The SKuLL Summer 2013 Vol 1 | May 31 2013 | aepks.com
ALPHA EPSILON OF PHI KAPPA SIGMA NEWSLETTER
EDITOR-IN- CHIEF
Fernando Mier (Upsilon)
Executive Board
David Burchell (Alpha) Patrick Kevin Schlomas (Beta) Benjamin David Grimmer (Pi) John D’Ortenzio (Iota) Martin Dillon (Sigma) William Fox (Tau) Jihad A. Zeid (Delta)
Officers
William Mark Strnad (Theta 1) Richard Stevenson (Theta 2) William Fox (Theta 3) Fernando F Mier (Psi) Dakota Betts (Phi) Scott Schwimmer (Asst. Tau) Elmar Okanovic (Rho) Collin Lee Dunn (Lambda) Kasey Klynstra (Epsilon) Fernando F Mier (UB Liaison) David Burchell (Greek Council) Braden Senst (Librarian) William Mark Strnad (Proposals) Hayden McDuffee (Judicial Board) Brian Anthony Raddatz (Bylaws)
Other Active Members Evan James Austin David Thor Biedrzycki Krishen Stewart Blows Kent Alan Burlingame Brian N Collins John Franklin Crouch Jason Nicholas DiBabbo Tom B Folta Rishi Goomar Bryan Edwin Grant Eddie Youngwook Ho Sean Hosty Anthony Knuckey George Kim Christopher King Michael David LeResche Troy Buenz Makulec Colin McQuone Ryan Miller Josh Moser Paul Orawiec Vince R Poczekaj Mitchell Pollitt Tim Schug Tyler Ryan Seppala Richard Shepherd Ryan Sutton Charlie James Yonts Peter George Zurowski Roman Zwarycz
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From the
Upsilons’ Desk Dear Brothers, I want to apologize because this is the only newsletter we have got in almost a year, and I am sorry because during the last edition of the E-Skull our previous Upsilon promised to publish one edition a month and we did not fulfill our promise. But I’m happy to say that even if we have not posted a newsletter from our chapter since last year, a lot of good things happened between this and the last edition of E-Skull. So I hope you like what you are about to read and I would like to say that, in my perspective, based on the successes of last year, our chapter (Alpha Epsilon) is stronger than ever. During the academic year 2012 - 2013, we won a lot of members, we made a lot of memories that we will never forget, we got crowned during Greek Week for the first time in a long time, and we were chosen by HQ as Chapter of the Year. Many of our members earned awards from the school, the fraternity and other organizations, our GPA got better and we tried to improve our chapter in the best way possible, so that you (the alumni) feel happy and proud of our merits as a chapter. For all these reasons, now that I’ve taken over this position (as the Upsilon), I feel that to be able to communicate better with you, we must change the way we do it. Our members and alumni needs to be informed in an efficient way and that’s why I present you “The Skull”, which will be the new way that “we” the active brothers of the Alpha Epsilon of Phi Kappa Sigma will communicate with you, our dear alumni. And I want to announce that I plan to publish this new magazine every other month starting on August 2013, and I promise you that as the Upsilon one of my goals is for this to happen. So that way you will be informed of what is happening in our chapter, and since it is going to get published every other month, we will have time to gather enough information to make it relevant for you to read. And is because through the publication of this magazine, that we will be informing you of our plans for the future and to recap what is happening in the IIT Community and our fraternity chapter. So without nothing else to say for the moment, I hope you enjoy reading this first edition of “The Skull”, and I encourage you to write articles for this new magazine (even if you’re an alumni) as the main reason of this newsletter to exist is to inform all members of “Alpha Epsilon” what our brothers are doing, and to connect with each other once again as a fraternity. Fraternally, Fernando Mier - Editor in Chief fmier@iit.edu
A Message from the Alpha By: David “Chief” Burchell Having only been president for about a month, I can’t provide very much to show off the capabilities of our current Executive Board. I can speak to the successes of the exiting officers however, and can state with confidence that they have left the Chapter in an excellent condition. Over the past four years as a member of Alpha Epsilon, I have watched a well-run organization become a pinnacle of brotherhood and fraternal support. This unshakable brotherhood is, in my mind, the core strength that has driven us to accomplishments like winning the IIT Greek Council’s Chapter of the Year award and Greek Week. The Chapter is doing quite well, and I have been blessed to inherit this organization at a time of such potential and opportunity. We have a large and continually growing membership, solid academics, increasing involvement in leadership organizations within IIT’s student body, and dedication to the planning and participation of countless philanthropic and social events on and around campus. Because of the brotherhood we all share, we often find that tasks that would otherwise prove tedious or difficult become opportunities to bond and have fun. Countless times throughout the semester I found our brothers stunned at the level of success that we reached in endeavors ranging from an awesome highlighter party, to our participation in IIT’s Relay for Life, and even our impressive dance team during Greek Week. All of these accomplishments are made even greater when they come on top of us performing our typical academic and personal obligations, and I am proud of every single one of our members. There is, however, still one area where we could definitely improve and it is my goal to help the Chapter do this. “Brotherhood vs. business” is a common statement tossed around when speaking of the Chapter’s affairs. It speaks to the idea that business tasks (officer obligations, paperwork, and other such responsibilities) are incompatible with brotherhood. That somehow, because of accountability and holding members responsible, we can’t conduct business in a manner that is brotherly.
This idea has (thankfully) fallen to the wayside in recent semesters, though it still plays into thoughts about the organization. Unfortunately, as an organization with a budget, rules, and responsibilities to our national Fraternity, we can’t ignore our business or cut corners with it. While we are far from dysfunctional, we could be doing far better on the issues of officer training, record-keeping, and completion of paperwork. These are issues that don’t require a total upheaval of our current systems to solve, and over the next semester our Executive Board is going to be leading the effort toward revamping how Alpha Epsilon conducts its business. From better integration with online resources to increased officer communication, we are going to make sure that the level at which we handle our business responsibilities matches that of our brotherhood. Several members of our Exec Board recently returned from a brief retreat where we discussed many of the topics mentioned above (and more) and planned out the Chapter retreat for this coming fall semester. We are very confident in the Chapter and are excited to see what the coming year brings us. We have a very exciting retreat planned, and we think that it is going to be extremely enjoyable and useful for the Chapter. In closing, I want to pass along an observation made by one of our graduating members, Dave Biedrzycki. Our Chapter often runs into problems when coming to a consensus on a given subject, as we are comprised of a greatly varied and diverse membership with often clashing opinions. Despite the struggle this causes, we are better because of it. Our Chapter has no stereotype; we are musicians, scholars, nerds, and jocks. We bring together our different skills and perspectives and have used these to advance our Chapter in an astounding way. Thank you for your continued support of the Alpha Epsilon Chapter, and thank you to our current brothers for continuing to be men of honor.
David Burchell
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PHIKAPPASIGMA ALPHA EPSILON “THE SKULL” SUMMER 2013
Chapter of the Year
Trust Honor
Φ
moker
Respect
Κ Knowledge
GREEK WEEK CHAMPIONS
Wisdom Responsibility
Σ Integrity
A SUMMARY OF ALL WHAT WE DID THIS PREVIOUS 2012-2013 ACADEMIC YEAR AND MORE...
Youth Centers invests in youth in underserved communities in Chicago to help them discover and realize their full potential. We have several events planned for this relationship; they include at least two fundraisers as well as an immersion day.
Members of IIT’s Greek Council on the AFLV Conference
At this immersion day students from all over Chicago can come to IIT’s campus and be able to explore the different things that are going on here. Different demonstration and hands on activities will play a vital role in the event. There will be two different days planned, one in the spring and fall respectively, and they will be aimed at different groups. One day will focus on younger elementary aged students. This day will introduce basic concepts in science and try to get the kids interested in science at a young age. The second day will be tailored for high school students and will focus on different careers that are available from a STEM based education.
We become better brothers
This semester I also had the opportunity to serve on the planning committee of Relay for Life of IIT. Relay for Life is the American Cancer By: Richard “Loki” Stevenson Society’s largest and most successful fundraising effort. This is the second and foster community, it is necessary The Greek Council at the year that IIT has hosted an event and IIT serves as the governing to give back to the community that we nearly doubled the amount of we call home. One of the first things body for the Fraternities money raised from the year prior. The and Sororities on campus. that I set out to do was to establish 12 hour event was hosted at Man on a relationship with a local charity This past semester I was elected a Bench park as well as Hermann Hall which would become an ‘Official to serve as the Council’s Vice and featured live bands, games, prizes, Philanthropy’. Lynne Meyer from President of Philanthropy. This is a and a memorable Luminaria ceremony the IIT’s office of Service Learning new position and therefore there in which the participants remembered provided many different suggestions. were many challenges going into it. those who have fallen due to cancer. The top priority to me was that the The main one being that I had no organization be focused on education, IIT students raised $8779.85 this year idea if what I was doing was correct. for the American Cancer Society. This specifically and education that would This semester I focused on building money will be used to fund cancer one day lead to a STEM career path. the position and exploring different research and prevention programs, as directions in which the position could After weighing many options we chose well as programs for people fighting the Chicago Youth Centers (CYC). expand to. As I met with the Greek the disease currently. It is not too late CYC provides afterschool programs Council Executive Board and the to donate; donations can be made at to students in many different Philanthropy Committee, one thing relayforlife.org/miniiitil and donate to neighborhoods in the city. Chicago was apparent, that in order to build the Skull House team.
As we get involved on campus
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Greek Week Dance Off
Brotherhood is more than skin deep...
And is how we won Greek Week 2013 By: Krishen “Afro Ninja” Blows This year, Alpha Epsilon chapter decided that it was about time that we had our turn in the spotlight.
However, we came together in a nighinspirational fashion as a chapter, and continued to score highly on the athletic events and had a lot of fun preparing our dance off, until we were neck and neck with Kappa Phi Delta.
With the Sig Eps gone, when better to take back our rightful place on top? So, While it was penny wars that decided our victory, our most memorable when greek week came, we banded greek week success came in the form together to win. of a cake helicopter. Yes, you read that For our theme, we decided to be right, a cake helicopter. patriotic and go with Seal Team Six. David Burchell sculpted a helicopter We were off to a rough start, as even from pound cake, and we mounted it though Greek council tweeted about on a frame so that it hung about our how funny our skit was, we didn’t display for cupcake wars, with rotating score particularly highly in any of the blades made of lego. opening events. 5 | AEPKS.COM Summer 2013
We were crowned greek week champions at the end of the week, and it will most definitely be the first of many victories to come. USA. USA. USA.
Unfortunately, we had to cut short our visit because we still had a while to travel and wanted to get to Delta Pi before the end of the night! After driving another two hours through the winding and beautiful Indiana countryside we finally arrived at Bloomington! It didn’t take us long to find our way down Jordan Street to our chapter house. Again, we were warmly greeted by the brothers who were at that time hanging out on their so called ‘fratio’. They were an amazing group of guys who I am proud to call my brothers. They showed us around their house on the first night, got us introduced to their members and prospective new members. The weekend ended after we got to walk around Bloomington and get to know the campus. We are definitely planning on visiting our brothers down at Delta Pi chapter again!
Brothers of Delta Pi and Alpha Epsilon together
Our visit to
Delta Pi (and Alpha Xi) Chapter By: Braden “Skullcandy” Senst Recently a couple of brothers and I decided to go visit Delta Pi chapter down at Indiana University. On the way down we realized that we had to pass right through West Lafayette, home of Purdue University and our own Alpha Xi chapter. Of course we decided to drop on by; unfortunately it was unannounced.
We were given a tour of the house and were able to spend about an hour and a half with the brothers of Alpha Xi chapter. They were kind enough to take time out of their days to show us around their house and allow us to meander through their house at will.
It has always made me proud, as a Phi Kap; that every time I have visited a chapter, announced or otherwise, I have always been greeted with the warm welcome of brotherhood. It’s amazing to me that whenever I walk on to a campus with a chapter of Phi Kappa Sigma I am able to find a group of men that in my experience always feel like the oldest of friends, even if we had just met.
I suppose that’s the great thing about our brotherhood; that we don’t recruit men for superficial reasons, but instead for their values and their true qualities. In closing I would like to thank the brothers of all of the chapters who have hosted me in the past; especially Delta Pi It was, and always is, a fantastic and Alpha Xi, who so graciously experience to be able to show up on the doorstep to a chapter house shared their houses with some of and be greeted warmly by fellow Phi our brothers from Alpha Epsilon on our travels! Kaps!
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Chapter House during Recruitment Event
Recruitment is around the corner
Plans for Rush Week Fall 2013 By: Jihad “Flatline” Zeid As summer activities begin to go into full swing, so too does the planning and preparation for next Fall semester’s Rush Week. A wide variety of events are being planned to attract potential new members of all interests. Events from dances, to dodge-ball, to barbeques will be included in the whirlwind of Rush Week activities. By hosting a wide and interesting variety of Rush Week events, we can assure that a large group of new students will be brought in while assuring that Rush Week is 7 | AEPKS.COM Summer 2013
also entertaining and fun for Active Brothers. Currently, the general plan regarding recruitment is to reward bids to a number of students at least equal to the number of Brothers who most recently graduated; so as not to decrease in the number of members in the Chapter. To help with this goal, Rush Week events will be planned based on the Funnel System. To elaborate, events at the start of the week will be large with a plethora of people. As the week goes on, events will become smaller and smaller so Brothers will be able to converse more personally with
each potential new member. This Funnel System of larger events to smaller events will help potential new members meet more Brothers and will help retain those potential members that Brothers wish to offer bids. By strategically planning various, entertaining events throughout Rush Week, we hope that we can bring in a large new member class to keep the Chapter moving forward. All that is left to finalize specific events are logistics and final paperwork. After these small details are completed, Rush Week of Fall 2013 looks like it will be an exciting and successful time.
and how to create a brand experience around our fraternity and any club in which our undergraduate members are participating. From what I’ve seen online and during my time in the organization, most of our chapters have problems when trying to advertise themselves through social media or through appealing posters, making the student body (and potential members) to get bored and ignore everything we’re doing. This is nothing that we should feel ashamed of, since is something that it isn’t really taught in school, and our fraternity is not the only organization that has this kind of problem. But if we want to recruit the best members, we must learn how to advertise ourselves better than any other fraternity in our respective colleges and universities.
Poster of Casino Night at the BOG, one of our most sucessful events.
A year in Phi Kappa Sigma
And my plans for our first CSI By: Fernando Mier “Van Der Rohe” IIT has given me so many opportunities that I’m glad I transferred, but of them all, I’m proud to say that joining our fraternity has been one of the best.
As a remarkably involved member on campus I actually never thought that joining an organization like ours would do something significant in my life. Being from a country where fraternities are just things you see on movies, didn’t gave me much background on what these kind of
organizations are or what they really mean for many people. And now, almost a year after I joined Phi Kappa Sigma and with a different perspective, I want to bring what I’ve learned during my work experience and my involvement in other student groups to this organization. So with the first Carroll K. Simons Institute in sight, I am happy to announce that during this leadership summit I’ll be presenting what I do best, and is talking about E-Marketing
Therefore, the purpose of my educational session will be to talk about how in the modern world chapters can incorporate easy e-tools (mostly free) to announce upcoming events, and how by using them they could change substantially the way information passes through the student body making their events successful. I will also talk about the proper way to design and layout posters, choose colors, fonts, and learn what to include and what not to include in them. And I’ll be giving cool examples of successful advertising (in and out of our fraternity), and explain why they work. I’ve done and worked for this field for the past 8 years, and after presenting this topic at few conferences, I feel that being able to share and teach our brothers how to use social media, e-tools, visually appealing posters and to explain the basics of advertising will help our fraternity and their respective chapters to grow exponentially in a positive way. And I’m excited to see what will come after this session. AEPKS.COM Summer 2013 | 8
Help us to complete AE Family Tree
Alpha Epsilon needs your help...
Tracing back our Phi Kap “Family Tree” Original Email by: Daniel “Copernicus” Fallon (Prospective Member) and edited by Fernando Mier Hey guys, as a new member of Alpha Epsilon I’m trying to rustle up a family tree. So far I have traced back all active members by at least two generations (I now all their pledge granddads) and I’m also creating a form that makes data entry much easier. This form is going to be online by the time the new edition of “The Skull” gets published (at the begining of the semester) and will have a list of all members initiated since 1990.
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But,the idea of this data collection is to get as much information as we can and to trace back our chapter history as much possible. So if you got initiated before that time and you remember who was your pledge father and sons, email Fernando Mier our Alumni Relations Chair at fmier@iit.edu, or send a letter to the chapter house. All data submitted will be integrated into the tree and as I receive more data, names will be grayed out in the form to indicate that I have confirmed all information about them.
By scanning this QR code you’ll be able to see the current progress on the family tree.
Please forward this article to any alumni you know that might have not seen this. The more information we get, the more we will be able to connect the tree together.
moker Fall 2013
The Brothers of the Alpha Epsilon Chapter of Phi Kappa Sigma cordially invite all of our alumni to join us in our annual Fall Smoker
If you have any questions, feel free to email our alumni relations chair, Fernando Mier at fmier@iit.edu
Saturday
Sept 28 2013 RSVP Infomation cooming soon
Congratulations
Graduates!!! A few info about those who graduate and are ready to take over the world.
“Animal”
David Thor Biedrzycki Started his fraternal career as the Social Chair for his pledge class and the following semester, served as the Psi for the Chapter. He then served as Vice President for two semesters, took a semester break and then served as the Chapter Alpha President. Finally he served one semester as the Epsilon. During this time, he also served as a Leadership Academy Scholar, KIEA scholar, and helped found IIT’s Association of Computing and Machinery chapter and served as its President for two semesters. He is currently working with what he loves as a Software Engineer at kCura, a Chicago based litigation software firm as well as two side projects, MonkeyBars (a start-up dedicated to creating a better developer community starting in Chicago) and Open Source Construction (a start-up dedicated to helping developing countries by creating a place where users can openly share construction ideas and plans with others across the globe). “Bear”
Kent Burlingame Graduated from Computer Science and now is heading to Seattle for a job at Microsoft; Kent plan is to eventually continue education in CS, likely at University of Washington. During his year as undergrad, he was involved in our fraternity as the Kitchen Manager, Secretary, Vice President, and most recently President (Fall 2012). He was also part of Tau Beta Pi and the Association for Computing Machinery.
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“Prius”
Tom B Folta Is a recent college of architecture graduate who completed school with a specialization in digital design and minors in software engineering and business. In school he participated in the Camras scholarship society as well as several other student organizations such as SGA. Throughout the semester he interned at Nokia and will soon be starting as a full time software engineer there after concluding a backpacking trip in Europe. “Pledge”
Anthony Knuckey Graduated from Stuart School of Business and served in the fraternity in several positions (Upsilon, Psi, etc... ) during his undergrad years. Tony has a high interest in finance and for this reason he was really involved in our school Finance Board allocating money collected through the SAF to different student orgs. His intimidate plans are to continue his education in business perusing a finance degree “Garmin”
Michael LeResche Just graduated as a double major in Mechanical and Materials Science Engineering and has a research background in thermodynamics. Mike served in several positions on our fraternity as was involved with Ultimate Frisbee. His plan is to find a job where he could utilize his school background and unique work experiences.
“Van Der Rohe”
Fernando Mier Is currently a MAC / MBA student that graduated from architecture at IIT. During his time on the Fraternity he served as our Social Chair and now as our Upsilon. During his undergrad Fernando was heavily involved with Union Board, SGA, AIAs and AIGA, as well as being the President and Founder of Lights, Camera Action!!! IIT’s Movie Club. He’s a proud owner of a Stryker Award for Student Service and is happy that since he’s staying on gradschool at IIT he’ll be able to being active on the chapter for a little bit more. “Pickaxe”
Ryan Miller Just graduated with a Mechanical Engineering degree from the Armour College of Engineering. He served as the Sports Chairman(Rho) and on the executive board as Recruitment Chairmen(Delta) each for two semesters. He also led the construction of the new push cart for Greek Week with the help of others in the Chapter. His plans are to remain in the Chicagoland area for job searching and staying involved with the Chapter. “Speedy”
Vince R Poczekaj Our Spring 2013 Alpha, just graduated as an Architectual Historian from IIT. During his years as an undergrad Vince was heavily involved with the fraternity and several other student orgs like New Velocity, Greek Council and Union Board
where he served as the VP of the BOG during the 2011 - 2012 academic year. His plans are to remain in Chicago for job searching and eventually going to gradschool. “Capo”
Mikie Smit Graduated in December 2012, and has since been working as an architectural designer at Elements Architectural Group in Oak Park. More importantly however, He is getting married this summer to the Beautiful Michelle Davidson, whom he met in Architecture School. They just bought a house in Homer Glen, and plan on inviting the Chapter over when they get back from their honeymoon. During his time in the Chapter, Mikie Served as Lambda Extraordinaire. Mikie and Michelle also founded and run a non-profit organization together designing and building for families and communities in need in the developing world. “Bob el Constructor”
Ryan Sutton
Graduated from architecture and served as our chapter Secretary, the Bylaws Chair, a member of the Judicial Board and the New Member Educator for a year. During his years of college he was also heavily involved with InterVarsity Christian Fellowship (IVCF or IV). And in the Spring of 2012 Ryan left IIT to live in India for 6 months and participate in a non-profit architecture internship with an organization called Engineering Ministries International representing Phi Kappa Sigma internationally.
Brother Tom Folta during Graduation
Brothers Kent Burlingame and Dave Biedrzycki with their Diplomas
Brothers Elmar Okanovic, Troy Makulec and Roman Zwarycz after our latest Pinning
Brother Kasey Klynstra with some sisters from Kappa Phi Delta
Closing Remarks Skulls Gallery 2012 - 2013
We want to thank all of our alumni because without you none of this would be possible. I hope you enjoy this issue of “The Skull” and I invite you to read the next volume on August. - Fernando Mier
Brothers at IIT’s Spring Formal 2013 Brother Ryan Sutton and Gwen Parker during Graduation
Brother Mike S mit and Michelle Davidson duri ng Graduation
Brother Fernando Mier and Yoetzin Diaz during Graduation
Brothers during a Fall Rush Week 2013 event
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Brother Mike S mit and Michelle Davidson duri ng Graduation
Brother Ryan Sutton and Gwen Parker during Graduation
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Brother Mike S mit and Michelle Davidson duri ng Graduation
Brother Ryan Sutton and Gwen Parker during Graduation
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