Beta Kappa - February 2010

P I K A P PA P H I — B E TA K A P PA

ΠΚΦ Newsletter V O L U M E

INSIDE THE ISSUE Brother Spotlight

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Greek Housing @

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GSU Historian Report

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Sports Update -

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Basketball Associate Members

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Pi Kappa Phi Social Life

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Credits & Pictures

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If anyone is interested in placing an ad, or writing an article please send all submissions in email to: mkahn2@student.gsu. edu

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F E B R U A R Y

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Alumnus Spotlight: Paul McCabe ‘91 By: Matt Kahn Many things were happening the year you joined Pi Kappa Phi— The Super Nintendo Entertainment System was released, the Soviet Union collapsed, and the Atlanta Braves were in the World Series – What was it like on campus at that time?

The buildings are still the same today. The highlight of the morning during spring and fall was usually going out to the fountain between the buildings and enjoying the scenery. I remember flipping a coin on several occasions deciding if we were going to go to class or to Texas Restaurant, one of our hangouts, we did a lot of the best 2 out of 3 tosses and somehow always seemed to end up at Texas.

How did you get introduced to Pi Kappa Phi? My twin brother, David was a Pi Kapp at the Gamma Nu chapter down in LaGrange and I saw his experience there. When he transferred to GSU he wanted a chapter at GSU. With the help of other Pi Kapp brothers who went to GSU and new rushee’s we re-chartered the Beta Kappa chapter.

What was your best memory being a part of the Beta Kappa Chapter?

There are too many good

BK 350 Paul McCabe & his family

memories to put it down to just one great memory, going down to Panama City, road trip to LaGrange, nights at the unofficial Pi Kapp house away from campus, making some incredible friends would be just some of the highlights and best memories.

When you look back on your time as a student member of Beta Kappa, what lessons did you learn having been a part of a re-chartered chapter?

As one of the founders we started different traditions that were unique to all the individuals who helped recharter the chapter. We were the underdogs for awhile against the other fraternities, but we rushed

hard and we competed in intramurals and competitions and showed we were a force to be reckoned with.

Tell us a little bit about your family.

My parents and older brother were born in England and my twin brother and little brother are 1st generation Americans. My Father Patrick, and brothers David, Stephen & Peter are all Pi Kapp members.

David was initiated at the Gamma Nu chapter and the rest of us were initiated

by Beta Kappa.

For student members who will read this issue of the Pi Kappa Phi Newsletter, what advice do you have for them?

The fraternity experience was one of the best experiences in my life and I am thankful that I was able to be a part of such a great group. The memories are fun to think of and I made some great friends for a lifetime. I miss my brothers from the old days and wish we were better about getting together with one another and sharing our family stories. Make the most of your college days experience, it will be over before you know it and stay in touch.

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Brother Spotlight: Mike Brandenburg By: Cody Heermans varsity football player and first Mike team all county as Brandenburg a senior, he ended his high school career with a 4.0 GPA. Michael has continued his leadership and excellence into his college years at Georgia State and with Pi Kappa Phi. He is currently a junior at Georgia State and was initiated into the fraternity in the fall of 2009 with the Alpha Xi pledge class. He’s a political science major with a 3.81 GPA, which is the third highest in the fraternity.

His hopes of one day running for public office are becoming closer to reality as he continues to take on more reBK 590

The standard of brotherhood for Beta Kappa has continued to evolve in the right direction, with brothers like Michael Brandenburg leading by example. He was born and raised in Fayetteville, Georgia.

Along with being a four year

sponsibility. He is the former Georgia State College Republican Vice-Chairman, and is currently interning at the Georgia state capitol for 16th District Ronnie Chance- (R). He was also recently elected as the IFC President. Pi Kappa Phi holds more positions on Interfraternity council than any other on-campus fraternity. His continuing headship and drive are great examples of the attributes he provides for our chapter. His effort and leadership are much appreciated as we all continue to help guide the chapter to new heights.

Initiated last fall semester, Mike has already become the president of the Inter-Fraternity Council @ GSU

Greek Housing at GSU By Michael Kahn A landmark occasion for Georgia State Greek Life is set to be finished in time for the Fall 2010 semester. Georgia State is currently in the process of building special interest housing which is mainly geared towards the Greek organizations on campus. The buildings will be townhouse style, and will be located on Edgewood Ave. directly across from the University Lofts and right next to the newly built Freshman Hall.

Pi Kappa Phi has reserved a nine bed house, composed of five single and two double bedrooms. The house will have a full kitchen, living room, ritual storage closet, front porch area, and will display our letters on the top . The fraternity house will replace our beloved

room on campus, marking the end of an era for Beta Kappa.

Hopefully, the house will make the rush process much easier to organize, as well as, make students more interested in Greek Life. The presence of Greek housing will also give Greek Life a much larger presence on campus, similar to a more traditional institution.

I have recently gone through several interview processes in applying to be the Resident Assistant of our house. The interviews were done elimination style, and I successfully made it to the final interview.

Things look very promising, and I will find out if I have been accepted shortly. As R.A. of the house I will be in charge of maintaining order within the house, and upholding GSU’s

Housing Bylaws, considering the house will be University owned.

Our chapter is currently going through a very positive growth period, and the acquisition of our own fraternity house can only mean good things for the future development of our chapter.

Naturally, once the house is completed and everyone has moved in, we would love to have any interested alumni over to take a tour of the house and hangout with the brothers of Beta Kappa.

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Historian Report By: Matt Kahn February has been a very productive month for the chapter. As the Beta Kappa Historian, I have planned three upcoming events involving family and alumni. We have scheduled a Parent’s day for April 4th. The parents will be coming out to Panthersville to see us play softball followed by a BBQ. On March 27th, we have a brotheralumni softball game at Peachtree Hills Rec. Park and on April 18th, we have rented out

the Golden Moon Casino Patio at Turner Field for an Alumni Day with the Braves. Since the recent circulation of the January newsletter, contact between the chapter and alumni has already increased drastically. I have followed through with the Job Board on Linkedin.com, so any interested parties can create an account and join the group.

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Alpha Omicron Pledge Class

Brendan Sobottka, Camp Schweers, Bizneh Eshetu, Brett Testa, & Jay Underwood

Intramural Update: Basketball By: David Ewalt The start of the new years means new beginnings and thus the truth of the Pi Kappa Phi intramural squad. The lone sport that been played so far is the intense intramural basketball season. Pi Kapp started off strong beating Sigma Nu and Kappa Sigma both by 20 points. The following weekend was the big game against All Sports leaders Pi Kappa Alpha. Pi Kapp fell to them by 15 points with a first half defensive collapse that the team could never overcome. Later in the night Pi Kapp cruised by AEII for a regular season record 3-1.

The playoffs were all on one night and for all the marbles, lose and go home. Pi Kapp played Sigma Nu in the semi's and barely escaped with a victory. Only given a 10 minute break in between games Pi Kapp played Pike in the intramural basketball championship. Playing at an incredible slow pace Pi Kapp hung around all game

For the coming weeks Pi Kapp will play Softball, Outdoor Soccer, and Wiffle Ball. Pi Kappa Phi must be almost perfect in all of these sports to obtain the ever coveted AllSports trophy.

If you are interested in following the intramural squad checkout http://www.gsuim.com where stats, records, and all sports points are collected.

The team doing the Pi Kapp fight song after a victory and had the lead with 2 minutes left.

Pike hit a couple of three's and tied the game up. Tied 34 all Pike had the ball with 27 seconds left. Sadly enough the good guys didn't pull this one off and once again Pike won with a game winning shot with 4 seconds left.

The crowd goes wild, as the suspense builds during the championship game

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Brothers of Pi Kappa Phi with an Associate Member at the annual Spring Bid Day after party

Four lovely ZTA ladies posing next to a poster they made for our 2010 Spring Bid Day

Brothers of Pi Kappa Phi with Pounce, the GSU mascot, at the Men’s Basketball Homecoming game tailgate sponsored by the Alumni Association

Several brothers with some friends on a snowboarding trip to the mountains

Brothers and Associate Members pictured together for the 2010 Spring Bid Day Run Out ceremony

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Pi Kappa Phi—Beta Kappa

Allan Glass

David Ewalt

Paul Marmol

33 Gilmer Street SE Unit #3 Atlanta, GA 30303-3083

Archon—Allan Glass ( turkishdrummer2000@yahoo.com)

Matt Alexy

Tyler Jones

Michael Kahn

Vice Archon—David Ewalt (wewalt1@student.gsu.edu) Treasurer—Paul Marmol ( marmol.paul@gmail.com) Secretary— Matt Alexy ( malexy1@student.gsu.edu) Warden—Tyler Jones ( buggoat@aol.com) Historian—Matt Kahn ( mkahn2@student.gsu.edu) Chaplain—Michael Kahn ( mkahn3@student.gsu.edu)

Support David Brown On Journey of Hope Online Donations can go to http://secure.pushamerica.org/davidbrown

Matt Kahn http:// www.gsupikapps.com/

Readers, I hope everyone enjoyed the January issue of the Pi Kappa Phi Newsletter. This month we have a lot of exciting new features such as the “Alumnus Spotlight” and “Brother Spotlight” columns, which will give readers a chance to learn more about the men who compose the Beta Kappa chapter of Pi Kappa Phi. We also have an exciting intramural update with the story on the men’s IFC basketball tournament, as well as information on our new spring pledge class. I have received great feedback from the last newsletter, which does two things for me: 1) it lets me know that I have done a good job, and 2) it has motivated me to continue striving for excellence in the newsletter publishing business. Thank you all for reading and we’ll see y’all next month

Text donations from your mobile phone in $5 increments – TEXT push107 to 50555 Matt Kahn BK 538 Cell: 404-368-9465 Email: dbrown72@student.gsu.edu

Editors—Matt Kahn & Cody Heermans Writers— David Ewalt, Michael Kahn, Cody Heermans, Matt Kahn