The Tau News Official Graduate Brother Newsletter - Tau Nu Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta Volume AG, Issue 1 Monday, January 11th, 2016 82 3rd Street, Troy, NY The Winter 2015 Issue Contents Graduating Brothers ............................ 2 Farewell, Old Cabinet! .......................... 3 Hello, New Cabinet! ............................. 5 Tier Zero Returns ................................. 7 Tau Nu Trees .......................................... 8 Recruitment ........................................... 9 Community Service ............................ 11 Fiji Club Spotlights ............................. 12 Weekly Brotherhood Spotlight ......... 13 Housing Improvements ..................... 15 Recognition ......................................... 16 \r\nThe Tau News Pg. 2 / Winter 2015 Graduating Brothers Each semester we bid farewell to good friends and brothers, this year being no exception. These three newly made graduate brothers represent the highest degrees of involvement within and outside our chapter, holding cabinet positions, committee leadership roles, and high involvement in many Union clubs. As they venture into the real world we hope they will think fondly of their college days and visit often. Perge! Nathaniel Hart Newman PCF’11 Class of 2015, B.S. Computer Science Plans: Software development, Palantir Technologies Location: Palo Alto, California Senior quote: “‘Is the internet down, or is it just me?’ - Nerv Bervman, 2015” David Lawrence Vanderzee PCS’12 Class of 2015, B.S. Computer Science Plans: Software development, Vistaprint Location: Boston, Massachusetts Senior quote: “Dave.” Liam Antonio Wingert PCF’12 Class of 2015, B.S. and M.S. Electrical Engineering Plans: Electrical engineering, Boeing Location: Somewhere around the Puget Sound Senior quote: “‘The key to immortality is first living a life worth remembering’ - Bruce Lee” \r\nThe Tau News Pg. 3 / Winter 2015 Goodbye, Old Cabinet! Last year’s cabinet positions are complete, and with them the first cabinet term to exist completely within the new church. The chapter benefited greatly under their leadership, and we’re glad to have had them as leaders. Brad Schwartz President, 2015 Serving as President was a priviledge and an honor that I will remember for the rest of my life. Seeing the chapter blossom in the church under my and the rest of cabinet’s leadership is truly a beautiful thing, especially considering the amazing work done by committees such as Publications. We should all aspire to lift ourselves and our brethren to the high standards of this esteemed publication, for it truly embodies the spirit of persistence, excellence, and qualitative perfection put forth by the Immortal Six. Overall, I know that I will continue to use lessons learned from leading cabinet to guide my actions the rest of my life. Nick Seguljic Treasurer, 2015 I can’t believe it’s already here, but the first cabinet in the new house has finished their tenure and passed the torch off to the next class. The chapter was a different place before we started our term, and from my point of view is stronger than ever. As someone who will be a part of both, it’s bittersweet to see this. Seeing my friends leave cabinet and graduate is sad, but welcoming in a new class with new goals and ideals will better the chapter. Going forward I anticipate change and great things from the new guys and the rest of the chapter. I wish old cabinet the best of luck with their future endeavors and careers. New cabinet, let’s do our best to measure up to and surpass our predecessors. \r\nThe Tau News Pg. 4 / Winter 2015 Goodbye, Old Cabinet! (continued) Chris Leong Recording Secretary, 2015 Serving on cabinet was a great experience, and I managed to accomplish nearly all I wanted as Recording Secretary. I have increased use of the J-board and expressed the discretionary fund into a formal bylaw, amongst other bylaw changes. I am looking forward to helping Brother Doukas in the coming year. Good luck to the next cabinet. David Vanderzee Corresponding Secretary, 2015 My term as corresponding secretary was a very fulfilling experience as we brought the chapter to new heights throughout the community. I’m confident that in leaving the chapter will continue to grow and expand to its true potential. I have full faith that Nathan will continue my work to put our name on the table and be a large player in the growth and development of our community. Zach Vanderzee Historian, 2015 My term as Historian was the most rewarding opportunity I’ve had with the Chapter. It was not nearly what I thought it would be. Although I am sad (and relieved) to pass on my position, I have the upmost confidence in my successor, Patrick H., and the rest of the new cabinet members. I expect great things from all of them. The chapter has seen many great changes the past few years and they will continue this trend. \r\nThe Tau News Pg. 5 / Winter 2015 Hello, New Cabinet! With the new year comes the passing of the torch to our new leadership. This is a young cabinet, with only one member having served before, but we’re confident in their abilities to lead the chapter forward. Nick Seguljic President, 2016 It is has been a privilege to serve the undergraduate chapter for the past year, and I am exuberant that I have been elected to the highest office to do so for another. My hope for this cabinet and my presidency is to instill the vision I ran on: to better organize our committees, improve our image on campus through philanthropy, instill a long lasting scholarship program that will allow Fiji to crush our grades every semester, and most importantly for our graduate brothers, keep the damn house clean. Patrick Clinton Treasurer, 2016 I am extremely ecstatic to start my term as Treasurer for the Tau Nu and overjoyed that my brothers have entrusted me with such a privilege, responsibility, and honor. My term on cabinet will consist of everything that I value and cherish: efficient and swift leadership through example, constant devotion to our chapter and its strengths and weaknesses, and never shying away from greatness. My first and only necessary promise for my term is this: I will do everything I can to ensure that the Tau Nu not only survives, but thrives, and lives up to the ideals that we have cherished so much that make us all damn proud to be Phi Gams. You can always email our leaders at cabinet@taunufiji.com \r\nThe Tau News Pg. 6 / Winter 2015 Hello, New Cabinet! (continued) Evan Doukas Recording Secretary, 2016 I am thrilled to begin my term as the recording secretary. Since before initiation I have dreamed of holding the Recording Secretary position, and I will not squander this honor, opportunity, and responsibility. My most ambitious goal of the semester is to ensure our chapter bylaws are maintained and accessible so that all undergrads are actively participating in both our chapter’s history and future. I look forward to a fantastic and productive semester. Nathan Greene Corresponding Secretary, 2016 I am incredibly thrilled and grateful to be given the opportunity to serve our chapter as Corresponding Secretary. The largest project I hope to undertake over the next year is to grow and improve the chapter’s relations with other Phi Gamma Delta chapters across North America. I also hope that during my term our chapter can continue its upward march to growing a stronger campus presence. Patrick Hesselbach Historian, 2016 As historian I want to make a strong push to make sure all undergraduates have a strong understanding of the rituals and tradition of the chapter and do what I can to bring our new members up to speed. I would like to see the changes I made as Housing VP further improved upon and to see a culture switch to a more proactive approach to upkeep of the house. When all is said and done I want this chapter to have a firm standing in the past and present so we can put our best foot forward in the future. \r\nThe Tau News Pg. 7 / Winter 2015 Tier Zero Returns Since moving into the new chapter house, the brotherhood has continued its tradition of “Meal Plan” for all the brothers who live in house and any other brother who wishes to join as well. Under the standard Meal Plan, dinner is served five nights a week (Sun-Thurs). There were previously programs which had encompassed breakfast and lunch foods; however, they have not been conducted for multiple years. This year the Steward, Brother Nathan Greene ’17, worked to implement a tiered Meal Plan system in an attempt to better address the needs of our growing brotherhood. The biggest change to the former system is the addition of “Tier Zero” the term brother Greene has dubbed for the return of a breakfast and lunch option. Tier Zero has been made available as an opt- in system for any brother interested, coming as an addition to the standard Meal Plan. The cost to join Tier Zero is roughly double that of the traditional 5 dinner per week plan. The food available to those brothers on Tier Zero varies from week to week as it has functioned as a self-governing entity with involved brothers making requests for the steward to purchase. So far the new system seems to be a fantastic decision for the brotherhood. The ability to buy items in larger quantities from Restaurant Depot in Colonie makes getting high quality food for brothers far cheaper than buying individual groceries. In addition, with the advent of the new position of Kitchen Manager that will be working with Steward on kitchen organization, we will be seeing a marked improvement in the system moving into the next semester. “I got my education at Ohio State, but it was through Phi Gamma Delta that I really learned how to be a friend and appreciate people from all walks of life.” -Jack Nicklaus \r\nThe Tau News Pg. 8 / Winter 2015 Tau Nu Trees In FIJI, fraternal trees are very important to us. The pledging process teaches the history of our trees and how they have grown and changed since the chapter’s inception in 1984. Blue tree has slowly grown since the start of the chapter. Black tree grew for the first half of our chapter’s history and subsequently shrank to one member. Since then it has steadily grown and includes a third of the house. When the Tau Nu chapter was founded, each founder started a tree and chose a color for it. Our chapter began with the colors Red, Tan, Green, Brown, Black, White, Orange, Blue, Pink, Yellow, Peach, and Olive. As the chapter grew, membership was not evenly distributed between the trees and certain ones began to die out. As a result only two trees survive to this day: Blue tree and Black tree. An updated Brotherhood Board is currently on display in the Pringle Library. Blue tree contains two thirds of the house, it has split into subtrees, including Adul Tree, Myster Tree, Monkey Tree, Tamarin Tree, Lazy Tree, etc. Black tree currently comprises about a third of the house and has stayed unified in one sub tree: Ghetto Rabbit. To form a tree, a brother must have at least two littles and at least one grand little. When brothers create trees, they will either pick a clever name or name the tree after an inside joke they and their littles have. Examples include Adul Tree, a parody of the word adultery and Ghetto Rabbit, a name born from inside jokes within the tree. Friendly rivalries exist between Blue tree and GR. During little reveal and after initiation, proud shouts of “G!R!” can be heard as brothers celebrate their newfound tree members. Our trees and rivalries bring us closer as brothers, like having smaller nuclear families within the collective Tau Nu family. \r\nThe Tau News Pg. 9 Recruitment Recruitment was a rush of activities this semester. This semester saw a larger blockbuster approach, with four more days of exciting events than the previous semester. In addition, we were also able to feature more in-house events thank to the week of work parties. The season started off on the 4th of September, with the regular IFC kickoff barbeque, during which we gave house tours of the church. We took a visit to a trampoline park on the 5th and a trip to Grafton Lake Beach on the 6th, while the 7th found us playing flag football followed by a movie night (Mad Max). On the 8th, we attempted to break the world record for mini hot dogs eaten by a group at Famous Lunch. It wasn’t easy­ —as Brother Steve Neyen put it, it was the “definition of persistence.” The initial group made it to within two trays of the previous record and caused a small scene cheering for a few late arrivals that helped us surpass the record and get our number to a whopping 841 mini dogs. Top: Our booth at the IFC kickoff Middle: Brothers and pledges at trampoline dodgeball. Bottom: Famous Lunch as we devour mini dogs. / Winter 2015 \r\nThe Tau News Pg. 10 / Winter 2015 Recruitment (continued) The 9th saw a return to normalcy with our traditional dodgeball in the ‘87 gym, and our ceremonial viewing of the NFL kickoff on couches in the sanctuary the 10th. We feasted on prime ribs and played poker on the 11th and wrapped up the week of events with white water rafting on the 12th. We finalized with soccer on the 15th and games night on the 16th, and of course our recruitment season wouldn’t be complete without a trip to Six Flags on the 19th. Top: Our rush calendar this season. Right: Brothers white water rafting. Want updated listings and photos taken at our public events? See our Facebook page! facebook.com/FIJIatRPI \r\nThe Tau News Pg. 11 / Winter 2015 Community Service This semester has been very fulfilling for philanthropy at Tau Nu. High school programming tutoring, led by Brother Will Rigby-Hall ‘16, is still going strong. Our brothers are leading our Computer Science Club, UPE (Computer Science honors society), and Association for Computing Machinery’s Committee on Women in Computing (ACM-W) chapters in providing opportunities and services for schools to enhance their Computer Science departments. In celebration of Halloween, Brother Blake Lingenau ‘17 organized a haunted house with Circle K and APO. Brothers helped decorate the ‘87 Gym and dressed up as all sorts of scary things that go bump in the night to scare the RPI community and raise money for Joseph’s House in Troy. As our annual Fall philanthropy, brothers visited the Dyken Pond Environmental Education Center for the fifth year in a row to assist the wonderful workers there in gathering firewood. Eight brothers took the drive up to the center and spent four hours hauling and splitting wood to prepare for the winter. Brothers help fill the Dyken Pond Center staff ’s wood shed for the winter season. Later, brothers helped host a blood drive with the sisters of Alpha Omega Epsilon and members of the Philippine American League. Although the Red Cross was understaffed, we managed to get 20 units more than they expected! Brothers also volunteered at the awesome Victorian Stroll in downtown Troy, where a capella groups performed in Barker Park and the house sanctuary was used as a concert hall for the Rensselaer Music Association. Providing free hot chocolate, FIJI hosted many happy music loving members of the community. Expect more great things next semester, with our now annual Islander Week. \r\nThe Tau News Pg. 12 / Winter 2015 Fiji Club Spotlights Over Tau Nu’s years we have had many brothers with significant roles on campus and influence over the student body as a whole. Here are a few current distinguished brothers and their achievements. Liam Wingert ‘15 Brother Wingert has had a very active involvement in a couple of our martial arts organizations. He’s currently President of RPI’s Tae Kwon Do club and the Vice President of Judo. His involvement has also lead to the joining of his little, Brother Tyler Shepherd ‘17, who is now the Vice President of Tae Kwon Do, and Brother Albert Chen ‘18, who is currently involved with Judo. Christopher Leong ‘16 Brother Leong is a shining example of Brotherhood involvement. As well as our Recording Secretary, he is the editor-in-chief of the Polytechnic, RPI’s student-run newspaper, and the president of the Karate Club. He and Brother Geoff Rosenthal ‘17 spend many late nights working to perfect the Poly before its release, and he can often be seen returning late at night covered in sweat carrying his karate bo staff. Zachary Shute ‘16 Brother Shute has been quite busy these last couple of semesters. He jumped headfirst into being both our Pledge Educator and the President of the Weight Lifting club, an organization started last year by our very own Graduate Brother Harrison Tarr ‘15. He has been dedicated with the help of Brother Nick Seguljic ‘17, the Vice President, to improve this new club and make it a force on campus. Weekly they can be seen discussing how best to organize the club as an enriching environment for amateurs and experienced. Left to right: Liam Wingert ‘15 and Tyler Shepherd ‘18; Zach Shute `16; Chris Leong `16 and Nathan Greene ‘17. \r\nThe Tau News Pg. 13 / Winter 2015 Weekly Brotherhood Spotlight Each week, the brotherhood—with moderation from the Publications Committee—highlights one or more brother(s) for going above and beyond their normal duties. These brothers put the good of the brotherhood over personal priority, and as a result benefited the brotherhood as a whole. For this, we thank them. Week of September 3rd: Pat Hesselbach ‘17 Brother Hesselbach started the semester as Housing Chair with a bang. After introducing various incremental improvements to our weekly cleaning parties, he did a fantastic job executing a set of work parties in preparation for Fall Rush. Week of September 10th: Ethan Sclarsky ‘16, Nathan Greene ‘17 Brothers Sclarsky and Greene tag-teamed Rush this semester with aplomb. The efforts of Brother Sclarsky as “Hype Chair” and Brother Greene as the primary event organizer resulted in a successful recruitment drive, with a plethora of fun events and a number of great pledges. Week of September 17th: Mike DiBuduo ‘17 Living in the church requires a constantly vigilant Risk Management Chair, which we’ve found in Brother DiBuduo. He has steadily improved our security measures and did a particularly good job leading the house in fire drills. Week of September 24th: Steve Neyen ‘17 Brother Neyen as Scholarship Chair focused his efforts early in the semester on helping brothers and potential pledges prepare for the career fair. He followed up by introducing systems for brothers and pledges to give and receive class help. \r\nThe Tau News Pg. 14 / Winter 2015 Weekly Brotherhood Spotlight (continued) Week of October 1st: Zach Shute ‘16 Brother Shute has a humorous reputation for being a young-looking brother (“puppy”), so it was rewarding to see him do a great job coordinating a strong start to the pledging process as Pledge Examiner. Week of October 15th: Scott Peters ‘17 This semester, we were tasked with providing entertainment for RPI’s Greek Week. Brother Peters stepped up and designed an ingenious 3D version of Twister for the festivities, where two players face off in a large dotted box. Week of October 29th: David Vanderzee ‘16 Brother Vanderzee has a rich and illustrious history as Social Chair of the chapter. When his history of expertise was needed, he stepped up and did us all a huge favor helping coordinate this semester’s Black Diamond. Week of November 5th: David Vanderzee ‘16 Building on his experiences setting up Black Diamond, Brother Vanderzee acted as our own matchmaker and performed superbly setting up a few Black Diamond dates for brothers going stag. “We always conduct ourselves as ‘Fiji Gentlemen,’ a standard higher than the norm.” -Public Phi Gamma Delta Handbook \r\nThe Tau News Pg. 15 / Winter 2015 Housing Developments Over the course of this and last semester we have made several improvements to our chapter house as we settle in and continue the daunting task of transforming it from a renovated church into a home for the Tau Nu Chapter. One of the larger projects we took up was to remove the last few pews from the sanctuary so we can make full use of the space. It took six brothers an hour to pull up and move the last three pews. During the week before move in we held a “Work Week” to get the house in shape after a long summer. Over six days the brotherhood managed to get the house spotless, weed the front and side areas, declutter the side room, reorganize the storage room, and bring the Pringle Library to an entire new level of cleanliness. We ended the week by painting the heating ducts of each floor and repairing some water-damaged walls with the help of some our graduate brothers. With a new recycling dumpster and recently installed security cameras there seems to be no end in sight for the upward march of the chapter house. The front of the church, with Christmas decorations including a moving reindeer and lights along the fence. \r\nThe Tau News Pg. 16 / Winter 2015 Recognition Many thanks to the generous graduate brothers who have contributed to the Tau Nu chapter of Phi Gamma Delta. Without your hard work and generosity, especially considering the work of the House Corporation, neither this article nor its contents would have been possible. Additional thanks to Patrick Clinton, Sam Davis, Mike DiBuduo, Evan Doukas, Nathan Greene, Josh Goldberg, Will Rigby-Hall, Patrick Hesselbach, Chris Leong, Nate Newman, Steve Neyen, Geoff Rosenthal, Kenny Schmidt, Brad Schwartz, Nicholas Seguljic, Ananth Sridhar, Timothy Tse, Zach Shute, David Vanderzee, Zach Vanderzee, and Jonathan Yax for providing content inception, writing, and editing services. The Tau News Official Graduate Brother Newsletter - Tau Nu Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta Volume AG, Issue 1 Monday, January 11th, 2016 82 3rd Street, Troy, NY