Winter 2019-20 | Alumni Relations Office | P.O. Box 80828, Atlanta, Georgia 30366 | 770-903-3987
Special Announcement
Please Join Us for Founders Day 2020 Dear Brothers: On Friday, February 14th - Saturday, February 15th, Pi Kapps from across the country will once again converge on Gainesville to celebrate our 2020 Founders Day and the 96th Anniversary of Pi Kappa Phi at UF. There is no better opportunity to come and meet the men of Alpha Epsilon who are carrying on our legacy and hearing firsthand from their leadership about all the great work they are doing on campus. The weekend will commence with our Annual Legends of AE Golf Tournament on Friday morning, which will take place at the Haile Plantation Country Club, followed by our Alumni Meet & Greet at the Hilton Hotel. The Annual Meeting itself kicks off at 10:00 a.m. on Saturday morning at the Chapter House, during which time we will honor a number of outstanding individuals within our fraternity for their outstanding work in three strategic areas that are so critical to the success of our organization: Leadership, Scholarship, and Philanthropy. We will also be recognizing the recipient of the 2019 Mr. AE Award, Legion Awards, as well as our next inductee into the AE Hall of Fame. The festivities will conclude Saturday evening at the O’Connell Center where the Florida Gators take on the Vanderbilt Commodores at 8:00 p.m. During the game, there will be a ceremony honoring Billy Donavan and the dedication of the court in his name. So, I would highly suggest that if you would like to join us in the Pi Kapp block… order your tickets now. Details are below. In closing, I wanted to point out the fact that over the past five to six years, there has been one definitive comment which has reverberated across our alumni base after each of these events: ”Why did I wait so long to come back home.” I am sure that we all remember quite well what our years at UF meant to each of us! So I would ask this, for those of you who have had the opportunity to re-engage and become a part of this great Alumni Organization, make it a point to reach out to five of “your guys” and get them to join us in Gainesville in February. The opportunity to walk down the AE Gator Walkway and step into the Ben Hill Griffin Foyer will make the trip worthwhile. The chance to re-engage with old friends will be the icing on the cake. We have made the process extremely easy this year. Simply go to our alumni website at www.pikappgator.org to make your reservations for attendance, hotel, golf and the basketball game. I look forward to seeing you all there. Fraternally,
Michael L. Sullivan ’68 (AE 886) Chairman Alpha Epsilon Housing Corporation mlsullivan@e4mediaadvisory.com
We have just been advised that Trevor Pope (AE 2566), a recent graduate and now a firstyear law student at UF’s Levin College of Law, has been selected to run as a candidate for student body president of UF. Trevor was 201819 senior class president and graduated with a 3.85 GPA in economics and political science. We are asking for the support of all Pi Kapps, both active brothers and alumni, to support Trevor Pope Trevor in his efforts to achieve this honor. As an undergraduate, he served the chapter as philanthropy chairman, and he was a recipient, over the years, of both the Overton Memorial Award and the Paul Green Scholarship Award. On campus, Trevor was elected to the student senate for three years and founded an executive agency to advance UF’s “Strive for Five” campaign. In 2017, he was an orientation leader with Preview and has been a member of the Florida Cicerones for the past four years. Trevor is also a member of Florida Blue Key and an inductee into UF’s Hall of Fame.
2020 Founders Day Events
Friday, February 14, 2020 Legends of Alpha Epsilon (LoAE) Golf Tournament 9:30 a.m. Shotgun Scramble at Haile Plantation Country Club • Proceeds support the AE Gator Club • Limited to the first 112 golfers to register 6:00-8:30 p.m. Alumni Meet & Greet at the Hilton Hotel • Come and renew old acquaintances, and meet those you never knew you had Note: We have a room block at the Hilton. Rooms in the block are $159 and will be held until Jan 14th. 10:00 a.m. 8:00 p.m.
Saturday, February 15, 2020 Annual Alumni Meeting State of the Chapter • AE Scholarships | AE Legion Awards • Mr. Alpha Epsilon | AE Hall of Fame • State of the Chapter Address UF basketball game (Florida vs. Vanderbilt) • We have reserved a Pi Kapp block of 75 seats together
ChapterNews Archon Report Brothers: We currently have 143 active AE brothers and recently initiated a 34-man pledge class from fall 2019. So it goes without saying that we are extremely excited to get the ball rolling for our spring recruitment. If you know of anyone who you believe would be a good fit for the AE Chapter, please feel free to reach out to our Vice Archon John Hinkle at 407-202-9676. You are also more than welcome to contact our newly appointed Recruitment Chair Andrew Parcell at 904-631-5362 about any potential new members you feel would be interested in joining the best fraternity on campus! After an amazing year in sports, we hope to continue that high level of success as we look to defend our President’s Cup title. Our volleyball team recently secured the championship this fall and our goal is to keep these efforts going and bring back the President’s Cup for another year in the spring. On a separate note, our brotherhood is extremely excited about this year’s Dance Marathon (DM), which takes place during the spring semester. We currently have five brothers who have worked throughout the year as assistant directors and captains of the largest student run philanthropic event at UF. We also have a number of AEs who are registered dancers for the event….you will be hearing more about our AE involvement at DM during the presentation at the Founders Day Meeting.
Top: The 34 members of the fall 2019 Alpha Epsilon pledge class. Above left: New Florida Blue Key members this semester: Brandon Fallin (AE 2650), Jack Coon. Current Blue Key members include Stephen Greep (AE 2648), Joey Whelihan and Trevor Pope (AE 2566). Above right: Newly elected IFC President Stephen Greep. Below: Pie a Pi backyard bash.
With regards to leadership positions across campus, our chapter currently has five members in Florida Blue Key, five members in Florida Cicerones, and three of our brothers served as Preview Staffers this past summer for UF’s orientation program for incoming students. Additionally, we have five members in UF Student Government. Finally, our former Archon Stephen Greep (AE 2648) was recently elected to serve as UF’s new IFC President for the upcoming year! We hope to keep up the great work and get more of our guys involved both on and off campus. Fraternally,
Seth Longland (AE 2649) Seth.longland@ufl.edu 727-687-7395
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Philanthropy Update This semester has been wildly successful regarding the Alpha Epsilon Chapter’s philanthropy efforts. Our main event this semester was a fundraiser held at our beautiful chapter house on campus, an event we ended up calling the “Pie a Pi Backyard Bash.” Paired up with the lovely ladies of Pi Beta Phi, we sold tickets to students for $5 that would get them a delicious BBQ meal prepared by our own Chef Mark as well as a pie… to pie someone in the face in our backyard, all of which was for a great cause. The brotherhood had a ton of fun inviting people to the house for the Ability Experience and socializing with the other Greek organizations that showed up for the event. Last year’s “Pie a Pi” event only raised around $150 in total, but we are proud to announce that this year we raised over $1,200, which was split between Pi Kapp and Pi Beta Phi. We hope to further our philanthropic efforts next semester and continue to grow Alpha Epsilon’s support of the Ability Experience.
ChapterSpotlight Brandon Fallin
How would you like to apply your degree after graduation?
Editor’s Note: Representing the chapter as Spotlight is junior classman Brandon Fallin (AE 2650). From the hometown of Palm Harbor, FL, Brandon is working toward his degree in mechanical/aerospace engineering as is on track to graduate in spring 2022. Currently serving as standards chairman, he has also served as historian for the chapter, and was recently tapped into Florida Blue Key. Brandon has also served with First Year Florida as a Peer Leader; the UF Homecoming and Gator Growl as director of video editing; with the UF Student Government as a District B Senator; and worked as part of the 2019 Preview Staff in the summer of 2019.
At the end of the day, I want to build rockets or work on hardware that goes to space. I’ve been obsessed with space since I was a little kid and I don’t think it’s going to stop anytime soon. The work in spaceflight that’s being done in the private sector is like nothing we’ve ever seen before and it would be amazing to be a part of it.
What have you enjoyed most as a member of AE? Finding a like-minded group of guys who are motivated but also understand the importance of having fun has been the most impactful part of my time in AE. As far as events go, ski formal freshman year has been the highlight of my experience. Whenever you can get all of us together to go on a trip it’s guaranteed to be a good time.
What are you doing to prepare? So far, I’m working my hardest to keep my GPA up, staying involved on campus to round out my teamwork and leadership skills, and networking as much as possible. The biggest item on my list is to find an internship for this summer so I can get some hands-on experience in the industry. Who inspires you in life and how? My dad has definitely been the biggest influence in my life. He’s always put our family ahead of himself and has been an incredible example to myself and my little brother for as long as I can remember. Without him constantly motivating me and pushing me to try my hardest, I wouldn’t be where I am today.
Outside of school, what do you do for fun? I love to shoot photo and video for different organizations, and just for fun on the side. I’ve been into landscape photography for quite a while and it’s one of my favorite hobbies. I also love just about any board sport, with snowboarding and skateboarding being my two favorites.
Top right: Getting tapped into Florida Blue Key. Huge shout out to my parents for all of the motivation and help along the way! Above: Snowboarding on ski formal. I’m on the left and my roommate Austin Lima is on the right. Right: The Room 13 boys on a Pi Kapp function to Whiskey Joe’s. Left to right: Me, Griffin Harris, Adam Egan, Ben Allinder, and Austin Lima.
AE Student Government Involvement Tim Martin - Assistant Director for the Veteran’s Affairs Cabinet Joe LaVoie - The Big Event Agency Chairman (pictured left) Brandon Fallin - District B Senator (story above) Seth Longland - Public Health and Health Professions Senator Austin Lima - Junior Class Treasurer
The Pi Kapp Gator « Winter 2019-20 «
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ChapterNews AE Social Scene The esteemed brothers of the Alpha Epsilon Chapter at the University of Florida were accompanied by the ladies of Delta Phi Epsilon for a great homecoming weekend this fall. With trips to Tampa and social events for the duration of the week, all sights were leading up to a matchup with the Auburn Tigers in The Swamp. The brothers showed their support for the Gators with great school spirit around campus and the city of Gainesville, showing the new members of our chapter what Pi Kappa Phi is all about, both internally and externally.
Back Yard Project During this past summer, through the combined effort and financial support of the AE Housing Corporation, Pi Kapp Phi Properties and the active chapter, and led by the efforts of our current Archon Seth Longland (AE 2649), we set our sights on completely re-engineering the backyard of our chapter house to fix what had been “cost engineered” out of the budget when our new chapter house was being built. This project entailed a complete regrading of the backyard area, the installation of 1,400 square feet of paver bricks, 900 square feet of Bermuda grass as well as the re-routing of all drainage from the downspouts underground and out through the back of the property. The best-looking fraternity house on campus now has a backyard we can all be proud of. Our thanks go out to all of those who helped to make this project happen.
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FoundersDay Legion Award One of the signature moments, which takes place each year at our Annual Founders Day Meeting, is the recognition of those men who were initiated into our fraternity 60, 50 and 25 years ago. Each year we present those individuals their Diamond, Gold, and Silver Legion Awards commemorating their years of membership in Pi Kappa Phi. This year we will be recognizing those individuals who were initiated in 1960, 1970, and 1995. Our hope is that you can join us for this momentous occasion. Please RSVP to mlsullivan886@gmail.com
New Memories Are Made Each Year . . .
Be There or Be Talked About! The Pi Kapp Gator ÂŤ Winter 2019-20 ÂŤ
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Alumni Relations Office
Pi Kappa Phi at the University of Florida P.O. Box 80828 Atlanta, Georgia 30366
Visit us online at pikappgator.org!
Chapter Eternal
We are saddened to have learned of the passing of the following Alpha Epsilon brother since the last issue of the Pi Kapp Gator. We extend our sympathy to his friends, family, and loved ones.
Sabino Martinez ’50 (AE 431)
NOW IS THE TIME TO JOIN!
by Brad Jensen (AE 1389), AE Gator Club Chairman
The AE Gator Club represents our commitment to the continued success of our chapter. AE greatness over the years has been underpinned by our alumni predecessors – we enjoyed the fruits of their contributions across the spectrum of ‘giving back.’ As you look in ‘your’ mirror, remember we were initiated as AE brothers for a lifetime, not just our undergrad years.
As the mission of our AE Gator Club, our alumni group forms the core, perpetual fundraising effort for all things Alpha Epsilon. 100% of the funds collected support the following six initiatives:
Initiatives and Annual Budget: • AE Scholarship Program: Currently 10 scholarships (goal of 15), recognizes outstanding individuals for leadership, scholarship, and philanthropic efforts: $8,000 • Annual Founders Day Meeting: Annual Alumni Founders Day meeting in Gainesville: $7,000 • Alumni Recognition Awards: Mr. Alpha Epsilon, AE Hall of Fame, and Legion Awards: $1,500
• Alumni Tailgate Events: Alumni Tailgate events at the Chapter House during designated football weekends: $6,000
Total Annual Budget: $30,000
• Executive Leadership Recognition Awards: Recognition for all graduating seniors who served on AE’s Executive Leadership Team: $1,500
Annual membership period:
• Alumni Communications & Outreach Program: Pi Kapp Gator, electronic AE ‘Gator Tales’, email ‘blasts,’ and ‘hold-the-date cards’: $6,000
AE Gator Club Contribution Details: Alumni contribution promise: Recent grad (w/in 2 years) or full-time grad school: Join Now! Online: www.pikappgator.org Check: AEHC–AE Gator Club c/o Brad Jensen 104 Marbella Way Georgetown, TX 78633
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