THE • PI • KAPPA • PHI • FRATERNITY
Omegalite MAY 2007 Omega of Pi Kappa Phi, Inc. Housing Corporation P.O. Box 2700 West Lafayette, IN 47996-2700 Chapter web address: http://www.purdue.edu/ pikapps Corporation Officers JAY SEEGER PRESIDENT 3817 Old Farm Road Lafayette, IN 47905 765/742-4529, work 765/474-1986, home jay@shf-law.net
BRANDT HERSHMAN VICE PRESIDENT 6142 Maderia Lane Lafayette, IN 47905 574/581-2000, cell b.hershman@insightbb. com STEVE BOHNER TREASURER 194 Twin Springs Ct. Carmel, IN 46234 317/846-3008, home 317/844-2250, work 317/844-2296, fax steve@langdonan company.com PAT KUHNLE SECRETARY 720 Chelsea Road W. Lafayette, IN 47906 765/743-1111 ext. 205, work 765/743-6087, fax 765/743-1256, cell pkuhnle@purdue exponent.org
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Deadline approaching for 85th May 20 is the deadline to make your reservations for Omega’s 85th anniversary. This first-time summer alumni event has drawn a significant amount of interest. Because of its house-project, golf outing banquet approach, the event is drawing quite a cross-section of Omega alumni. The June 8 weekend has a lot more hotel rooms available than a homecoming weekend. Nonetheless, we have a block of rooms in the Union Club of the Purdue Memorial Union. Call 800/320-6291 to get a room for Friday, June 8, and/or Saturday, June 9. Tell them to reserve your room under “Pi Kappa Phi.” We set Saturday, June 9, for our keystone event honoring Omega’s 85th. A Saturday night event will be the focus of our celebration, but there will be weekend-long events for alumni and their families at Purdue. Times are subject to change. • 6 p.m. to midnight, Friday, June 8. Informal registration at the house. We’ll maintain a list of alumni members’ hotels and cell phone numbers, so attendees may contact their brothers who will be on campus. • 8 p.m., Friday to 2
a.m. Saturday. Informal gathering at a local watering hole. • 9 a.m. to 4 p.m., Saturday. Informal registration at the house. • 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. Golf outing. • 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., Saturday. House improvement projects. These projects are yet to be determined, but are likely to include: Breaking out limestone next to front sidewalk, re-grouting and re-laying the retaining wall. Other in-house projects may include painting, resealing parking lot, etc. Houseman for the day to be determined. • 5:30 to 6:30 p.m., Saturday. Reception for evening banquet. Purdue Memorial Union, West Faculty Lounge (second floor, southwest corner of PMU). • 6:30 to 9 p.m., Saturday. 85th Anniversary Banquet, PMU, West Faculty Lounge. • 9:30 p.m. Saturday to ?. Second weekend gathering at a local watering hole. • 9 to 10:30 a.m., Sunday, continental breakfast at the chapter house. Informal gathering in chapter dining room for alumni and guests who want one last goodbye. • 9:30 a.m. to noon Sunday, remaining house
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projects. Complete the projects started the day before, include those who golfed the previous day who want to be part of house improvements. If you have questions about the event, contact any of our alumni coordinators listed elsewhere in this Omegalite. Also, feel free to contact chapter advisor Pat Kuhnle (his contact information is on the front page of this newsletter. Act quickly because reservations will be cut off after May 25.
Hotel info We have a limited number of rooms at the Union Club. Call 800/320-6291 ASAP. Other relatively close hotels include: Hilton Garden Inn, 356 E State St., WL, 765/743-2100. Holiday Inn Select City Centre, 515 South St., Lafayette, 765/4231000. University Inn, 3001 Northwestern Ave., WL, 765/4635511.
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Chapter members have significant presence at Greek Awards reception Undergraduate chapter members had a significant presence in spring 2007 Greek Awards Reception. Nearly 300 people gathered for the annual individual awards reception on April 24. Phil Sharon (Omega 1652) won the Greek Junior Scholarship Award. Sharon, Fall 2007 archon, is a management major from Wheaton, Ill. Co-emcee for the 90minute event was Joe Schaefer (Omega 1671), director of academics for the Interfraternity Council. Steve Holtsclaw (Omega 1666), 2007 president of IFC, spoke and presented an award at the event. The Omega chapter was recognized for having a GPA above the allcampus adverage for men. The chapter had a 2.959 GPA, while the all-
men’s average was 2.733. In the fall, the chapter had 43 of its 102 members with a 3.0 or higher and 23 men earned semester honors. A total of 17 Omega undergraduates were on the dean’s list and eight members had a 4.0 semester GPA. Josh Stolarz (Omega 1643) was recognized as being part of the 2006-07 Order of Omega class. Schaefer is the incoming president of Order of Omega and he’s joined by chapter brothers Holtsclaw and Geoff Zindren (Omega 1629) as part of the 2007-08 class. Order of Omega is a Greek Leadership Society. Zach Isbell (Omega 1643), former IFC vice president of administration, is a member of Gimlet, a Purdue leadership honorary. Isbell was the Spring 2007 Omega archon.
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85th Anniversary volunteers If you have questions about the June 8-9, 85th anniversary, feel free to contact these alumni listed below for more information. They will also know who from their era will be attending. Act soon, otherwise you may miss the deadline. 464 Robert Rust rarust@aol.com 632 Mike O’Reilly mikeo39@adelphia 824 Mike Ohaver mho67@sbcglobal.net 835 David Lane dglane@lanelawservices.com 857 Mark Wilson markkwilson@earthlink.net 947 Mark DeFabis mdefabis@p-tech.net 951 Greg Linder GregLinder@aol.com 956 Larry Metzler ljm@metzlerplumbing.com 1077 Steve Bohner steve@langdonandcompany.com 1090 Jeff Egilsrud jeffrey.l.egilsrud@boeing.com 1187 Jeff Vogt jeff.vogt@att.net 1197 Pat Kuhnle pkuhnle@purdueexponent.org 1262 Mark Nigh mhnigh@hrtc.net 1272 Todd Spaulding TSpaulding@erico.com 1277 Pat Lyons electricpowersales@comcast.net 1306 Brian Schurter btschurter@tbklaw.com 1404 Jim Thompsonjimthompson2001@hotmail.com 1412 Gene Ward gward@berglundco.com 1433 Chad Schepel cschepel@blue.aero 1438 Kevin Ohaver kohaver1@carolina.rr.com 1459 Nathan Damasius natedam@hotmail 1506 Phil Leslie phil_leslie@hotmail.com 1576 Andy Conlin andrewconlin@gmail.com 1595 Shaun Gilday sgilday@gcmusa.com 1571 Ian Koehler ikoehler@aerotek.com 1611 Jason Cooper cooperje@gmail.com 1659 Brian Heiwig heiwig.brian@gmail.com
Chapter members have huge presence at Greek Awards Reception By Zach Isbell Spring 2007 Archon As indicated in the last Omegalite, the chapter anticipated a very busy in the spring and it certainly ended that way. The chapter retained 12 of 14 spring pledges (one transferred to Illinois), ending the semester with 101 members. After spring graduation, 85 will return for the fall. We hope to break the century mark after fall rush. If you know of quality men starting Purdue in the fall, please contact our rush chairman Andrew Gibson, Omega 1691, (gibsona@purdue.edu).
This past semester has been busy with Push America events. Chapter members had another Project Accessibility this spring after doing its first in the fall. Such projects are local initiatives supported by the national Push office to assist someone in our area with disabilities. We started a new event, co-sponsored with Phi Mu sorority called the Greek Series of Poker. The event raised $700, half of which was donated to Push and the other half to Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis on behalf of Phi Mu. The Push money supplements
our Pi Kapp 100 donations. Also on the Push front, Young Yang (Omega 1690), will be an Omega rider in the Journey of Hope, the June to August cross-country bike ride ride. Participants travel from San Francisco to Washington, DC. Yang will be the ninth rider, but it will be the 10th trip for Omega (Andy Parker, Omega 1450, did it twice). Finally, Omega will be returning to the fall with a sorority football partner. This year Alpha Chi Omega will be joining us for Boilermaker football. “Archon Report,” continued on Page 4
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Former engineering students turns to acting The road as a stage hand at an amusement park to Purdue engineering is intriguing enough, but a later move to Hollywood might be, well, unimaginable. Steve Holm (Omega 1564) gave up on an engineering career in a roundabout way. His career path altered in the form of a gift during senior day at the Omega chapter several years ago. “During Rob Woods’ (Omega 1469) senior will, he left me a monologue book, which I later used to get my first professional job,” Holm said. “I really can’t explain how much that meant to me. It was the first time anyone did anything in terms of supporting my dreams.” Holm’s exposure to the stage started when he was a technician at Kings Island in his hometown Cincinnati in 1999. His interest grew in the summer of 2001 when he was a performer at the amusement park while away from his studies at Purdue. “I knew deep down that is what I wanted to do,” he said. “I already had a big interest in acting/performing, but it was mainly unexplored because I had practically no idea where to begin.”
The one-time engineering student knew it was time to pursue his dream in 2002. He transferred to the University of Cincinnati’s College Conservatory of Music, where he majored in one of the top electronic media programs. He minored in journalism. “During those years, I booked a major local job for a film narrated by Oprah Winfry that still runs in the National Underground Freedom Center.” In February 2004, “it was off to LA with $1,000 and a Honda Civic.” The 26-year-old hasn’t hit it rich or famous yet, but he loves the industry nonetheless. “Acting isn’t just a career, it’s a lifestyle. “It’s a rollercoaster from the elation of being called, saying that you beat out 15,000 people and are on “avail” for that job that will pay you $20,000 to the massive depression of getting a call the day before you’re supposed to shoot saying they changed their mind – that’s happened to me four times, by the way.” The odds are stacked against Holm succeeding in Tinseltown. The rule of thumb among the
Steve Holm performs during “Brothers Warfare,” a short film produced in 2007, but not yet released.
Actor’s Guild is that 3 percent of its members can support themselves through acting. “If you’re thinking of moving out to LA, you better be ready to dig in.” Promotional Holm has some photo of Holm entry-level jobs in his four years in California. He’s had a lead role in seven short films. One of them has become an award winner. “The Doers of Coming Deeds” won the best short film award from the California Independent Film Festival in 2006. It’s a film about a group of friends, all of whom were members of the Hitler Youth who end up questioning Hitler’s methods. His most recent film was “Brothers War” in 2007, which has not yet been released. This is another WWII-vintage film that depicts the late stages of the war on the eastern front. “During the filming, I actually got handed a real German MP-40 from WWII,” Holm said. “Before the battle scene I asked ‘is there anything I need to know before I start firing this thing?’ He replied, ‘pointy side out.’” Another short film he’s starred in was the 2004 production, “Brothers of the Borderland,” which is a depiction of the African American saga, the Underground Railroad. While being idealistic about his chosen industry, Holm also has an sense of reality. “Unless a film is backed by a major studio, you’re going to be working for around $100 a day if you’re lucky.” Sometimes, it’s literally a day-today living. “Holm,” continued on Page 4
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Ninth annual 100-kilometer ride successful An alumnus rider joined nearly 25 undergraduates as part of the ninth annual Pi Kapp 100 on April 14. The annual ride is a 100-kilomter ride from Zionsville to the Purdue campus. Riders and crew members raise money from pledges for our national philanthropy, Push America. Mark Higgins (Omega 1031) for the second year in a row joined his nephew Donovan Higgins (Omega 1692) as a rider. Several other alumni supported the ride with contributions. They include: Jack Berlien (722), Don Porth (1180), Pat Kuhnle (1197), Brent Buroker (1265), Kevin Johnson (1461), Scott Neidow (1593) and Tom Hefner (1697). Alumni donations totaled $1,912. The undergraduates raised another $2,885.
Other chapter Push fund raising brought in another $1,508. Thus, the 2007-08 chapter Push America fund raising totaled $6,305. Andy Parker (Omega 1450) and Porter Draper (Omega 1401) were keynote speakers at the event. The Pi Kapp 100 was held alongside the chapter’s annual Mom’s Day. Since 2000, the chapter has sponsored a Mom’s Day auction. Undergraduates’ parents bring various items to be bid upon, including Cubs tickets, beer signs and Pi Kapp sportswear. This year’s auction netted a record $6,785. Annual proceeds go to a chapter improvement project. In 2006, for example, Mom’s Day funds paid for wood composite floor covering for the second floor hallways. More than 120 people attended
the 2007 Pi Kapp 100-Mom’s Day event, which set an attendance record as well. The Pi Kapp 100 has become the chapter’s Push America keystone event. Since its inception in 1999, the project has raised more than $50,000 for our national philanthropy. Alumni support has been a key component of that success as they have contributed nearly a quarter of that total.
2007 Pi Kapp 100 team members
“Holm,” continued from Page 3
Steve Holm (far left) in cast of “Doers of Coming Deeds.” It won the best short film award from the California Film Festival in 2006.
“Archon Report,” continued from Page 2
We are poised to again finish in the top three in fraternity intramurals. Financially, we finished the semester well in the black. The surplus, combined with a $7,000 net from our annual Mom’s Day auction, is allowing the chapter to make some improvements. Additions will include a permanent
“I would say the most frustrating part about acting is the odds are so stacked against you that most people you across just assume failure,” he said. “I can’t tell you how hard it is to keep a positive attitude while it seems like the world around you just would prefer you take the easy road and become a real estate agent.” He’s rubbed elbows with some famous actors including George Lopez. “It’s funny, though, because I have the worst ‘star detector’ in the universe because I just don’t care that much.” He credits his fortitude on his fraternity experience. “It’s immeasurable how much Pi Kappa Phi changed my life and made me realize how good life can be,” Holm said.
outdoor grill, additional dining room chairs and replacement mattresses. The housing corporation is doing some significant work as well. The second floor shower will be retiled. The second and third floor bathroom floors will be sanded and new epoxy installed. With alumni donations related to the 85th anniversary, we hope to air
condition the first floor public area. We have 67 signed contacts for the fall semester, making our inhouse numbers the most in nearly two decades. With these numbers, the efforts of the housing corporation, and the support of our alumni, Omega is poised to have an outstanding fall semester.