Emerald_Spring_2008 by Sigma Pi Fraternity

EMERALD www.sigmapi.org • The ofﬁcial publication of Sigma Pi Fraternity • Spring 2008

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

FROM THE

GRAND SAGE

EMERALD

Dear Brothers:

PUBLISHED SINCE 1911

Brotherhood has always meant “friendship, loyalty and honesty” to me. Since pledging Cal State Fullerton in the fall of 1980, I have always based my life-long relationships on those characteristics. To me, brotherhood isn’t a magic or mystical experience, but rather a true, brotherly relationship. In that relationship there must be mutual loyalty and honesty in order for the relationship to grow, let alone last past graduation. Over these past 28 years, I have become friends with many Sigma Pi brothers, especially from within my chapter, and as well as within the leadership of our great Fraternity. But there are a few elite men who have shared my brotherhood and who come from the Epsilon-Nu Chapter. We always say, “The friends you make in the fraternity will be your friends for life.” This saying rings so true to my experience and fraternal relationships. Mike Simmons, Robert Murvin, Mike Zimmerlee, Scott Fitch, Mike Gardner, Forest Werner, Mike Brown, Ernie Grand Sage Rovira James, and Mike Uraine fall into this category (yes, there are actually five Mike’s). Uraine was our faculty adviser in college; Brown was our “token” Loyola-Marymount (Epsilon-Sigma Chapter) brother; the remaining gentlemen all pledged my chapter, played in every intramural team championship with me, and were leaders on campus. This group of men, bonding together as undergraduates from 1980 to 1985, have been my longest running set of brothers who I remain intimately close to, and lovingly respect their personal relationship with me. Later, after I started volunteering as province archon and an adviser, my brotherhood circle grew larger. David DeFilippo, Doug Snyder, Shawn O’Coyne, Rich & John Warfield, Mike Cobliegh, Tim Herrera, and Mike Foley (there had to be more than one Mike in the group!) were in my chapter during the late 80s, early 90s. They asked me to play on their traveling softball team (best season- 5th in the state of California, and 25th at National) and our brotherhood grew stronger. Throughout every win and loss, these young guys remained loyal and brutally honest! Robert Moore and Hysum Kraishi entered the inner-circle as well. Robert played on both softball teams I played on (the younger and older Sigma Pi teams), while I actually was Hysum’s chapter director. My confidence and trust continued to grow with these two Fullerton brothers, but more importantly my respect. Their business insights were balanced, while complimenting my attributes, making us whole. In 2001, we entered into a business agreement together, and have grown our student-housing portfolio a thousand fold. We complement ourselves with our vast abilities, while we pick up the slack in areas of each other’s weaknesses. This is a true brotherhood of men. Then there are John Merino (Long Beach State) and Carlos Leija (Epsilon-Nu). Both are both self-made men who are true to their word and dedicated to our Fraternity. While an undergraduate at Mater Dei High School, Merino asked me to pledge the Fraternity upon graduation. I was as impressed with Leija as a Sigma Pi leader that I hand selected him to be my eventual successor as alumni president for the University’s alumni association. To this day, both men remain as confidantes and trusted advisers to me. But one cannot just create a brotherhood amongst his fellow chapter brothers. I am blessed to have four of my real brothers and one cousin as initiated members of Sigma Pi. My oldest brother, Glenn, pledged a year after me at Fullerton upon his transfer from Louisiana State (LSU). My next two brothers, Marcus and Ward, colonized and were founding fathers at Southeastern Louisiana University (SLU) in 1986, with Marcus later serving as chapter director, and Ward as the chapter’s first sage. Our youngest brother, Alan, also served as chapter sage for Zeta-Rho at SLU, then later as chapter director and province archon. Our cousin David Bedard, while playing football at San Diego State, re-colonized our dormant Alpha-Omega Chapter and served as its colony president and chapter sage. These men share a deep, meaningful brotherhood with me and I am so honored to be recognized as having the largest family membership in the Fraternity. But to be honest with you, in my family, one doesn’t have a choice in what fraternity they’ll pledge! Friendship, loyalty and honesty are the foundation of my brotherhood with my Sigma Pi brothers. And yes, I have lost “brothers” due to our inability to remain friends, to remain loyal, and most importantly, to be honest with one another. But those are the acquaintances one meets while being an undergraduate or an alumni volunteer and their memories are only reunited at reunions or with Christmas cards.

VOLUME XCIII, NUMBER 2 • SPRING 2008 EDITORIAL STAFF Adam L. Dibble (ΘΘ, Ferris State ’06) Managing Editor Mark S. Briscoe (ΑΠ, Arkansas State ’82) Business Manager VOLUNTEER STAFF Jonathan Drnjevic, (ΒΤ, Valparaiso ’81) John Kitch (Η, Purdue ’73) Jeffery Seay (ΗΕ, Florida State ’91) Clifford A Wilke (ΔΖ, Missouri - St. Louis ’81) CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Jim DiVita (ΖΜ, Michigan State ’04) Nicholas Frees (ΘΒ, Saginaw Valley State ’07)

Sigma Pi Fraternity was founded at Vincennes University, Vincennes, Indiana, on February 26, 1897. Sigma Pi has chartered more than 215 chapters in North America and has initiated almost 90,000 members since 1897. The founding fathers of the Fraternity are: Rolin Rosco James (1879 - 1953) William Raper Kennedy (1877 - 1944) James Thompson Kingsbury (1877 - 1950) George Martin Patterson (1877 - 1960) Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity (ISSN 1074-5289, USPS 011-013) has been published since 1911. Emerald is published quarterly by Sigma Pi Fraternity, P. O. Box 1897, Brentwood, Tennessee, and additional mailing ofﬁces. POSTMASTER: Send address changes to SIGMA PI FRATERNITY, P. O. Box 1897, Brentwood, TN 37024. MEMBERS: When making an address change, please send your full name and chapter with both the old and new address to the Executive Ofﬁce address below. Submission Deadlines: Spring December 10 Summer March 10 Fall May 10 Winter September 10 Submit Emerald news to: Sigma Pi Fraternity, Attention: Emerald P. O. Box 1897, Brentwood, TN 37204 Telephone: (615) 373-5728 Fax: (615) 373-8949 Email: emerald@sigmapi.org

Some men you meet are destined to remain true in your life-long brotherhood. They will stand with you during your wedding vows; they will stand with you during your last rites. These are the men of my inner-circle. I personally choose to remain friends with these brothers because they are exactly that: brothers.

IST,

Larry Rovira Grand Sage

Member, North-American Interfraternity Conference

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Re-chartering at Florida State Minnesota charters Cal Poly re-charters Founders’ Award Jacob’s Story Q&A: Rich Herrera

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3The brothers of Phi chapter, Illinois in front of their newly built chapter house sign

2008 Convocation July 30 - August 2, 2008 Hilton Long Beach • Long Beach, California

Wednesday July 30, 2008 Opening Reception 6pm to 7:30pm Thursday July 31, 2008 Ritual Opening Ceremony & Convocation 9am to 5pm All Inclusive Night at Game Works 7pm to 11pm

Spring 2008 • www.sigmapi.org

Friday August 1, 2008 Convocation 9am to Noon Sigma Pi Educational Foundation Scholarship Award Luncheon 12:45 to 2:15pm Saturday August 2, 2008 Awards Banquet and Founders Dinner 7:30pm to 11pm

To learn more, visit WWW.SIGMAPI.ORG

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

2 EXECUTIVE

OFFICE NEWS

ACE Project honored by North-American Interfraternity Conference A laurel wreath is horseshoe-shaped, made of interlocking branches and leaves of the bay laurel. In Greek mythology, Apollo is represented wearing a laurel wreath on his head. In ancient Greece, laurel wreaths were awarded to victors in athletic competitions, including the ancient Olympics and the Pythian games at Delphi, which were associated with Apollo.

Imprinted on modern Olympic medals is a sprig of laurel because, since antiquity, the laurel has been associated with victory. It is ﬁtting, then, that with Sigma Pi’s connection to Apollo through our Ancient Sage, the prestigious Laurel Wreath Award of the North American Interfraternity Conference was presented to Sigma Pi Fraternity for our Altruistic

COMMENTS OF NIC PRESIDENT MARK KATZ: It is my pleasure to present the Laurel Wreath Award this afternoon. Each year I am continually impressed with the caliber of the programs that our member fraternities are offering. This year is absolutely no exception. The North American Interfraternity Conference would like to take this moment to recognize the outstanding efforts of Sigma Pi Fraternity for their continued involvement in advancing the fraternal community by presenting them with the Laurel Wreath Award. The Altruistic Campus Experience is a program with its values rooted in the founding principles of our organizations. Sigma Pi recognized that Greek organizations do a great job with philanthropy. It is truly one of the areas where our undergraduates, our alumni and our chapters shine. We are groups that believe in our duty to our greater communities and giving back some small measure of devotion to the communities that allow us to exist. Sigma Pi Fraternity took this to the next level. Beginning in 2003, Sigma Pi implemented a way to ﬁnd the best way to contribute

Campus Experience (ACE) Project at the NIC’s 2008 meeting in Washington, D.C., April 13-16. Created in 1988, the award is presented to the individual, program or fraternity that best exempliﬁes the advancement of fraternal ideals. We can be proud that of the 71 fraternities comprising the North American Interfraternity Conference, Sigma Pi Fraternity received this extraordinary recogni-

tion. Accepting the award was Past Grand Sage and current NIC Board Member Dr. Robert Burns and Honorary Grand Sage and Executive Director Mark Briscoe. Also present were Grand Third Counselor Chris Brown, Province Archon Christian Miele, and Past Grand Sage and NIC Delegate John Kitch. Now in its ﬁfth year, Sigma

to the university community where its chapters exist. The ACE program encourages Sigma Pi chapters to engage campus administrators to ﬁnd the greatest areas of need. From this point each chapter actively seeks our partners and stakeholders to make the program an interfraternal movement on campus. As you know, the extent of what we can offer when we are working together is unimaginable. As I have mentioned, the program is interfraternal in nature, meaning that those Sigma Pi chapters who actively engage other fraternal groups on campus foster the sense of community and interfraternalism that is the core of our movement. Each program is special and each program is university speciﬁc. To begin to imagine the lives touched and communities improved as a direct result of this initiative is inspiring. I know that you all are excited to hear from representatives of Sigma Pi Fraternity and I invite them to tell us about what this program has meant to their fraternity. I would like to invite past president of Sigma Pi Fraternity and current NIC Board Member Dr. Robert Burns and Executive Director Mark Briscoe to the podium to talk to us about the Altruistic Campus Experience and to accept the Laurel Wreath Award on behalf of Sigma Pi Fraternity.

Pi’s ACE Project is unique to the fraternity world and has advanced the Fraternity’s relationships with its host institutions through service to our college and university campuses in coordination with other Greek organizations. The Altruistic Campus Experience began as an idea of our Executive Director Mark Briscoe in fall of 2002, when he saw a need that was not being met by any other campus organization. With the support of the Grand Council the ACE Project was presented as a concept to the undergraduate chapter leaders at the 2003 Midyear Leadership Conference in St. Louis. Our membership unanimously approved the project and the Sigma Pi Executive Ofﬁce staff created approriate parameters for the program to insure its success. The ACE Project ofﬁcially began at Sigma Pi University the following summer with the announcement that Sigma Pi would lead the way in service for our campuses. Our undergraduate members began brainstorming ideas for projects on their respective campuses even before they left SPU to return home. T-shirts and other materials were distributed to everyone in attendance, and advisors were announced for undergraduates to solicit for further ideas.

Through the ACE Project Sigma Pi Fraternity has earned the utmost respect of its peers, its colleges and universities, and now the North American Interfraternity Conference. In presenting the Laurel Wreath Award Mark Katz, President of the NIC, stated “The program is interfraternal in nature, meaning that those Sigma Pi chapters who actively engage other fraternal groups on campus foster the sense of community and interfraternalism that is the core of our movement.” We will not rest on our laurels, or on the Laurel Wreath Award. While the recognition of our peers is welcome, we will continue to seek even greater successes. As Aristotle is reputed to have said, “We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit.” Sigma Pi Fraternity is in the habit of excellence, and the ACE Project and our other programs are not just acts. They are the essence of what kindred minds united in brotherhood can accomplish, advancing truth and justice, promoting scholarship, diffusing culture and developing character, all in the service of God and man.

DYK? Alumnus Carl Myatt, (Alpha-Delta, Auburn ’61) is producing The Sigma Pi Sweetheart song. Myatt is having it digitally mastered by a barbershop quartet and it will be available to members at the 49th Convocation in Long Beach. DYK? Sigma Pi Fraternity

D I B B L E’S

DYK?

DID YOU KNOW

was honored with the NorthAmerican Interfraternity Conference’s prestigious Laurel Wreath Award for its Altruistic Campus Experience (ACE) Project at the NIC annual meeting in Washington, D.C., April 13-16. This was the ﬁrst NIC award Sigma Pi has won since the inception of the awards program in 1984.

DYK? Phi Chapter, Ill., will be hosting their 100th anniversary celebration in October. This ﬁrst centennial for any chapter will surely be an event you won’t want to miss!

Sigma Pi Communications receives Industry Recognition Saturday, May 17th, the Fraternity’s communications department was recognized as a leader in the industry. Sigma Pi received three awards at the 2008 College Fraternity Editors Association (CFEA) Awards Banquet. The gala event was held in Nashville, Tennessee, in conjunction with the CFEA Annual Conference. A third place award recognized the Outstanding Cover Design, (Presenting the Truth) for the spring 2007 edition of The Emerald magazine.

(Presenting the Truth, spring 2007, written by Adam Dibble) and Campaign Speciﬁc Website (Sigma Pi SAM Spady Website.) “This has been another tremendous honor for the Grand Chapter and shows the hard work and dedication of our members, and especially our Executive Ofﬁce Staff” said Grand Sage Larry Rovira. Rovira also stated, “Receiving industry recognition, paired with the eminent NIC Laurel Wreath Award truly distinguishes Sigma Pi as ‘A New Generation of Leaders.’”

Spring 2008 • www.sigmapi.org

In the ﬁrst full academic year of the ACE Project, our chapters led other invited Greek organizations in providing thousands of volunteer hours of service to our host institutions through organizing cleaning projects, literacy programs, replenishing blood supplies for university hospitals, planting trees, renewing and rehabilitating campus areas, honoring professors, assisting the school with alcohol and other awareness programs, and volunteering for outside charity, all in the name of the colleges

and universities where we have a presence. We now perform more than one hundred ACE Projects each year and are growing in this philanthropic effort to beneﬁt our schools. By inviting other fraternities and sororities to participate in these projects we further that spirit of interfraternal cooperation and service that continues to make Greek organizations relevant to the university experience.

Two honorable mentions were presented for Written Article

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Old Dominion, Theta-Eta’s 7th annual Fire Fighter Appreciation Day

Arizona State Beta-Kappa Chapter The Brothers of Beta-Kappa have had yet another successful quarter at Arizona State. The chapter recently initiated 32 new members which was the most of any Greek fraternity at ASU. The brothers recently made it to the semi ﬁnals in intramural football and are doing well competing in volleyball. Our chapter paired up with

the sorority Chi Omega for the annual homecoming week and achieved first place in the universities’ Greek competitions. Along with winning homecoming, Beta-Kappa took first in Kappa Alpha Theta’s philanthropy which raised money to benefit the Phoenix Children’s Hospital. Beta Kappa held its annual Orchid Ball which was a great outing for both active brothers and alumni. Our

Brothers of Phi Chapter, Illinois at Alpha Omicron Pi’s Mud Olympics

chapter would like to congratulate its new executive officers and is looking forward to finishing another strong semester here at Arizona State. Arkansas State Alpha-Pi Chapter Sigma Pi had an excellent fall semester. We initiated seven new members, and have a great list of potential new members for next semester. We are looking forward to excellent spring semester coming up with lot of new ideas for philanthropies. This semester we had a great turnout for the Craighead Country Miracle Rodeo, a philanthropy event for the Craighead County Sheriff. We have just elected a great new officer class with a lot of great ideas and ambitions for the upcoming semester. We are also about to break ground on our new house, and our brothers are very excited about that. We are very excited about the upcoming semester! We also have a lot of great ideas for ACE project, and this could turn out the best ACE project yet.

Chapter News Editorial Policy Submitted news should be 100-150 words long and contain information about positive chapter events, community service efforts, ACE Projects, gatherings and other notable happenings. Other news items are accepted but will be judged on their level of interest to the entire brotherhood. Electronic submissions are given the highest priority and should be filled out online or email directly to emerald@sigmapi.org. Digital photos should be at least 300dpi in resolution. Hard copies can be sent to The Emerald, Post Office Box 1897, Brentwood, TN 37024. High-quality 4” x 6” or larger photos are preferred. Photos should not contain alcohol or other unsuitable content, and not all photos will be printed. Hard-copy photos will not be returned, but will be placed in the chapter archives at the Executive Office.

Chapter reports are those submitted by the December 10th deadline

Cal Poly Eta-Delta Colony Eta-Delta Colony has been making great strides towards chartering. We welcomed several new brothers to the colony this quarter and only need a couple more to make numbers for chartering. We’ve been further involving ourselves in campus Greek Life and took the Best Dressed trophy at a golf tournament put on by one of the sororities. We also would like to thank Christopher Manza for becoming our new Colony Director and to thank our former Colony Director, Tim Vincent. With just a bit more hard work from our brothers, we will be chartered by the end of winter quarter. Cal State - Chico Theta-Mu Chapter Theta-Mu chapter has had a very successful year thus far. Brother Greg Bruce was elected IFC President and is now leading the Greek system to success. We initiated 7 quality new members in the fall and plan to have our largest pledge class ever in the spring. We have had an active social calendar balanced by the Spady Project, community-wide clean ups, and fundraisers. In the spring, we plan to hold a 3-on-3 basketball tournament to beneﬁt breast cancer research and conduct an Ace Project. We are excited for our next semester and plan to remain the number one fraternity on campus!

Cal State - Sacramento Eta-Alpha Chapter Eta-Alpha’s started with the biggest rush in chapter history. The twentyman rush doubled the size of the current chapter. We first must thank the support of the alumni this semester, without their wisdom and financial support none of this would have been possible. As the semester dwindles near the end, the chapter is energetic and motivated in anticipation for the next semester. With an injection of new spirit Eta-Alpha chapter will be celebrating their twenty year anniversary on the Sacramento State campus in the spring. A special thanks to Provence archon Dan Castanho, for instilling “When things look down Sigma Pi always finds away!” California - Irvine Eta-Upsilon Chapter The gentlemen of Eta-Upsilon have had a great beginning to our 2007-2008 year. Fall rush we were privileged to initiate 13 great new members of Sigma Pi. Up until now we have had had tons of great exchanges with the sororities and are succeeding at one of our main goals of increasing sorority relations. We are currently still in the process of putting together our ACE Project, which, for the second year in a row, will be in partnership with the Newport Beach police and make sure everyone is

aware of the dangers of drunk driving. Sports are continuing to go well. We are still dominating the fields and courts of our university and we are currently just about to embark on our winter vacation. We are going to return strong for winter rush and continue to have a successful and thriving year. California - Santa Barbara Alpha-Omicron Chapter By completing a successful rush and annual ACE project, the gentlemen of the Alpha-Omicron colony are finally ready to take their game to the next level. This quarter 21 dedicated men became brothers, and we are now poised to become an official Sigma Pi chapter. With 56 total members, a date has been set as of January 26th, 2008 to reinstate Sigma Pi back at UCSB. Also, we were able to participate in our first-ever ACE project and gave back to the UCSB community by cleaning the local beaches. Last but not least, all of us at the Alpha Omicron colony would like to thank Gary Grubachic for the commitment and pride he has shown not only as a colony director but as a fellow Sigma Pi brother. Thank you for everything Gary. Central Michigan Delta-Alpha Chapter The Delta-Alpha chapter of Sigma Pi had a strong fall semester. The chapter would like to welcome 17 new members to our already strong brotherhood. The chapter also retained the Interfraternity Council’s All-Sports Trophy with strong performances in the fall sports including a second place finish in softball and a first place finish in flag football. The brothers of Delta-Alpha volunteered their services to the Red Cross and their blood drive. Brothers assisted students with registration and distribution of snacks. The brothers also hosted the first annual “Miracle on Main Street” holiday house decorating contest that benefited Toys for Tots. Participants donated a toy or monetary donation for registration. We would also like to congratulate brothers Andrew Smith, Jason Pilotto, and J.R. Featherstone on their recent graduation. Their contributions to Delta-Alpha will not be forgotten.

Central Missouri Gamma-Gamma Chapter This has been a successful semester for the men of gamma-gamma we recruited ten quality new members who are looking to take active roles and lead our chapter for years to come. We also activated our ﬁst Alumni Initiate Brett Bruner who has been extremely helpful in getting our chapter more organized and focused on our goals. We also had a successful homecoming this year and enjoyed a visit from the Delta-Zeta chapter over homecoming weekend. We are looking forward to the spring semester which we hope will be our largest spring pledge class for the last several years. Clemson Eta-Psi Chapter The Eta-Psi chapter stresses the importance of a strong brotherhood by holding many events throughout the year. We plan on hosting a concert in the spring of 2008 beneﬁting the Sam Spady Foundation, focusing on alcohol awareness. Every semester we are involved in cleaning and maintaining Clemson’s national forest and Adopt-a-Highway Program. Additionally, we have improved our community involvement by participating in most philanthropy projects held by other organizations. We have won the Chili Cook Off, and participated in donating old clothes and furniture to the community. Some of our most anticipated events in the next semester are our annual alumni golf tournament. Keeping in touch with alumni is one of our main goals. Colorado Zeta-Delta Chapter Last spring our chapter put on the biggest philanthropy in University of Colorado at Boulder history called Miss Greek. The second annual Miss Greek is a fund raising pageant involving all the sororities on campus. We raised $65,000 dollars for the People’s Clinic of Boulder, which assists in providing health care for underprivileged members of our community. The event brought us together toward a common goal, and gave us media coverage from local news. continued on next page

Spring 2008 • www.sigmapi.org

Cal State - Dominguez Hills Eta-Iota Chapter Throughout this semester our student relations with other associations in the Los Angeles area continue to grow. Along with that our chapter has done a great job in recruiting for the best fraternity in the world. Our chapter held a Preference Night Dinner in which we were extremely grateful for the amount of support from our alumni. We are working hard on planning out an ACE Project that will be held in November. Although we have one of the best grade point averages of the organizations on campus, we continue to work hard to have the highest grade point average.

Cal State - Long Beach Beta-Omicron Chapter It has been an exciting semester here at the Beta-Omicron Chapter. With 29 new members having finished the Golden Quest we now are a chapter of over 100 men. Our Miss Greek Pageant has been a huge success with all 7 sororities participating and raising over $1,000 for the Sam Spady Foundation. This has also been an exciting semester in sorority philanthropies with Sigma Pi taking first place in Alpha Omicron Pi’s Water Pong Tournament and Gamma Phi Beta’s Basketball Tournament. With our first place finish in IFC Volleyball, Beta Omicron has catapulted into first place overall in IFC sports. Now that the semester is at a close we are hitting the books hard for finals and preparing for the holidays.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

6 C H A PTER NEWS Detroit Mercy Gamma-Alpha Chapter Gamma-Alpha has started out the 2007-2008 academic year with great potential and energy, keeping its elite standard on campus alive. After a successful rush period, the chapter will soon crossing seven outstanding men, making us the largest Greek fraternity on campus. Our brothers have been working hard towards keeping our campus image at its best, participating in many activities and events and taking on the role as president of Greek council. Our first annual Parents Barbecue, held in November, turned out to be a great accomplishment, allowing parents to meet the many brothers our chapter offers. Our Alumni/Active Bocce Ball fundraiser was also a great success, raising $800 for the chapter, and giving brothers the opportunity to catch up with some incredible alumni. With winter semester approaching, the chapter is looking forward to Greek Week and becoming Greek Week Champs for a third year in a row! Drury Epsilon-Rho Chapter The brothers of Epsilon-Rho are building on a great start to the semester. We currently are nearing initiation of fourteen new pledges which have been completing projects with the active brothers of Epsilon-Rho. We have completed our 25th anniversary celebration and have been building off the success of the last 25 years. We have completed many important brotherhood functions such as fireside and big brother night. We are hoping the end of the semester will be as productive as the first because we have many more academic and community service opportunities left this semester. East Carolina Eta-Kappa Chapter We welcomed eight new brothers as our Alpha-Theta and Alpha-Iota pledge classes. We continued our philanthropy work with St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, helping with church events throughout the year, including aiding a refugee family from Ecuador, move in to new housing. Additionally,

Eta-Kappa plans to sell promotional pizza cards, which will raise money to be donated to American Red Cross. In October, we held our annual homecoming and many alumni attended. Unfortunately, inclement weather and family obligations prevented as many from attending as last year, but we have already begun preparations for next year’s homecoming. In November, we had our first composite taken since our chapter’s re-founding three years ago and look forward to continuing the tradition in the future. All in all, this was one of our best years yet, and we look forward to seeing our fellow brothers at Convocation! Eastern Illinois Beta-Gamma Chapter The year is coming to an end and the chapter wishes to say farewell to its graduating seniors who have contributed immensely to the good of the fraternity. By constantly setting our standards high it appears that we will be able to three-peat the Intramural Championship Race. We would also like to thank Brother Patrick Hood and Kevin Wall on fulfilling the Homecoming 2007 chair. Another float was completed and many alumni came to visit. Additionally, congratulations to the new Executive Council members and good luck bringing the Grand Sage award back to the BetaGamma chapter. Eastern Kentucky Epsilon-Lambda Chapter We have kept up the hard work we started this semester. We finished second place in the fraternity flag football league. We also took 2nd place in the Alpha Delta Pi flag football tournament. We also won the Theta Black and Gold Ball which was a tournament of a variety of sports. Finally our soccer team dominated in the KD soccer tournament and won the championship. We also took most participation in the Alpha Gam Twister tournament and the Chi Omega walk for wishes fundraiser. Coming up we will be hosting our annual tree of hope philanthropy. One of our members was able to negotiate a storage unit for all the fraternity’s belongings in exchange for some community

Brothers from Eta-Phi, University of Miami taking a minute to pose at their annual chivalry dinner.

Zeta-Mu Chapter at Michigan State University hosting an 80’s theme party

service. Soon we will be cleaning the highway we’ve adopted, too. We have elections coming up this month and have plenty of eager members ready to take ofﬁce with great ideas; and we are looking forward to a better pig roast this year. Any chapters who want information on the pig roast can contact

Evan Reilly at 859-240-2568 or via e-mail at evan_reilly1@eku.edu Eastern Michigan Gamma-Beta Colony This month we are doing the ace of spades project for Sam Spady foundation. We have done ace of

spade at Huron high school where we showed the video and activity that goes through here last night alive. We have been contacted by Harrison high school where we will be planning to present as well. We will be having a new member BBQ as a chance for the new members to meet some of the other brothers and alumni. We were also presented with the ace award. Elon Epsilon-Theta Chapter The past few months have brought great success to the Epsilon-Theta Chapter at Elon University; our diversiﬁcation and strength of brotherhood have both been substantially increased through recent events. Primarily, however, the event which catalyzed our amity was Sigma Pi’s homecoming activities for Elon University, 2007. As many alumni from several standing organizations--both Greek and otherwise-attended with great excitement and enthusiasm, so did our fraternal collective. As old members returned, our neophytes were on the verge of initiation. The night followed by a warm afternoon tailgating for our accomplished football team’s conference matchup. Four new members were added for our Fall Class of 2007, one of which is from the country of Trinidad and Tobago. What an exciting time for all, and a celebrative season onward to the new rush period.

Embry-Riddle (FL) Zeta-Beta Chapter This year has proven to be another great end to our 2007 semesters pledge

Emporia State Epsilon-Epsilon Chapter In the last few months, the brothers of Epsilon-Epsilon have met many goals as a chapter. Most notably of these is our new chapter advisor. His drive and ambition meets with ours and good things are sure to come. Our Alumni have been helping out with our Housing Core to deal with matters of property. The house saw renovation last summer, and some plans are being drawn out for this summer’s projects. The brothers just recently put on an alcohol awareness “mocktail” party for the Greek community at ESU and were met with huge enthusiasm. With all of our events going on and a new executive council was just appointed last week, Epsilon-Epsilon is excited for this semester. Ferris State Theta-Theta Chapter Theta-Theta is embarking on its fifth year being chartered. Winter rush was successful, as we welcomed in seven quality new members to our chapter. Once again our grades were above the all-men’s and Greek average at Ferris State University. Theta-Theta’s second annual “Know Your Rights” ACE project was a huge success. Winter semester is shaping up to be very busy with our third annual orchid ball, five year anniversary (March 29th at Double J Resort), and our fifth annual Easter egg hunt. Theta-Theta is looking forward to Greek week. We are set to win our third consecutive Greek Week title with the women of Delta Zeta. The charisma and energy of our members coupled with the support and knowledge of our Alumni,

Chapter Director, and Faculty Advisor is sure to keep Theta-Theta waving the flag at the top! Fitchburg State Eta-Tau Chapter Recently, our chapter held a brotherhood event in which we all went bowling at Gardener 10 Pin. We got together to eat pizza and wings before the event and then headed over to the alley. We enjoyed the friendly competition and had a ton of good laughs. Overall, the event was quite successful. This week is also the first week that our newly installed Executive Board is in order, and we are eager to finish putting together committees, etc. for the upcoming semester. The chapter is currently putting together a rough draft for next semesters rush, and we hope it turns out to be even more successful than our last. Florida Zeta-Zeta Chapter This semester has been one of drastic change and maturity for the Zeta-Zeta Chapter at the University of Florida. We have completely renovated our recruitment tactics and have been implementing many of the Sigma Pi Recruitment manual’s techniques to attract more members to our brotherhood. Showing appreciation to our campus, we recently finished working with the U.F. Plant Department again to revitalize the plants and shrubs in the U.F. tree nursery. With several awards acquired such as Sigma Kappa’s Shootout 2007 Spirit Award, Zeta Line Dance 2007 Overall Spirit, and Brother Carlos Pazos winning the individual trap shooting competition at Delta Zeta’s Clay Classic, we are animated and energized to achieve many more things next year. Florida State Eta-Epsilon Chapter The Eta-Epsilon chapter at FSU has been keeping busy. Continuously working towards our charter this winter, we have successfully completed our ACE project. The Project we chose to give back to our school was the beautification of The Reservation at Lake Bradford. The “Rez” was a

popular Greek spot in the past but the popularity has waned as the grounds have deteriorated. Our goal was to bring life back to the grounds literally and ﬁguratively. The gentleman of Sigma Pi, with the assistance of the ladies of Chi Omega, worked together in completing tasks like laying sod, painting buildings, clearing trails, and putting mulch down. Upon completion of the project, the brothers of Sigma Pi hosted a delicious barbecue where we invited all that helped in the work and planning. The FSU Reservation, and Lake Bradford have never looked so good! Franklin & Marshall Nu Chapter Nu chapter is currently establishing us as an elite member of our college community. With many new initiatives currently being enacted and many more on the horizon, our chapter is poised for unyielding success in the coming months. Nu, in collaboration with the United States Marine Corps, is sponsoring Toys-for-Tots. We are also currently planning for a Bencha-thon the proceeds of which go to Project Africa. The spring holds great promise both for our community service initiatives and our New Member Education. We would like to thank the brotherhood for all the assistance they have provided our chapter and we wish the best for the brotherhood in return. Georgia Alpha-Phi Chapter The Alpha-Phi Chapter had a successful semester this fall and is on the up and up and we initiated 12 quality new brothers. Spring Rush has been off to a great start, with many potential prospects for spring already. Our annual end of year party, winter fest, was a blast and served as a great rush tool. Alpha-Phi chapter looks forward to the spring semester and bringing in more quality Brothers!

Spring 2008 • www.sigmapi.org

Embry-Riddle (AZ) Epsilon-Phi Chapter Epsilon-Phi Chapter is experiencing an outstanding pledge process in which Brothers and Alumni, learn of a potential member’s outstanding dedication and determination to be a Sigma Pi. When asked “why do you want to be a brother,” a pledge replied: “It is a feeling from deep within, one that I cannot fully explain; this is where I belong.” In evaluating his response it brings up the reasons why each and every one of us pledged Sigma Pi, infallible and unquestionable Brotherhood.

class of Alpha Upsilon and Alpha Phi. The ﬁrst concluding with the graduation of four and the second and most recent pledge class with nine new brothers. The new members have proven themselves to be great brothers, gentlemen, and are very excited about our chapter. This next semester our biggest goal is to get our name out on campus more by creating an alcohol awareness week and being more proactive in helping give a good name to our school as well as our chapter and fraternity.

Georgia Tech Colony October was a progressive month for the Georgia Tech colony. Jon Frost came from the national ofﬁce to delivcontinued on next page

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

8 C H APTER NEWS er the Sigma Pi flag, pledge pins, and I Believe manuals. He also presented the colony with techniques for successful recruitment. Aside from giving three new bids, starting a bank account, and printing the first Georgia Tech Sigma Pi shirts, there were several events to mention. During homecoming Sigma Pi members participated in two competitions and were pictured on the front cover of the school’s newspaper. In intramural sports, the soccer team has zero losses and the volleyball team is in the top ten. Local alumnus 0David Hartman hosted the colony’s first brotherhood event at Taco Mac followed by a discussion time about what it means to be Sigma Pi. Finally a road trip to Athens was a great way for the colony to meet brothers from UGA and AU. Grand Valley State Theta-Rho Chapter Theta Rho has once again proven itself to be the top dog at Grand Valley. We initiated eighteen new members, which is the largest in our history as well as the largest fraternity pledge class at Grand Valley. With the help of Alpha Omicron Pi we took homecoming a feat that has not been achieved by Theta-Rho until now. The brotherhood date party was a smashing success during which we announced our newest Sweetheart Megan Moriarty. One of our crowning philanthropic events included bringing comedian Scott Kennedy to help bring the diverse Grand Valley campus together. Our fantastic zeta class put on a fund raising dinner for Brian Ciluffo a member of Sigma Phi Epsilon who was recently diagnosed with cancer. Hofstra Eta-Gamma Chapter The Eta-Gamma chapter of Hofstra University would like to congratulate our newest pledge class, the Alpha Nu’s. We are focusing our efforts for another successful recruitment for the spring semester. Our fall semester has been very successful. We have realized our goals of becoming more visible on campus by participating in every event the Greek community has offered thus far. In addition, we have become the Greek sponsor for Hofstra’s ONE

chapter. The ONE chapter is just one of many others throughout the nation, whose goal is to “make poverty history”. Recently eight members of our fraternity were invited to a Black Ball event, where celebrities in attendance included Gwen Stafani, Bono form U2, Alicia Keys, and many others. The event was a prize for Hofstra’s chapter, who has led the race between other campuses throughout the nation, and continues to be in the lead. Illinois Phi Chapter The fall semester has been both eventful and rewarding for Phi chapter. The chapter has been working hard in building relations with sororities. This is evident in the many sororities’ philanthropy events we participated in this semester. These included: Alpha Chi Omega’s paintball, Alpha Omicron Pi’s Mud Olympics, and Kappa Alpha Theta Hoops. Additionally, we initiated 13 great guys into our chapter. Also, we thank our Alumni for showing up and enjoying homecoming with us. We are looking forward to having a great turnout for our 100th anniversary. To build brotherhood amongst our pledges we took them to visit our brothers at Epsilon Zeta Chapter. They showed us and wonderful time and it was both informing and fun to see how things are done at another chapter. This spring we look forward to expanding upon what we built in the fall. Indiana Beta Chapter Over the last semester Beta Chapter has accomplished quite a bit. With more than 80 live-ins and a new pledge class of 27, we have large attendance in both campus and Greek activities. This fall Sigma Pi Athletics stayed in contention for the Intramural Championship placing us in the top three in Greek Intramural standings. Our participation in IU Dance Marathon generated $5,250 for the Riley Children’s Foundation, and we have also put in over 100 hours with Habitat for Humanity. Multiple home improvements have taken place over the last few months, including new ceilings, painted walls, and new vani-

ties in the restrooms, making the Beta Chapter look better than ever. With former Sage Brad Eckmann winning the IFC President of the Year award, Beta Chapter is looking forward to future accomplishments with their new Executive Council members. Indiana of Pennsylvania Theta-Epsilon Chapter The fall semester has been a complete turnaround for Theta-Epsilon. We increased our numbers from 13 to 20 with the addition of seven new guys who are motivated at making our chapter even better. We also accomplished ﬁrst place in our University’s Homecoming Parade with our ﬂoat themed, “Battleship,” after the classic board game and also 1st place in KickOut-Cancer which is a soccer tournament to raise money for Breast Cancer Research. Past Grand Sage John Williams Jr. also visited our chapter and spoke at our Sam Spady project in which about 300 fellow Greeks attended. To cap off all of our success this year thus far, we recently held our annual Orchid Ball in Pittsburgh. The brothers of Theta-Epsilon are looking forward to keeping our chapter headed in the right direction with an even more successful spring semester. Indiana Tech Gamma-Kappa Chapter It has been a very stressful school year for our house in general because we have more than half of our brothers graduating at the end of the spring semester. However, we are trying our best to not only replace those experienced brothers, but to solve our problem of small numbers once and for all. We hope that someday we won’t come across this problem again. For the holidays, we placed empty boxes around campus hoping to get donations for our Toys for Tots fund raiser. We expect a greater turnout then we did last year so that children can have as enjoyable of a Christmas as the next. Iowa Xi Chapter Our Brother Ben Harringa, IFC Vice President, ends his college career on Homecoming Court and leaves IFC

with Greg Zawada. Elected in November, Dylan Frana will take his position as Vice President of Programming. Placing 3rd overall in Homecoming was an exalting experience for Xi’s month long efforts. We held our first 3 on 3 Soccer Philanthropy this semester, benefiting Sam Spady, in addition to our volunteering efforts at the local Haunted Corn Maze this Halloween and a Rape Prevention Safe Walk. Aside from our work, we had a walk-out to visit our brothers at Sigma Chapter. It was a fun weekend until the CyClowns pulled out a miracle victory. We took advantage of the last warm weekend to have a brotherhood camping trip. Xi is eagerly waiting a much-needed winter break and excited for our new Executive Board starting in January! Iowa State Sigma Chapter Sigma Chapter had a fantastic fall semester. This year we were paired with the ladies of Alpha Chi Omega, which every participant worked hard and finished homecoming with our brothers proud of the accomplishments. With homecoming ending on the positive side, the brothers are now looking forward to a great Greek Week pairing with the ladies of Delta Delta Delta which starts a month after Winter break. The gentlemen are studying hard for their finals and are striving for another boost in our chapter GPA. With the New-Members working to achieve their goals, we are looking forward to the many young leaders that this class has. Kansas State Iota-Alpha Chapter Congratulations to the following newly elected Executive Board of Iota-Alpha: Tyler Cowley- Sage, Jason Swartz- Second Counselor, Nick Smith- Third Counselor, Jeff Campbell- Fourth Counselor, Charley Twietmeyer- First Counselor, Jonathan Wright- Herald. Getting settled into our new house has been our main priority this first semester. After initiating our Alpha Pledge Class, we are now focusing on recruiting for our spring Beta and fall Gamma Classes. The men of Iota-Alpha have also spent

Brothers from Eta-Psi, Clemson donate and collect used items for the community

1000+ hours renovating our basement recreational room throughout the summer and fall. It was completed on Oct. 13, just in time for our ﬁrst date party, themed Redneck Yacht Club. On our slate for the spring are our ACE Project, our SAM SPADY project, and our philanthropy. We will continue to build a strong foundation of brotherhood and tradition so that the Iota-Alpha Chapter will continue to thrive at Kansas State University. Kentucky

Lawrence Tech Zeta-Omicron Chapter As the end of the semester comes near the brothers of the Zeta-Omicron Chapter are busy preparing for ﬁnal examinations and projects. This semester has been a very successful one. This semester ﬁfteen new members were part of our New Member Education program. We held our annual Purple Passion party which was a great

success and all the brothers had a great time. Zeta-Omicron also put on a Sam Spady Alcohol Awareness event which was open to the entire campus. All the brothers are looking forward to the upcoming winter retreat during Winter Break. We look forward to having an even better semester in the Spring. Maryland Alpha-Chi Colony The Alpha-Chi colony at UMD is continuously recruiting, and doing our ﬁrst Sam Spady project. We’ve invited the whole Greek and UMD community to watch the Sam Spady video on campus and then hold a discussion about the signs and prevention of alcohol poisoning. In addition we hosted a charity concert for suicide prevention at a local restaurant Santa Fe Cafe.

Miami (OH) Eta-Phi Chapter Eta-Phi Chapter has had a very successful informal fall initiation, with 5 new members being initiated. We will be holding our ACE Project at Miami Redhawk’s Hockey Game which will benefit the Miami Women’s Center. Most recently the Fraternity has participated in Delta Upsilon’s “Rock, Paper, Scissors” philanthropy as well as Phi Kappa Tau’s “2 Frat 2 Furious.” We had a successful Homecoming weekend where we welcomed back old and new alumni with a barbecue and homecoming parade where the chapter won best float. Our athletics are rolling again after our Greek Week Championship, we are headed towards our fourth All Sports Championship in five years. We welcome our new executive council in, as well as congratulate Brothers: Pekins, Smith and Kyriakedes for being elected to the Interfraternity Council. We are continued on next page

Spring 2008 • www.sigmapi.org

Epsilon-Beta Chapter The Epsilon-Beta Chapter is starting the 2008 year off great with 26 new members and a very strong spring rush. Our intramurals have been strong all school year and look to stay that way into the spring semester. Our ACE project was a huge success with our entire chapter and the surrounding community. We are also starting an Alumni Association so we can more

easily plan events with our graduated brothers. And one of our own brothers is heading the UK 24 Dance marathon called DanceBlue that helps raise money for the Pediatric Oncology Center at the University Hospital. We are all very proud of what he is doing and will continue to support him throughout. Also, we are looking forward to a giant renovation of our house over the summer which will deﬁnitely help us attract new members during fall rush.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

10 C H APTER NEWS looking forward to a great spring rush. Michigan Alpha-Beta Colony Big things have happened over the last couple months to Alpha-Beta. The major announcement is an acquisition of a permanent fraternity house for next year, and we are currently in the process of ﬁnalizing a lease agreement. Our numbers have grown by 25% since last year, and brotherhood events have been constant. We just had successful elections of executive board and ofﬁcers for next calendar year as well,

ing orientation week which was during the last weekend in August. We helped build a playground for the Little Huskies Child Development Center. We are in the process of working with the school planning out our Sam Spady project. The School is helping us sponsor the event in which we will be hosting a non-alcoholic party (Mocktail party) and will be indirectly letting people know about the dangers of alcohol and about good drinking habits. (putting information on cups, ﬂyers, Sam Spady cards,etc). We are having Same Spady shirts made for

placed 3rd in fight song, 2nd in float, and 2nd in banner. We’ve also made the playoffs in outdoor soccer and volleyball. In regards to philanthropy we are excited to be participating in the 2nd Annual Tracy Lawrence Mission Possible Turkey Fry Event. Also, we were pleased to receive our official charter and it currently hangs proudly in our house. Minnesota Iota-Zeta Chapter Our first semester has proven to be very eventful here at the University of

Missouri Gamma-Sigma Chapter Gamma-Sigma finished the fall semester with the largest pledge class we have had in four years. After finishing second place in campus intramurals last year, we are currently advancing to the playoffs in every sport this fall. Adam Tipton has taken over as our new chapter director and is working with us in many ways. We look forward to what he will do with us in the future. Missouri - Rolla Alpha-Iota Chapter Here at the Alpha-Iota chapter we are about to finish up another great fall semester. We have been very active on campus and in the community. We placed third in this year’s Greek Week. On the philanthropy side of things we hosted a BBQ for Russell House which is a local abused women and children shelter. The brothers also helped to cleanup a local Elementary school. We recently did a fundraiser at Six Flags St. Louis in order to help with planned house improvements. All of us are really working hard to beat last semesters 3.1 gpa which placed us third in grades out of 21 fraternities.

Theta-Rho Chapter, Grand Valley State’s Eta Pledge Class

and are proud to have had such tightly contested elections. Furthermore, we were proud to host the province workshop last month for the Michigan region. In addition, we are excited for our Sam Spady project in conjunction with all of Pan-Hellenic Council next semester. Our ACE project will also begin shortly as we look forward to giving back to the Ann Arbor community. GO BLUE! Michigan Tech Zeta-Epsilon Chapter We completed our ACE project dur-

this event and are looking forward to a great turnout. Middle Tennessee State Theta-Omega Chapter Fall has been an exciting semester as it is our ﬁrst semester as a chapter. To begin the semester we had a successful rush week by recruiting in the double digits for our Alpha pledge class. We are even more pleased at the quality of men we recruited. We’ve also been successful in our involvement with Greek events, homecoming events, and intramurals. For homecoming we

Minnesota. With the help of nationals and other brothers we have initiated 11 new Founding Fathers, bringing us extremely close to chapter status. Within the next couple of weeks we plan on initiating 5-10 new potentials and holding a Sam Spady project with an on campus sorority. As time progresses, it seems we have come into our own; being able to function as a real chapter fraternity. Now’s the time and legacies start here!!

Missouri - St. Louis Delta-Zeta Chapter The Delta-Zeta chapter continues to grow this semester as we initiated 12 new members, giving us 38 brothers. As well as having the SGA president we now also have the Order of Omega president. Sigma Pi holds 4 slots on Order of Omega and one slot in Tau Sigma, another on campus honor society. As well as having leadership on campus, Sigma Pi has also won intramural football, hockey, and soccer, giving us conﬁdence going into next year’s Greek Week. Missouri Southern State Eta-Mu Chapter This semester was very busy and hectic for our chapter. We participated in many school activities and philanthropies such as: The Ronald McDonald House’s annual Christmas Fundraiser “Gift of Light, Gift of Love,” Zeta Tau Alpha’s Breast Cancer Awareness

Day, the Sam Spady Foundation, cleaning the football stadium, ACE Project and the homecoming parade. We have also had our first annual Mother/Son Banquet. Our brothers put in 186 man hours helping with the Ronald McDonald House event in October. Each year our chapter helps assemble and decorate a twenty-two foot Christmas tree and assists with the sound equipment. We have also helped rake leaves and decorate the House. We had a great homecoming. Our float took first place in the parade, Brian Robin and Sean Grove were both king candidates and many of our Alumni showed up in support of our efforts. Missouri State Alpha-Rho Chapter The brothers of Alpha-Rho are doing it big as always this semester at Missouri State University. We wish to extend congratulations to the eighteen brothers we recently initiated this fall in which we take great pride in. We are proud to have placed 1st in both golf and hockey in Greek sports, which places our chapter in 2nd place overall. Along with elections, we also are in the midst of planning a large fundraiser in the coming weeks benefiting breast cancer awareness. Our brothers dominated homecoming this year and have successfully continued to set the bar high for the rest of the university. This year has already proven to yield successful accomplishments from the brothers of Alpha-Rho, and promises to continue with the tentative schedule of events we have planned. Monmouth

God and Man. We recently had our semester blood drive in which nearly 70 pints of blood were donated by University students, staff, and brothers. We had brothers attend the Breast Cancer walk in Point Pleasant along with 10,000 other participants to help raise donations for Breast Cancer research. We had a very big turnout at homecoming with alumni from the 1960’s in attendance. It was a great opportunity to meet these gentlemen and their families and it was enjoyable to hear their stories and for them to get together just like the old times. We want to sincerely thank all of our alumni for coming out to Homecoming that for once did not have a rainy forecast. Morehead State Delta-Rho Chapter Our chapter is having an outstanding semester so far. Right now, we have 25 new members and are still working for more. For philanthropy and community service, there have been many events we have had. First we had an alcohol awareness presentation and video for the Sam Spady foundation that we gave to participating students and faculty. This went over very well and we think it had a great effect on students. We raised almost $800 for the Sam Spady foundation by having a date auction, which we took our dates to the campus formal, the Blue and Gold Ball. We also raised money for the Sam Spady foundation by hosting a 5K run with Delta Zeta sorority. Many of us walked in the Heart Walk held on campus. We all donated money towards it and won two awards, one for most enthusiastic and another for most walkers.

Delta-Beta Chapter Our brothers have been working extra hard this semester in the service of

Second from top: Theta-Delta Chapter at The College of New Jersey supporting Colleges Against Cancer - Cuts for Cancer. An American Cancer Society Fundraiser. Second from bottom: President Paul Phillips and Herald Robert Becker present a check for over $1,000.00 to a West Chester Police Lieutenant to beneﬁt the West Chester Police Athletic League. Bottom: Theta-Theta Chapter at Ferris State University taking a break from a recent semester planning retreat. continued on next page

Spring 2008 • www.sigmapi.org

Top: San Jose State University brothers, Beta-Eta chapter house.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

12 C H APTER NEWS Murray State Gamma-Upsilon Chapter Brother’s here at Murray State, Gamma-Upsilon chapter have had an excellent semester. Just recently we’ve taken in not one but two exemplary pledge classes for the fall semester. The Gamma Tau class consisting of Joey Bartolotti, David Blanchard Nathan Crawford, Reis Driver, Adam Hirsch, and Reis Driver and the Gamma-Upsilon class with Sam Lakey and Jeremy Tinsley. We also plan to have a great turnout for our annual philanthropy, “Fall Fest.” Northern Colorado Zeta-Tau Chapter The spring semester for the gentleman of the Zeta-Tau chapter of Northern Colorado looks to be off to a great start. After an exciting first week back from winter break the brothers have already participated in a campus wide clean-up. Spring Rush looks to be the best in years as our chapter has a solid 12 man pledge class. These 12 men are as willing and eager as ever to add to the tradition that our chapter already has in place. As usual, fall sports were dominated with first place finishes in both softball and football, and a second place finish in volleyball. Our chapter is looking for a strong start to all of the spring sports this semester in order to lock up yet another Greek Cup championship. Things could not be better right now for the men of Zeta-Tau! Nothern Illinois Beta-Sigma Chapter The Brothers of the Beta-Sigma Chapter of Sigma Pi had a very successful fall semester this year. Throughout the semester, we made many improvements to our house, such as re-painting the entire house, and adding a hard wood floor to our chapter room. We also recruited a promising new pledge class through our successful rush events. We would also like to thank our Brothers who competed on our intramural softball and flag football teams. A special congratulation goes to our Brothers who won the annual Homecoming Chariot Race held by Sigma Lambda Alpha Sorority. We would also like

to give special recognition to our alumni Jeffery Yordon. Through his contributions and generosity, NIU saw the opening of the Yordon Center; a state of the art athletic facility utilized by the football team along with many of the other athletic teams at NIU. We would like to thank him for giving a number of our Brothers the opportunity during the football game vs. Kent State to see the opening of the Yordon Center. A special invitation goes out to our alumni, who we encourage to visit the house and our upcoming alumni events. We all feel that this has been a very productive fall semester, and we’re all excited about the improvements around the house and about the upcoming semester. Ohio Northern Zeta Chapter Zeta Chapter has been very active with community service this year. We put on an ACE project by bringing in a “Drunk Driving Simulator” to increase awareness of the dangers of drinking and driving. We are currently working with a fundraiser on campus to raise money for St. Jude’s Children’s hospital. We are also spending a lot of time on house improvement. We are working on one room at a time, and we hope to have ﬁxed up every room by next year. Our formal room has been painted and recent composites have been hung around the walls. Old Dominion Theta-Eta Chapter Sigma Pi saw an amazing fall semester. We began with a 17 man pledge class and 12 initiates. Furthermore, two representatives went to Nashville, TN. for Sigma Pi University, which they brought a lot of new ideas to the chapter. This conference in turn is aiding in the preparation for a slam packed semester of events which include our annual Altruistic Campus Experience Project, Sam Spady Project and Fire Fighter Appreciation Day. Oregon Iota-Epsilon Chapter The gentlemen of Oregon Colony Sigma Pi started off the year with a bang by opening their house to students of U of O for a retro 80s workout party.

The party was widely successful having over 150 students in attendance. Rush week had many recruits attend activities including Miniature Golf, Casino Night, and finishing with a steak and cigar night. Because of the incredible job of the recruitment chair Andy Alcocer Oregon Colony gave out 27 bids all of which accepted. Pennsylvania Delta Colony The Delta Colony of Sigma Pi colonized in October, and is excited about the upcoming semester. We have a number of men interested in joining in addition to the 13 original brothers, and are currently planning for rush starting at the beginning of next semester. In addition, we have made contact with a few alumni from the previous Sigma Pi chapter at Penn and are working with them to get our colony off the ground. We are looking at local housing, and hope to have a new house for next year for 10-12 brothers. And for our ACE project, we are considering holding a fundraiser for Penn’s various club sports teams, which need money for traveling in order to compete in national tournaments. Altogether, we believe that Sigma Pi has an exciting future at Penn, and are looking forward to chartering as soon as possible. Penn Tech Theta-Phi Chapter We just had are first annual Pi Ball which went off without a hitch we gave awards to important members to our organization it was a great time. This spring we are planning an ACE project with a nonprofit organization details about that are still vague but we anticipate a complete a success! Penn State Theta Chapter As the year winds to a close we look back on the semester we’ve had here in Happy Valley. We have 39 brothers living in house which is more than any of the active brothers can remember having before. With a house full of mostly sophomores we have had a new crew of brothers step up to lead us to some great accomplishments. Thanks to Adam Nye (’10) and

Ryan McWilliams (’09) our Greek Sing performance with Alpha Zeta Delta this year landed us 5th overall, 2nd with the performance, and Best Choreography. We also got second in the annual House Lighting Competition this year thanks to the hard work of all the brothers. With the sisters of Delta Gamma we are also on our way to one of our most successful THON participations ever. The house has set a goal of $150,000 and we are making it happen! Penn State - Altoona Theta-Iota Chapter Our chapter is very focused on making improvements to itself. We are planning on implementing many of the lessons that we learned during our province archon workshop. So far we are planning on having a Sam Spady week in which we will raise alcohol awareness. Our chapter plans on reaching a goal of $5000. For this year’s Ace Project we are planning on giving back to our campus by thanking all those who have positively inﬂuenced us. We have participated in a project on campus called Relay for Life which is the American Cancer Society’s nationwide signature fundraising event. We walked all night to raise money for cancer research and the various programs they have for people with cancer. We now have a new sweetheart, Genna Kelleher. This year is going to be our most successful year yet. Rowan Zeta-Chi Chapter This semester has been a great success up to this point for Zeta-Chi. Our “Bid-A-Pi” philanthropy event raised money for the Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, our intramural ﬂag football and indoor soccer teams both reached the intramural championship, and we had a great pledge class. We hope to continue improving by working various holiday food drives, and implementing new dynamic rush tactics that will hopefully allow our chapter to grow in both quantity and quality.

Zeta-Mu Chapter at Michigan State University, Philanthropy Project 2007 - Habitat for Humanity house build

San Jose State Beta-Eta Chapter Beta-Eta had an awesome semester! Our fall 07 pledge class had all six great pledges initiated. We our also

having three of our most respected brothers graduate this semester; Theo Abel, Christopher Leong and Michael Pinochi. We had a great Thanksgiving celebration which was said to be the biggest in years and we are also looking forward to a wonderful spring semester. Seton Hall Delta-Epsilon Chapter This has been another successful semester for the brothers of DeltaEpsilon. We began the year with a very encouraging RUSH, and recently inducted two new brothers Nick Magone and Frank Valente into our brotherhood. We took part in our campus-wide community service event where we dedicated our time in running a day-camp at a local YMCA. We raised money for Breast Cancer Awareness as well. Aside from this, our brothers were very successful in on-campus events in making it to the semi-ﬁnals for intramural football and hockey. Our chapter would also like to take time to thank the guys

from Rowan University for allowing us to participate in The Good Guys provincial workshop this past semester.

time. Overall, this semester has given us plenty of excitement to last us over Christmas Break.

Southern Arkansas Epsilon-Kappa Chapter Epsilon-Kappa Chapter at Southern Arkansas University had a great fall semester. We kicked off the school year with a back to school party, followed by an 80’s themed party. We then rounded out the semester with a Halloween party, a Purple Haze party, and, everyone’s favorite, The Wetter the Better. Aside from partying this semester, we achieved prestige among our peers by participating in the Celebration of Lights Ceremony. All of the brothers there were very enthusiastic about helping and the crowd appreciated our involvement. During Family Day, our Sigma Pi canoe team won its third consecutive victory against the other fraternities on campus. The alumni turn out during Homecoming was greater than at any event I’ve seen since I’ve been here and everyone had an awesome

Southern Illinois - Edwardsville Delta-Omega Chapter Delta-Omega Chapter finished another successful fall semester to end the 2007 year strong. The chapter set the bar on campus this semester with a very solid class of 27 pledges. Our annual breast cancer run/walk raised more than $1000 for local charities and the chapter won the annual “Phi-Esta” bowl flag football tournament for the 6th consecutive year. The chapter is looking forward to its fourth annual ‘Take a Ride With Sigma Pi’ sober Mardi Gras bus event next spring. Southern Indiana Theta-Psi Chapter The men of Theta-Psi forge through our first semester as an active chapter. In the first semester of being an active chapter, the men of Theta-Psi have rel-

Spring 2008 • www.sigmapi.org

San Diego State Alpha-Omega Chapter This fall semester has been nothing short of extraordinary for the AlphaOmega chapter at SDSU. This year the chapter acquired a second impressive fraternity house in Greek circle to add to our expanding presence at state. Alpha-Omega also did a massive renovation of the original house. We remodeled the kitchen completely with new counters, cabinets, tile, sinks, and dishwasher. We also remodeled the bathroom, complete paint job of the house (inside and out), and also an impressive fence all around the house with our letters facing out for everyone to see. With the renovations, the large fall rush class, and our exec board made up of very dependable individuals, Sigma Pi, Alpha-Omega is looking forward to our future success.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

14 C H APTER NEWS ished in the opportunities of brotherhood. This semester marked the Alpha pledge class and a fully developed new member education program at Southern Indiana. The prospective and active brothers alike continually grow as individuals. With the knowledge obtained through pledge ship, the pledges have shown a lot of promise for the future of our group. The men have taken part in two philanthropies for the semester and three retreats from Southern Indiana. Notably the men traveled to West Virginia Tech for Homecoming week and Vincennes for Road Rally. Southern Tech Epsilon-Alpha Chapter Epsilon-Alpha chapter has improved upon its numbers this fall. We initiated eight new members in January. We have done a number of philanthropy events this semester, including collecting donations and hosting a car bash for the Sam Spady Foundation. Over Halloween we hosted a social event with a sorority on campus. A new Executive Council has been installed recently and is excited to serve their positions in the upcoming year. We have planned a slew of events for the ﬁrst week of the spring semester in order to recruit more members for our growing chapter.

Dance teams took first place. We continue to volunteer our time at a local visitation home for the mentally challenged, and at our annual Pi Sale Bachelor Auction, we raised over $1200 for the Sam Spady Foundation. Brother Joe Martinez recently got elected to VP of Rush of the IGC. Theta Delta brothers started their own Sigma Pi Sports League (SPSL), which consists of weekly games of football and soccer. We look forward to a productive and great spring semester with a successful rush and strong brotherhood. Texas Gamma-Theta Chapter Gamma-Theta chapter has had a very successful and enjoyable fall semester. We initiated five great new members, but also held a second rush and have a winter pledge class that will be initiated in January. Additionally, our chapter has finalized plans to move into a larger house next fall, which will better accommodate our growing numbers. Our intramural football team had a very successful season and made it to the playoffs, and Brother Nick Whelan won the Moorehill Wrestling award for the second time in three years. We are looking forward to the spring and the great events we have planned, including our ACE

project, which is already being worked on. Finally, we encourage all alumni in the Austin area to contact our chapter, if we have not already contacted you, as we are very interested in creating outstanding alumni relations. Texas - San Antonio Iota-Delta Chapter In the recent fall ’07 semester The UTSA colony recently became the Iota Delta Chapter on November 10, 2007. Upon chartering the chapter initiated 35 undergraduates and 7 alumni fathers. To accompany the ceremony, the chapter had a beautiful banquet at the Westin on the River walk in which many parents, friends, and school ofﬁcials also attended. The hardest part about gaining the charter was numbers, the iota delta chapter had to double their numbers from the beginning of the semester to the 10th. Iota-Delta chapter accomplished their ﬁrst goal of chartering and know plans on working their way up to be the best fraternity not only at UTSA but ever. Texas State Theta-Upsilon Chapter Theta-Upsilon closes 2007 with a new executive council and a brotherhood eagerly anticipating the upcoming semester. We end the year with our

SUNY - Potsdam Epsilon-Omega Chapter This semester our chapter spent most of our time with events that gave back to the community. In the month of October we sponsored a canned food drive to donate to the local food pantry. We also participated in A Suicide Prevention Walk as well as an AIDS Walk. As an organization we hosted a bowling night at the Waddington Lanes. TCNJ Theta-Delta Chapter This past fall Theta Delta initiated two new brothers. The chapter continues to maintain an active and respected role on campus. Our ACE project consisted of brothers participating in activities during domestic violence week. Along with sororities Delta Phi Epsilon and Alpha Kappa Alpha, we took ﬁrst place during Homecoming Week. For the second year in a row, our Lip sync and

Beta-Kappa, Arizona State chapter supporting Pi Phi coaches at their philanthropy event.

largest pledge class in chapter history. With the completion of our pledge education program we feel great to be able to call these men of character, brother. Our brotherhood is stronger than ever paid for greatly in part by the annual brotherhood retreat camp out. We’ve heightened our campus involvement by participating in intramural ﬂag football and dodge ball. Towson Eta-Nu Chapter The brothers of Eta-Nu enjoyed a productive fall semester. The chapter initiated six promising young men. We welcome our Alpha-Iota Pledge Class. Philanthropically, Eta-Nu co-sponsored the Fourth Annual Music for Humanity with Delta Sigma Phi and Phi Sigma Kappa fraternities, which raised $750 for a local charity. At the Towson University Greek Life Ceremony on December 5, 2007, the chapter was recognized with an Interfraternity Council Chapter Excellence Award for outstanding chapter operations. In addition, Brother Brandon Sowinski was selected IFC Delegate of the Year. UCLA Upsilon Chapter Upsilon Chapter of Sigma Pi at UCLA is doing well. We had an extremely

Delta-Upsilon, Virginia Tech brothers cleaning up part of an adopted highway

Washington State

successful rush and we have two dozen solid pledges. We are in the process of training for our second marathon and have a bigger team than last year. Our initiation of new ofﬁcers went well and we learned a lot from our Educational Leadership Consultant. We are also proud to be the biggest house on campus while maintaining our grades. Ursinus Theta-Sigma Chapter Theta-Sigma chapter has many exciting events taking place. We just had our Winter Formal, which was a huge success with many alumni returning. We also headlined an alcohol awareness program with a very positive response, going from door to door handing out Sam Spady cards. Recruitment is going well and we are about to begin the pledging process second semester. We are always looking for feedback and comments from other chapter and alumni so feel free to contact us! Vincennes

Virginia Beta-Pi Chapter Recently, the Beta-Pi Chapter had the privilege of hosting a gathering for UVA’s Greek Week. We were fortunate enough to share hosting duties with the multi-cultural fraternity Phi Beta Sigma. Not only was this an incredible opportunity to allow a different crowd of our fellow students to enjoy a great party, but everyone involved made some new friends and established a working relationship that we plan on continuing long after this semester. Our fall pledge class is working hard on making small improvements to the Sigma Pi house with various projects that allow the brotherhood and the new guys to get together for a common goal. We look forward to their initiation early in the spring semester. Wake Forest Alpha-Nu Chapter The Alpha-Nu brotherhood at Wake Forest University had a productive and successful fall semester. Brother Jared Beaver was implemented at the new Executive Council position of House Manager, and under his leadership the Alpha-Nu lounge was repainted. During the Fall pledging period, ﬁve sophomore gentlemen were initiated into the brotherhood. The brothers of Alpha-Nu also continued their success both academically and athletically on campus, including a large trail cleanup as our ACE project. We look forward as a group towards the new semester and spring rush period, as well as exciting events such as our famous Viking Fest and Nuclear Fallout alumni weekend activities.

Wayne State Gamma-Omega Chapter This past semester during homecoming celebrations we teamed up with another Greek organization delta sigma pi, with this we hosted the first ever car smash for charity that our school has ever seen. We raised over five hundred dollars for alternatives for women. This event was such a “hit” that plans are being made for it to be an annual event during homecoming. During the homecoming celebrations we also got the award for most spirited tailgate party in the athletics parking lot before the game. Later in the semester along with a 63% increase in chapter size we also were able to hold a philanthropy event at gleaners food bank where we sorted food into baskets to be passed out to needy families during the holiday season. West Chester Zeta-Alpha Chapter As the fall semester comes to a close the brothers of the Zeta-Alpha Chapter of Sigma Pi continue a long and proud tradition of excellence. This fall saw the inception of a new annual philanthropic event, named the “PI” cup, created by one of our brothers to exhibit inter-fraternalism and competition as well as benefiting

juvenile AIDS. This semester also marked our 13th Annual Sorority Showdown which enabled us to donate over $1,000.00 to the West Chester Police Athletic League. In addition to our philanthropic efforts we continue our tradition of leadership at West Chester by for the second year in a row, having two of our brothers on the IFC counsel, one of which being President. Zeta-Alpha looks forward to walking into Greek Week again this spring while we continue to be the largest and most dominant fraternity on this campus. Western Illinois Epsilon-Zeta Chapter As a chapter we have completed most of our goals. We have practically doubled our numbers. We have gotten some upgrades on our house and we have had a lot of alumni stop by this semester. We are currently setting up Founder’s Day down here at Western. We also are planning to make a philanthropy called the Pi Mile. Overall, we are getting ready for another good semester in the spring. William Paterson Theta-Tau Chapter Firstly, we would like to welcome three new brothers into Theta-Tau chapter. Congratulations Epsilons on all of your hard work! It has been a very busy and productive semester for the brothers here at Theta Tau. We held our annual Sigma Pi, Cutie Pi Pageant, and are honored to crown Michelle Cahanap as our ‘07-08 Sexy Sigma! During the event, we also raised money and awareness for the Sam Spady Foundation. We also held our 2nd Annual Sigma Pi ACE Event, “Sigma Pi Hot Chocolate Giveaway”, in which we handed out over 100 cups of Hot Chocolate to our fellow students as a token of their continued support of Sigma Pi at William Paterson University. Lastly, we took part in a local Applebee’s Breakfast with Santa event on December 1st. It was a great community service event and helped introduce Sigma Pi to the local community.

Spring 2008 • www.sigmapi.org

Alpha Chapter Fall 2007 has been one of the most productive semesters in years for Alpha. With the house being basically re-built, an EC that all worked together for the good of the chapter, and a fantastic Rush period, Alpha more than doubled its member size from less than 20 members to nearly 40. This is not the same chapter anymore. Alpha has made a complete turn-around this year concerning campus image and productivity. To name a few activities the Chapter participated in this semester included our annual hog roast, donating blood for the Red Cross, assisting elderly and young children with the Vincennes annual carriage rides, providing transportation to and from the performing arts events, and collecting cans and foodstuffs for the

Vincennes Food Pantry. Chapter GPA increased an entire letter grade this semester. We have set a goal of attaining a 3.0 cumulative next semester.

Colony Washington State University Colony of Sigma Pi held the Colonization ceremony and pledged its first 11 founding fathers November 15th. We are now at 15 members and while those numbers are small right now, they are growing quickly and we are a very tight knit group. We held first chapter on the 19th and have been holding it weekly with our chapter adviser Dr. Jeremy Lessmann (Nu, Franklin & Marshall ’93).We look forward to our first brotherhood and another recruitment event revolving around Cougar basketball before break. We have many great ideas for philanthropy’s and recruitment as well as the ACE and Sam Spady project. We hope that we can make the road to chartering a smooth one and we look forward to the future of Sigma Pi at Washington State University.

16 Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

CAMPUS

EXPANSION

Sigma Pi returns to Razorback Nation by Nicholas Frees

On the evening of Wednesday, February 13, 2008, Expansion/ Recruitment Consultants Duane Cunningham Jr. (Theta-Rho, Grand Valley State ’06) and Nicholas Frees (Theta-Beta, Saginaw Valley State ’07) colonized 34 outstanding gentlemen at the University of Arkansas. This colonization marks the fourth colonization for Sigma Pi this year. The Executive Ofﬁce would like to recognize alumni Albert Fischer (Beta-Tau, Valparaiso ’86) and Jim Slezak (Delta-Lambda, Louisiana Tech ’76) who led the colonization ceremony. Colony Director Grant Carlson (Epsilon-Rho, Drury ’01) who also helped with the ceremony played a key role in the group’s success from the beginning since he has worked at the University of Arkansas for some time and was instrumental in helping gain access to opportune areas for recruitment. The roots of the colonization can be traced back to earlier in the fall when Director of Expansion/ Recruitment Jim DiVita (Zeta-Mu, Michigan State ‘04) and Executive Director Mark Briscoe (Alpha-Pi, Arkansas State ’82) traveled to Fayetteville to insure Sigma Pi was selected for expansion by the Interfraternity Council.

Sigma Pi’s return to the University of Arkansas marks the re-establishment of Alpha-Sigma Chapter originally established in 1948. After closing its doors in 1977, Alpha-Sigma Colony is now back working to regain its charter. The new Alpha-Sigma Colony is a very diverse group of gentlemen in many ways which is a paramount ideal of Sigma Pi. The colony contains members from several other campus organizations such as College Republicans, Journalism Club, Track and Field and an entire intramural basketball team. The colony is currently organizing its committee structure and is anticipating having an immediate

impact on campus as they start with a strong core of members. The colony also contains two Sigma Pi legacies: Reagan Dalby ‘11 who was elected President by his peers. Reagan’s father Mr. Truman Dalby ’71 was a member of the original Alpha-Sigma Chapter along with Adam Mangini’s ’11 father Daniel Mangini ’78 who is an alumnus from Beta-Gamma Chapter at Eastern Illinois University.

alumni advisory board a few positions still remain to be ﬁlled, please contact Director of Expansion/Recruitment Nicholas Frees at: nfrees@sigmapi.org or call the Sigma Pi Executive Ofﬁce at: (800) 332-1897.

This notable colonization marks the third active group in the state of Arkansas and the return of the 41st chapter in the Land of Sigma Pi. If you are interested in serving on the

Future Fall Expansion: Our scheduled fall 2008 expansion projects include… 4University of Central Florida (Orlando, FL): Established in 1968, UCF has over 41,000 undergraduate & 7,000 graduate students. Sigma Pi has never had a chapter here before.

4Arkansas Tech University (Russellville, AR): ATU was founded in 1909 and currently has over 7,000 undergraduate/graduate students. Sigma Pi has never had a chapter here before.

Sigma Pi colonizes at Montclair State by Duane M. Cunningham Jr.

On the evening of April 14th, 2008, Expansion/Recruitment Consultant Duane M. Cunningham, Jr. (Theta-Rho, Grand Valley State ’06) colonized 23 men at Montclair State University in Upper Montclair, New Jersey. In attendance was Grand Third Counselor Chris Brown (Gamma-Eta, Rutgers ’81). Initially, the plan was to establish an interest before the academic year concluded. However due to Duane’s intense 3-week recruitment effort, a colonization became a reality much earlier than expected! The Montclair State Colony is made up of several leaders involved in Student Government, Phi Sigma Pi Professional Frater-

nity, and even the U.S. Armed Forces. After only being a colony for a week the men had already given out free pizza and water at Greek Week, donated money to a fellow student whose parents passed away, learned the Creed, and added in ﬁve more founders to their colony! The men have set a personal goal of doubling their numbers by the time of coloniza-

tion, but by the looks of it, that may happen much sooner. The colony joins a Greek community with 34 fraternities and sororities. Sigma Pi has never had a chapter or colony at Montclair State University and marks the seventh active group within the state of New Jersey. There are still positions available on the alumni advisory board, if you are

interested in helping the group and are in or near northern New Jersey please contact New Jersey Province Archon Joe Palazzolo at: NJPA@sigmapi.org. Special thanks to Grand Third Counselor Chris Brown and Theta-Tau Chapter at William Paterson Chapter for their attendance and assistance during the colonization and entire expansion effort.

RECOMMEND AN UNDERGRADUATE Brothers, do you know a current undergraduate or collegebound senior that would make a great addition to an existing chapter of our Fraternity? Is your son or brother attending a school where he would be a legacy of Sigma Pi? If so, complete the Recommend a Man submission form online and let us know! Current chapters of Sigma Pi beneﬁt greatly from receiving names of quality individuals attending their college or university. If there is no Sigma Pi chapter on his campus, he may contact us and get the details on becoming a founding father.

Director of Expansion/Recruitment Sigma Pi Fraternity P.O Box 1897 Brentwood, TN 37024

Spring 2008 • www.sigmapi.org

The link to this service can be found on the main page of www.sigmapi.org. If you cannot access the internet, please send a form that includes your name and contact information, the name and school of the recommended man, and his contact information to:

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

18 Sigma Pi Re-charters at Florida State University by Jim DiVita

CHARTERING TEAM: Grand Sage: Larry Rovira (ΕΝ, Cal State – Fullerton ’85) Grand Second Counselor: Dean Houser (Ε, Ohio ’72) Grand Third Counselor: Spencer Klein (ΗΕ, Florida State ’94) Grand Fourth Counselor: Alfredo Cruz (ΔΠ, Troy ’92) Grand First Counselor: Randall Webster (ΒΝ, Southern Illinois – Carbondale ’82) Grand Herald: Jonathan Frost (ΔΖ, Missouri – St. Louis ’02)

On Saturday, March 1, 2008 Eta-Epsilon Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity was ofﬁcially re-installed with over 50 men initiated at the Florida State University. Originally chartered on November 19, 1988 the chapter was later closed in 2001 due to improper membership reporting and repeated risk management violations of the fraternity. In the fall of 2006, Seminole Alumni Foundation President (Eta-Epsilon Alumni Club) Spencer Klein (ΗΕ, Florida State ’94) initiated and collaborated in a joint effort with Director of Expansion/Recruitment Jim DiVita (ΖΜ, Michigan State ’04) and the FSU Ofﬁce of Greek Life to bring Sigma Pi back. In no time, Sigma Pi was voted back onto campus. Sigma Pi Expansion/ Recruitment Consultants Matt Besselman (Θ, Penn State ’06) and Peter Bolac (ΑΝ, Wake Forest ’06) then executed a month long values based recruitment drive colonizing a group of 26 men on February 9, 2007.

same semester, the colony embarked on a ground breaking ACE Project in which the colony and other campus organizations cleaned up the Rez. With few resources and manpower, the Rez is maintained by FSU’s Recreational Department. Located on Lake Bradford, this 73-acre facility was cleaned and upgraded by Sigma Pi members. Also established was an ACE Project endowment fund setup by the colony to beneﬁt the Rez for year’s to come.

Throughout the past year the men of Eta-Epsilon Colony would exemplify the fraternity’s creed and values through their actions. In the fall of 2007 the men hosted a Sam Spady event for the entire Greek community’s new members. With over one thousand students in attendance, the event took place over two days, bringing both Sigma Pi Executive Director Mark Briscoe and Mrs. Patty Spady to Tallahassee. In the

The men of Eta-Epsilon gathered over twenty letters of recommendation in their run to charter and have record involvement in campus/community organizations such as: School of Theatre Productions, World Affairs Program, FSUnited, Student Athletic Training Association, Honors Program, Student Judicial Board, Swim Club, Men Advocating Responsible Conduct, Victim Advocate Peer Education, the President of the

Eta-Epsilon’s chartering banquet took place inside Doak Campbell Stadium’s coveted University Center Club located in the heart of FSU. Special in attendance was Brother Allan Webster (Φ, Illinois ’47) who spoke of his Sigma Pi days at the University of Illinois. Awards and honors were handed out to many brothers by local alumni. To top the night off, Randall “Big Daddy” Webster and his band performed in celebration of the newly initiated chapter’s accomplishments.

Japanese Student Association, Literary Society, Student Senate, Treasurer of the Association of Financial Management Association, Alpha Kappa Psi business fraternity, the Founder and Treasurer of TORCH, Garnet and Gold Key Leadership Honorary fraternity, the Insight Political Party, Florida Restaurant Association, Florida Lodging Association, Sailing Club, Triathlon Club, United States Army, First Year Experience Peer Campus Educator, ROTC, Medical School SP, the President of Chabad, Trustee of the Jewish Student Union, Club Ice Hockey Team, American Party, FSView Student Newspaper, the Wesley Foundation, the President of the Underclassmen Council, the Deputy Internal Director of the Executive Cabinet, Lambda Alpha Epsilon Criminology fraternity, NSCS, Leadershape, College of Democrats, Latin Student Union, Order of Omega, Student Leadership Council – College of Business, America Reads Mentor, Phi Eta Sigma Honors fraternity, Hillel, Charles Shusterman International Leaders Assembly, Relay for Life, University Lutheran Association, FSU Vote Coalition, Lead-Ins, Fund for American Studies, Boys and Girls Club, Slavic Student Association, Cawthon Hall Education Living-Learning Center, Florida Army National Guard, the Treasurer of Seminoles Supporting Our Troops, Collegiate Entrepreneurs Organiza-

tion and Phi Alpha Delta pre-law fraternity. Eta-Epsilon Chapter stands among eight other Sigma Pi chapters/colonies in the ACC. Special thanks to all faculty, especially Courtney Barry and all of the Greek Life Staff, all parents and dates in attendance, area alumni and the brothers from both Zeta-Zeta Chapter at the University of Florida and Theta-Omega Chapter at Middle Tennessee State University for helping out in the initiation ceremony. In commemoration of Eta-Epsilon Chapter, a scholarship fund has been established through the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. The foundation is taking contributions in the name of the Eta-Epsilon Fund. If you are interested in donating to support the educational ambitions of Eta-Epsilon brothers, you may contact the Richard Robinson at the Sigma Pi Executive Ofﬁce at: (800) FEB-1897. All contributions are tax deductible. Letters of congratulations can be sent to Sage Dan Dawson at: etaepsilon@sigmapi.org. If you are interested in joining the alumni advisory board or area alumni association, please contact Chapter Director Alfredo Cruz at: etaepsilonCD@sigmapi.org or at: (305) 978-0020 for more information on joining.

Iota-Zeta Charters at the University of Minnesota by Nick Frees

CHARTERING TEAM: Grand Sage: Larry Rovira (ΕΝ, Cal State – Fullerton ’85) Grand Second Counselor: PGS Mark Metz (ΕΖ, Western Illinois ’76) Grand Third Counselor: Dave Roeser (ΕΖ, Western Illinois ’78) Grand Fourth Counselor: Steve Lawler (Ξ, Iowa ’82) Grand First Counselor: Jason Shores (ΔΨ, Troy ’94) Grand Herald: Paul Bazzetta (ΕΖ, Western Illinois ’77)

On Saturday, April 12, 2008, in Minneapolis, MN, the 217th chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity was installed at the University of Minnesota making it the ﬁrst chapter ever established in the state of Minnesota.

For more on the impact of the colony’s ACE Project: “Unsung Hero’s Dinner” check out: http://www.mndaily.com/articles/2007/04/16/71567.

Sigma Pi chartered the IotaZeta Chapter with 37 undergraduate men and three alumni initiates. The Iota-Zeta Chapter house secured through the help of Dave Roeser is located in a prime location on campus and will assist them in continuing to be a leader on campus and in the Greek community. During the chartering banquet, the formal room at the Iota-Zeta house was ofﬁcially dedicated as the “Dave and DJ Roeser Formal Room” in recognition of all their support since the beginning of Sigma Pi’s start on campus. Iota-Zeta Chapter at the University of Minnesota joins the roll of Sigma Pi groups in the Big Ten Conference which currently has eight chapters and two colonies. A special thanks to all family and friends that traveled long distances to attend the chartering weekend. We would also like to recognize all the alumni who attended the day’s events along with the brothers from Sigma Chapter at Iowa State University: Paul Thomas ’09, Alex Kaehler ’10, Richard Ruder ’10, and Justin Nielsen ’08 as they assisted with the initiation ceremony.

Letter of congratulations can be sent to: C/O Sage Will Wojcik, Sigma Pi Fraternity, 1829 University Ave. SE, Minneapolis, MN. 55414. If you are at all interested in joining the alumni advisory board, contact Chapter Director Jay Wiederholt at: jayw2124@gmail.com for more information.

Spring 2008 • www.sigmapi.org

Sigma Pi officially got its start when Expansion/Recruitment Consultants Jeremy Boyd (ΘΛ, Radford ’04) and Douglas Finnan (Α, Vincennes ’01) colonized a group of men on April 2, 2006 as a result of yet another “cold start” expansion effort. Several alumni stepped up to help the colony right away. Alumni Dave Roeser (ΕΖ, Western Illinois ’78) and Jason Shores (ΔΨ, Troy ’94) both served on the alumni advisory board throughout the colony’s tenure. Also, helping out along the way were alumni Jay Wiederholt (Σ, Iowa State ’03) who would take over as Colony Director and Iowa/Minnesota Province Archon Steve Lawler (Ξ, Iowa ’82). In addition, Greek advisor Chad Ellsworth also helped play a vital role as the colony continued to develop in to a full-fledged chapter. Serving as the first Colony President, Richard Orr ’06 would lead the men to becoming active in intramurals, homecoming, and Greek week.

In the fall of 2007, the colony would raise the bar for all organizations on campus. Sigma Pi Fraternity’s Altruistic Campus Experience (ACE) Project was showcased through the colony’s “Unsung Hero’s Dinner” that the men conducted. The project was the first of its kind at the University and within the land of Sigma Pi. It was such an innovative idea and great success with over 300 custodial staff members honored, that the colony was awarded the “Top ACE Project Award” at Sigma Pi University for the 2007 academic year in Tier I (20+ fraternities on campus). This however was not the first time the men had been recognized for breaking Greek stereotypes on campus. During the fall 2006 semester the colony hosted an alcohol-free foam party at their house that had over 800 students attend. The party was recognized by the Minnesota Daily for being the first of its kind on campus. Because of projects like these, the Minnesota Colony was able to rise to the top of the Greek community.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

20 Eta-Delta Re-charters at Cal Poly by Duane Cunnigham, Jr.

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CHARTERING TEAM: Grand Sage: Larry Rovira (ΕΝ, Cal State - Fullerton ’85) Grand Second Counselor: Christopher Monza (ΕΣ, Loyola Marymount ’84) Grand Third Counselor: Gary Grubacich (ΑΟ, California - Santa Barbara ’68) Grand Fourth Counselor: Duane Cunningham (ΘΡ, Grand Valley State ’06) Grand First Counselor: Daniel LaChappelle (ΑΟ, California - Santa Barbara ’10) Grand Herald: Jonathan Frost (ΔΖ, Missouri - St. Louis ’02)

On May 31, 2008, after nearly a decade of absence Eta-Delta Chapter was formally re-instated at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, CA. Eta-Delta became a colony for the ﬁrst time in 1987 and originally chartered in 1988. After 12 memorable years the chapter closed its doors. On March 3, 2006 Cal Poly saw the return of Sigma Pi as a colony when they were colonized by Jeremy Boyd (Theta-Lambda, Radford ’04) and Jim DiVita (Zeta-Mu, Michigan State ’04) as a result of another cold start expansion visit. When looking at this newly established chapter you can’t help but see a group of very successful men who will continue to do great things. The class that these young men carry themselves with is evident and it was easy to see where it came from with so many aunts, uncles, parents, and grandparents in attendance at the chartering. One thing that is surprising is that these men have had more than their fair share of struggles. All though our mascot is the owl, these men are better represented by the Phoenix, for they truly rose from the ashes. After initially growing to nearly 30 men they dropped down to 7 when the

original president left and many others followed. It would have been easy to give up at this point, but not Eta-Delta. They sojourned forward and under the early leadership of Henry Phan ’09 and now Jeremiah Johnson ’08, the colony grew from 7 to 42. Eta-Delta put on a chartering banquet to be remembered, complete with a silent auction that rose over $6,000.00 for the newly chartered group and a masquerade ball afterward to celebrate their accomplishments. Eta-Delta believes that family is of the utmost importance, so it was no surprise when four fathers initiated in addition to the 42 undergrads. Without the assistance of several mothers the silent auction, which saw much success, would not have been possible. The future looks bright for Eta-Delta as they have plans to move into a house this upcoming fall and have fall events planned to help continue the success they have had as of recently. Special thanks go out to the Alpha-Omicron Chapter at UC – Santa Barbara for helping with “The Golden Quest” and showing support at the banquet and masquerade ball.

Spring 2008 â&#x20AC;˘ www.sigmapi.org

BY A DA M D IB BLE

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

A former senator, a professional athlete, and two business leaders will be recognized for their outstanding contributions during the 49th Biennial Convocation in Long Beach. The Grand Council announced that Fraternity alumni Robert Timothy Leslie, (ΒΟ, Cal. State-Long Beach ’63), Sherdrick Deon Bonner, (ΕΙ, Cal. State-Northridge ’91), L. Nelson Farris, (ΒΟ, Cal. State-Long Beach ’66), Edward John Panconi, (ΕΣ, Loyola Marymount ’84) will each be presented with a 2008 Founders’ Award this summer. The Founders’ Award is the highest and most prestigious honor which the Fraternity bestows upon an individual brother. The selection is based upon outstanding contributions or exceptional service in business, a profession, education, or humanitarianism, including service to Sigma Pi or the fraternity system as a whole. Through the years, the Fraternity has developed programs for the recognition of outstanding brothers, alumni, and chapters. Since 1962, Sigma Pi has recognized several of its most outstanding alumni brother’s through the presentation of the Founders’ Award. Prior to each Convocation the Grand Council selects the recipients from among those brothers recommended by chapters and alumni clubs. The presentation of the Founders’ Award to recipients

takes place during the closing dinner and awards banquet of each Convocation. Since its inception, 85 outstanding brothers have had the prestigious Founders’ Award bestowed upon them. The Founders’ Award was the brainchild of Past Grand Sage J. Robert Odaniell (ΒΝ, SIU – Carbondale ’51). He presented the concept in 1961 at the Grand Council retreat in St. Louis, Missouri. During the 26th Biennial Convocation in French Lick, Indiana, the Grand Council presented the ﬁrst Founders’ Awards to Byron R. Lewis (Α, Vincennes / Φ, Illinois ’05), Curtis G. Shake (Α, Vincennes ’06) and Robert W. VanHouten (ΑΜ, NJIT ’30).

Sherdrick Deon Bonner Considered one of the greatest players in Arena Football League history, Sherdrick Bonner signed with the Chicago Rush after playing his entire 14-year career with the Arizona Rattlers. He signed a two-year contract through the 2009 season on October 30, 2007. He enters the 2008 season ranked second in AFL history in passing touchdowns (829) and third in passing attempts (5,268), completions (3,261) and yards (40,979).

Bonner has been named Game MVP 41 times and Offensive Player of the Game 19 times. He signed with Arizona Cardinals in the fall of 1999 … was a member of both the team’s active roster and practice squad before being claimed by the San Diego Chargers for the ﬁnal three games of the 1999 season. He signed to the Atlanta Falcons practice squad in November 1998 and was a member of the Falcons team that played Denver in Super Bowl XXXIII in Miami … released by Atlanta during training camp in 1999. Bonner signed a free agent contract with the Miami Dolphins in the spring of 1995 and attended off-season workouts with the team … was released by Miami in June 1995.

He completed 17 of 19 passes for 348 yards and 9 touchdowns and was named Offensive Player of the Game in a 83-69 win April 20 at Utah. College Career: Sherdrick was a four-year letterwinner (19861990) at California State University – Northridge, completing 319 of 637 passes for 3,533 yards and 18 touchdowns in 37 career games. Bonner was named honorable mention All-Western Football Conference as a senior in 1991. He played basketball as a freshman and sophomore and ran track and played volleyball as a senior. Sherdrick Deon Bonner was born October 19, 1968 in Los Angeles ... Sherdrick and his wife, Lindsay, live in Lakewood, CO during the off-season.

2007 Season: Sherdrick enjoyed one of the best seasons of his career, completing 316 of 498 passes (63.5%) for a career-high 4,036 yards and 83 touchdowns, while only throwing 13 interceptions in 14 games for Arizona.

He received a Bachelor of Science degree in kinesiology from California State University-Northridge in May 1991. He was a teammate of current Philadelphia Soul QB Tony Graziani with the Atlanta Falcons.

He named Offensive Player of the Game for the fourth time June 3 at Las Vegas, completing 19 of 31 passes for 243 yards and 5 TDs without throwing an interception. Bonner won his third Offensive Player of the Game award May 3 vs. Austin after completing 26 of 38 passes for 333 yards and 6 TDs.

Bonner was inducted into the Cal-State Northridge Athletic Hall of Fame in1998.

Nelson Farris Nelson Farris was born and raised in Long Beach, California where he participated in football, baseball, basketball, track and cross country. Educated at schools

never more than 2 miles from his home, Nelson attended Long Beach State University and graduated in 1969 with a degree in “Public Address”, better know as Communications, today). After graduation from college, he served 6 years in the United States Marine Corps, Air Wing Reserve, during the Viet Nam era. After a couple of attempts at working in the real world, including an attempt at running his own “Nike Only” business, Nelson went to work for Nike corporate ofﬁces. What would begin a 35year relationship, on January 29, 1973, Nelson started selling and promoting Nike athletic shoes out of the trunk of his car. During this time, he also managed two small Nike owned retail stores in So. California.

Corporate Consultant in various areas. He travels the globe educating the current and future clients on the Nike culture and values of the organization. Nelson sits on various Nike committees that oversee the purchase and acquisition of companies, strategic planning for marketing of new and existing brands, and helps support the new Nike Archives division with gathering donations of historical Nike brand. He also sits on the African-American and NativeAmerican networks at Nike. He was employee hire #27 and currently ranks as the 2nd oldest tenured employed, after company owner, Phil Knight. Married for over 40 years, Nelson has three great kids (because of a great wife) who all live in the Paciﬁc Northwest. One son, U of O grad, works for Nike, married with two children, four and a

future Sigma Pi, and a one year old daughter.

Senator Tim Leslie Elected to Assembly District 05 in 1986 –1991 Elected to Senate District 01 in 1991 – 2000 Elected to Assembly District 04 in 2000 – 2006 Assemblyman Tim Leslie is honored as the “Dean of the Legislature,” the most senior member in both of California’s legislative houses. In almost twenty years of elected service, Leslie has blended strong conservative principles with a willingness to work with people of all perspectives to solve California’s deepest challenges. Leslie is the Legislature’s trail-

safety, and protect the family. In 2002, he authored the Text Messaging Anti-Spam Act, which outlawed sending “spam” to cell phones and pagers. In 2003, he authored nationally-recognized legislation to guard information on automotive black boxes. Since then, Leslie has collaborated with legislatures in Alaska, Maryland, Massachusetts, New York, North Dakota, and Toronto to enact similar measures. In 2004, he was principle co-author of the law banning spyware in California. Cutting edge technology laws Leslie authored have also increased penalties for identity theft, criminalized cyber-stalking, prevented unauthorized examination of taxpayer records, and restricted telemarketers’ access to children’s information. In 2003, the Center for Digital Governance honored Leslie for his visionary leadership in “shaping

And the rest: 1978: moved to Oregon to direct the Running program. 1981: moved to Holland to help open the European ofﬁce and to start the European promotion program. 1983: moved back to the US to help run the ’84 Olympic program in Los Angeles. 1984-1994: many different jobs (screen printing start up, Entertainment marketing manager, EKINs, etc.). It was a volatile growth period in Nike’s corporate history.

- Mark Parker, President and CEO, Nike, Inc. seven years old future members of Sigma Pi. Second son, U of O grad, married, one child on the way, teaches sixth grade math and science in Wilsonville, OR, and his daughter, U of Washington grad, married with a four year old

blazer in addressing the technology and privacy issues of the information age. He also champions efforts to restore California’s economy, reform education and health care, strengthen public

California’s digital landscape.” To improve education, Leslie designed the bi-partisan “School Accountability Act of 1997.” He also co-authored the “Class Size Reduction Act,” limiting the

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1995-present: Started the Internal Communications Department, the new Customer Service dept, etc and currently splitting time between two projects: Director of Corporate Education in HR with a focus on employee education and development and serving as a

Nelson has done just about every job you can do in his 35 years at Nike. He started out selling shoes out of the trunk of his car. Today he is the keeper of the flame for the new generation of Nike that extends around the world. I’ve known Nelson my whole life at Nike, and I can truly say that his contributions have had a huge influence on Nike becoming the company it is today. In fact, Nelson is the first and only Nike employee ever to be “knighted” by our chairman. That makes him the only person at Nike who gets addressed as “sir.” He deserves it.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

number of children per K-3 classroom to 20. Leslie also enacted legislation to protect our children by prohibiting sex-offenders from ever attaining a teaching credential. Advancing access to quality health care, Leslie co-authored legislation to cut prescription drug costs for seniors. He designed the “Leslie-Davis-Figueroa Medical Accountability Act” to require physician review of every HMO decision to deny, delay, or terminate a patient’s care. Among Leslie’s other landmark reforms is the “Brady Jared Teen Driver Safety Act of 1998.” This legislation created California’s widely praised graduated driver’s licensing program for young drivers. It has cut fatalities and injuries among 16 year-old drivers by 23% since its inception. In 2004, Leslie worked with Governor Schwarzenegger to create California’s historic Sierra Nevada Conservancy. This Conservancy will protect the region’s natural treasures and aid economic development. It provides local residents an unprecedented voice in shaping the Sierra’s future. That same year, Leslie successfully carried legislation to ban tobacco products in state prisons. This legislation served as a model to enact a similar law in Illinois. Since 2002, Leslie has led the initiative to expand access for people with disabilities and help educate businesses about access issues in order to curtail access-related lawsuits. A wide array of organizations have recognized Leslie as “Legislator of the Year,” including the California Black Chamber of Commerce, Regional Council of Rural Counties, the California School Board Association, the Sacramento Taxpayers’ League,

Women in Timber, the Safari Club, and the California Probation Ofﬁcers. The California Chamber of Commerce has honored Leslie for having “one of the best voting records in the Legislature.” In 2004, Leslie received a perfect rating from the California Taxpayer’s Association. In recent years, Leslie has taken a deep interest in renewing California’s most challenged communities. To this end, he and Senator Ray Haynes founded the Community Renewal Summit in 2000. Every year, this event provides hundreds of local leaders with skills and resources for renewal of their communities. Born in Ashland, OR in 1942, Leslie moved to California as a child. He attended Arcadia High School and went on to earn a degree in Political Science at CSU, Long Beach, and an MA in Public Administration from the University of Southern California. In 1964, Leslie and his wife Clydene moved to Northern California, where he began work in local government and private enterprises. Prior to entering public service, Leslie was a founding director for the community-based organization, Community Action Against Drug Abuse Task Force. Governor George Deukmejian appointed Leslie in 1985 to the State Advisory Board on Drug Programs. Leslie was ﬁrst elected the Assembly in 1986, and to the Senate in 1991.

Edward J. Panconi Ed Panconi joined Sigma Pi as a Founding Father pledge in 1981. In April of 1982 he and 50 of his brothers became mem-

bers of Epsilon-Sigma at Loyola Marymount University. Ed was very instrumental in the chartering process and social activities for the chapter. After graduation in May of 1984 he was asked to help with the colony at Santa Clara University where soon after he became Chapter Director. During his time as Chapter Director of Zeta-Eta, the chapter won numerous awards including two Grand Sage Awards. In 1986, he was appointed Province Archon for Northern California where he helped establish chapters at UC Davis, University of Reno, Sacramento State University and Cal Poly San Luis Obispo. In 1986, he attended his second Convocation in Washington D.C. where he was elected to the board of trustees of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. Ed continued his Chapter Director and Province Archon efforts with Zeta-Eta along with being a Trustee. In 1988 he became the liaison to the Grand Council. His leadership in California was acknowledged when Ed was presented with a Lyle Smith PA award at the 1988 convocation. At the Chicago Convocation in 1990, Ed was elected to the Grand Council as Grand Herald. Being a strategic planner, Ed, along with the other members of the Grand Council, developed the ﬁrst strategic plan for the Fraternity. Ed’s term on the Grand Council was characterized by his leadership and implementation of the strategic plan. As the Fraternity and the Foundation evolved in the 1990s, Ed was very instrumental in guiding the transition of both organizations. In 1998 at an NIC meeting, Ed, along with Don Cox, discussed the concept of Sigma Pi University. Upon his return from the meeting

where he met many fraternity leaders, Ed outlined the beginning concepts of SPU. Having such a strong belief in education, he presented the idea to Tony Siress who decided to make the largest single donation to assist in the development of Sigma Pi University. In 2000 Ed was elected Grand Sage. In 2004 Ed left the Grand Council and was elected to the Educational Foundation where he served as Vice Chairman of Administration until he retired in August of 2007. Ed Panconi is a seasoned business executive with over 22 years of business experience and 14 years of experience in managing multi-million dollar companies. He is a skilled motivator and leader who believes enthusiastically that teamwork is an essential ingredient to business success. Ed is General Manager of the Southern California Division of CleanSource, Inc. CleanSource is a distributor of chemicals, paper and equipment to businesses in California. Ed attended Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles where he graduated with a Bachelor of Arts degree. He has completed executive management classes from one of the most highly regarded schools in Europe, IMD, in Lausanne, Switzerland. He enjoys volunteering and is currently the Chairman of the Administration Commission for Holy Family Church in South Pasadena, a Board Member of Delores Mission School in Boyle Heights and Chairman of Bellarmine College Preparatory’s Los Angeles Alumni Group. He has also served as President of Loyola Marymount University’s Alumni Association and National President of Sigma Pi Fraternity. Ed, along with his wife and son, live in Pasadena.

NEWS FROM

ALUMNI

Gamma-Upsilon Alumni, Murray State, at the Jennings Cabin

Alumni Volunteers Form 1897 Alumni Association

The 1897 Alumni Association will establish a series of standing committees to support alumni volunteer development, com-

At their first meeting, the group ratified a Constitution and Bylaws and elected its first Board of Directors, who in turn elected the executive officers: President - Joe Turck, Central Missouri PA Vice President - Jason Beck, South Atlantic PA Treasurer - Derick Rheaume, Eta-Eta CD Secretary - Adam Swope, Zeta-Alpha CD Director - Paul Ke, Delta-Zeta CD Director - Jay Vaden, Texas PA Director - Christian Miele, Keystone PA

Director - Shea Stickler, Arizona PA Director - Paul Gorman, Delta-Epsilon CD

The 1897 Alumni Association plans to petition the Grand Council for chartering in time to participate at the 2008 Convocation in Long Beach, CA this summer. Any alumni volunteers interested in joining should contact President Joe Turck at cmopa@sigmapi.org or 618-420-3453 for more details.

Gamma-Upsilon Alumni May 4, 1968 Gamma-Upsilon Chapter was installed on the campus of Murray State University. Gamma-Upsilon came to the campus as a colony with active members, Tom Johnson and Steve Miller. Later, they were joined by active transfers John Schroeder and Ted Trenholm. The chapter quickly grew and initiated an Alpha Pledge Class of 56. July 19, 2008 Gamma-Upsilon will be celebrating our 40th

anniversary on the campus of Murray State University. Celebration activities include an Alpha Pledge Class reception, Brotherhood Memorial Golf Tournament, Charter Re-Dedication ceremony, and Active/Alumni Softball game. If you would like more information about the weekend activities, Hotel Reservations, or Golf Tournament Entry, please contact Tex Shellhart – Alumni Relations – Sigmapialumni@hotmail.com

Alumus Updates David Foy is the policy director for Florida Gov. Charlie Crist’s administration. Dave earned his Master of Public Administration degree from Florida State in 1995. Tyler Reeve has just released his ﬁrst CD: “Whiskey Down” (Tyler Reeve/BMI). Tyler earned his Bachelor of Science degree in international affairs from Florida State in 2004, and was featured in the Emerald previously.

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At the 2008 Mid-Year Leadership Conference, twenty-four Brothers formed a new alumni association aimed at serving current and former alumni volunteers. The new organization – called the “1897 Alumni Association” – is the ﬁrst Sigma Pi alumni association focused on bringing together alumni volunteers for the betterment of the fraternity and its members. Membership is open to Sigma Pi alumni serving or having served the Fraternity in a volunteer capacity following graduation including: Chapter Directors, Province Archons, Advisory Board Members, Housing Corporation Members, Faculty Advisors, etc..

munity service, professional/social networking, and association membership. The Association has already begun to receive inquiries by prominent alumni volunteers wishing to join and has received support from the fraternity’s Grand Council, Educational Foundation and Executive Ofﬁce.

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UCLA alumni Caption coming....

Alpha-Omicron, school, alumni caption coming...

jacob’s story by Grand Sage Larry Rovira

Monday Night Football is a typical male rite of passage that I have experienced most my life. Monday, October 15, 2001 was expected to be no different, even though a month earlier we witnessed the worst terrorist attack on United States soil when the World Trade Towers were destroyed. So, in light of the times, my chapter brothers decided we needed to get together for something positive and “All-American” – NFL football. When we found out that one of our brothers, Robert Murvin, was going to be in town from Texas on a business trip we had our excuse. Michael Brown coordinated our fraternity roommates to arrive at our favorite college bar, Off Campus in Fullerton, California, for the 6 p.m. kickoff when the Dallas Cowboys were hosting the Washington Redskins. Attending along with Robert and Michael, were Scott Fitch, Robert Moore, Mike Zimmerlee, Michael Uraine, Ernie James, Forest Werner, Michael Gardner, and myself. This is the core group of chapter brothers that share my story of fraternal understanding.

I arrived home to a sleeping family and was into my ﬁrst two hours of sleep when my wife woke me up to inform me her water broke and she was having contractions. As I frantically stumbled from bed, I grabbed my wife’s overnight bag, and my warm clothes for the cold hospital room. I was able to wake up a next door neighbor to watch my daughters, Mikayla and Alexandra, then speed down the 57 Freeway and make it to St. Jude’s Hospital in a record setting 16 minutes. Having our third child,

My wife’s contractions lasted over 20 hours, while pushing for at least four of those hours. Our doctor insisted that everything was alright with the baby and that this is normal, but I knew better. With seven family members in medicine, I knew something was not normal. Soon, our OBGYN happened upon us at the hospital making her rounds and came into our room. At that moment, the baby’s heart monitor was showing stress and our OBGYN said after such a long labor we had limited options. We were explained what the situation was, and that we needed to go into emergency surgery to deliver and save our baby. From that moment, everything was a blur. Theresa was whisked away into surgery, and I was told to scrub, get dressed into surgery room garb, and take a seat. My heart was racing, and I was out of breath. I had little time to tell my parents and in-laws of the situation, let alone any complications which I was in the dark on. All I knew was that my family was in a situation where I could possibly lose my best friend, my spouse, and my unborn child, all in a matter of minutes. Even though my wife was under local anesthesia, she was quite aware of what was going on. When the baby was born, he did not cry. My wife frantically screamed, “Why isn’t he crying? What’s wrong?” She pleaded with me to answer her, “What’s wrong with our baby? Why isn’t he crying?” But I could not ﬁnd any words to express what the doctor was explaining to me after he showed me our son. My son, Jacob, was born full-term on October 16th. The name Jacob comes from the Bible and means “Replace” - to take the place of something, especially something much used, inferior, outmoded, or irrelevant. And in the Bible, Jacob was the father of the 12 Founders of the Tribes of Israel. Other theories claim that it is in fact derived from a hypothetical name like Ya’aqov’el meaning “may God protect.” Theresa and I felt that

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Around 8 p.m., I sat across from Scott and discussed if we should order another round. With my wife, Theresa, being pregnant and due at any time, and Scott having a late softball game that night, we both agreed to pass and be the designated drivers for the evening. For the rest of the game the 10 brothers shared old chapter stories, and current business successes. At the end of the night, we embraced one another and stated, “We have to do this again- real soon!” And how soon those words would come back to visit us.

the routine was automatic. My wife being a strong, positive and patient woman was coaching me to take my time. “Everything is ﬁne,” she said.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

PGS John Merino proclaims him “The Miracle Child.”

this name was ideal for our son due to the dramatic birth and the feeling that God had given us a present to cherish. The medical facts were given: weeks before his birth, Jacob suffered an intrauterine intracerebral hemorrhage. He was diagnosed with Hydrocephalus and a Ventriculoperitoneal Shunt was place at two days of age. He also was noted to be blind at this point. He later developed seizures at about 6months of age. His main diagnoses are: Hydrocephalus (right lateral ventricular bleed), Visual Impairment (delayed visual maturation, strabismus, and bilateral optic atrophy), and Cerebral Palsy (mild left spastic hemiplegia). During his ﬁrst ten days of life, Jacob had to be transported to Children’s Hospital of Orange County OC), while Theresa recovered from major surgery at St. Jude’s, 9-miles away. Without the help and support of my fraternity

brothers from Fullerton, I could not have managed between both hospitals and the decision making process. Scott Fitch sent his wife, Melissa, to sit and be with me, bringing me a new change of clothes that fit perfectly. It still amazes me today that Scott can pick out an entire outfit, from undergarments to shoes, from shirts to pants, and have it fit perfectly- let alone match. Mike Uraine would drive down from the University 8-miles away, and sit and wait until the doctors made me leave the hospital, then follow me to St. Jude’s to see Theresa, and then follow me to Chino Hills to make sure I made it home safe and alert. He then would have to drive 45-minutes just to get home himself. Robert Moore took care of our apartment business, Michael Brown notified the inner-circle, and the list goes on. The dedication, prayers and support from these men reflect the strong character they derived from our fraternity.

Over the next 4-years, Jacob, Theresa and I would spend an average of 80 days a year in the hospital with 20 visits each year, almost 25% of Jacob’s life at the time. His medical bills tallied over $2 million dollars. We survived two near-death experiences and the giving of my son’s Last Rites. Today he is a vibrant, young six-yearold who will start ﬁrst grade in the fall. PGS John Merino proclaims him “The Miracle Child.” To this day, I am still moved by the effects of my son’s birth. I cannot talk about the events of those ﬁrst 10-days without crying or getting emotional. Over the course of 4-years, Jacob had survived 12 surgeries, with four being on his brain. The love and support of my chapter brothers during such tough times lives with me to this day, and I owe them a great deal of gratitude for watching over me as a true brother and friend. Theresa and I were given a very

special present on October 16th, 2001. This present was wrapped in the spirit of our son, Jacob, who “God will protect”, and who will “replace” our kindred spirits with a new love, a new joy, and a new respect for our brotherhood. For without that day’s events, I would not have traveled a journey to fully understand the depth of love of my fraternal brothers.

If you, a family member, or a fraternity brother has a similar story and need help, here are some websites to research more information on these subjects. 4www.hydrocephalus.org 4www.hydroassoc.org 4www.cerebralpalsy.org 4www.ucp.org 4www.brailleinstitute.org 4www.catholicblindinstitute.org 4www.vips.org 4www.strabismus.org 4www.choc.org

A Swing at Spring Training with Alumnus Rich Herrera by Adam Dibble

One of our nation’s favorite pastimes comes full swing in the spring, similar to the officer transition within our own organization. As spring training prepares rosters, sets team goals, and creates team unity, officer transition sets chapters up for a successful year and establishes the new leadership of each chapter. I recently had the opportunity to check out spring training firsthand while interviewing Alumnus Rich Herrera. Brother Herrera, wife Elizabeth, and (future Sigma Pi brother) son Rigney opened their St. Petersburg home to me for a week during the 2008 Grapefruit League spring training in Florida. Although I attended five games (4 MLB and 1 Little League) in as many days and had behind the scene and on field access to games, I also had a great time with the Herrera’s and enjoyed the St. Petersburg restaurants and nightlife. Brother Herrera returned this year for his third season on the Rays Baseball Network. His duties include host of the Pregame show both home and away, plus post game players and coach interviews, along with hosting the post game show. Rich went to the Rays Baseball Network from Fox Sports, where he was a national talk show host for the Fox Sports Radio Network based in Los Angeles, and later as a host and program director for Fox Sports Radio in Arizona. Rich is one of the most experienced and versatile radio broadcasters in the nation. Prior to working at Fox Sports, Herrera worked in the booth for the Oakland Athletics as their post game show host for the 1998, 1999, and 2000 season. Herrera was a talk show host at KNBR in San Francisco in 1996 and 1997 hosting the evening talk show, and hosting the post game talk shows for both the NBA’s Golden State Warriors, and the San Francisco Giants. He has worked in Los Angeles as a talk show host a KMAX, and KWNK. Rich has extensive experience on national radio as well. For the past four seasons Herrera has been a member of the Sports USA Radio football crew working as a sideline reporter for their syndicated NFL and NCAA national broadcasts. He has also hosted nationally syndicated daily talk shows on Fox Sports Radio, Sports Fan Radio (based in Las Vegas & New York) and Prime Sports Radio (based in Dallas). He has covered virtually every major sport, in addition to his MLB duties over the years. He has covered the Super Bowl, Rose Bowl, Fiesta Bowl, Insight Bowl, Independence Bowl, Champs Sports Bowl, East West Shrine Bowl, and the NFL draft. He has also worked in the NBA covering the Golden State Warriors, the Los Angeles Lakers, and the LA Clippers. He has covered Pac10 football and basketball, and the PGA, the National Hockey League, and many championship boxing matches.

In addition to his on air work for the Rays, Rich works full time in the Rays Marketing and Broadcasting Department as the Rays Director of Radio Operations, running the Rays statewide radio network. continued on next page

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Herrera attended California State University, Bakersﬁeld where he was initiated into the Zeta-Kappa chapter. The Salinas, California native lends his support to many causes and charities year long, including the Children’s Miracle Network. He has also served the Fraternity as an advisor to the Sigma Pi chapter in Arizona.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

How would you explain your family life when you were growing up? I grew up in Salinas, California, a few hours south San Francisco. I have a younger brother and sister. My kid brother Marc is 8 years younger than I am, but I would go get him from school sometimes when we needed an extra player for intramurals for the Sigma Pi team we had. My dad was a police ofﬁcer and my mom worked for the state. College was not something we really thought about growing up, since no one in family really went to a university until one of my mother’s younger brothers went to college when I was in grade school. I paid my way through school by washing dishes, waiting tables, and tending bar. What’s your family life like now? I have a family of my own now, I have been married to my wife Elizabeth (University of Miami – GDI) she is a huge sports fans

who teases me she only married me for the baseball tickets. I have one son Rigney (who says he is going to be a Sigma Pi at the University of Arizona one day if he does not got to West Point). He is almost eight years old, and has been coming around the fraternity since he was 3 or 4 years old. He proudly wears his FUTURE SIGMA PI shirt to events. This year we went to University of Florida for Alumni weekend and hung out with the guys playing hoops and Frisbee. I have taken him to James Thompson Kingsbury’s grave in Bisbee and he knows many of the guys I went to school with. He loves when brothers stay at the house with us. He often asks me if he gets to live in the Sigma Pi house when he goes off to college and if his mom and I are going to live with him in the house. I tell him I will help him pay for school if he pledges Sigma Pi, and if he does not, well he can let me know where he will be!

Brother Herrera interniews ABC reporter Sam Donaldson

There is an interesting story about who your son is named after, will you share that? When my wife told me we were going to have a baby, we agreed if it was a boy I could name him something baseball and it was a girl she could pick but we both had veto power. I came home with Yogi, Willie and bunch of other names, which she vetoed. I was in working for the Oakland A’s at the time, and I was waiting by the press box elevator and Bill Rigney walked up to me. Bill Rigney is a baseball icon, he played for the old New York Giants for Leo Dorocher, and he was the last Manager of the New York Giants, and the ﬁrst manager of the San Francisco Giants when they moved out west. He was also the ﬁrst manager of the Angels and later manager of the year with the Twins. I mean this was Willie Mays’ manager, for goodness sake. Well, he asked me who I was and I told him my name, and he said he liked listening to me on the

way home and that I was a good baseball man. In my mind that is greatest compliment anyone in this game could ever give me. So I asked my wife if Rigney might work and she said yes. So he goes by other Rigney or Rigs for short. Brother Rigney has a great sound to it I think. Why did you choose Sigma Pi when you were in college? I really did not know anything about what college was going to be like and knew nothing of Fraternities other than the movie Animal House. I went to twoweek orientation course to help freshman get ready for college with my best friend from High School Wes Lum. I saw posters for Sigma Pi in the hallways, and met a few brothers who invited us to a rush party. We both went and I loved it. The party was great the guys were great, and I really hit it off with the other guys who were going through rush. Ken Ernest was the rush chairman and I thought he was really cool. I was 17 at the time and my parents were not very excited of me pledging. I went through it and it was one of the best choices I have ever made in my life. I gained the conﬁdence that most teenagers struggle through as an adolescent. Although I was a lousy student, I really learned life lessons that made the person that I am today. Other than my parents, being a husband and a father nothing has had more of inﬂuence than Sigma Pi. The only reason I got into sports was because of a joke played on me by Dave Zulfa who I was in the house with. He played a joke on me that led to my getting a job in radio. So if it were not for my Sigma Pi brother I might be doing something completely different today. The best thing today is my mom and dad keep in contact with some of the brothers

radio network. I also do work for the Sports USA Radio Network as a sideline reporter on the networks NCAA and NFL broadcasts.

What positions did you have while an undergraduate member of Sigma Pi?

My days are long during the season. I take my little guy to school in the morning by 8 30 and try to get into the gym and get in 45 minutes of cardio everyday. Then come into the office at Tropicana Field. I work in the front office for the club year round. On home game days I usually go down on the field for batting practice around 4 pm or so after finishing up my office work and watch BP and talk to the players on our team to see what is going on that day. I tape a short interview with one of our guys or someone from the other team for our pre game show each day. I do the pre and post game shows from a sports bar in the ballpark for home games. After I get done with the post game show, which lasts an hour, I get home around mid night or so. So I go seven days a week for about

I was a ﬂake and goofball in school. Every chapter has one, but the guys were nice enough to let me be rush chairman, I was First Counselor, and a founding father. I was also real involved in College Republicans as well. There were quite a few members of Sigma Pi through out the state that were in CR leadership and we would have quite a time at statewide meetings. What are you current jobs, and what are your duties and responsibilities? Today I am the Director of Radio Operations for the Tampa Bay Rays as well as one of the Rays radio broadcasters. I host the Rays pre/post game shows and do in game updates and interviews as well as running our statewide

Will you walk me through a typical game day?

70 hours a week during the season. When the team is on the road I’ll run home around 5:30 or so and change clothes and come back to the ballpark and do the pre and post game shows from Tropicana Field. Most nights my wife and son will bring me dinner and we eat our family dinner in the empty stadium. Once baseball is done I will begin leaving every weekend for football on top of the Monday through Friday workweek. Once spring training gets going I will work every day from March until the New Years day bowl games with maybe for or ﬁve days off in that 10 months between the two gigs. I love it and have a very supportive wife who helps me get through the seasons. You have a few jobs all sports related, when you are not working what do you like to do with your free time? Free time? Wow I don’t know what that is like. During the baseball season, my only real free time is Saturday morning if we have a night game, so I try and

do something special for my son, taking him somewhere doing something with him. During the baseball off-season we try and go to Disney as much as we can. I try and take my family on one football road trip a year so we can spend time together. You have literally interviewed hundreds of college and professional athletes, who is your favorite athlete/athletes and why? Wow that is a tough one. I have a lot of friends in the broadcasting world and there are many athletes that I both like and admire. Here with the Rays I think that Carlos Pena and James Shields are great guys both on and off the ﬁeld. They are the kind of guys who would have been great fraternity brothers. Don Zimmer is with the Rays and I get to sit around and talk baseball with Zim and that is wonderful. When I was sports talk show host in San Francisco Dwight Clark walked up to me and asked if I was Rich Herrera and when I said yes, he

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from my undergrad days. In fact one of the brothers Mondo Cruz stayed with my folks on a trip to Bakersﬁeld and had a party for his little girl at my parent’s house and I was not even there.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

said he wanted to meet me, I said come one you’re the guy who made THE CATCH and you want to meet me, mind blowing. When I was in Tucson working for Fox I became friends with Sugar Ray Leonard, come on, this is Sugar Ray champion of the world and we are playing golf. I began having Bob Golic as a guest on my radio show in LA and we became radio partners and he is now my son’s godfather. John Rooney of the St. Louis Cardinals is one of my best friends and we talk maybe two or three times a day. But the most impressive guy that I admire the most is Dusty Baker. He treats everyone the same no matter who they are, he treats the guy sweeping the parking lot the same as he would the owner of the ball club. That is why my son Rigney Baker Herrera he is named after three great men. Bill Rigney a true baseball man, Dusty Baker a true gentleman and my dad Joe Herrera who is the greatest man I know. What has been the highlight of your professional career? Well I don’t know. I have done radio from the World Series, and All Star game, the Super Bowl and from Big Vegas ﬁghts. I have worked with some of the greatest broadcasters in the business. I worked with Bill King who I grew up listening to and my ﬁrst year in San Francisco Jon Miller would toss to me for the post game show. That night I was trilled to be in

the booth to do the Giants post game show in 1997 and it was Millers first season as well. He goes to toss it to me and I look over and in the next booth is Vin Scully, and when Miller throws to me, I can’t say anything, I open my mouth and nothing comes out, for a few seconds I was so nervous. One time in Oakland I was in the press box and there was one fan who just hated me and he was standing under us on the concourse with a sign that read “RICH HERRERA IS A &%%@$$,” I did not know what to do, one of the White Sox announcers Hawk Haralson walked up as I just stared at the guy, and told me welcome to the big leagues kid, your not a big leaguer until they hold up a sign that says you suck. This last football season I had a chance to do some pretty cool stuff. I went to Green Bay to do a game at Lambeau Field. I got to do the big Florida at LSU game in Baton Rouge (I accidentally hit LSU coach Les Miles in the mouth with my microphone). I was trying to do the half time interview with Lloyd Carr’s half time interview at the Capital One Bowl this last year and he takes off running to I take off with him and I like behind me and behind us is the entire University of Michigan football team running on the field behind us. But the greatest moment was in Anaheim in 2005. It was my first chance to ever do play by play in the big

leagues. I got to fill in for one of our regular announcers. And what made is special is that my wife and son were in California visiting my mom and dad that week. I did a game in Texas the night before and then flew to Anaheim with the team. My mom, dad, wife and son met me in Anaheim for the game. Being able to look down from the booth and wave at them was one of the greatest moments any man can ever ask there. My parents made many sacrifices for their kids, and my wife and son support me in ways that I can’t even begin to comprehend, and to share that moment with them was more than anyone could ever ask for. There are many community service projects in your area, are there any projects specifically that you think stands out? What has your involvement been? This might be corny, but if you live your life by the Sigma Pi creed, the world would be a better place. “In the service of God and man” is more than just a line we memorize. My dad was a cop and always tired to help in the community. He started a Police Athletic League, was a Big Brother, and was forever trying to help people. When I fully understood what in the service of God and man really meant, I knew that I needed to give back for all the great fortune I have had in my life. I am really proud a program we have here with the Rays. I

host a child from Make a Wish and Children’s Dream Fund at the ballpark every Tuesday. We give tickets to the kids and their entire family. They come on the field for batting practice and get to meet all of our players and get autographs. The family gets to dine in the stadium club, and the child gets to throw out the first pitch. It is a great day for the family, as they get a break from the challenges they face everyday. But for me it is something even better. Most of the time I have to sneak away for a bit to get my composure because we all break down and cry at times when you see how special these kids and their families really are. For me it keeps everything in perspective. Maybe I had a bad day, I am dragging a bit, but in the grand scheme of things what I go through is nothing. So when you think about it by being the service of God and man, has help me defuse culture and develop character. While I am not in the league of the Mark Reed who was in the last Emerald, I am still pretty proud of what we do here for the kids. What is your favorite Sigma Pi experience/memory? There are quite a few but most I cant repeat here. I have lifelong friends who I would have never met for it not for Sigma Pi. We had quite a good time at the ZetaKappa chapter. But the world seemed to come full circle for me a few years ago. I was a founding father at Cal State Bakersfield

We are brothers and that is all that matters, diffusing culture,

What suggestions would you give alumni that were thinking about reengaging with Sigma Pi?

in 1985 and twenty years later I got to relive the thrill as my group guys at the University of Arizona became Theta-Pi chapter in 2005. As a chapter director it was a moment to stand back and share the day with those guys and their parents and feel the déjà vu of a chartering. I proudly have the paddle of the University of Arizona Sigma Pi house hanging on my wall at Tropicana Field. What things would you like to share with the Emerald readers about your lifelong Sigma Pi experience? There is a special moment that we have all felt as Sigma Pi brothers. It is that moment that you shake hands with a brother for the ﬁrst time. Before you slip him the grip you are strangers who have nothing in common, nothing shared, just strangers. Then the moment you greet him as a Sigma Pi all that washes away, and he goes from stranger who means nothing to you, to a brother with a

shared experience with even if you have a 30 year age gap, a difference of religion and faith, coming from different parts of the country, even if you never went school together, you now share that bond of true brotherhood. Marc “Bud” Wieser were chapter directors in Arizona. We have nothing in common, he likes music, I am into sports, he is very liberal, and I am very conservative, we have nothing in common, yet we are brothers who would do anything for each other. My wife laughs I would not be a friend with him since we have such little in common if we were not fraternity brothers, and she is right. We are brothers and that is all that matters, diffusing culture, makes life long friends. When you read the Emerald, what do you look for when you get it in the mail? I look for see what chapters are doing and I love the articles about alumni and what they have accomplished. One of the ﬁrst alumni

As an alumnus you have been very involved with Sigma Pi, what has kept you involved? I feel a deep debt to the fraternity and I think you got out of Sigma Pi what you put in as an active. You know the creed means a lot to me. It really is a road map of what we should strive to be as adults. It makes me feel good to pass on the ideals of Sigma Pi to a new generation of young men. Now there is more than that. As an alumni I have also relived some of my old college days with the guys, which is always fun. It helps me reconnect with guys I went to school with by looking them up and telling them stories of what was going on with the house I was helping.

I would like to see the undergrads and alumni around the country reach out to each other. I would like to see a day at each chapter designed for any local alumni to come by and reconnect with Sigma Pi, maybe a national holiday for Sigma Pi that we can all celebrate, bring our sons and show them what Sigma Pi is all about so when it is there time to choose a fraternity there is no doubt in their mind SIGMA PI ‘TIL I DIE!

Spring 2008 • www.sigmapi.org

makes life long friends.

I reached out to when I first got into sports was Marc Cresse who at the time was the Dodgers Bullpen Coach. I read about him in the Emerald as an active and when I went to Dodger games I would bring him Sigma Pi shirts from Zeta-Kappa. When I got my first press pass he was the first guy I saw the first time I walked into a big league clubhouse. I reached out and gave him the grip and felt a little bit better since there was a bro in the room.

There are two things I wish we would do a better job and that is reaching back and reaching forward. When I was in Arizona we found the gravesite of James Thompson Kingsbury in Bisbee Arizona, it was simple gravesite with his name and a Masonic symbol on it. I regret not being able to giving him a better headstone with a mention of the fraternity he founded a century ago. His grandson named James Thompson Kingsbury became a brother, but I would still like to see us pay tribute to the four founding fathers’ graves. Sometimes it is tough being an alumnus and knowing your place, while we all would love to be able to send huge checks to the fraternity but that is difﬁcult to do, so what is an alumnus to do to stay involved. It is awkward sometimes coming around the local chapter if you did not attend that school. If you remember what it was like being an undergrad sometimes you did not know what to do. So the alumni do not want to intrude and the undergrad does not know how to ask for help. The big thing to remember we are all brothers that are here for each other.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

34 ADYTUM

ON HIGH

ifts in memory of a brother of Sigma Pi are accepted by the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. Once a gift is received, a card of acknowledgement is sent to the donor and, if possible, a card announcing the memorial contribution is sent to the immediate family of the one remembered or person honored. Please contact the SPEF office (800) 332-1897, email: edfound@sigmapi.org

Arkansas - Alpha-Sigma

Thomas M. Dover ’72 8/11/07 Omar F. Greene ’50 10/29/92 Arkansas State - Alpha-Pi

Perry G. Stevens ’53 Auburn - Alpha-Delta

Thomas Pridmore ’44 4/13/06 Christopher Galvin ’91 11/19/06 John A. Gardner ’73 6/1999 Bobby E. Pierce ’55 12/23/08 California- Iota

Dion M. Cairns ’53 3/28/08 California-Santa Barbara - Alpha-Omicron

James B. Lindholm ’65 2/2008 Cal State-Long Beach - Beta-Omicron

Curtis L. Condon ’75 7/20/07 Columbus - Epsilon-Delta

Matthew S. Matty ’82 2/3/08 Drexel - Beta-Theta

Richard H. Valore ’54 2/11/08 Eastern Illinois - Beta-Gamma

Delbert Moncel ’58 11/23/06 John W. Snyder ’53 2/1/08 Emory - Psi

George Ricketson ’38 3/25/05 Illinois - Phi

Arnold Allen ’63 1/05 Indiana - Beta

John McMahon ’56 9/22/06 Indiana-South Bend - Delta-Tau

Kenneth J. Kovas ’78 1995 Iowa - Xi

Jay W Hamilton ’65 4/25/04 Jack M Fitz ’61 2/1975 Mississippi - Beta-Mu

Donald R. Thompson ’59 3/1/08 Mississippi State - Alpha-Lambda

Frank Scarborough ’49 3/26/06 Abner C. Harrison ’49 8/13/03

Missouri Southern State - Eta-Mu

University of Kansas - Beta-Delta

Billy McAnally ’06 7/31/06

John P. Kaiser ’51 9/10/07

NJIT - Alpha-Mu

Albert E. Ott ’44 2/10/08 New Mexico State - Beta-Xi

William Fiske ’36 9/19/05 North Carolina State - Rho

Willie Mayo ’57 9/89 Robert Kelly ’46 6-4-06 Eric M Gaddy ’74 Northern Illinois - Beta-Sigma

Mark E. Polic ’84 2/19/08 Ohio - Epsilon

Paul D. Holland ’74 mid 80’s Ohio Northern - Zeta

Harry Banks ’51 11/9/06 Pennsylvania - Delta

Edouard J. Revell ’37 1966 Penn State - Theta

Heinz G. Wolff ’60 4/2/08 Robert M. Maxwell ’33 Ralph B. D’Iorio ’43 3/2/08 Rochester Tech - Beta-Phi

Bernie Boston ’55 2007 Thomas S. Grabowski, Sr ’63 2/2/08 Saginaw Valley - Theta-Beta

Renato DiBartolomeo 12/14/06 San Diego State - Alpha-Omega

Selby Dalton ’54 San Jose State - Beta-Eta

Walter Ackemann ’57 2002 SIU-Carbondale - Beta-Nu

Hal J. Choisser ’56 10/08/05 Temple - Kappa

Timothy P. Susco ’03 8/15/07 UCLA - Upsilon

Jan Humble ’59 2/29/04 Jay M. Van Holt ’50 4/4/08 Erdie B. Eubanks ’38 11/1/88 Peter A. Veitch ’33 5/23/78

Utah - Pi

Frank C. Child ’41 1/25/08 Villanova - Zeta-Nu

Michael J. Ocone ’97 6/2007 Wake Forest - Alpha-Nu

Durward Hart, Jr. ’62 9/80 Washington - Alpha-Gamma

William Estep ’32 8/8/06 Wayne State - Gamma-Omega

Howard Cohn ’79 Michael Shepperd ‘72 Western Illinois - Epsilon-Zeta

Craig Glattly ’81 William and Mary - Alpha-Eta

Herbert V. Kelly ’41 2007

2 Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

Sigma Pi Educational Foundation to Honor Tracy Lawrence

held at the Governor’s residence in Little Rock, Arkansas. Brother Lawrence will be honored as the second recipient of the “Walter M. Schirra Leadership Award,” for his many accomplishments, not only in his music career, but for his philanthropic efforts and as a brother who exemplifies the ideals found in the Sigma Pi Creed. In honor of Brother Tracy Lawrence, proceeds from this dinner will benefit the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation Endowment and the Governor Mike Beebe Veterans fund, which was established to provide educational opportunities for wounded and disabled veterans, who have served in the “War on Terror,” regardless of affiliation with the Sigma Pi. The fund will also provide educational opportunities for the children of soldiers disabled or killed in action serving in the “War on Terror.” Attendees will be treated to an open reception at the Governor’s residence prior to the event, a dinner with brothers Tracy Lawrence and Governor Mike Beebe, prepared by the Governor’s chefs and the ceremony honoring brother Lawrence. Sponsors of the event will also be invited to take part in a private reception with the brother Tracy Lawrence and the Governor prior to the event.

On October 17, 2008, The Sigma Pi Educational Foundation will honor country music legend, brother, and Founder’s award recipient Tracy Lawrence (ΕΚ, Southern Arkansas University ’87) at a dinner to be

Seating for this event is limited to 220 attendees. If you would like more information about how you can be a part of this historic event as an event committee member, an attendee, an event sponsor, or would like to contribute to Governor Mike Beebe Veterans Fund please contact our President & Chief Development Ofﬁcer, Richard Robinson. He will be happy to assist you and can be reached toll-free at 800-332-1897 or by email at rrobinson@sigmapi.org.

We are only as strong

as the support of our Alumni

Become a member of the Brotherhood of the Gold Cross today. Your annual donation of $1,000 to the Educational Foundation will help insure the future of the Fraternity and its educational programs and scholarships for all Sigma Pi Brothers that follow.

Three Ways to . . . Make a Difference 1. Create an endowment.

or stock, or You can do this now with cash r fund will make later with an estate gift. You ducing income a lasting difference by pro purpose. every year for the stated

For more information, contact the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation: (800) 322-1897 • sigmapi.org

Sigma Pi Educational Foundation Annual Corporate Meeting Friday, August 1, 2008 2:30 PM Location: Hilton Long Beach Room: Paciﬁc 1 701 W. Ocean Blvd. Long Beach, CA 90831 Agenda: Corporation Report and Board member elections

Insuring the future for A New Generation of Leaders.

2. Leave a bequest.

Designate an amount or percentage of your estate for a sp ecific purpose or for unrestricted use. S uch gifts provide encouragement and al ways make a difference.

3. Give “obsolete” insurance.

You may no longer need the protection of a life insurance policy and can transfer ownership to the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation, thereby making a significant difference down the road and providing yourself with an income tax charitable deduction now.

For free, no-obligation materials on these and other ways you can make a difference at the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation, call our President and Chief Development Ofﬁcer, Richard S. Robinson at (800)332-1897 or visit our Web site at www.sigmapi.org.

Spring 2008 • www.sigmapi.org

Corporation Contact: President & Chief Development Ofﬁcer, Richard S. Robinson (800) 332-1897

Sigma Pi Educational Foundation

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

FROM THE

FOUNDATION

Foundation Volume V, Number 2 • Spring 2008 FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES Chairman Thomas A. Moore (ΓΡ, Western Michigan ’69) Vice-Chairmen Gary T. Dvorchak (Ξ, Iowa ’86) R. Todd Miller (ΕΤ, Tennessee – Martin ’87) Marc S. Saffren (ΗΛ, SUNY – Albany ’92) Allen W. Yee (ΑΦ, Georgia ’99)

Dear Brothers:

Moore

As we near the end of the Foundation’s ﬁscal year, I would like to take this opportunity to say “Thank You” on behalf of the entire Board of Trustees of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. It is only because of your generosity and dedication to Sigma Pi that we are able to provide much needed support to our undergraduate brothers. You donations help to ensure the future of great educational programs like the Mid-Year Leadership conference, and Sigma Pi University; programs that are designed to develop better leaders through personal & professional development training. Your contributions also support the production of educational materials such as the, “Study Guide for Academic Success”, which is given to every pledge along with his pledge manual. The Educational Foundation also provide funding of the Educational Leadership Consultant Program, various scholarships, and administrates chapter endowment funds. None of this would be possible without your generous support, and we can never say thank you enough for what you do for our Fraternity. As Sigma Pi continues to grow and we pass through our 111th year of fraternal brotherhood, your continued support is needed more than ever to insure the quality programming and scholarships that are provided through the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. Your contributions are tax deductible and are all very much appreciated. Thank you all, once again for your generous contributions over this past year. You ongoing support really does make a difference in the lives of our young Sigma Pi brothers.

Treasurer Clifford A. Wilke (ΔΖ, Missouri – St. Louis ’80) Secretary John J. Merino (ΒΟ, Cal State – Long Beach ’58) Trustees Donald J. Cox (Κ, Temple ’55) G. Mason Cozart (ΕΚ, Southern Arkansas ’83) David L. DeFilippo (ΕΝ, Cal State – Fullerton ’92) Kevin D. Farmer (ΒΝ, Southern Illinois-Carbondale, ’95) Brenan C. German (ΕΝ, Cal State – Fullerton ’91) John D. Kitch (Η, Purdue ’73) John J. McCann (ΑΜ, NJIT ’83) Larry P. Rovira (ΕΝ, Cal State – Fullerton ’85) Michael J. Simmons (ΕΝ, Cal State – Fullerton ’87) Jay M. Vaden (ΘΚ, Texas Tech ’03) Advisory Trustees Paul W. Hansen (ΒΤ, Valparaiso ’80) FOUNDATION STAFF President/Chief Development Ofﬁcer Richard Robinson (ΕΤ, Tennessee – Martin ’87) Managing Editor Adam L. Dibble (ΘΘ, Ferris State ’06) Administrative Assistant Jennifer R. Wyatt

Sincerely and Fraternally,

ADMINSTRATIVE OFFICES

Thomas A. Moore, Jr. Chairman Sigma Pi Educational Foundation

Sigma Pi Educational Foundation Post Ofﬁce Box 1897 Brentwood, TN 37024 Tel: (615) 373-5728 Fax: (615) 373-8949 Email: edfound@sigmapi.org Website: www.sigmapi.org

The Governor Mike Beebe Veteran’s Fund

Supporting Veterans and their Families

Helping Our Fraternity Build “A New Generation of Leaders”

Sigma Pi . . . United in Brotherhood . . . Giving back to those who serve . . .

For more information on how you contribute to the Governor Mike Beebe Veteran’s Fund, please contact Richard Robinson, President & Chief Development Ofﬁcer at 800-332-1897 or by email at rrobinson@sigmapi.org.

Foundation www.sigmapi.org • The ofﬁcial publication of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation • Spring 2008

Tracy Lawrence to be honored 4PAGE 2

SPEF Annual Corporate Meeting · Friday, August 1, 2008 - 2:30 PM · Hilton Long Beach To Parents/Guardians: Your son’s magazine is sent to his home address while he is an undergraduate in college. During this time we hope you enjoy reading about the true beneﬁts of Sigma Pi Fraternity. But, if he is no longer living at home or attending college, please send his new permanent address to: Sigma Pi Fraternity, P.O. Box 1897, Brentwood, TN 37024, or via email at emerald@sigmapi.org. Thank you.

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