Winter 2025 Edition The Rho Phi FIJI Newsletter Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology TAUKUTám Phi Gama Delta Fraternity President's Corner 2024 in Review This past school year our chapter has been working very diligently to maintain and demonstrate our five values of friendship, knowledge, service, morality, and excellence. Campus involvement has remained one of our chapter's strong suits. Our brothers, including our new freshman members, participate in many different teams and clubs on campus including football, track & field, baseball, Human Powered Vehicle, Grand Prix Engineering, and many others. On top of extensive campus involvement, we have still maintained a high academic standard for our chapter. Through continuous hard work by our scholarship committee for holding study tables on campus nearly every night, as well as the hard work of every single one of our brothers, we achieved a 3.26 GPA in the fall; this is much higher than the Student Body Average, and one of the highest for our chapter in recent years. I am extremely proud of our brothers for the massive leaps we have taken in service and philanthropy in the past year. In the spring, our chapter held the Farrington Grove Neighborhood Cleanup. We also kickstarted a new pickleball tournament philanthropy event to raise money for USO. Moving into the fall, we had our most successful Pie-a-Phi yet, raising $14,000 for Happiness Bag. In the winter, we continued this relationship with Happiness Bag, as our chapter, along with Chi Omega, served our friends there a Christmas Dinner as well as providing everyone with Christmas gifts. I am very excited to see all of our service and philanthropic activities continue to grow in the future. We truly had a very successful year as a chapter, and I must give my thanks to every single brother, but especially our graduating seniors. They have provided immeasurable benefit to our chapter throughout their time at Rose-Hulman, and I am very excited to see what they will accomplish in their careers. I know that they will continue to live out the five values and remember that no matter how far they may be from Terre Haute, Indiana, the relationship we share with our brothers never fades. I know I share the words of many other brothers when I say I am mighty proud to be a Fiji. Fraternally, Warren Goik '26 Chapter President FIJI Newsletter Website Updates from Tech Head Caleb Lehman When | became head of the tech committee, my primary mission was to work on updating the website. As the world continues to move more towards digital media, I knew it was important that we maintain a digital presence. Our current website was functional, allowing members to access important links, but it often fell short in representing the chapter to others outside of the organization. The style was severely outdated, and most of the members that were pictured were not recognized by current members. The first thing I wanted to do was update the style of the website. With the help of Squarespace, I updated our website to a newer version they had available, opening new customization options. I created a new homepage with our values front and center, along with new pages for brotherhood, philanthropy, and rush. Throughout the process, I emphasized a modern style and made sure to follow the brand guide and graphics standards made available by headquarters. This includes many pictures, logos, and colors that really helped improve the look and feel of the website. This undertaking not only transformed the website into a more modern design but also ensured it became a stronger representation of our chapter's identity and values for both members and visitors. Our website can be visited at the following link: https://www.rosefiji.com New Member Summary by Jacob Vandorpe Hi, my name is Jacob Vandorpe, a Junior Mechanical Engineering student from Glencoe, MN. I recently completed my term as the Foundation of Courage (FOC) Chairman, and | had the privilege of welcoming 19 new members in the fall and two more so far this spring. This Rho-Phi class has already made a strong impact within our chapter, and I am excited to see their continued growth. This class represents a diverse range of academic disciplines, including four Civil Engineering, one Computer Science, one Chemical Engineering, three Electrical Engineering, one Math, and eleven Mechanical Engineering majors. Their different backgrounds bring fresh perspectives and strengths that enhance our fraternity. In just a short time, they have stepped into leadership roles, with Grant Cochonour and Braden Keating serving on cabinet and several others leading committees. Their early involvement reflects their dedication and commitment to our brotherhood. Athletically, this class is highly engaged, with nine football players and six baseball players representing Rose-Hulman. Beyond sports, they have also excelled academically, achieving an impressive 3.3 average GPA through the first two quarters-higher than the men's average at Rose-Hulman. Winter 2025 I am incredibly proud of this group and the values they uphold. Their leadership, work ethic, and camaraderie will undoubtedly strengthen our chapter for years to come. I look forward to seeing them grow as leaders and brothers, continuing to build on the legacy of our fraternity. 2024 Ekklesia: A recap by Sophomore Evan Weston This past summer, I had the privilege of attending the 175th Ekklesia in Chicago. I am not from the Midwest, nor had | ever been to Chicago, so exploring what this beautiful city had to offer between meetings was a lot of fun. One of my favorite parts of Ekklesia was bringing forward a small piece of our chapter that is now a part of every chapter: our Brotherhood Committee. This committee was not previously one of the required committees by Nationals. We believed that the way we carried out the committee as a chapter allowed us to uphold our value of friendship to a T, and we thought it could bring the same positive influence to other chapters. The representatives from other chapters agreed. Overall, the experience was incredibly enjoyable. I had the opportunity to meet brothers from other chapters while also spending time with my own brothers in a new city. 2025 Academy: A Recap by Freshman Liam Richardson Academy was held this year from January 3 to January 5. While it was cut short for many due to the winter storm moving through the middle U.S., we still had great representation. The attendees from the Rho Phi Chapter were Christian Duh, Heath Doll, Aaron Greve, Teddy Waninger, Grant Cochonour, Braden Keating, Caeden Swanner, and Liam Richardson. Here is a quick recap from Liam: Academy was an incredible experience for me. I met a diverse group of new people who were also interested in learning more about FIJI and cabinet positions for their chapter. I learned a lot about the traditions and history of FIJI, including those surrounding pig dinner. I listened to speakers who were current and former persons of interest within FIJI, such as the Archon President. I got closer to my brothers who attended Academy with me, and I learned a lot about what different members of the cabinet do to help their brothers. I am excited to be a leader in this chapter in the future!