nMembers of the Class of 1965 celebrated their 50th Reunion over dinner at the Boar’s Head Inn in May. Bill ‘Smeds’ Easton, Dave Livingston, Pete ‘Admiral’ Smith, John Stewart, and Ted Torok (All ’65) all had a fine time reuniting. Joining them were upperclassmen Jeff ‘Jafe’ Arnold (’64), Ritchie ‘Prince’ Evans (’64), Carl ‘Coach’ Matthews (’64), and Thomas ‘Dude’ Nardi (’65). John and Smeds visited the Temple during the reunion and enjoyed meeting some of the u-grads living there. They agreed that the brothers were a fine group of young men and the House was in good hands! Andy Fuentes (’93) traveled with his pledge brother Shmo Kim (’93) to Machu Picchu in Peru. They also rolled together to the ACC Basketball Tournament in Greensboro in March. Andy is looking forward to rolling with his family to the Boise State football game in September with another pledge brother – Adam Kotrba (’94). *** Chris Megaw (‘09) and Jessica Piquet megawkwarded down the aisle on May 2, 2015 in Pennsylvania. Scott Driskill (‘09), Andy Cooper (‘09), Jon Gokey (‘09), Tommy Hayne (‘09), Dan Reaves (‘09), and Andrew Straitman (‘09) were in attendance to celebrate the happy couple! Former Deckmen reunited to celebrate Chris Megaw’s (’09) wedding. Andy Fuentes & Shmo Kim (Both ’93) at Machu Picchu. Graham Williams (’12) graduated from Tulane Law School in May and will start with Adams & Reese in October. Graham served as Student Bar Association president during his time at Tualne Law. His service to his class and the greater New Orleans community was chronicled in a feature article on the Tulane website. Support the Omicron Chapter Gifts to the FIJI Annual Fund sponsor alumni communications, reunions and house improvements. Make your 2015 gift today! Use the enclosed form or donate online at: www.uvafiji.org Please join us in supporting 128 Madison Lane! 4 \r\nMembers of the Class of 2010 – including Tiago Bezerra, Doug Hill, Alex King, Harrison Powell, Daniel Schear, Eric Scofield, Spencer Sloan, and Joe Vergara (All ’10) – descended upon Charlottesville for their 5th Reunion in June. The brothers enjoyed a weekend of detes at the Temple, detes on the Corner, and detes around Grounds. Saturday included a group golf outing to the famous links of Swannanoa Golf and Country Club – an undergraduate favorite of this class of hackers. Spencer couldn’t quite answer the bell for the Saturday morning tee time, and Joe showcased both his distance and pin-point accuracy when he sniped an unsuspecting Doug with his shot from a blind tee box 250+ yards away. The group enjoyed reliving the glory days in the Hook, and the entire outing further proved that brotherhood is not for college days alone. Jon Zielfe ‘05 wed Beth Ely on April 25th in Hillsborough, NC. Nick Feakins ‘05 and Steve Driskill ‘06 served as groomsmen, and with the help of fellow brothers Kevin Cross, Andrew Mlot, and Chris Walters, ensured that the tradition of pie’ing the groom continued. Graduate Updates! Let your pledge brothers know what’s new! Keep your fellow Omicron alumni up to date with what you have been doing. Submit an alumni update and make sure your address is current at uvafiji.org 5 Members of the Class of 2010 convene on The Lawn during Reunions Weekend \r\nJack Farhi (‘11) tied the knot with his “fellow artist” Mary Beth Neal (Tri Delt ‘09) in their mutual hometown of Richmond, VA on May 30, 2015. Following a bachelor party in New Orleans (with special appearances by Graham Williams (’12) and Cooper Manning), the wedding weekend culminated in a fantastic reception at the Country Club of Virginia. There was a strong showing of Phi Gams in attendance, including groomsmen Evan Rust (‘11), Josh Jolissaint (‘11), Adam Michel (‘11), and Cam Coleman (‘11) as well as ushers Jason Rowe (‘11), Matt Aronson (‘11), and Greg Mullin (‘11). Andrew Bolton (’09), Jeremy Rowe (’09), David Backer (’10), Brendan Hesselbein (’10), Johnny Sigman (’10), Lorcan Connick (’12), Chris Kochard (’12), Jake Lindsay Phi Gams gather for a Squirrelebration in Richmond, VA on the eve of Jack Farhi’s (’11) wedding (’12), Brendan McCartney (’12), and Nick McGregor (’12) were among those on the dance floor. Even Michael Incerto (’11) was able to save enough money for the trip, which turned out to be well worth his while. Jack and Mary Beth set sail for a honeymoon in Italy before returning to Charlottesville where Jack is pursuing his MD at U.Va and Mary Beth teaches elementary school. Mazel tov, Jack and Mary Beth! In January, Jack Valentine (‘12) moved to his company’s Sydney Australia office for a 6-month work transfer. He hasn’t been doing much work since moving Down Under and instead has been traveling regularly on the weekends with trips to New Zealand, Tasmania and Uluru. To cap off the 6-month adventure, Jack will be joined by pledge brothers Taylor Scholz (‘12) and Graham Williams (‘12) on a backpacking trip through South America in August. Jack Valentine (’12) in Picton on the South Island of New Zealand 6 \r\nThe Class of 1980 had a strong turnout at Reunions Weekend in June. Chas Hall, Eric Kisa, Ian Lawton, Dave O’Donnell, Eric Sandlund, and Doug Young (All ’80) all enjoyed returning to Grounds for their 35th Reunion. The 1980 grads agreed that the highlight of the weekend was the reception at 128 Madison Lane hosted by brothers currently residing in the House. They would like to thank the brothers for their kind provision of ale and eats. Morgan and Steve Driskill ‘06 welcomed son Brody on June 6th, 2015, weighing 8lbs 14oz. Dave Mead ‘05 and Nick Feakins ‘05 recently visited with Purple Legionnaire Driskill to discuss Fiji business and diapers. Katie and Patrick Edmunds ‘05 welecomed Caroline Margaret Edmunds on June 10th, 2015 weighing 7 lbs 3.3 oz and 20” long. 2015 has been a busy year for Ryan Hickox (’06). First, he became a certified Professional Engineer after passing an 8-hour exam that fried his brain. Ryan followed that up with an expansive European vacation in late May. The trip got off to a rocky start as his luggage was lost at the Rome airport – leading to him wearing the same clothes for 2.8 days. A day touring the Colosseum, Pantheon, Vatican City, Piazza Venezia, and the Spanish Steps helped keep his mind off the lost baggage. The bags finally showed up before a train to Venice, and the rest of the trip was spent on a cruise ship that made stops in Croatia, Turkey, and Greece. Rick Forshaw (‘12), former Omicron President, married high school sweetheart Marie Sahrmann (Georgetown University ‘12) in St. Louis on May 30th, 2015. In testament to the brother Rick is and the love Marie has earned from the brotherhood during her many trips to Charlottesville, the event was attended by 16 Phi-Gams across three graduating classes, traveling from as far away as Australia. Attendees included groomsman Ed Sampognaro (‘13), Richard Debo (‘12), Skylar Haines (’12), Wyatt Hill (’12), Dominic Rinaldi (’12), Jack Valentine (’12), Graham Williams (’12), Nicholas Wood (’12), Daniel Flanary (’13), Collins MacDonald (’13), Clark O’Bannon (’13), Collin Rhea (’13), Adrian Sitler (’13), Michael Stolz (’13), and John Tubesing (’14). Rick and his new wife took off to Italy for a two week honeymoon before returning to St. Louis where Rick is working in the family business, Forshaw of St. Louis. 7 The King and his subjects at the Royal Wedding in St. Louis, MO. \r\nBrothers, Hopefully you are as excited as I am about the return of a House Chef to Omicron. House meals are one of the most unifying experiences we have as FIJI brothers and graduates and their importance to our Brotherhood cannot be overstated. Unfortunately, over the past decade, most fraternities have either resigned to catering or eliminated house meals all together. Thankfully, we are in a position to change that this summer and this is a great opportunity for Omicron to lead and differentiate ourselves from other fraternities on grounds. We have a fantastic house with prime location, and more importantly, a strong brotherhood that wants to spend its meals together. I wanted to give special thanks to Troy Kirwin ’16 for initiating this effort and driving the negotiations with Campus Chefs. He has been instrumental in moving this effort forward and coordinating with the Chapter. I’d also like to thank Ray Humiston ’74 and Jeremy Hogg ’03 for their support and persistence in getting the plans drawn up and the scope of work defined for renovations to start this summer. Thanks to Ray’s early donation, we were able to complete detailed architectural drawings of the future kitchen and chow room, without which, we would be unable to start renovations. As you look at the list of graduates below who have already pledged their support this year, I hope you will consider joining them with your own pledge. With 800+ Omicron graduates, if everyone gave $128 we would reach out goal of $100,000 in just one year. Most importantly, though, we hope you will show your support for bringing back an integral part of the Omicron experience with a donation that matches your own memories of house meals. Your support makes all the great things possible. PERGE Nick Feakins ‘05 President, Omicron Chapter House Society Graduate Donors for Fiscal Year 2015 Special thanks to the following graduates for their gifts to the Omicron Chapter’s annual fund so far this year. We hope you will continue to support FIJI and encourage your fellow Brothers to join in the effort! 3,500 + Raymond E. Humiston, III ‘74 Kevin L. Beicke ‘01 500 + John A. Koenig ‘53 Charles B. Arrington, Jr. ‘55 James G. Hunter, Jr., ‘55 Gordon L. Gentry, Jr. ‘59 David Livingston ‘65 John M. Stewart ‘65 Herbert P. Soles ‘68 Carl Helmetag III ‘70 Jon C. Butler ‘72 Robert B. Goss ‘73 Christopher Henningsen ‘74 David M. O’Donnell ‘80 Frank F. Petz ‘84 Barry W. Bruckman ‘88 Michael L. Woosley, Jr. ‘91 Andrew J. Fuentes ‘93 Jack William Burkart ‘68 Justin J. Bonner ‘04 250 + A. Colquitt Shackelford, Jr. ‘51 COL H. J. Macdonald Radcliffe, ‘60 John T. Mickle ‘64 John B. Purcell, Jr. ‘64 William R. Easton ‘65 Edwin L. Underwood ‘69 John R. English ‘70 William S. Armistead ‘75 Duff A. Scudder ‘78 Eric R. L. Sandlund ‘80 128 + Jared Cooper ‘03 Nicholas P. Feakins ‘05 Spencer A. Sloan, Jr. ‘10 28 + Kenneth B. Gore ‘53 Guy T. Tripp III ‘62 William J. Kenney ‘87 Michael L. Woosley, Jr. ‘91 Taylor Meredith Grout ‘98 Steven A. Driskill ‘06 Matthew J. Allman ‘08 Joseph T. Vergara ‘10 Kevin Simmons Dowlen ‘10 Stuart C. Keech ‘11 Michael I. Baruch ‘15 Benjamin R. Campbell ‘15 James F. Hardardt ‘15 Colin A. Kent ‘15 If we have mistakenly forgotten your name, please contact us at giving@uvafiji.org. Thank you for your support! 8