THE ALUMNI NEWSLETTER OF PI KAPPA PHI AT THE UNIVERSITY OF SOUTH CAROLINA
WINTER 2010
SIGMA SPEAKS
Leadership Consultant Justin Angotti, Theta Eta (American); Sigma Campaign Chairman, Bob Berry ‘71; Past National President Phil Tappy, Lambda (Georgia); and Sigma Historian Hays Pickens.
Student members Chris Buki, Tim Gainous, Ricky Kopec and Alex Hnizdor wait for rushees to arrive.
sigma signs 32; tappy keynotes recruitment banquet Sigma students and alumni were out in force helping the chapter throughout fall recruitment at the University of South Carolina. The result: 32 outstanding young men were signed and later formally pledged, giving Sigma a top five recruiting class for the fall. According to Archon Erich Straughn, a junior from Charlotte, North Carolina, “The chapter really came together for this important rush. With Sigma’s centennial anniversary set for next spring, there was a lot of excitement and enthusiasm in the chapter. We used that to our advantage as we spoke to rushees about Pi Kappa Phi.” Straughn and company had been preparing all summer for what was to be a critical recruitment effort for Sigma. The chapter’s fall numbers had not been keeping pace with their inter-fraternal peers, but thanks to Straughn, the recruitment committee and executive committee members, they assertively redirected a trend line that had grown flatter over the last several semesters. As rush week went on, students were feeling a sense of momentum on their side.
Potential new members arrive early for the banquet at the chapter house.
“The chapter stayed focused, and as the days progressed, we could feel this growing sense of momentum and belief that this could be a bell-weather class,” said Historian Hays Pickens. The chapter held a variety of afternoon events that helped to buttress the formal activities the IFC had structured each evening. Chapter members were assigned rushees to follow up with each day and to remind them about the upcoming events. On the last evening of recruitment, Past National President Phil Tappy, Lambda (Georgia), who lives in Charlotte, keynoted the banquet which was held at the chapter house. Tappy, recalling his time as an associate member of Pi Kappa Phi at the University of Georgia, shared the lessons he learned from the many meaningful experiences that have kept him connected to the fraternity since 1961, and challenged the rushees in the room not to fall for an ‘easy sales pitch’, but to look for a fraternity with substance and true brotherhood. Of the 40 or so rushees in the room, 32 found Sigma to be a chapter with real substance.
Sigma alumni Fred Quinn ‘38 and Jim Quinn ‘79.