Alpha Kappa - Spring 2009

The Alpha Kappian Spring 2009

We’re Back…

This edition of the Alpha Kappian marks a return to the alumni and family outreach that has been lost for some time. Through proper officer transitioning, we hope to never let something as simple as our newsletter again fall by the wayside. In addition, communication between alumni and active brothers will be better facilitated, allowing for better planning and more information to be dispersed (especially for events such as Rose Ball or Homecoming). With that in mind, this issue will cover not only alumni news, but will serve as an update of the status of our chapter.

“Fraternity Athlete of the Year” Intramural Sports Department Mike Tanis

Highlights Alumni Spotlight (Page 2) Archon’s Report (Page 2) Philanthropy (Page 3) Recruitment (Page 4) Keeping in touch (Page 5)

Archon’s Report As the school year winds down, I've received the opportunity to highlight some great moments and accomplishments this semester. Alpha Kappa just initiated four bright new members to our brotherhood on April 17th, and we are very excited about the potential they have brought to our house. Last semester we initiated thirteen -- many of which have already begun taking leadership roles as big brothers, Executive Council understudies, and chair positions. When the GPA rankings came out during the winter, our freshmen were ranked 2nd and our house was 12th out of the 28 campus fraternities. Greek Week again proved to be a lot of fun. Even though we didn't do as well as last year, we were still able to finish with a very respectable 4th place overall. And we were also, again, able to win the All-Year-Intramural-Sports-Championship for the 3rd time in 4 years. These awards are only a small foreshadow of the great potential which lies ahead for Alpha Kappa. Our chapter and Executive Council have spent countless hours revamping and creating new ideas and policies, as well reenacting forgotten ones, which we expect will raise to and keep Pi Kappa Phi's Alpha Kappa a top chapter on campus. The fun aside, our chapter has been struck with enormous financial struggles over the past few years. Only with the selflessness and personal sacrifices of our brotherhood were we able to overcome these struggles. The last few years have proved tumultuous, but we remain optimistic. Without these hardships, I don't think our brotherhood would be nearly as strong as it is now. We will begin next semester with 55 tight-knit brothers who are fired up and passionate about the limitless potential that we have. My only hope is that our families, friends, and most of all, alumni, will come to enjoy in our activities and in the brotherhood that you have made possible for us.

Alumni Spotlight Carl Bracy AK 102 Carl finished his undergrad at U of M in 1984 and his MBA in 1986. After graduating, Carl started his career at Procter and Gamble in Brand Management, working on brands such as Joy, Ivory, and Downy. He moved with Procter to Venezuela for three years and came back as a Director of Marketing. After eleven years, Carl left Procter and moved to Dallas to work for Verizon and later, TXU. Seven years passed, and Carl moved on; he currently works for Essilor, a 4-billion dollar French optical company as Vice President of US Marketing. Carl travels to Paris often while managing a group of nearly eighty within Essilor's marketing division. In late February, Carl's son Conner came for a visit to check out the campus at U of M. While here, Conner and a few brothers attended the Men's Basketball game against Minnesota. Carl was also kind enough to make a very generous donation to our house, allowing 19 brothers and associates to attend a Give a Push Weekend in Pittsburgh, PA. Due to our own financial constraints, the trip would have never been possible without Carl's help and generosity.

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Philanthropy We started the semester off with a small fundraiser which raised $370. After which, we began searching for an organization to volunteer at. It was a tough search, but we found the Eisenhower Center in Ann Arbor, and we started volunteering every other Thursday. We interacted with and assisted the people with disabilities as they showed off their skills at the the Colonial Lanes bowling alley. It was a great experience, and we are scheduled to continue the relationship with the Eisenhower Center next fall. The first week of April was full of new beginnings for the brothers of Alpha Kappa. On Friday, April 4, we did Access Ability. With the volunteered help of No Barriers Design company and funding provided by Push America, we built a wheelchair ramp for a low-income family who desperately needed one. After the completion of the ramp, 19 brothers drove to Pittsburgh, PA, to participate in the Give a Push weekend. We volunteered all day Saturday for the Milestone Center. We constructed a nature trail so that people in wheel chairs or other accommodating devices could enjoy the gardens and the beautiful wilderness. The weekend was a great bonding experience and a great opportunity to lend our support to those who needed it. In fact, we had such a great time, that we expect we will return next year for the Give a Push Weekend, location permitting. In the coming Fall semester, we are contemplating the idea of a 5Kwheelchair marathon fundraiser to benefit Push America. In addition, we may start volunteering to help out low-income families or other causes which are so necessary, but so often looked-over. In the 2009 Winter semester, Alpha Kappa volunteered 340 man-hours, raised over $700 and participated in two nationalphilanthropy events.

Journey Of Hope It’s another great year for the Alpha Kappa tradition of JOH participation. Adam Southard AK 386 was a 2004 graduate who has decided to ride across the country for Push America this summer. We wish him the best of luck and hope it will be a rewarding experience for Adam.

By this time Adam is well on his way but if you would like to consider donating next year Sean Hazaray has confirmed to ride during the summer of 2010. You can donate at https://secure.pushamerica.org/ seanhazaray

Rose Ball 2009 ‌

Haha... Well just in case you haven't heard about Rose Ball 2009, well, it was quite a night. It turned out that the riverboat we booked, the Detroit Princess, will automatically book your party with the Michigan Princess instead if you have less than 500 guests. The Michigan Princess, however, happens to be just about two hours from the Detroit Princess. We just wish we would have figured it out sooner and maybe we would have gone to the right one! But even with the mix up, it turned out to be a great night. The most important part was giving the alumni a chance to reconnect and reminisce -- even though they didn't get to do it on a boat 3

Recruitment My name is Salvatore Amodeo and I am the Recruitment Chair for our chapter. This past winter, our chapter was successful in recruiting seven associate members, higher than the campus average (5.6). Unfortunately, since the beginning of pledge term, we have lost three of those pledges due to personal reasons. Those losses, coupled with a low number of freshmen recruited in the fall, create a lot of work for fall ’09 in order to fill our house and maintain our brotherhood.

With that being said, we are taking several new measures, and some old, in order to increase our numbers: • With the insight of our Recruitment Archive of over ten years of valuable information, we are able to draw off past successes and failures in order to maximize efficiency • We are instituting a form of team-based recruitment to get an overall impetus for participation from brothers • New events, such as trips to Tiger’s games, Jackson’s horse tracks, and canoeing • A new Alumni Scholarship that will assist us in bringing a large amount of quality freshmen into our home • Brothers assisting the University in helping freshmen move into their dorms—Move-InMakers—in order to spark connections • Frequent barbeques over the house in order to get potentials to meet the brothers in a welcoming environment • Overall, we are simply looking to reach out and create bonds with new freshmen. Many brothers will be at the dorms, meeting potentials, inviting them to play basketball, volleyball, soccer, and even out to lunch

The Executive Council Archon – Justin Hummel juhummel@umich.edu Vice Archon – Dan Overholt danove@umich.edu Treasurer – Alex Mitchell alexmitc@umich.edu Secretary – Andrew Doss adoss@umich.edu Warden – Louie DeJonge ldejonge@umich.edu Historian – Ira Goldberg irajason@umich.edu Chaplain – Rafael Rivera rrafael@umich.edu Risk – Ulan Thompson umthomp@umich.edu Recruitment – Salvatore Amodeo salamo@umich.edu Social – Kevin Kowalski kkowals@umich.edu Philanthropy – Mark Willar mawillar@umich.edu

The brothers of Alpha Kappa would like to thank Chris Kozak for his time as our chapter adviser and everything he took on with Housing Core. He did a great job but unfortunately had to step down this year. Thanks again Chris.

Four straight Broomball Championships.

Couldn’t have won the All Year IM Championship with out these guys.

We may not of had a traditional Rose Ball this year but here’s A great Rose Ball picture from a few years back

Keeping In Touch…

We are currently planning a homecoming cookout as well as brainstorming new alumni event ideas Our website is currently under construction but we hope to have it working and updated soon. www.michiganpikapps.com If you are interested in donating to our scholarship fund, recruitment, philanthropy, or general house upkeep, please send an email to juhummel@umich.edu or a member of the Executive Council so that we can work out the details.

As I've mentioned before, we have begun an Outstanding Leadership Award for incoming freshmen. If you are interested in being a part of the alumni board that selectes the winner, please email pikapps.ola@gmail.com or an EC member. I would also like to begin awarding the Top Pledge a monetary award to pay for his books, similar to what has been done in the past.

The Alpha Lambdas at Awards Night 2008 with host Jason Keith

All of us here in Ann Arbor wish you the best of luck with your endeavors, wherever life takes you. Thanks for Reading!

Proud to be a Pi Kapp 5