Men of class Brotherhood Character Leadership Achievement Scholarship Service Leaders By Choice Nothing Shall Ever Tear Us Asunder
The Theta Rhose
Table of Contents Pg1 Letter from the Archon & Push Update Pg2 Alumni Spotlights (David Buday) Pg3 Alumni Spotlights Cont. (Victor Nguyen) Pg4 Update from Erik Granning Pg5 The Five-year Anniversary Recap
Current Executive Board Archon – Jared Szymanski
Pg6 Iota Class introductions
Vice Archon – Tyler Sauer
Pg7 Kappa Class introductions
Treasurer – Tyler Spitzer
Pg8 Recognitions and Historian Update
Secretary – Colin Engel
Pg9 Blast from the past
Warden – Adrian Sedestrom Historian – Victor Tran Chaplin – Kyle Boyce Push America Chair – Jacob Rowe Current Justice Board Chief Justice – Scott Keppler Senior Associate Justice – Ryan Mastlerz
Lori Hart and Pi Kapps during Greek Week
Associate Justice – Michael DeVito Sargent-at-Arms – John Kalmink Scribe – Nathan Alford Tate
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Letter From the Archon My Brothers, I once heard a man speak on the road to success of an organization; his staple saying was “Every forward step is a step in the right direction”. I believe that is the perfect saying for our chapter at this point in time. The brothers at Theta Rho are working diligently towards a goal, to be the best. It is a simple saying layered with many difficult tasks that accompany achieving our goal. In this past year, we have celebrated initiating our 100th member, our 5 year anniversary, Winning 2nd in Greek Week, Placing 3rd in IFC fraternities on campus, along with many personal achievements that our brothers have experienced. We ended our Spring 2013 semester with 45 active brothers placing us 2nd in size in IFC. As you can see we have come a long way, but we aren’t done yet. It is a long road to success, and while we have won many of these simple battles the war still rages on. Now success isn’t measured by the numbers that people can see on the stats sheet, but it is measured by the growth of our members and the kind of men we are growing to be. It is measured by our commitment to the ritual, to Push America, and most importantly to ourselves. I am proud to be able to call myself the Archon of this phenomenal chapter. To count myself among the high caliber of men that show the dedication to the previous stated commitments is something that brings pride to my heart every time someone asks about the letters I wear on my chest. I want to thank every brother, past and present, which has made our success as a chapter possible. It is an honor to be able to call every one of you brothers and I hope to see you all very soon. Truly, Jared N. Szymanski Archon #83
Push Update
Jacob Rowe is our newly elected Push Chair for the upcoming semester. He has great plans in mind as well as using the knowledge of the past to update and promote Push America for the fall. Here’s what he has to say about next semester. We have many plans to improve our Push America for Theta Rho this upcoming semester. This year for Push Week we plan on bringing back War of the Roses. We have not done War of the Roses since the fall semester of 2011, so we are really excited to see it return. We plan on extending Pedal for Push from 48 hours to 56 hours. Throughout the upcoming fall semester we also hope to have some smaller events to help raise awareness and fundraise. We want these small events because it will show that we care about our philanthropy all the time and not just during Push Week. Finally we are trying to work with a local charity so we can start volunteering again. 3 3
Alumni Spotlights In this issue of the Theta Rhose, we are featuring two alumni spotlights! David Buday is currently down South in Kentucky being a math teacher as well as other great things. Vic Nguyen has just recently started graduate school over at the Eastside at Wayne State pursuing Pharmacology. On this page and the next, read on to see what the two have to say and see how their lives are doing as a Pi Kapp Alumni.
H ey
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Alumni Update With David Buday
“Leaders by Choice” and “Men of CLASS”, these are the two main reasons I became a member of Pi Kappa Phi. I believed that I could take these and apply them every day, even after college. I was fortunate enough to be hired at Jefferson County Public Schools in Louisville, Kentucky teaching mathematics to juniors and seniors. After my second year, I have been able to lead the students to become College Ready and lead a group of teachers in a focus group. My positions held on E-Board with Pi Kappa Phi have helped me prepare for my career. Last year, my wife and I were blessed with a beautiful baby girl, Grace (AOPi legacy???). She has meant the world to us and I treat both of my girls as the true princesses they are. They have kept me as a “Man of CLASS”. We are pleased to announce that we are expecting our second child min-January of next year! Fingers crossed, we hope this will be a little Pi Kapp legacy. David Buday 4 4
Alumni Update Cont. With Victor Nguyen Here is an update on how Vic is doing. He is currently at Wayne State’s Pharmacy school and is doing great!
Pharmacy school has been an amazing experience. I thought most of my fun from undergrad would be over once I entered graduate school, but to my surprise I've found out that it's just an extension to college. I've made some really good friends here as well as new brothers through my Pharmaceutical fraternity (Greek for life). Despite all the fun, it has also been a lot of work. I've had to study and work harder this past year than I ever had to during undergrad. There are definitely ups and downs. The rumors about having your nose to a book for hours (even days) on end aren't just rumors, but I definitely find time to have fun; seriously, I had time to pledge a fraternity in grad school. The whole point of grad school is to get the degree you are seeking for to find a job right? Well, Wayne State emphasizes professionalism and clinical skills that I can apply immediately before I even graduate. I can take blood pressure, give a quick physical examination, and even administer vaccinations. Just a few things I've picked up along the way in my first year. Hopefully, after graduation I'll be a licensed pharmacist and go out and seek work. I haven't made my decision on what path I'll take yet. I can either go community/retail or clinical/hospital, it all depends on my last year and what I become interested in. Right now I'm just focused on passing classes and getting that degree first. In the end, I would like to land a steady job and take some time to enjoy everything that I've worked for. My word of advice to the brothers is pretty generic: Enjoy college but make sure you are on top of your academics. The bottom line is most of us are here to get a degree to help you find a job. If you aren't passing your classes, the party you are going to this weekend won't pay your bills in 5 years. I've had no problem going out and having fun, but only after I make sure I'm not gonna fail. There's also the flip side, don't lock yourself in your room forever to get a 4.0, it really isn't worth it unless your Ivy League bound. Last piece of advice, have a plan! Just compare it to the fraternity, when you have a plan and stick to it, stuff gets done. Same concept applies to your life, even if you don't know where you want to end up. Have a plan to finish school in 4-5 years, get a job, be self-sufficient, or whatever it is that will set you up in the long run. Stay true brothers and best wishes on your success, Victor Nguyen 5 5
Before anything, I would like to thank Erik Granning for the gracious help has given for being the alumni relations chair during this spring. He is still the alumni relations chair and he is our new alumni financial advisor as well. Below is a statement he has written updating on what all has been going on from his side. –Victor Tran
Update from Erik Granning Greeting Brothers, I’m glad to be part of the new alumni newsletter and I hope you enjoy reading about the happenings of the chapter and the great things they have done and have planned in the future. I would like to take a moment to mention some happenings that both affect the active members and the growing alumni base. First off, over the course of several months the chapter has been actively working with Nationals to establish a new Board of Advisors. As of recent the chapter was able to fill the Chapter Advisor position backfilling Maleeka as she steps down. The new Chapter Advisor is Richard Whitney, Guest Services Assistant at the Fetzer Institute. Additionally, I have volunteered to take on the role of Financial Advisor as well as Alumni Relations Advisor. Additional roles still not filled are Faculty Advisor, Member Education Advisor, Push America Advisor, Recruitment Advisor, Risk Management Advisor, Scholarship Advisor and Standards Advisor. If one of these roles is of interest to you or someone you know please contact Victor Tran, Historian of the Chapter. Second, after an amazing 5 Year Anniversary event, the alumni in attendance along with the outgoing seniors met and discussed future alumni events. From that gathering we decided that we would like to put an annual event together happening the Friday of homecoming weekend. This year we have tentatively planned to have a golf outing on Friday, October 11, 2013. As we get closer I will share an alternative encase of weather. So save the date for this year’s event, as well as lookout for updates as we draw closer to the date. Lastly, I encourage you to reconnect with the chapter. Maybe it is simply reaching out to your littles and grand littles or maybe you actually visit the great chapter house. Anything you do to connect will help the active brothers stay tied to the history of the chapter and help develop men of C.L.A.S.S. Yours in Brotherhood,
Erik Granning Financial & Alumni Relations Advisor 6 6
This year we celebrate five years of being a chapter. Five years of friends, experiences, and progress. More important than all, we celebrate five years of brotherhood. From the founding fathers to the newly initiated kappas, we are all thankful for the times we have shared and the times to come. Thank you for everyone who attended the event and thank you everyone for being a part of something that is so important and special, a brother Five-Year Anniversary of of Pi Kappa Phi.
Pi Kappa Phi – Theta Rho
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IOTAS
THE
Pictured left to right Back row: Michael DeVito and Dylan Clark Middle Row: Adam Randall, Chris Huddleston, Victor Tran, Jamal Epperson, Nathan Alford-Tate, Adrian Sedestrom, Andrew Sagonowsky, and Darrin Rottell. Lying down: Ty Spitzer
This is the initiated Fall Iota class of 2012; here are some quick bios of each of them.
Adam Michael Randall Integrated Supply Chain Management Canton,MI 12/31/92 92 Greg Frecehette I was on a cereal box as a kid. Chris Huddleston Business Flint, MI 3/12/13 93 Tyler Sauer Can cook Dylan John Clark Aviation Holland, MI 3/27/94 94 Brad Kaczmarek I'm on three state championshipwinning rugby rosters.
Victor Thien Tran Graphic Design Tecumseh, MI 7/7/94 95 Matt Poleo Can speak Vietnamese.
Tyler Philip Spitzer Accounting, Personal Finance, and Economics Buffalo Grove , IL 8/16/93 99 Colin Engel Member of the Screen Actors Guild.
Jamal Isiah Epperson Music Education/Psychology Davison, MI 12/22/93 96 Scott Keppler Moved 29 times.
Michael George DeVito Criminal Justice Northbrook, IL 3/29/94 100 John Kalmink One of the few people to take a full ranger shot.
Adrian Charles Sedestrom International Studies Randolph, NJ 2/19/91 97 Marcus Sanders I enjoy fishing.
Darrin William Rottell Marketing Plymouth MI 2/12/1994 101 Logan White Referee for little kids basketball and soccer.
Andrew Grant Sagonowsky Chemical Engineering Ann Arbor, MI 7/21/1994 98 Ben DeRyke Played MLG gears of war at age of
Nathan LaMont Alford-Tate Theatre & Spanish Detroit, MI 12/18/94 102 Joseph Lopez Never broken a bone before.
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THE
KAPPAS
This is the newly initiated Spring Kappa Class of 2013; here are some quick bios of each of them.
Robert Steven Neff Chemical Engineering Dearborn, MI 6/16/93 108 Douglas Zane Anthony I've played soccer my whole life.
Marcus Ray Pritchard II Accountancy Hartford, MI 12/03/92 106 Christopher Charles Rettich I have wrestled a bear.
Michael Thomas Lane Criminal justice Highland MI 4/18/92 109 Ryan Mastlerz Coach soccer 4-year head coach.
Todd Ladle Wilson Undecided Detroit,MI 10/7/94 107 Jared Szymanski I love to do theatre.
Ryan Paul Williams Sound engineering Birmingham, MI 7/8/94 110 Kyle Alexander Boyce I originally was a film major when I came to western.
Top Row (Bigs): Zane Anthony, Chris Rettich, Kyle Boyce, Ryan Mastlerz, Jared Szymanski, and Jacob Rowe
Adam Michael Peterson HR management Wyandotte, MI 8/10/94 105 Jacob Rowe Played baseball for 14 years.
Bottom Row (Littles): Robert Neff, Marcus Pritchard, Ryan Williams, Mike Lane, Todd Wilson, and Adam Peterson
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Acknowledgements (Left) We would like to thank Erik Granning and Nick Grant for attending the 53rd Supreme Chapter with Joe Lopez and Jared Szymanski back last August in 2012. It was great to see you guys help represent Theta Rho and we greatly appreciated it!
(Left) We also would like to thank Joey Peeples for donating an amazing founders composite photo for the chapter at the five-year anniversary banquet. This incredible gift is now proudly hanging in our Founder’s room to be displayed for all future brothers and friends to see.
Letter from the Historian
Becoming a part of something as great as Pi Kappa Phi and becoming historian has done so much good in my life. It has been a blast and I am looking forward to a bright future for Theta Rho. It is important that we keep the past connected as close as possible as the times go on and we grow bigger and better as a chapter. I would be so thankful if you guys would do your best to keep your contact information up to date so that we can keep you updated on events and news much more easier as well as keeping you guys up to date with what all is going on. Please feel free to contact Jared, Erik, or me whenever you want to get information on what is going on or if you want to throw us an update on your contact information. Jared Szymanski (518) 538 3577 jared.n.symanski@wmich.edu
Victor Tran (517) 677 7926 victor.t.tran@wmich.edu
Erik Granning (517) 974-8282 erik.granning@gmail.com
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BLAST FROM THE
PAST