Emerald_Winter_2007 by Sigma Pi Fraternity

EMERALD www.sigmapi.org • The ofﬁcial publication of Sigma Pi Fraternity • Winter 2007

Mike Beebe Among this Generation of Leaders GOVERNOR

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

FROM THE

GRAND SAGE

EMERALD

PUBLISHED SINCE 1911

Dear Brothers: Words are powerful. And three words, Sigma Pi Fraternity, through its alumni, have altered, elevated, and transformed our society and culture. We share in these words, as we share in their success. We are the care-taker of these words and we must further their meaning in North America. Today, as I write this Emerald article, is a historic day for all of us initiated into Sigma Pi Fraternity. It was exactly 110 years ago today that four young men committed their signatures and their ambitions to a new literary society at Vincennes University. That marked the founding of our Fraternity in North America and, today, February 26, 2007 marks our official 110th anniversary. Leadership, Scholarship, Service – three powerful words that are the essence of our great Fraternity. Words strategically placed together can be commanding, authoritative, influential, robust, controlling, crushing, forceful, persuasive, eloquent, moving, haunting, and impressive. Words have Grand Sage Rovira set people free, and words have forced nations to war. Words have motivated change. Three powerful words, such as leadership, scholarship, and service, have made a world of difference in over 86,000 people’s lives. Over the past six months, three strategically placed words have influenced our brotherhood and have fostered a new era within us all. Three simple, tactically timed words such as “Romo, you’re in,” “Congratulations, Mr. Governor,” and “Worthy Grand Sage” have individually impacted the lives of our membership, have influenced change in leadership within organizations, and have thrust our fraternal organization into society’s media spotlight. While sitting on the sideline during the Dallas Cowboys’ regular season, Tony Romo (ΒΓ, Eastern Illinois, ’02) heard from his offensive coordinator three words that changed him from a third-year, backup quarterback, to an all-star NFL quarterback. Brother Romo’s superior performance changed the momentum of a season and established him as a potential candidate for football’s hall of fame. In November, in a little town in Arkansas, Ginger Beebe leaned over to her husband, Michael Beebe (ΑΠ, Arkansas State, ’68) and whispered three words that changed the political background of the State of Arkansas, and transformed a small-town hero into one of the most influential governors in the United States. During our summer’s convocation in New Orleans, Past Grand Sage and Founders’ Award recipient Dr. Robert Burns (ΔΦ, Wisconsin - LaCrosse ’71) turned to me with enthusiasm and pride, and said three humbling words that only 41 other members of our brotherhood have shared. In a split second, the legacy created by four college students was handed off to me in order to grow and administer their wisdom. Over the past century, it’s our membership who has made our history so rich and our future so bright. As a volunteer of Sigma Pi Fraternity, I thank you for your role in building on our history and creating the legacy we will leave for the future. With that being said, we cheerfully ask you to reconsider your oath of loyalty to our great Fraternity and ask you to reengage with us as a volunteer and contributor. With over a dozen international committees, there is room for your participation. Committee Alumni Development Constitution & Bylaws Convocation Expansion Heritage Housing Legal NIC Parliamentarian Publications Ritual Scholarship & Standards Technology

Chairman Mr. Shea Stickler Mr. Craig Donnelly Mr. John Merino Mr. Nelson Farris Mr. Gary Schirmacher Mr. Bradley Phillips Mr. Christian Miele Mr. Addam Arrington Mr. Christopher Brown Dr. Robert Burns Dr. Alan DeSantis Mr. Erik Jollif Mr. Adam Russell Shores Mr. Michael Grant Mr. J. David Edwards, Jr. Mr. A. Bryce Carder

Email Contact AZPA@sigmapi.org CHLPA@sigmapi.org betaomicroncd@sigmapi.org nfarris@sigmapi.org gschirmacher@msn.com collinscottphillips@verizon.net etathetacd@sigmapi.org arrington@pilotmedical.net jukes10@aol.com robertlburns@bellsouth.net epsilonbetacd@sigmapi.org erikjolliff@gmail.com ghwb@hotmail.com MIPA@sigmapi.org jdedwards@sigmapi.org webmaster@sigmapi.org

VOLUME XCII, NUMBER 1 • WINTER 2007 EDITORIAL STAFF Adam L. Dibble (ΘΘ, Ferris State ’06) Managing Editor Mark S. Briscoe (ΑΠ, Arkansas ’82) Business Manager VOLUNTEER STAFF Adam Shores (ΔΨ, Troy ’98), Chairman John Kitch (Η, Purdue ’73) Jeffery Seay (ΗΕ, Florida State ’91) CONTRIBUTING WRITERS Peter Bolac (ΑΝ, Wake Forest ’06) Jim DiVita (ΖΜ, Michigan State ’04) Kyle Jackson (ΔΕ, Seton Hall ’06) Christian Miele (ΗΝ, Towson ’04)

Sigma Pi Fraternity was founded at Vincennes University, Vincennes, Indiana, on February 26, 1897. Sigma Pi has chartered more than 200 chapters in North America and has initiated more than 85,000 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

Please consider directly contacting one of our appointed chairmen in order to help grow our fraternal society, and give back to Sigma Pi Fraternity. We encourage you to email us and say three simple words, “Yes, I believe.” They are just three simple words, but they are three powerful words that have made Sigma Pi the amazing brotherhood it is today.

Member, North-American Interfraternity Conference

IST, Larry Rovira Grand Sage

Member, College Fraternity Editors Association

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[ WINTE R 2 0 0 7 ]

Sigma Pi + Facebook Penn College Charters Think higher thoughts Why is Miss Christine smiling? Governor Mike Beebe Sigma Pi Alumnus honored

departments 2

EXECUTIVE

NEWS FROM OUR

OFFICE NEWS

CAMPUS

NEWS FROM

ADYTUM

CHAPTERS

EXPANSION ALUMNI

ON HIGH

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Members of the Ritual Committee sport coats emblazoned with the Fraternity’s coat of arms. The coats were a gift from Ritual Committee Chairman Michael Grant. Pictured, left to right: Grant, Christian Miele, and John Santeramo.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

2 EXECUTIVE

OFFICE NEWS

Ritchie leaves to pursue career Sigma Pi thanks Greg Ritchie (ΔΖ, University of Missouri-St. Louis ’04) for his work and time as a member of the Executive Office staff. Ritchie joined the Executive Office after graduation, as part of the expansion staff. As an Expansion Consultant, Ritchie helped recruit new colonies, and developed those groups to full chapter status. Following his time in the expansion department, Ritchie was promoted to director of finance in 2006. As Director of Finance, Ritchie was responsible for day to day operational accounts and budgetary evaluation, as well as maintaining chapter balances. Ritchie left the Executive Office in February, and has moved back to the St. Louis area to pursue his career. We thank Brother Ritchie for his years of service and dedication to Sigma Pi by serving on the Executive Office staff and wish him the best of luck in his future endeavors. Fraternally,

News from the Communications Department How to submit photos: 4Traditional ﬁlm photos or digital images printed on professional photo paper work best. We cannot use digital pictures printed on your home printer or color copier. 4We can accept high-resolution digital images (above 300dpi) by email. These must be a .tif or .jpg ﬁles in PC (IBM) format. For best results, use a camera with at least 4.0 mega pixels set on its highest resolution setting (usually “for enlargements”).

members holding alcoholic beverages or making inappropriate gestures. Send your story ideas, pictures, and suggestions to: Sigma Pi Fraternity Attn: Emerald Post Ofﬁce Box 1897 Brentwood, TN 37024 emerald@sigmapi.org

4We can always use great photos of members wearing the Sigma Pi badge and letters. Keep your background as uncluttered as possible. Remember, we do not print any photographs that show

Mark S. Briscoe Executive Director

SIGMA PI UNIVERSITY • CAREER AND LEADERSHIP TRAINING

07.26-29

SPU Vanderbilt University • Nashville, Tennessee • Learn more at www.sigmapi.org

Sigma Pi + Facebook = The Ultimate Networking Tool As a recent graduate of Indiana University, Jeff DeMaria (Beta, ’04) believed that the Beta Chapter needed to take the lead and setup Facebook on a national level. Since the creation of the group by Jeremy Boyd (Theta-Lambda, Radford University ’04) Brother DeMaria has been organizing the largest Facebook group for Sigma Pi Fraternity since July, and today we have over 1,200 members. With over 86,000 members nationally we would like to see this number grow! Facebook is a social networking platform where chapters can share ideas about recruitment, philanthropy projects, brotherhood, and social events. Sigma Pi is one of the fastest growing fraternities in the country, and is chartering several schools per year. The expansion department can use your help when they are recruiting at new schools. By sending announcements for referrals you can assist in the process of making these connections. Photos can also be shared to show the strength of the brotherhood. Facebook is also a great way for alumni to find qualified candidates for positions in their companies, including part time student employment or careers in their receptive fields. The Sigma Pi Executive Office will also utilize the site to post information and updates.

Winter 2007 • www.sigmapi.org

If your chapter brothers are not in the group then send them a personal message with the link. If you are in charge of another Sigma Pi group make sure you send the link to all the members. Let’s get organized and expand the Facebook brotherhood connection today. Help us expand the brotherhood connection HTTP://INDIANA.FACEBOOK.COM/GROUP.PHP?GID=2204770875

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

4 NEWS FROM OUR Arkansas State Alpha-Pi Chapter Alpha-Pi concluded the summer and began the school year rather well. To begin the summer we had the Orchid Ball on May 3 in St. Louis where Brother Ben Graves received Brother of the Year. Our philanthropy chair, Matt Graham ’06, has begun planning work with the Girl Scouts of America, and with the SAM Spady Foundation. Our rush chairs, Jon Lareau ’05 and Ryan Ochsner ’05, just helped get twenty great guys to pledge. Auburn Alpha-Delta Chapter The brothers of the Alpha-Delta chapter are having another great fall at Auburn. The chapter had another successful rush and is looking forward to initiating this latest class of ﬁne pledges. The chapter is continuing its favorite philanthropy event; AdoptA-Pup drives for the Lee County Humane Society. The chapter will also hold blood drives for Life South, and participate in the Beat Bama Food Drive. The intramural football team had another strong season, and the brothers are looking forward to dominating again in intramural volleyball and bowling. The chapter’s cumulative GPA made the top ten for

Gamma-Tau brothers from Georgia Southern

CHAPTERS

fraternities at Auburn, and the brothers are striving to finish even higher in 2006-2007. It is the beginning of another great year and the brothers of Alpha-Delta are continuing to grow stronger, while saving some time for fun, tailgating, and Auburn football. Cal Poly Eta-Delta Colony Eta-Delta Colony became a formally recognized fraternity on campus at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo. Shortly afterward, we had our first social event, a barbecue, with the ladies of Kappa Alpha Theta. We have started our philanthropic contributions to the campus and community by volunteering for the campus Women’s Center. More recently, Eta-Delta Colony restructured its Executive Board. Greg Gonsalez was appointed the new Sage, Ray Truman the new Third Counselor, Mossimo Becker the new Fourth Counselor and Henry Phan the new Herald. On October 8th, the colony started an aggressive recruitment campaign, and is aiming to double in size by the end of Fall Rush. Cal State - Chico Theta-Mu Chapter Greetings from Theta-Mu. We just finished our rush week with grand

success. Even though Greek numbers were down in-general due to differed rush we were still able to acquire a diverse pledge class. We are the only social fraternity (non-multicultural) on campus that has a full ethnically diverse pledge class. Were happy to see that Sigma Pi is expanding into Oregon and the University California system, we look forward to seeing these new colonies thrive and invite them to join us anytime. Cal State - Dominguez Hills Eta-Iota Chapter We had an ongoing rush, resulting in several interests before welcome week on campus. They have experienced the strong brotherhood we have built over the years as our main foundation by attending our events. Our newly elected rush chairman has created a great line of events that will welcome our interest and make them feel right at home. Our chapter has been the dominant fraternity on campus since established in 1989; thus, we plan on staying on top and show why there are only two letters, one choice, and ZERO regrets! Congratulations to Alex Aragon and Paul Macatrao for being awarded with the Robert Hashimoto Scholarship during the 2006 school year.

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 September 10th deadline

Cal State - Long Beach Beta-Omicron Chapter After ending the past year on a high note by winning Greek week, Beta Omicron enjoyed a great summer. We had an amazing Orchid Ball in Laughlin, Nevada with a huge turnout. Congratulations to everyone on the Executive Council for winning an award. The fun continued in the Bayou with 11 of us traveling to New Orleans for Convocation. Again, Beta Omicron celebrated with another 800 Club award and Grand Council Award. But now, it’s back to school and back to reality. Rush has started and Sigma Pi has come out strong. With rush week still a few days away, our reputation with the new freshman is nothing but spectacular. By many Greeks, it has already been noted that we are rushing the best and smartest, and we are certain it will pay off in the end. Nick Frees, (Theta-Beta, Saginaw Valley State ’07) is crowned homecoming king for Saginaw Valley State University.

Undergraduates making a difference Become a member of the Delta Society today for a donation of $25 to the Educational Foundation and help to insure the future of the Fraternity and its educational programs and scholarships for all Sigma Pi Brothers that follow.

Carleton Eta-Rho Chapter Fall semester started off with a bang for Eta-Rho! It started with our annual Reece Scoﬁeld golf tournament during rush week, which alumni and actives get together to honor a fallen brother. The new executive board is in place and we are prepared for a stellar year. Rush went fantastic due to the efforts of the whole chapter and especially our rush chairmen Nick Bright and Ian Shepard. Congratulations to, Alex Sirois, who was chosen as chapter sweet-heart for Nu Sigma Pi Sorority. Tundra Bowl, our annual snow football tourney is coming up and all chapters are welcome and encouraged to attend. If we don’t see you at Tundra Bowl, have a great year from the brothers of Eta-Rho. Cornell

Insuring the future for A New Generation of Leaders. FOR MORE INFORMATION ON THE DELTA SOCIETY AND OTHER PROGRAMS, PLEASE CONTACT US AT (800) 332-1897 OR AT WWW.SIGMAPI.ORG/EDFUND

Drury Epsilon-Rho Chapter The brothers of Epsilon-Rho were thrilled after winning the Grand Sage’s Award. We received campus wide praise and congratulations for our awards. We had an outstanding Rush week and we couldn’t be happier with our new pledges. We have been very busy with philanthropic events. In mid September the brothers volunteered in the early hours of the morning at the annual MS-150 bicycle race. Epsilon-Rho continues to clean our adopted street which runs through the center of campus. The brothers of Epsilon-Rho held exchanges for each of the four sororities on campus congratulating them on their new members, the girls were extremely delighted and each sorority had a great time. The intramural season is underway and Epsilon-Rho is dominating as we strive to continue the dynasty of intramural championships. Things are looking better than ever and everyone is very excited to get back and have a great year. Eastern Illinois Beta-Gamma Chapter Beta-Gamma Chapter won its fourth intramural championship in ﬁve years, and the 2006-2007 school year looks to be another promising year. Our members are working hard to fundraise and ﬁnish preparations for the annual ACE Project that will be held at the end of September. We are ecstatic about this year’s special guest speaker. Erin Weed is an Eastern Illinois alumna who speaks to campuses all over the country teaching women ways to prevent attacks while also giving a self-defense lesson. She found her calling and started the “Girls Fight Back” program after a man broke into the home of her good friend and murdered her. The event should have a large turn out with an audience of continued on next page

Winter 2007 • www.sigmapi.org

Sigma Pi Educational Foundation

Mu Chapter Mu Chapter is extremely excited about the upcoming 2006-2007 school year. Our brotherhood is currently the largest at Cornell University, having just initiated 25 new brothers last spring. In addition, Homecoming weekend is shaping up to one of the best in Mu Chapter history, featuring our very own alumni band! Brotherhood efforts are maintaining maximum velocity

with a slew of events planned for the upcoming semester, including our second annual trip to a Buffalo Bills game. As expected, we are claiming sporting victories at every corner and we hope to bring back home the AllSport Champions title.

6 Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

C H A PTER NEWS

Brothers from Zeta-Epsilon chapter at Michigan Tech present a check from their haunted house fundraiser to local law enforcement.

women of all ages. Our recruitment chairs are working hard this fall to expand the numbers of one of the largest, oldest, and most successful houses on campus. Embry-Riddle (AZ) Epsilon-Phi Chapter Welcome back to all of our Brothers at the Epsilon-Phi Chapter! Our first week back at school has been a blast! With three out of the five positions on the Interfraternity Council. Sigma Pi we stands strong in the Greek community at our university! We have started RUSH, and we have tons of fun events planned. The first week in September we made a trip down to Mesa, Ariz., to float the

Eta-Pi brothers from Kutztown

Salt River! We had a great turn out, with alumni coming into town for this awesome event! We look forward to our “Homecoming/Octoberwest” Weekend; Oct. 19-21st, where Sigma Pi always has the most alumni come back for all the events. Emporia State Epsilon-Epsilon Chapter Epsilon-Epsilon spent much of the summer in Kansas City, Missouri working concessions for the Kansas City Royals to raise money for the chapter. The semester began with numerous recruitment events en route to signing eight new members. On September 1, brothers traveled to Manhattan, Kansas to sit in on the colonization of a new colony at Kansas State University. The chapter has already participated in an exchange with the Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority and is preparing for another with Chi Omega on September 14. Brothers also aided the Center for Student Involvement in setting up tables for the campus Activity Fair. Last fall Epsilon-Epsilon was awarded most outstanding community service as well

as most improved scholarship. Brothers hope to reclaim these awards as well as many others this semester. Fairleigh Dickinson Epsilon-Xi Chapter Upon settling in a large chapter house, we have organized and run two ACE Projects on campus before school even started. At FDU, we had a successful freshman move in day with entertainment for the new students. Also, we created a battle of the bands and info session for the upperclassman during their return to school. We look forward for our efforts to pay off greatly with new interest. Ferris State Theta-Theta Chapter The gentlemen at Ferris State University started the new school year off by basking in some of the glory of winning last years; Four Star Organization, Chapter Excellence, Most Improved Chapter, Diversity, Most Spirited, Bowling and Over-all Greek Week awards! With rush numbers expected to exceed ﬁfteen new members the chapter has put it’s focus

on making sure Sigma Pi remains the top fraternity on campus. The 5th annual Teeter-Totter-a-thon is ThetaTheta’s most publicized philanthropy event in the fall semester. Over $3,500 was donated last year and with local radio and news stations covering the event this year, a large contribution to the American Cancer Society should be achieved once again. This year the chapter is going back to its roots, by moving into the house we were chartered at 409 Michigan Ave. With the support and guidance of are newly forming alumni club, and with a great house and strong brotherhood there’s no limit to what we can accomplish. Florida Zeta-Zeta Chapter The Zeta-Zeta Chapter plans on building on our last successful biennium. With the right momentum and hard work, the Zeta-Zeta Chapter feels it can accomplish anything. With philanthropy like no other coming in spring 2007 a steady rise in GPA’s, and a strong brotherhood, we look forward to the next academic year and biennium.

annual winter fest party at the end of the semester. Hofstra Eta-Gamma Chapter The brothers of Sigma Pi at EtaGamma have prepared for their toughest semester yet. With 12 graduated brothers, our attempts for new recruitment are at an all time high. We greatly appreciate the help of other chapters and hope to ultimately reach our goal of 20 new members. We also have planned a number of philanthropy events that should take course in mid November. Thank you to everyone especially John Frost for all your help and support. Houston Theta-Nu Chapter During the week prior to Spring Break, the Theta-Nu Chapter of Sigma Pi conducted our ACE Project in front of the busiest place on campus. We were able to get together around 20 guys to spend the whole day handing out nearly 750 Sam Spady Cards and

Illinois Phi Chapter Phi Chapter has got back into the swing of a new semester with several well attended rush events. Some of these events include playing Frisbee in the South Quad then heading back to the house for Buffalo Wild Wings and Cosmic Bowling in the Union. Brother Mike Murphy is doing a great job as Rush Chair. We are also making plans for our ACE Project, in which we will bring the Save A Life Tour to the student union. Our alumni are still improving our house, and right now they are in the process of remodeling our third ﬂoor bathroom. We would like to thank our alumni, and all of us here at Phi are excited about the fall semester. Illinois Wesleyan Epsilon-Gamma Chapter We are extremely proud to have one of Epsilon-Gamma’s Founding Fathers, the late Jack C. Fields, honored with the Founder’s Award. In addition, at this summer’s Convocation, a brother from Epsilon-Gamma’s original charter, John Michelich, became the Grand First Counselor, after serving as Grand Herald. We are also very proud to have received the Grand Chapter Award. We are currently in the middle of rush, and interest in Sigma Pi on our campus is very high. We lost a good number of outstanding seniors to graduation, but we are working very hard to make sure we have a great new pledge class this fall. Indiana Beta Chapter The Beta Chapter has jumped ahead of the race early for the Fall 2006 semester by accomplishing a 95 percent return rate for signed bids during rush. We currently have 52 new pledges for the fall class and are very excited to have them join us in our Smoke Out philanthropy to beneﬁt the American Lung Cancer Association. We

Georgia Delta-Epsilon brothers from Seton Hall take a quick photo with Dallas Cowboys Quarterback Tony Romo (ΒΓ, Eastern Illinois ’02).

1,000 pieces of literature filled with all kinds of information on drunk driving awareness. We also arranged a mock drunk driving accident and we had food, a fire truck, a UH police officer and even a wrecked vehicle.

Winter 2007 • www.sigmapi.org

Alpha-Phi Chapter This fall has been another successful semester for the brothers Alpha-Phi. We had a great rush and pledged 15 quality guys. We have an active social calendar this semester including events with Kappa Delta, Delta Gamma, Phi Mu, and Alpha Omicron Pi. We are also holding our annual “Trick-or-Treat with the Greeks” philanthropy with the girls of Zeta Tau Alpha sorority to benefit the kids at the Athens Boys and Girls Club. After winning the fraternity flag football tournament, the brothers of Alpha-Phi are looking for a second straight win with an even stronger flag football team this year. We started the semester off on a great note with a very successful band party made possible by the help of generous alumni. We will also be having our

also look forward to a very successful ACE Project, which we plan to do sometime in the spring. We are also excited about working to regain our Intramural Champion title which we held from 2001 to 2004 and lost by only twenty points last year. The chapter house has also just had major renovations done to the bathrooms in the house, which has desperately needed a revamp for many years now. continued on next page

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

8 C H APTER NEWS Indiana Tech Gamma-Kappa Chapter Another summer has come and gone for the brothers of Gamma-Kappa. We’ve been working on new recruitment ideas/events over the summer to help boost our membership. The house has been worked on with the hanging of new drywall and paint. Our philanthropic task this summer was to help the city of Fort Wayne in its “Great American Cleanup” day. The brothers of Gamma-Kappa picked up trash and other miscellaneous garbage off of sidewalks, streets, and parkways to help make our city cleaner. With the start of a new year we hope that our planning over the summer will raise our numbers and increase brotherhood in the house!

year as an active chapter, and the brothers are looking to make their mark. Already this semester the chapter has made great strides: whether it winning its season opener in intramural football or holding the most improved Greek GPA. The chapter is dedicated to the success of its membership and it is evident in the work that they do. Iowa State

Iowa Xi Chapter This is an exciting semester for Xi Chapter. This will mark the ﬁrst full academic

Brothers from Lawrence Tech after winning Greek Week

Sigma Chapter After a long break, the men of Sigma Chapter are back to campus for fall

semester. As usual, the new members here are men of character and determination. We look forward to seeing them grow as brothers. Homecoming activities have started with the initiation of Yell Like Hell. The men are paired with Kappa Alpha Theta sorority this semester, so there is sure to be a lot of big fun. In addition to Homecoming activities, this year’s work week was an amazing success. All the guys here would like to thank the alumni for being so helpful. We made the house look amazing and perhaps most noticeably, the basement and front yard.

Johnson & Wales Eta-Omega Chapter The Eta-Omega Chapter at Johnson & Wales University is more excited than ever to return for its second year on campus. We are aiming high for large pledge classes, Fraternity of the Year, and another amazing ACE Project. With an awesome brotherhood retreat over the summer we got everyone together for three days and it was an unforgettable experience. The brothers are closer than ever, and are even more excited to keep Sigma Pi the best fraternity at Johnson & Wales. Kansas State Colony The Kansas State colony of Sigma Pi is now ofﬁcially up and running! We currently have over 50 members and are planning on pinning as many more in the coming weeks. We are very excited to be a part of this wonderful legacy and look forward to becoming the next generation of leaders here at K-State. In the following months, we will start planning philanthropy and fundraising projects, as well as social gatherings with the Greek community. We have already become involved in intramural sports and the Homecoming celebration. Thank you Sigma Pi Fraternity International for sending your expansion staff consisting of; Adam Dibble, Jim DiVita, Kyle Jackson, and Peter Bolac, and giving us the opportunity to become brothers of your organization. Kutztown

Lawrence Tech Zeta-Omicron Chapter As the new school year starts we look back at the previous year and the foundation that we created to bring us new exciting opportunities. We are very excited to say that last spring we were the victors of the spring 2006 Lawrence Technological University Greek Day. Also this past summer we have been fundraising at the Detroit Tigers Stadium. So far we have made over $5,000. We are very excited because this money is opening a lot of doors for us to make our rush more efﬁcient and our dreams of one day having a house become a reality. As we kick off the new semester we are happy to report that the Michigan Province Archon, Mike Grant, was able to come and talk with us about the upcoming rush. As this semester starts we look forward to the new opportunities that await us. Louisiana Tech Delta-Lambda Chapter Delta-Lambda Chapter has gone through a renaissance, bringing new life and motivation to the chapter. We have landscaped, renovated our house, and are becoming well known. We helped incoming freshmen move into the dorms through the Louisiana Tech Dawg Hawl. Helping the new freshman move in and get acquainted with college life, the brothers of the DeltaLambda Chapter helped to show students that we are the gentlemen on campus. Delta-Lambda Chapter has already began discussing ideas for this year’s ACE project. We have been researching ways to promote the Sam Spady Foundation through local police and university contacts. Our new ELC, Mike Courville, visited and helped our members with growth and development of our chapter. This will also be the ﬁrst year we will be participating in IFC rush and we are looking forward to having a very large pledge class.

Eta-Mu Chapter brothers cleaning at Missouri Southern State

Eta-Kappa Chapter at East Carolina had over 70 alumni attend homecoming

Michigan State Zeta-Mu Chapter The new year at Michigan State is shaping up to be an awesome one. We just moved into a new house located near the freshman dorms. Everyone from the youngest pledge class to the oldest is helping get the house organized and making improvements on it. This has been helping our brotherhood since everyone is pitching in their time and working harder at their chair position to make this year successful. We also have a volleyball court in the back of the house and a huge deck to relax on until snow falls. Fall recruitment has gone very well and we are looking forward to having an awesome rush. Missouri Southern State Eta-Mu Chapter Eta-Mu started the 2006-2007 school year off well, recruiting six men for to join our chapter. We began scheduling dates for our service project, in conjunction with the Ronald McDonald House of the Four States. We soon will be helping them decorate their house for the holiday season. As well, we will be assisting in erecting and decorating their 18-foot tree for the ’Gift of Light, Gift of Love’ fundraising campaign. For more information on the Ronald McDonald House charity, please see www.rmhjoplin.org. We have also undertaken a fundraising/service project of our own in our stadium clean-up project. After each MSSU football home game, we take time to clean the stadium of litter, which will potentially raise close to $1,000!

Winter 2007 • www.sigmapi.org

Eta-Pi Chapter The Eta-Pi Chapter has been working diligently to reestablish its place among the ranks of the top chapters of this great Fraternity. Our GPA is steadily climbing and our numbers are growing, we expect no less than eight pledges this ﬁrst semester. We held our 6th Annual Cinco de Mayo festival last May with a live band and BBQ and a large showing. This year we plan on having our annual car wash to raise money as well as our haunted house for the kids of Kutztown. We also had our ﬁrst highway cleanup on Route 222 and plan on attending the food pantry for less fortunate families of Berks County. We have two new

members on the volleyball team who show great enthusiasm and we expect a big showing for our 15th year Anniversary.

Monmouth Delta-Beta Chapter We at Delta-Beta Chapter are overjoyed to have won the 2006 Grand Sage’s Cup as well as 10 other awards at Convocation. We set our minds on being the best continued on next page

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

10 C H APTER NEWS that we can be, and we achieved just that. The fall semester has just started and already we are setting our goals and taking steps to surpass our previous successes. We are looking forward to a great year and will work harder than ever to be both role models to our peers, and leaders in the Greek community at Monmouth. Murray State Gamma-Upsilon Chapter The brothers of Gamma-Upsilon have had a great summer and an excellent start of the fall semester. Summer reunion was very successful (with the alumni crushing the actives in the actives vs. alumni softball game) and everyone had a great time. The house

Northern Colorado

Old Dominion

Zeta-Tau Chapter Our fall semester has been off to a great start. We are currently renovating the house, and due to amazing participation from active brothers, as well as chapter alumni the house is in the best condition it has been in years.

Theta-Eta Chapter Theta-Eta Chapter has started rush this semester off strong with ﬁve bids already signed before classes started. Since classes have started we have handed out 10 more and are conﬁdent we will have a pledge class close to 20 this semester. We have also sent invitations to several sororities for socials this semester as well as partners for homecoming. We also had two brothers volunteer to be counselors for a program designed for the best and brightest incoming freshman leaders over the summer, each of whom tallied up over 90 hours of community service. We have a huge fund raiser set up at as a golf tournament at a local golf course that we are hosting as a half and half philanthropy/fundraising event, with a local quad-rugby team. Our projected goal for each group is as much as $5000.

Oakland Zeta-Pi Chapter Zeta-Pi Chapter got off to a tremendous start with the largest Sigma Pi Pig Roast Oakland has ever seen! It was Oakland’s 12th annual pig roast and it was complete with four whole delicious pigs, carnival games, a live band, a D.J., temporary tattoo artists, and carnival rides including a super

Penn College Theta-Phi Chapter The Penn College colony of Sigma Pi is hard at work at our new house. During most of last year the brothers worked diligently to secure a house and become a true fraternity. Even though were not accepted by the school yet, we want to be a known organization in the college community. We currently have 13 brothers living in the house and have plans to add more rooms and during the summer we also ﬁxed up the basement for our social events. It’s turning out to be a great gathering point for the brothers. Alpha-Nu Chapter, Wake Forest-Greek Week Chairperson Mike Gilmore, brother and IFC Programming Chair Brett Hubler, and brother Jordan Anthony-Brown accepting the Greek Week Champion’s Trophy with members of Kappa Delta.

has been re-ﬁnanced, which will free up some money to make some needed repairs around the house including the air-conditioning (just in time for winter). The fall rush turned out well, with us taking six pledges with a possible mid-semester rush coming up at the end of September. Our annual philanthropy “Fall Fest” will be October 26. We’re planning on it being even more successful than last time and have a goal of $1,500.

slide and Ferris Wheel. It is estimated that there were at least 1000 guests in attendance that night. Zeta-Pi also turned things up by pinning 17 pledges as of October 1. But the best news in the Zeta-Pi Chapter this semester is, WE GOT A HOUSE! It’s a ﬁve bedroom cottage which sits directly across the street from Oakland University. It’s been a rough couple years for Zeta-Pi but things are deﬁnitely looking up for the brothers at Oakland.

Purdue Eta Chapter Restore Eta day was a great success and the house will have a refreshing look with the new ﬂoors coming in this semester. Everyone has been participating in rush, and we already have a number of pledges. Parent’s Week went very smoothly with new potential members and brothers’ parents touring the house. Everyone is looking forward to Homecoming kicking off with the traditional poker tourney, and the football game and hog roast the following day. Morale is high at Eta Chapter as we look forward to participating in many Greek

philanthropies, and intramural sports as we continue community service projects. Rhode Island Alpha-Upsilon Chapter The Alpha-Upsilon Chapter at the University of Rhode Island has had a lot to talk about in the past year and has plans to keep talking this year. Our chapter met and exceeded both its pledge and initiate goals and we have quickly vaulted ourselves into being one of the largest chapters on campus. That being said, our presence was felt at this past summer’s Biennial Convocation. We were able to send eight members to New Orleans. Last year we won the Intramural soccer championship and won the prestigious Men’s Greek Week title. We won numerous awards from our Inter-fraternity Council as well. Being that our creed calls for chivalry, we cannot neglect our efforts in the community; we ran a successful ACE Project, and many other philanthropic events. We also helped to promote monthly blood drives on campus. Saginaw Valley State Theta-Beta Chapter The brothers of Theta-Beta recently completed our ACE Project on the 8th of September known as Pi Stock. Nick Frees (’06) just returned home from New Orleans, where he represented the brothers of Theta-Beta. Nick brought home good news informing us we placed in the top 12 in the nation. We would also like to congratulate Brother Jason Swackhamer who was recently married and Brother Matthew Johnson who recently got engaged. We would also like to congratulate Adam Ulﬁg in his latest graduation in the United States Marine Corps. If you have any questions please check out our new website www.sigmapisvsu.com.

Southern Illinois - Edwardsville Delta-Omega Chapter The men of Delta-Omega tried to take the past summer easy. We are preparing for another successful rush, and are already off to a good start. We will also be holding our 3rd annual 5k run for breast cancer awareness, and are busy planning this year’s ace project. The ACE Project will revolve around alcohol awareness. This semester should also see the rest of the funds for the Ryan Fark memorial scholarship collected. Aside from that, the Delta-Omega brothers will continue to make strides to become a better chapter regionally, and remain the best chapter on campus. SUNY - Buffalo Epsilon-Omicron Chapter It has been a productive start to the semester for the Epsilon-Omicron Chapter. We were proud to have been given the opportunity to assist incoming students with our ﬁrst ever Freshman Move In event. About 15 brothers participated and assisted both new students and their parents with the grueling experience of moving into the dormitories. We have also put in a signiﬁcant amount of time working on our new chapter house which we just moved into this fall. As the semester progresses, we look forward to continuing our growth as a chapter as well as in the community. SUNY - Potsdam Epsilon-Omega Chapter This semester got off to a very productive start with a visit from Past Grand Sage John Williams. Our chapter was honored to have him visit. We talked with him about risk management, the character of a brother, rush tactics, and pledging. It was a very enlightening experience. TCNJ

academic school year. Brothers attended convocation in New Orleans and came back invigorated. We had our brotherhood week in late August to ﬁx up our fraternity house. We repainted the entire house and cleaned the property. The annual Pi-Sale will take place in November, each brother will be auctioned off, and all money will be donated to the Red Cross. We will also be having a car wash for the community to raise money for a war veteran’s memorial on campus. We look forward to a great year. Temple Kappa Chapter Fall semester for Kappa Chapter has been a success. We hosted the Province Workshop in which several chapters from east coast showed up to discuss leadership and rush. At Convocation, Kappa received three awards (expansion, ACE, and pledge goal) and one individual award going to Eric Greco. After surpassing our goal of 20 pledges it’s now a race to 25. Our annual participation in the multiple sclerosis 150 bike tour and Alzheimer’s memory walk will be ongoing as we raised over $1,000 for both organizations thus far. Brothers volunteered in the Philadelphia Annual Broad Street run to raise money for cancer. Currently we are in the process of adopting Broad Street through the Adopt-A-Highway program through PenDot. Were looking forward to the spring semester being even more successful than this past fall as we embark in rush, intramural, brotherhood and academics. Texas Gamma-Theta Chapter The Gamma-Theta Chapter is looking forward to having an exciting rush. Having a house this summer really helped with our recruiting efforts towards the incoming freshmen during orientation. We are looking forward to this upcoming football season and all the tailgating. A new thing we are trying to start is a Texas newsletter for all the brothers in Texas, which we will coordinate with the other chapters in the state of Texas to get accomplished.

Winter 2007 • www.sigmapi.org

Southern Illinois - Carbondale Beta-Nu Chapter The brothers of Beta-Nu are off to a promising start this school year. All signs are pointing up when it comes to rush, and we are also doing a great job when it comes to community service. Beta-Nu is looking forward to a great season in Greek football and

softball. Homecoming is right around the corner and we are expecting a large alumni turnout. With all our hard work with community service and planning a speaker, our social probation period is drawing to an end.

Theta-Delta Chapter Theta-Delta continues to work towards excellence for the 2006-2007 continued on next page

12 Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

C H APTER NEWS

Brothers from Gamma-Gamma, Central Missouri State, enjoy a local band which performed at one of their recruitment events.

Toronto Eta-Omicron Chapter Eta-Omicron got back to a great start this year. Several brothers introduced the chapter to a few friends/rush they made during their time working this past summer. Additionally, we have had great success meeting rush while attending university orientation events and have many rush-oriented events planned for the upcoming weeks to cater to them. Our ﬁrst chapter event this year was a chapter tradition: our annual Active/Alumni softball game and BBQ. As is the case every year the alumni completely owned the active chapter. In response, this year’s executive board has taken a keen interest in rushing members of the varsity softball team at the University of Toronto. Vincennes Alpha Chapter Alpha is making a strong comeback at Vincennes University. Rush turnout was very good this semester. We had around 50 potential new members, and look forward to a large pledge class this semester. Vincennes has de-

cided to build the Greek system back and Sigma Pi is the main reason. We have done a few community service projects, and expect to have around 500 hours by the end of the year. Wake Forest Alpha-Nu Chapter Alpha-Nu is coming back to Wake after an amazing Convocation where it took home the coveted ACE Project award as well as seven others. New Orleans saw 33 brothers, undergraduate and alumni, in attendance. Other awards won by the chapter were the Grand Council Award, Best Gold Standard Report, Two Recruitment Awards, Efﬁciency Award for Reporting, the Award for Most Members Attending Convocation, the Award for Most Man-Miles Traveled Getting to Convocation (over 25,000 miles), and 2006 WFU Graduate Anderson T. Ellis II won the Dr. John F. Dimmick Scholarship. Numerous functions with other fraternities and sororities have taken place, while continued focus on the ACE project, and the always memorable Mountain Weekend still

to come. The spring semester looks promising with our annual Viking Fest and some truly incredible events that are in the works. Convocation really made it apparent how global Sigma Pi truly is, and as always, our doors are open to visiting chapters from all over. Wayne State Gamma-Omega Chapter During winter semester we added six new brothers, one of whom is a legacy of a ’69 Gamma-Omega. Over the summer we renovated our kitchen from top to bottom and refinished the entire first-floor hardwood floors. The fall ’06 semester brotherhood calendar included a hay ride, numerous events with the Eastern Michigan University colony, and the annual GammaOmega alumni football game. Finally we bid farewell and good luck to Brother Dan Garas as he embarks on a career in the U.S. Marine Corps. West Chester Zeta-Alpha Chapter Zeta-Alpha Chapter here at West Chester University is coming off

its most successful year in chapter history. We turned 24 Pledges into great brothers. With 16 in the fall and eight in the spring, both were records for Zeta-Alpha. Rush has began and things are looking great for ZetaAlpha. The executive board is working hard and looking forward to an even more productive year in 2006-2007. Worchester Polytech Gamma-Iota Chapter Pre-rush planning and organizing is going well, we have plans to change a few things from how we organized rush last year to make ourselves more attractive to potential new members. We had three members from the chapter attend convocation this summer where they learned a lot and had fun at the same time. Repairs are currently underway to ﬁx damage from a pipe that burst during the summer. The members are all looking forward to this year with great anticipation.

Experience Project Management. Learn. Develop. Travel Travel. Network. Teach. Teach Build Resumé. Teambuilding. Implement Ideas. Inspire.

Do any of these words jump out at you? If so, then you

should apply to be a Sigma Pi Fraternity Consultant. The role of an ELC and Expansion Consultant

is to lead undergraduate ofﬁcers and members in creating the ﬁnest and most rewarding college chapter experience. Consultants travel across the United States and Canada, teaching, training, educating, recruiting, and inspiring the men they come in contact with. The consultant position is an amazing entry level opportunity for any graduating Sigma Pi brother.

Consultants begin their traveling year in July and travel through the end of April. During an extensive training period in July and early August, they learn to create and lead workshops, facilitate small and large group discussions, teach problem-solving techniques, assimilate to different environments quickly, and communicate with collegians and volunteers on a regular basis. While traveling for the Fraternity consultants meet and network with numerous alumni in all career ﬁelds, which gives them future employment opportunities.

Becoming a Sigma Pi Consultant is an awarding experience that will develop

Questions may be addressed to Jonathan Frost, jfrost@sigmapi.org, or (800) 332-1897.

Winter 2007 • www.sigmapi.org

you both personally and professionally. If you are a graduating senior and are looking for an exciting job that will teach you a number of skills and help you grow and develop as an individual, apply to the educational leadership consultant program. Applications and additional information on the program is available in the Executive Ofﬁce section of www.sigmapi.org. Applications are also being accepted for Colony Development Consultants and Expansion Consultants.

14 Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

CAMPUS

Future Expansion: Currently, our scheduled expansion projects for the spring semester include: 4The Ohio State Univ. (Columbus, Ohio) Gamma Chapter was established June 6, 1908. Originally Phi Kappa Phi founded in 1901. Responsible for the ﬁrst Convocation. Inactive during World War II and since 1995. 4University of California (Santa Barbara, Calif.) Alpha-Omicron Chapter was established February 28, 1948. Formed as a colony of Sigma Pi in 1947. Inactive 1972-1973 and since 1976. 4Florida State University (Tallahassee, FL) - Eta-Epsilon Chapter was originally established November 19, 1988. Formed as a colony of Sigma Pi in 1988. Inactive since 2001. 4University of Maryland (College Park, MD) - Alpha-Chi Chapter was established March 4, 1949. Formed as a colony of Sigma Pi in 1948. Inactive since 1993. 4University of Oklahoma (Norman, OK)

EXPANSION

Texas A&M Colonized by Peter Bolac

On December 1, 2006, in Rutter Tower at Texas A&M University, a group of 22 men were formally colonized as members. The colonization ceremony was conducted by Expansion Consultant Peter Bolac (ΑΝ, Wake Forest, ’06). The group’s roots can be traced back to spring 2006 as they were formally accepted into the Texas A&M Inter-fraternity Council after Texas Province Archon Jay Vaden’s (ΘΚ, Texas Tech ’02) made a presentation to chapter Presidents. As the land of Sigma Pi in Texas continues to grow, we are proud to help these gentlemen along the path toward becoming initiated brothers. The colony is made of men

with great character, and will add to an already strong Greek community at Texas A&M. The group includes two initiated brothers of Sigma Pi, President Milton Chaves (ΒΧ, Loyola-Chicago ’07) and Sergeant at Arms Kyle Mays (ΕΦ, Embry-Riddle ’07). This colony becomes the newest group in Texas and seeks to become another great chapter in the Lone Star State. The colony is currently in the process of putting together an alumni advisory board. If you live in the area and are interested in helping this group, please contact Director of Expansion Jim DiVita at: jdivita@sigmapi.org or call the Sigma Pi Executive Ofﬁce at: (800) 332-1897.

Recommend an undergraduate Brothers, do you know a current undergraduate or college-bound 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.

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

Penn College Penn College Charters by Jim DiVita

Founding Fathers

On Saturday, November 18, 2006 in Williamsport, PA the 208th chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity was installed as Theta-Phi Chapter at the Pennsylvania College of Technology. Sigma Pi becomes the largest fraternity on campus joining one other existing men’s Greek organization at the afﬁliate school’s program.

Project in which they cleaned up a local park used both by campus and the city of Williamsport. Guided by Colony Director Mike Dest (ΒΩ, Lock Haven ’97) and Province Archon Kevin Stone (ΒΩ, Lock Haven ’92), the men became the top colony of Sigma Pi in no time. The brothers of Theta-Phi Chapter can now be seen on campus wearing their letters proud as they have been instrumental in working with the administration to build an ideal Greek community at the Pennsylvania College of Technology. Theta-Phi Chapter becomes the 12th chapter in the state of Pennsylvania; giving Pennsylvania the largest number of chapters in one state. Special thanks to all faculty, parents, dates, area alumni and brothers from Zeta-Alpha Chapter at West Chester University including Robert Becker ’09, Thomas Hooper ’09 and Dennis Walker ’08.

The Following Parents Were Also Initiated As Founding Fathers Stephen Kirby 1974 James O`Donohue 1976 Donald Sokoloski 1981

Stats on campus:

CHARTERING TEAM:

6600 undergraduates

Grand Sage: Chris Brown (ΓΗ, Rutgers ’81)

Location: Williamsport, PA

Grand Second Counselor: PGS Frank Fryburg (Θ, Penn State ’49)

Type of school: Public

Grand Third Counselor: Kevin Stone (ΒΩ, Lock Haven ’92) Grand Fourth Counselor: Jonathan Frost (ΔΖ, Missouri – St. Louis ’02) Grand Firsrt Counselor: Christian Miele (ΗΝ, Towson ’04) Grand Herald: John Michelich (ΕΓ, Illinois Wesleyan ’74)

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The roots of the group can be traced back to founding President Ryan Sokoloski ’08 and his friends contacting Sigma Pi last fall about starting their own fraternity on campus. After seeing ﬁrst hand that the campus and students could beneﬁt from having another Greek organization, the men began their quest to become a chapter of Sigma Pi. The colony became known quickly for their leadership and service to the campus and community by completing an ACE

Letters of congratulations can be sent to: C/O Sage Ryan Sokoloski, 340 Susquehanna St., Williamsport, PA 17701.

Ryan Sokoloski 2008 Justin Kovaleski 2008 Thomas Smeal 2009 Ian Thomas 2008 Brent McElrath 2008 Brian O`Donohue 2007 Christopher Fariss 2007 Ryan Sainsott 2007 Tyrone Brown 2007 Josh Davis 2007 Anthony Ferrer 2008 Eric Waring 2006 Brandon Waring 2008 William Steinhauser 2009 Christopher Fox 2006 Daniel Gomes 2009 Joseph Rankin 2008 Benjamin Kirby 2008 Gregory Wooten 2008 Brandon Howard 2006 Tyler Ayers 2010 Douglas Folkner 2008 Dustin Haver 2008 Matthew Hazell 2010 Anthony Marianelli 2010 Matt Pilgrim 2010 Raymond Plassio 2010 Nicholas Spadea 2010 Michael Trulock 2011 Cory Kelchner 2010 Daniel Sochor 2006 Zachary Ohl 2008 David Ritchey 2008 Dominic Fields 2008 Jordan King 2010

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

Think higher thoughts

by Christian J. Miele

Ritual Committee issues 2006 revision of The Manual of Ceremonies

The Manual of Ceremonies has served the Fraternity well since its last major revision, circa 1941. That acclaimed edition, the work of Past Grand Sage Herman S. Sidener (Lambda, Kenyon ’21) and Executive Secretary Harold Jacobsen (Lambda, Kenyon ’24), was a milestone in the evolution of our coveted ritual. In recent years, however, it became clear to many that the manual did not contain things that members of the Fraternity thought it did or should. In fact, generations of brothers had been passing down key explanations and instructions about the performance of the ceremonies by word of mouth. In an effort to make the ceremonies more intelligible, a number of minor revisions were made over the years, which individually seemed to improve the ceremonies, but collectively, actually made them more confusing. These problems, coupled with innocent mistakes made while typesetting each new edition, resulted in ceremonies that over a period of 65 years had slowly degraded from their previous glory. Ultimately, the result was a slight variation in the way certain parts of the ceremonies were being performed throughout the Fraternity. The very thing that made us all the same was beginning to make us somewhat different. In the spring of 2005, Christian J. Miele (Eta-Nu, Towson ’04) sent a letter to the Grand Council proposing the formation of a Grand Chapter Ritual Committee. Brother Miele’s proposal was well received as Grand Sage John D. Kitch (Eta, Purdue ’73), upon consultation with the Grand Council, authorized the formation of the 2005-2006 Ritual Committee. The committee consisted of Miele, Michael S. Grant (Zeta-Pi, Oakland ’97), and John M. Santeramo (Gamma-Alpha, Detroit-Mercy ’79). Grant served as chairman and Grand Herald John A. Michelich (Epsilon-Gamma, Illinois Wesleyan ’74), the committee’s liaison to the Grand Council.

The committee surmised that since earlier versions of the ceremony were laboriously hand typed and then reproduced by mimeograph, material that was not absolutely necessary had been left out. This resulted in a

vised in 1941, these physical positions are obscured by having them all occupied simultaneously, rather than in turn, as implied in the text. The committee, to assist in the performance and understanding of the recited text, decided to rewrite the instructions for this degree entirely. The committee also added a small amount of additional text to the Third Degree, and an additional piece of paraphernalia, so the Second Degree will be better understood by future generations.

The committee also realized that there were certain practical considerations for which the manual provided no answers. For example, it is common for neophytes to be initiated before their badges are available from the Fraternity’s jeweler. Those portions of the ceremony that required a badge then became problematic. Alumni volunteers throughout the Fraternity knew how to handle this situation, but it was not documented anywhere in the manual. Therefore, the committee decided that such practical information should be included. As the committee continued its work, it also decided to include answers to frequently asked questions, information of historical interest, and commentary on commonly misunderstood symbolism in the ceremonies. Inspired by contemporary college textbooks, the committee decided to place such information in the margins of the manual, thus creating the ﬁrst annotated edition of The Manual of Ceremonies.

The edition of the manual published in 2000 contained a number of illustrations, many of which are retained in this edition. Two illustrations, however, which are of paramount importance to the execution of the initiation ceremony, were ﬂawed and unintelligible to some modern readers. As a result, the committee commissioned new illustrations which would be easier to understand.

Despite improvement to the instructions and the addition of annotations, there was one portion of The Golden Quest that was still incomprehensible to most members: the Second Degree of the initiatory rite. Highly esoteric, much of its symbolism is embedded in the physical positions occupied by the emblems and actors. Yet, as re-

While the committee endeavored to make the ceremonies more intelligible by adding clearer explanations and more detailed instructions, some parts of the ceremonies were suppressed for reasons of fraternal secrecy. The advent of electronic communication by computer (such as electronic mail and the internet) has made it possible to distribute enormous amounts of information to millions of people instantaneously. Unfortunately, these tools have been used by some to expose the secrets of other Greek-letter organizations. With this in mind, the committee encrypted certain critical portions of the ceremonies. These portions have been replaced with initials, representing the ﬁrst letter of each word to be spoken, enclosed in brackets. The decrypted meanings of these secrets are to be passed down by word of mouth to each new initiate, with only the Executive Ofﬁce entrusted continued on next page

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The committee held its ﬁrst meeting at Vanderbilt University in the summer of 2005, while concurrently attending Sigma Pi University. The committee’s ﬁrst order of business was to review all previous editions of The Manual of Ceremonies in an effort to understand the intent of those who had made each set of the earlier revisions. It became clear that while there was documentation of what was changed, there was little explanation of the reasons for those changes. The committee decided that it would be imperative to explain the reasons for the current revisions, so that brothers charged with this responsibility in the future might make informed decisions should another revision become necessary.

complete text for recitation, but a set of instructions that were incomplete, confusing, and unclear. Even as the Fraternity began using more modern printing methods, these instructions were being copied verbatim without improvement from edition to edition. The committee therefore decided that it would be useful to develop clearer and more detailed instructions in order to foster a greater understanding of the meaning and symbolism contained in the ceremonies.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

with written decryptions, in the event their true meanings become a matter of dispute. Also, as in previous editions, other portions of the manual remain entirely blank. The most sweeping changes to the manual were not really changes at all, but additions. Many members in the Fraternity had a strong desire to mark important occasions such as graduations and funerals with ceremonies. Accordingly, clandestine and local ceremonies were being written, circulated, and performed throughout the Fraternity. The committee collected these ceremonies and reviewed and revised them. Brother Santeramo used these ceremonies as inspiration for the manual’s new ceremonies, The Rite of Commendation to the Adytum on High and The Annual Service of Remembrance. Santeramo exercised great skill in creating two ceremonies that are not only moving, but inclusive of sentiments expressed by almost all religions. He also acted as editor of a third new ceremony entitled The Graduation Ceremony.

and esoteric belief systems that the ceremony was originally based on, including major themes from the original ceremony of the Sigma Delta Fraternity (which is the basis of The Golden Quest). Third, when clarifying portions of the ceremony, the committee must have historical evidence from previous editions to justify the clariﬁcation, or plainly state that the explanation is a theory, suggestion, or guess. Fourth, the change must make the ceremony easier to understand, easier to execute, or both.

depictions of the Second Degree.

Special mention should be made of those men who rendered valuable assistance, without which the 2006 revision of The Manual of Ceremonies could not be possible.

The Executive Ofﬁce staff, led by Executive Director Mark S. Briscoe (Alpha-Pi, Arkansas State ’81) also made signiﬁcant contributions. The staff granted the committee access to the Fraternity’s archives, collaborated with the committee in updating paraphernalia, developed the system for collecting “old” manuals and distributing and accounting current ones, and performed numerous administrative functions.

The remaining changes were adopted to correct grammatical or typographical errors, to take advantage of modern publishing techniques, or to align the manual with current Fraternity practices. For example, the descriptions of our paraphernalia and regalia were updated to correspond with items currently in use.

Brother Gabriel A. Gazoul (Zeta-Pi, Oakland ’98) authored The Omega Ceremony in 1996. This ceremony, originally written for and performed by Zeta-Pi Chapter, was submitted to the Executive Ofﬁce in 1999, where it was available upon request for use by any chapter. It was not, however, an ofﬁcial ceremony of Sigma Pi Fraternity. The ceremony was used by a handful of chapters over the course of the next seven years and was considered to be very well written. The committee decided to incorporate the ceremony into the Fraternity’s ritual. Brother Santeramo revised and adapted it. It is now titled The Graduation Ceremony.

When making decisions to change portions of the ritual manual, the committee governed itself by four guidelines. First, the change must be consistent with the vision we believe the authors had for the The Golden Quest when created, based on notes that we have about their intentions. Second, in the absence of notes, the change must be consistent with the myths, legends, historical facts,

Brothers Andrew R. Low (ZetaOmicron, Lawrence Tech ’08) and Brent C. Wozniak (Zeta-Omicron, Lawrence Tech ’06) collaborated to create the new diagram of the Adytum. Brother Brett C. Richardson (Zeta-Omicron, Lawrence Tech ’06) designed the imagery used on the new piece of paraphernalia developed by the committee. Brother Daniel N. Garas (Gamma-Omega, Wayne State ’06) illustrated the

Brother Robert T. Waters (ZetaPi, Oakland ’89), a professional printer and publisher, advised the committee on how to create printed materials that would meet the unique needs of the Fraternity. Waters helped select paper stock that was durable and non-reﬂective for easier reading in low light. Brother Waters also accommodated the committee’s request to use tabs to separate the ceremonies from each other, making the manual more user-friendly.

It would be remiss to not recognize the contribution of the entire 2004-2006 Grand Council. Grand Sage Kitch, Grand Second Counselor Larry P. Rovira (Epsilon-Nu, Cal State-Fullerton ’85), Grand Third Counselor George N. Hakim (Gamma-Alpha, Detroit-Mercy ’78), Grand Fourth Counselor Christopher R. Brown (Gamma-Eta, Rutgers ’81), Grand First Counselor Edward Levesque (Eta-Eta, Bridgewater State ’89), and Grand Herald Michelich each took time to review each set of changes to the manual and offered valuable feedback to the committee throughout the fourteen-month project. Sigma Pi Fraternity must also not forget the two most important contributors to our ritual, Past Grand Sage M. Atlee Ermold (Kappa, Temple 1909) and Past

Grand Herald and Honorary Grand Sage Byron R. Lewis (Alpha 1905 & Phi 1907). Brother Ermold was the sole author of the initiation ceremony upon which The Golden Quest is based and Brother Lewis is responsible for The Golden Quest in substantially its present form and for virtually all the ceremonies which constitute the present manual (excluding the three new ceremonies). The Fraternity is forever indebted to these men for conceiving the true spirit of our brotherhood. The 2006 revision of The Manual of Ceremonies debuted at the 48th Biennial Convocation of the Grand Chapter held this past summer in New Orleans, Louisiana. The new manuals were used for the first time by the 2004-2006 Grand Council during a Model Initiation Ceremony, said to be one of the best ever performed. Newly elected Grand Sage Larry Rovira recently reappointed Brother Grant chairman of the Ritual Committee. Miele and Santeramo will also continue to serve on the committee for the 2006-2008 biennium. Grand First Counselor Michelich will remain the committee’s liaison to the Grand Council. The committee is eager to begin work on a special Grand Chapter Edition of the manual, designed specifically for the use of the Grand Officers or their proxies. In 1915, the great Byron R. Lewis wrote this of our ritual: “We are all seeking the Truth and if there is anything within these pages that will cause anyone in Sigma Pi to be a better man, think higher thoughts, or do nobler deeds, the Fraternity will not have lived in vain.”

e n i t miss christine s i r h c s mis WHY IS by John H. Williams, Jr., PGS

On November 4, 2006, the brothers of Ursinus College (Theta-Sigma) painted the inside of Miss Christine Hill’s house in Wilmington, Delaware. It had not been painted in 30 years. Miss Christine is 86 years young and is one of my clients. I asked my brothers if they would be willing to brighten up Miss Christine’s house, and they immediately agreed. They arrived at 8:00 am on Saturday morning, and we painted. We stopped for lunch (a great Italian feast prepared by Joe Santora’s mother). After the paint had dried, we moved the furniture back in place and cleaned up. I told Miss Christine that I would like to get a picture of her and the brothers. Is she smiling because she is surrounded by the men of Sigma Pi from Ursinus? Is she smiling because her house has been freshly painted and her world is brighter? Perhaps, for both reasons. If you look closely, the brothers are also smiling too. Isn’t that what community service is all about?

SMILING?

Winter 2007 • www.sigmapi.org

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

Mike Beebe Among this Generation of Leaders GOVERNOR

by Adam L. Dibble

On January 9, 2007, Brother and 2006 Founders Award Winner Mike Beebe was sworn in as the 45th Governor of the State of Arkansas, following more than two decades of dedicated public service. As State Senator and as Attorney General, Brother Beebe worked for more than twenty years to represent the people of his state. As Governor, he will implement the positive vision he has for Arkansans, working with people of every background and every political stripe, to move Arkansas forward. He believes in more and better-paying jobs, affordable and accessible health care, and providing all children with a ďŹ rst-class education. 4

Governor’s Mansion Arkansas had never provided an official residence for her chief executives. In 1944 the Arkansas Federation of Women’s Clubs, led by its president, Mrs. Agus Bass Shinn of Harrison, began a campaign to remedy this deficiency. The first effort to obtain legislative funding for a governor’s home, attempted in 1945, was a failure. Success came two years later when Act 257 of 1947 created a Governor’s Mansion Commission with an appropriation of $100,000. The commission selected the old Blind School property as the site, and in December 1947 Governor Ben T. Laney laid the cornerstone of the new structure. Brick from the old buildings were salvaged and used in the construction of the Mansion; a total of 300,000 bricks were eventually required for the purpose.

Mike grew up in a modest household in Newport, Arkansas, the only child of a single mother who worked long hours as a waitress to support them. The caring people of Newport opened their homes and their hearts to Mike, and he felt always welcome and well-loved in that close-knit community. His ﬁrst job was sacking groceries at Kroger, where he learned a lot about people and the value of hard work. From the age of ten, Beebe decided he wanted to be a lawyer and work with the FBI. He chose to attend Arkansas State University in Jonesboro, meeting many wonderful people, who have remained life-long friends.

Governor Beebe and his wife, Ginger reside at the Governors Mansion in Little Rock, and have three adult children. Emerald Editor Adam Dibble had an exciting opportunity to ask Brother Beebe a few questions after his inauguration as Governor and is very appreciative of his time. As a leader in the Arkansas Senate for 20 years, you have consistently worked to reach across party lines, and to solve problems, what is leadership to you? I believe that leadership isn’t limited to elected ofﬁce; it’s volunteering to help those less fortunate; its community leadership; its aiding victims of disaster; it’s treating others with respect. It’s learning more about how government works. It’s helping to build a society where those in power help those who are in need and where no one has to live in fear. While being a member of Sigma Pi Fraternity, what best prepared you to be Governor? Family members, friends, and mentors taught me a set of values

and beliefs that I followed despite what others may have thought, and I always had a passion to succeed at any endeavor I felt was important. My experience at Arkansas State University instilled a loyalty in me that hasn’t wavered and has remained with me all my life. After completing law school at the University of Arkansas, while serving in the U.S. Army Reserves, I clerked for a small law ﬁrm and became fascinated by the legal and judicial process. Do you have any words of advice or recommendations that you would like to share with Sigma Pi brothers in their pursuit of being the next generation of leaders? I encourage young people to become active in their government, to stay current on issues that affect us all, and to become an educated voter and an involved citizen. When asked if he reads the Emerald? Governor Beebe said he looks forward to reading each copy of the Emerald, and always looks ﬁrst for news of his ASU (Alpha-Pi) Chapter and other information from members of his time frame.

The Georgian colonial mansion is ﬂanked by two colonnade walkways linking the mansion to two cottages. Through the colonnades, one can view the gardens that frame the home. The eight and one half acres feature one of the largest herb gardens maintained by the National Herb Society and a vegetable garden maintained by Master Garden Club. No formal ceremonies marked the opening of the Governor’s Mansion on January 10, 1950; instead the public was invited to tour the new structure. During the week long open house more than 180, 000 people visited the new Governor’s Mansion. Governor and Mrs. Sidney S. Mc Math began moving into the Governor’s Mansion on February 3, 1950. Governors who have since occupied the Mansion with their families include Francis Cherry, Orval E. Faubus, Winthrop Rockefeller, Dale Bumpers, David Pryor, Frank White, Bill Clinton, Jim Guy Tucker, Mike Huckabee, and Mike Beebe.

Winter 2007 • www.sigmapi.org

At ASU, Beebe pledged AlphaPi Chapter of Sigma Pi Fraternity, and became interested in the structure of campus government, local politics, and became inspired by the words of Robert F. Kennedy: “It is from numberless diverse acts of courage that human history is shaped. Each time a man stands up for an ideal, or acts to improve the lot of others, or strikes out against injustice, he sends forth a tiny ripple of hope, and crossing each other from a million different centers of energy and daring, these

ripples build a current which can sweep down the mightiest walls of oppression and resistance.”

The construction period was about two years. The initial appropriation had to be supplemented by another $97,000, authorized by Act 401 of 1949. Individuals who played key roles in the planning, construction and completion of the building included Clyde E. Lowry, chairman of the Governor’s Mansion Commission; Frank J. Ginocchio, Jr. and Edwin B. Cromwell, architects; Barney Ellis, the contractor; and William R. Heerwagen, interior decorator.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

Sigma Pi Alumnus Hono with local NAACP’s Presidential Award by Adam L. Dibble

Dwayne M. Harris (DeltaEpsilon, Seton Hall ’90), Atlantic Highlands, NJ Borough Clerk was honored with the local NAACP’s annual Presidential Award. Brother Harris was presented the award by the Rev. Dr. Henry P. Davis Jr., president of the Greater Red Bank chapter of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, at the chapter’s 51st annual Freedom Fund banquet at Gibbs Hall, Fort Monmouth. “This was a great honor for me, Rev. Dr. Henry Davis Jr. is a very respected man in our community and I was happy to receive this acknowledgement from him” said Brother Harris. In his acceptance speech, Harris thanked Mayor Peter E. Donoghue and the members of the Atlantic Highlands Borough Council for appointing him as clerk nearly three years ago. “It is we, the residents of Atlantic Highlands, who should be thanking Dwayne for his community service and praising him for his accomplishments, much as the NAACP has done,” Donoghue said after the award presentation. “Dwayne has made us all proud of his efforts on behalf of residents and civil rights as well as for his professionalism and caring.” Brother Harris is the only African-American municipal clerk in Monmouth County. Previously he was a borough councilman.

Brother Harris is a registered municipal clerk and certiﬁed municipal registrar. Harris is also a vice president of the Atlantic Highlands Lions Club and a member of the executive committee of the Greater Red Bank NAACP. The Emerald had a chance to ask Brother Harris a few questions and was excited about the opportunity to learn more about this great achievement. What type of duties, and responsibilities do you have as the Atlantic Highlands, NJ borough Clerk? Harris: Being involved with Atlantic Highlands administration you truly have many tasks. Primarily I’m the secretary to the municipal corporation, and the mayor. I’m the custodian of records, chief register of voters, and chief of administration. Were you always interested in administration? Harris: Yes, actually, I’ve always had interest in behind the scenes work; I like seeing things come together and enjoy having a role in facilitating that process. Can you explain what the NAACP’s Presidential award is, and why you were chosen as the recipient? It’s an award given at the discretion of the NAACP, by the president, and I was extremely

honored to receive this award. I was awarded it due to my involvement in municipal activities while being the only African American in the 53 municipalities in the area. Atlantic Highlands is historically upper middle class, and I was the ﬁrst African American in the council in 1998. I was elected to serve as the national democratic convention representative to Al Gore in 2000, and was the New Jersey 11th district general assembly candidate. Could you explain how your college/fraternal experience prepared you for your duties and responsibilities now? Well, the transition from college to graduation was an emotional time for me. Luckily I had some very close brothers who were supportive, and still remain supportive to this day. I can say that “Joining Sigma Pi was the best thing I’ve ever done in my life”. Without the support of my chapter brothers at Seton Hall the transition would have been much more difﬁcult, and I’m extremely thankful I was able to be in that family. What things would you like to share with the Emerald readers about your lifelong Sigma Pi experience? The most valuable experience I got out of my membership to Sigma Pi was the opportunity to have a strong bond with others

that have similar thoughts, core values, and have a real belief in our great fraternity. I realized through my experience that having kindred minds doesn’t imply we have to be the same, Sigma Pi accepts and promotes diversity while building a brotherhood and uniting the members. With that being said, how would you explain your experience as an African American pledging a Greek organization other than a traditional African American Fraternity? Ethnicity was never an issue with Sigma Pi members when I pledged, in fact the only problem I had was getting grief from the traditional African American Greek organizations for pledging Sigma Pi and not them. To be honest the reason I pledged Sigma Pi was because the doors were wide open and they accepted me for sharing the similar ideals. I was actually invited to check Sigma Pi out, the Delta-Epsilon brothers accepted me for who I was not my color, and that was what made my experience so positive. There are a lot of philanthropic opportunities in your community; is there one project speciﬁcally that stands out, or one that you would like to talk about? I’m a member of the Lions Club and we are very big advocates for the blind. One project that I’m

ored involved with is a youth vision inspection. To do the inspection we go to elementary schools and take photographs of the kidâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyes. Then the photographs are inspected by specialists who can tell if the child is likely to have vision impairments. With this early detection we can help prevent long term problems that might rise. With your Sigma Pi membership you get a life long subscription to the Emerald, do you Read it? If so are there any particular things you look for? Absolutely I look forward to getting the Emerald in the mail! I always read the Feature Articles, then Alumni News. I really look forward to seeing how Delta-Epsilon is doing, and I then look at local chapters to see if they have any events coming up. I would like to give you a chance to say anything you would like to our readers; do you have anything you would like to say?

Winter 2007 â&#x20AC;˘ www.sigmapi.org

First I want to thank Bill Norton (my big brother) for introducing me to Sigma Pi and also you for taking the time to share some of my story with your readers (my brothers). I am truly honored with this opportunity to show my brethren that we can live the creed and diffuse culture in our own daily lives.

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

New Jersey Province Workshop by Joe Palazzolo For the first time in ten years, all eight chapters in the New Jersey Province came together on Saturday, September 16 at Seton Hall University for the Fall Province Workshop. More than 70 brothers attended the workshop to share information about Sigma Pi Fraternity and the New Jersey Province. The perfect attendance at this event was only matched by the number of alumni volunteers that attended the workshop to support the province. New Province Archon, Joe Palazzolo (ΔΒ, Monmouth ’03), opened the workshop with a rundown of the day’s schedule. The morning session would mostly include quick presentations on all aspects of Sigma Pi Fraternity while the afternoon sessions focused directly on recruitment and ritual. Palazzolo then laid out some goals and objectives for all members of the province – alumni included. Topics included retention rates, efficiency points, and expansion in New Jersey and Long Island. To round out his presentation, Palazzolo talked briefly about how success will be defined for the province. In brief, success will not be the sole result of alumni managing undergraduate chapters; rather success (or failure) will be a direct result of the time, effort, and dedication that the undergraduates put into building and operating their chapters. Following Palazzolo was Brett Stevens (ΔΒ, Monmouth ’08) from Monmouth University. As ACE Project and Recruitment Chairman, Stevens has won awards for meeting and exceeding pledge and initiate goals as well as organizing the number one ACE Project in Delta-Beta’s tier. Stevens focused on how chapters can begin

thinking about their ACE Project and what type of events might be better attended instead of a generic campus clean-up or small-scale dinner. Planning was a key area of Stevens’ presentation and he encouraged all of the chapters to begin planning their ACE Project right now, no matter when they anticipated holding the event. Grand Third Counselor Chris Brown (ΓΗ, Rutgers ’81) spoke about news and information coming out of the 48th Biennial Convocation of Sigma Pi Fraternity, International and how it related to the New Jersey Province. In short, Brown commended the undergraduates in the province for not just taking control of their chapters and beginning to push them forward, but for working with each other to help build better chapters regionally. For the best of his recollection, Brown could not remember a time when there was such cohesion between the all of the chapters in the province (and their alumni associations) in working towards a singular goal: being the best that we can all be. Brown also spoke about Sigma Pi’s expansion efforts and reiterated what Palazzolo said earlier – any upcoming expansion efforts in the province will begin as volunteer efforts from both undergraduate and alumni members. Brown encouraged the chapters to keep on working with each other as they had for the past few years to continue raising the bar in each of the province’s chapters. The next presentation was “Internal Chapter Management: How and When to Make Hard Decisions.” This topic was copresented by former New Jersey Province Archon and current Delta-Epsilon Chapter Director

Paul Gorman (ΔΕ, Seton Hall ’95) and Delta-Beta Sage Warren Rotella (ΔΒ, Monmouth ’07). Rotella began by going over some key points to remember when making these decisions. Gorman, who is the 2004 - 2006 recipient of the Curtis G. Shake Award for Most Outstanding Province Archon, then moved on to some examples and case studies. The brothers in attendance participated in the presentation by giving their ideas on what should be done in each scenario and how they would go about handling the “trouble” brothers in each chapter. After a quick break for lunch, the workshop resumed with Theta-Delta Fourth Counselor Lou DeGeorge (ΘΔ, TCNJ ’07). DeGeorge’s topic was how to plan brotherhood events that are successful and memorable. To this end, he spoke brieﬂy about some of Theta-Delta’s booming programs such as trips to Montreal during the Christmas season and family picnics at the chapter house. DeGeorge relayed to the attendees that there are many different types of brotherhood events, but that all chapters should have a Brotherhood Chairman and should budget for these events. Additionally, he suggested involving alumni where possible and concepts for Brotherhood Weeks – which are successfully held at the Theta-Delta Chapter. Before the ﬁnal presentation of the day, Seton Hall Alumnus Santi Formoso (ΔΕ, Seton Hall ’04) spoke to the brothers about a new program that the New Jersey Province hopes to have on its feet by the end of the fall academic semester. This program involves better communication between all groups in the province from

chapters to alumni clubs to alumni in general. As the first step in this program, Formoso will be working with existing alumni volunteers to create an e-newsletter for the province. Scheduled e-publication for the first edition was December 2006. The final presentation of the day was about recruitment. Epsilon-Xi Chapter Director Justin Saponara (ΘΔ, TCNJ ’02) spoke to the attendees about various techniques to get more quality men in the chapter. The proven five step process was detailed and Saponara spoke briefly about how a group’s image on campus will help to dictate the men that inquire about joining. Saponara also gave away two tickets to a Yankees game to one of the undergraduate brothers in attendance! After the presentations ended, the undergraduates listed below performed The Golden Quest on six men from the Eta-Gamma Chapter at Hofstra University. For various reasons, the men in this chapter had not been put through the ritual prior to the workshop and – as the chapter is in a rebuilding year – the province’s alumni volunteers and undergraduates felt very strongly that the Eta-Gamma men should go through the ritual as one of their first steps in rebuilding. 4Sage: Kyle Sarausky (Delta-Epsilon Sage) 42nd Counselor: Warren Rotella (Delta-Beta Sage) 43rd Counselor: Bob Wankel (Delta-Beta 3rd Counselor) 44th Counselor: Lou DeGeorge (Theta-Delta 4th Counselor) 41st Counselor: Matt Krupka (Theta-Tau Sage)

4Herald: Bill Brandt (EpsilonXi Sage) Gorman and Palazzolo oversaw the ritual ceremonies. The entire province wishes the men at Hofstra the best of luck in rebuilding Eta-Gamma into the strong chapter that it once was. Sage Ezra Weissman (ΗΓ, Hofstra ’07) has the full support of his chapter’s alumni, the province’s undergraduates, the province alumni, and our alumni volunteers in making great things happen at Hofstra University. When the ritual concluded, the undergraduates left the workshop, but a few alumni volunteers stayed behind to talk about some alumni-related issues. Many thanks to Eta-Gamma alumnus Jeff Minihane (’96) for sharing some of his chapter’s successful alumni programs with the others in attendance. The next alumni discussion group will be held in Spring 2007 at Monmouth University.

The states of Pennsylvania and Maryland are home to roughly one-seventh of the active chapters and colonies in Sigma Pi. Due to this fact, the groups within the borders of these Fraternity-saturated states are divided into four provinces. This strategic alignment gives each individual province archon the ability to make more frequent visits to his groups and, as a result, provide better, customized support. Grand Sage Larry P. Rovira (Epsilon-Nu, Cal State – Fullerton) recently approved a geographic reconﬁguration of the chapters and colonies in the states of Pennsylvania and Maryland. Eta-Gamma Chapter (Hofstra), which is located in New York, and the new colony at the University of Delaware, have also been included in the realignment because of their proximity to the chapters and colonies in Pennsylvania and Maryland.

Mid-Atlantic Province Province Archon: John Williams Jr. (ΕΨ, Widener ’71)

Northeast Pennsylvania/ Long Island Province

4Kappa (Temple)

Province Archon: Kevin Stone (ΒΩ, Lock Haven ’92)

4Zeta-Alpha (West Chester)

4Mu (Cornell)

4Zeta-Nu (Villanova)

4Eta-Gamma (Hofstra)

4Theta-Xi (Salisbury)

4Eta-Pi (Kutztown)

4Theta-Sigma (Ursinus)

4Theta-Phi (Penn Tech)

4St. Joseph’s Colony 4University of Delaware Colony

Central Pennsylvania Province

Keystone Province

Province Archon: Vacant

Province Archon: Christian J. Miele (ΗΝ, Towson ’04)

4Theta (Penn State)

4Nu (Franklin & Marshall)

4Theta-Iota (Penn State – Altoona)

4Zeta-Gamma (Millersville)

4California of Pennsylvania Colony

4Eta-Theta (York) 4Eta-Nu (Towson)

4Theta-Epsilon (IUP) Winter 2007 • www.sigmapi.org

Other news to from the workshop included the details for the annual Pledge Provincial Workshop. The workshop will be held at Monmouth University on Saturday, March 24th, 2007 beginning at 1:00pm. Featured guests include Executive Director Mark Briscoe (ΑΠ, Arkansas State ’82) and Grand Herald E. Andrew Morris (ΓΥ, Murray State ’70). Brown will also be in attendance as will the rest of the province’s alumni volunteers.

Geographic Reconﬁguration of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Surrounding Chapters

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

Pennsylvania/Maryland Super Province Workshop by Christian Miele The alumni volunteers in Pennsylvania and Maryland organize a Super Province Workshop every fall. It is the general feeling of these alumni that the groups in this geographic area share an identity, and should work together to make Sigma Pi stronger in the Northeast Region. Uniting the provinces for a large-scale event increases the likelihood of greater alumni and professional staff support, and offers a wider range of educational programming. In the spring, each province archon may choose to hold a workshop for the chapters and colonies in his respective province. On Saturday, September 23, over 80 members of Sigma Pi Fraternity met on the campus of Temple University for the 2006 Pennsylvania/Maryland Super Province Workshop. The multiprovince event, attended by undergraduate representatives from 10 chapters and two colonies, was coordinated by Province Archons Christian J. Miele (Eta-Nu, Towson) and Kevin Stone (BetaOmega, Lock Haven), and Past Grand Sages Frank C. Fryburg (Theta, Penn State), Donald Cox (Kappa, Temple), and John Williams Jr. (Epsilon-Psi, Widener). Grand Herald E. Andrew Morris (Gamma-Upsilon, Murray State), New Jersey Province Archon Joseph Palazzolo (DeltaBeta, Monmouth), Zeta-Alpha Comptroller Jack Chenowith (Eta, Purdue), and Alpha-Upsilon Chapter Director Louie Junkerman (Gamma-Upsilon, Murray State) were also in attendance. Representing the Executive Ofﬁce was Senior Colony Development Consultant Alan Moore (EpsilonPi, Christopher Newport). The workshop was held in

Morris then gave a status report on the Grand Chapter. He talked about the Fraternity’s aggressive expansion campaign as well as the Grand Council’s vision for Sigma Pi. Cox discussed the importance of the Fraternity’s chapter assessment tool, The Gold Standard, before the workshop took a recess for dinner.

Speakman Hall, home to the esteemed Richard J. Fox School of Business and Management. After registration and a light breakfast, the alumni volunteers were introduced to the undergraduates by Miele, who served as the workshop’s master of ceremonies. The day-long program then kicked off with status reports from the chapter sages and colony presidents. The undergraduate leaders discussed, among other things, their fall recruitment goals, upcoming ACE Projects, and community service and brotherhood events. Stone then facilitated a role-playing session entitled “Making Good Decisions.” In this interactive piece, the undergraduates acted out and mediated real-life crisis scenarios confronting chapters. The role players tackled a variety of challenging issues ranging from substance abuse to risk management. Following the exercise, Palazzolo and Delta-Beta ACE Project Chairman Brett Stevens (Delta-Beta, Monmouth) gave an in-depth PowerPoint presentation on how to plan, market, and execute a successful ACE Project. Before the lunch break, brothers were treated to a lecture given by

Past Grand Sages Fryburg and Cox entitled, “The Important Role of Pennsylvania in the Early History of the Fraternity.” For lunch, workshop attendees enjoyed pizza and soda at Max’s, an on-campus eatery owned and operated by relatives of Kappa Chapter Sage Jason Sandolo (’07). After the meal, brothers posed for a group picture in front of the clock tower located at the heart of campus. The workshop resumed with breakout sessions, each focusing on a specific area of chapter operations. Alumni volunteers served as the facilitators of these group discussions and one undergraduate from each session reported the findings of his group to the general assembly. After a short break, Williams discussed legal responsibilities for Greek-letter organizations, ways to minimize and manage risks, and the Sigma Pi AWARE Program. After Brother Williams’ presentation, Brother Fryburg, the Fraternity’s senior past grand sage, talked about the status of the Educational Foundation, and explained to the collegians the benefit of joining the undergraduate Delta Society.

In the evening, a beautiful model initiation was performed in the dimly lit dining room of the Kappa Chapter house. Neophytes from the Theta-Epsilon Chapter (IUP), Zeta-Alpha Chapter (West Chester), and Zeta-Chi Chapter (Rowan) were initiated into the secrets and mysteries of Sigma Pi. The initiation team consisted of Fryburg, Cox, Williams, Miele, Chenowith, and Zeta-Alpha Chapter Director Adam Swope (ΖΑ, West Chester ’02). Directly following the ceremony, Miele, a member of the Grand Chapter Ritual Committee, taught a very appropriate history lesson on the origin of the Fraternity’s initiatory rite. He explained that The Golden Quest was adapted from the ritual of Sigma Delta Fraternity, the local at Temple University that became Kappa Chapter in 1909. He then went on to discuss how the author, Past Grand Sage M. Atlee Ermold (Κ, Temple ’09), conceived the themes of the ritual—themes that have resonated in the hearts of Sigma Pi brothers for nearly a century. Miele then reviewed the initiation ceremony, explaining, in great detail, the symbolism and lessons in the ritual. The event coordinators would like to thank the men of Kappa for playing host to this year’s workshop.

NEWS FROM Beta-Omicron/ Jim Robertson Memorial Golf Tournament October 6, 2006 brought together well over 100 alumni from California State University, Long Beach for their annual golf tournament. Sigma Pi has been dominating the Long Beach State campus since 1955, which means we have brothers of all ages coming together on this day to reminisce, bond and play a little golf. The alumni tournament has been around for many years, however, the success over the last 5 years has been tremendous. It was around that time it was taken over by Steve Lindholm (ΒΟ, Cal State - Long Beach ’91), and renamed in his little brother’s name, Jim Robertson. Robertson was a special person that was taken from us all too soon. To honor his name, this tournament took on new meaning, raising over $50,000 in the past ﬁve years for a scholarship fund in his name. At this year’s tournament, four actives received a check for a year’s tuition ($2,000) in the name of Jim Robertson. This was made possible by the generosity of hole-sponsors, donations, and from outstanding items sold at the dinner auction following the tournament.

This year’s tournament also brought in a few special guests, Past Grand Sage, John Merino, current Grand Sage, Larry Rovira, as well as two individuals that ﬂew in from Sigma Pi Headquarters in Tennessee, Paul Hansen and Richard Robinson. The night ended with over 100 brothers gathering on the golf course in a circle to sing the Fireside song. Any person that is interested in playing in future tournaments, please e-mail Steve Lindholm at stevelindholm2003@yahoo.com.

Detroit Alumni Club Alumni and Brothers from Gamma-Alpha run in Marathon together. Alumnus David Pantaleo and John Adams along with Jon

us in 3:55:10 and also donated $25 to Make-A-Wish Foundation to run for a good cause.

Jersey Shore Alumni Club

Joel Goodling (Theta-Epsilon, Indian of Pennsylvania ’04) with actor and comedian Robin Williams after a comedy show they both performed at the Comedy Store in Los Angeles.

Pearn and Bill McVea who participated in the Detroit Free Press Relay Marathon 10/29/2006. Our team name was Sigma Pi suprisingly we were the only Sigma Pi team, we ﬁnished the marthon (26.2 miles) between the four of

Congratulations are in order for the undergraduate members of Delta-Beta for a job well done. For those of you that don’t know, Delta-Beta brought home numerous awards from Convocation this past August. These awards included the Grand Sage’s Cup, an award for the number one ACE Project in their tier, and an award for perfect efﬁciency. Eleven brothers also received scholarship recognition for academics and were named to the All-Sigma Pi Collegiate Honors Team. Congratulations also go out

Wake Forest alumni: a millennium of brotherhood Alumni from the Alpha-Nu Chapter of Wake Forest celebrated their third annual reunion at Myrtle Beach, SC. These annual reunions began as an impromptu gathering of eight Alpha Nu brothers; it then grew to 12 the following year, and reached a total attendance in 2006 of 20 brothers from seven different states. Over a period of three days, their wives and guests shopped and toured local points of interest while the brothers took a nostalgic trip back in time to reminisce about their golden days at Alpha-Nu. (Submitted by John A. Ratliff Alpha Nu, ’55)

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Winter 2007 • www.sigmapi.org

Each year this event is held the ﬁrst Friday in October at The David L. Baker Memorial Golf Course in Fountain Valley, California. This year’s winning group was John Hatten, John Hoffman, Marc McIntyre, Larry Skelly and Garrett Abel. The overall success has been so great that the golf course closes down to the public for the afternoon tournament. We are not sure if this is because of the size it has grown to, or for the general public’s safety.

ALUMNI

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

28 A L UMNI NEWS to Brother Joe Palazzolo (’03) for repeating as Chapter Director of the biennium and being named the new Province Archon for the New Jersey Province. Thank you to Brother Kevin Phelan (’04) for being the Jersey Shore’s representative at Convocation – I’m sure the fact that Convocation was held in New Orleans helped him make the decision to attend! The Jersey Shore Alumni Club is kicking off a fundraising/endowment campaign, which will be headed by Palazzolo and Dr. Jo-

SPC Toby I. Latham (Theta-Eta, Old Dominion ‘05) at the “Hands of Victory” parade ground in Baghdad while serving in the Multi-National Security Transition Command.

Alpha pledge brothers Senior Airman Ty Cunningham (‘00) and Staff Sergeant Michael Ernest (‘00) reunite at Balad Airbase, Iraq while deployed with the US Air Force in support of Operation Iraqi Freedom. Neither Cunningham nor Ernest new the other was deployed in Iraq until they passed by each other on the base one night.

seph Mosca; both recently named to the Fundraising/Endowment Committee. This committee will be raising money to fund various scholarships for Delta-Beta’s undergraduate members. Steven Colvell (’03) was named to the Communications Committee and will be in contact with Monmouth University’s alumni ofﬁce to see how we can help them to help us reach our alumni. In addition to Colvell, Bill Foley (’06) and Kevin Phelan will work with the chapter’s undergraduate members to continue sending out the new, print-edition alumni newsletter. David Schwartz (’06) was named as events coordinator and will be setting up alumni events sponsored by the club. The Jersey Shore Alumni Club will be sponsoring a New Jersey Alumni Luncheon set for Saturday, March 24th, 2007 at 11:00am with special guests Executive Director Mark Briscoe and Grand Herald E. Andrew Morris. Briscoe and Morris will be joining Grand Third Counselor Chris Brown on Monmouth University’s campus for this luncheon. They will hold a discussion with the province alumni in attendance to discuss what Sigma Pi is doing internationally. These men will also offer support in various operational areas that are needed for the alumni clubs in the province. Special thanks go out to DeltaBeta’s biggest alumni donor for sponsoring part of the travel costs for the undergraduates and alumni who attended Convocation. Also, we thank this alumnus for taking the chapter out to a luncheon last spring. The two newest members to join the Jersey Shore Alumni Club are brothers Zach Michaux (’06) and Anthony Zurica(’01). Congratulations to both men for joining the team.

A desert journey through a brothers eyes On August 30, 2005 two brothers of Sigma Pi started a journey that would end on March 25, 2006. This was no ordinary journey and this is not about two ordinary men. The brothers of Sigma Pi are Captain Jeremy Buckwalter of Zeta-Beta chapter Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University (Florida) and Corporal Charles Casey Highland of Eta-Mu Chapter Missouri Southern State University. We are both members of 1st Marine Division, 1st Light Armored Reconnaissance Battalion, United States Marine Corps. Captain Buckwalter and I met during a training operation at March Air Force Base. We got to talking about college and found out that we are both members of Sigma Pi. While deployed in Iraq for Operation Iraqi Freedom III, Captain Buckwalter served as the Battalion Forward Air Controller H&S Company and I was a riﬂeman and company clerk for Alpha Company. Captain Buckwalter and I served together through countless missions experiencing hardship, success, fear, and loss. Through all the good times and bad Captain Buckwalter and I held true to our brotherhood, both Marines and Sigma Pi. Our unique experience of being Sigma Pi’s and serving in combat together allow us to share in a bond that only brothers in arms can know. I know that Captain Buckwalter and I are not alone in our service for there are countless other Sigma Pi’s who also serve our country worldwide. Let their sacriﬁce and service be honored by all who call The United States of America home. Lastly I leave you with this; on October 17, 2005 two brothers were killed in action. Their names were Lance Corporal Hildebrandt and Lance Corporal Bubb. These Marines were not members of Sigma Pi however they were brothers of both Captain Buckwalter and myself. Let us honor the living with our thanks and remember the brave who have fallen. Semper Fidelis and God Bless Sigma Pi, Corporal Charles Casey Highland, AKA “Twitchy”, USMC, (ΗΜ, Missouri Southern State ’03) and Captain Jeremy Buckwalter, AKA “Bucky”, USMC, (ΖΒ, Embry-Riddle Florida ’99)

Elon University celebrates 30 years It is my pleasure to report the Walter H Lemmond Jr. Alumni Club, Epsilon-Theta Chapter of Elon University is back and working toward a bright future. November 3-5, 2006, the alumni club celebrated our 30th Anniversary at Elon University’s Homecoming weekend. Friday started with a beautiful, but cold round of golf. The Challenge Golf Club in Graham, NC hosted the event with 10 teams turning out to play. Friday night concluded at everyone’s faithful watering hole the Lighthouse Bar and Tavern and with over 100 actives and alumni in attendance it was just like old times. Saturday morning kicked off with the ﬁrst business meeting of the newly reformed alumni club. Bill Hanckel (’92), Chapter Director, led the discussions with sound input form chapter President, Lance “Putter” Johnson. Brothers reported on the status of the Chapter since losing the house on campus. Community service projects, fund-raising projects, fall pledges and ﬁnancial reports were also topics discussed. The day continued with a large gathering in the Harper parking lot as the actives and alumni mingled before the big football game against Furman. Food, beverages and old stories were plentiful as the day

fundraising, and rush events. This transformation is a direct result of support from every brother and the Alumni members. The alumni club has undergone its own transformation with Bob Kirchner (’93) as President and Bill Hanckel as chapter director who have worked to return the Alumni Club to its old status, and ensure future success. ended at a local establishment where dancing, drinks and good music ﬁlled the air. Overall a very successful weekend as Elon Chapter and

Niagara Frontier Alumni Association The Niagara Frontier Alumni Association would like to congratulate Brother John Schuimo (EO’93) for winning an Emmy award for his

story about the life of Joe DiMaggio. John was also recently featured in UB Today, and continues to host “The Call” on NY1 News.

Southern West Virginia Alumni Association Active chapter education support continued to be a major focus for Southern West Virginia Alumni Association (SWVAA) in 2006. Our alumni cash and presence at Mid-Year

Epsilon-Theta sets new goals each semester and year. The most important of these goals is the advancement of the fraternity. With 30 great years gone by, the next 30 are looking bright.

Leadership and Convocation along with our scholarships help enable our small chapter to survive as WVUIT meets enrollment challenges. Sigma Pi alumni are instrumental in both debate and action at WVUIT. Our www. swvaa.net membership internet discussion forum, our communication database, and our sigmaigammaxi@yahoogroups.com mailing list (register and join at groups.yahoo.com for the sigmapigammaxi group) are key to our objeccontinued on next page

Winter 2007 • www.sigmapi.org

The Jersey Shore Alumni Club would like to congratulate May ’06 graduates, Bryan Jewell, Alec Gutierrez, Joe Cilurzo, David Schwartz, and Matthew Carter. We wish them the best of luck on their future endeavors.

the alumni club have undergone recent transformations. The chapter is debt free for the ﬁrst time in many years, and the focus his now on community service,

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

30 A L UMNI NEWS

Building a university from the ground up Dr. Robert L. Burns (ΔΦ, Wisconsin-LaCrosse ’71), Past Gtand Sage and Founders’ Award recipient, has played a major role in the continuing growth of Florida’s newest and fastest growing state campus, Florida Gulf Coast University in Ft. Myers and SW Florida. The recent announcement of a $7.6 million gift of cash and land acknowledged Burns’ inﬂuence in the project. The gift, from Kitson and Partners, a major real estate developer in Florida, will fund a new environmental/ecological research center (50 acres) and ﬁeld station (17 acres) in the new planned Town of Babcock Ranch. Burns retired from a productive career in higher education in 1999, but didn’t stay idle for very long. He began working with the educational institutions in southwest Florida soon after moving to the area and the retirement home he and his wife, Pat, had looked forward to for so long. Eventually

tive “To Establish Unity” in our lifetime experience. In May 2006, 21 alumni and their playmates enjoyed a very successful 40 year reunion at The Homestead in Hot Springs, Virginia. The weekend included resort activities, dinners, golf and Playboy Ball 2006. SWVAA encourages pledge classes, residents of geographic areas, and old friends to get together. If you need help with an address list, the database is available for download, for assistance contact Tom Curry, Communications Chairman at tom.curry@att.net. Another social gathering, White Water Weekend (WWW), annual

Kentucky, where both grew up. Work for FGCU and other elements of southwest Florida continues, however.

he agreed to a request by FGCU’s President (a long time friend and colleague) to lead the work to establish a new university regional center in Charlotte County, one county north of the main campus. Progress was rapid. But Burns really had come to Florida to retire, so he tried it again, accepting only a few projects on a consulting contract with the university. He and his wife moved to back their home in Louisville,

on every Memorial Day Weekend, again saw many brothers and families enjoy the nearby New River Gorge in wild-wonderful West Virginia. If you want to attend WWW May 26-27-28, 2007, you can reserve camping and rafting by direct contact with Songer Campground, Fayetteville, West Virginia. Reservations 1-800-356-7238, tell them you are with Sigma Pi. (In 2006, the price was $76 per person including 2 nights of camping, rafting, breakfast before rafting, lunch on the river, and a hamburger and hot dog cookout Saturday night after rafting.) SWVAA alumni share their knowledge and experience each

Burns’ involvement with the most recent major gift is rooted in his role as one of a small group asked by then Governor Jeb Bush to assist in a major project involving the state. As a result of those efforts, Florida purchased its largest single track of land for preservation purposes- more than 74,000 acres known as the Babcock Ranch. That project took hard work and a lot of time, but ended up making history for the state. One of the other results was the plan to build a new town in the area, set for a population of 50,000 and planned for “green development.” By that time Burns and Syd Kitson, CEO of Kitson and Partners, had become close friends. They worked closely together on the concept of the research center plans and continue in direct contact.

year at the day long Province Archon Workshop. In 2007, West Virginia Province Archon Robbie Nelson expects to partner with one of our neighboring provinces. Each year this renewal training is an essential element in our association. If you wish to sponsor aspects of this training or participate in a training session at the workshop, e-mail to robbie. nelson@gmail.com . John Hoffman, Fundraising Chairman, is guiding our association in the format for Orchid Ball 2007 on Saturday, March 24, 2007. The preliminary plans are to format this traditional dinnerdance as an alumni fundraising event with sponsors, rafﬂes, auc-

The new research center will add to Florida Gulf Coast University’s already active research activities. Until this opportunity, most of that research focused on marine environments. The new center will focus on terrestrial research including several natural environments and involving ecological and biotechnological projects. The center and ﬁeld station will move FGCU to the front ranks for such research and is a major step in the economic development of the county as well. The university already is known as perhaps the fastest growing campus in the country. Preliminary ﬁgures of Spring 2006 enrollments indicate at least a 16 percent gain. Burns’ work with FGCU continues, with regular visits to SW Florida on various projects. A primary effort is to identify and fund a new site for the university in Charlotte County, where Burns lived while a Florida resident.

tions, door prizes, and a keynote dinner speaker. More planning and proposals coordinating this event with our 2007 membership drive will be a part of our annual Homecoming Meeting in October, 2006. Please follow the www. sigmapi.org event calendar for details as they develop. For now, mark your calendars for March 24, 2007. Have you had a chance to send in your $100 annual dues? Mail to: SWVAA c/o Zach Miller, Treasurer, 3552 Collins Ferry Road, Morgantown, WV 26505

Alumni Updates: Phillip Mahan (ΑΦ, Georgia ’87)recently attained the status

of Certiﬁed Information Privacy Professional from the International Association of Privacy Professionals. Phillip is the owner of LWB Enterprises, LLC and works as an Information Security and Privacy consultant.

Alex Simon (ΒΚ, Arizona State’90) has won The Accolade Award for his American Film Institute thesis film, Auteur. The Accolade Awards are given out yearly for outstanding craft and creativity in film, television, video and commercials. Brother Simon is currently producing two new films, a feature and a documentary, and lives in Hollywood, California. Raymond Chow (ΗΑ, Cal State - Sacramento ’95) and wife Amanda happily announce the birth of their second son Jordann Christopher Chow on Sunday Sept. 3, 2006 at 12:49PM. He was seven pounds 12 ounces measuring 19.5 inches. Mom and Baby are doing great.

Eric Pettersen (ΗΑ, Cal State - Sacramento ’94) and wife Amy are the proud parents of a brand new baby boy. Kyle Scott Pettersen was born on September 12, 2006, weighing six pounds four and a half ounces and measuring 18.75 inches. The newest Pettersen is doing great, and ready to root on his dad’s beloved Cowboys.

U.S. Army Sgt. Sean Patrick Fennerty, an Oregon State University graduate who was serving in Iraq, was killed January 20, 2007 when the vehicle he was riding in was hit by a roadside bomb. Fennerty (Ω, Oregon State ’04) graduated with a degree in history. Since his death there has been an outpouring of shock and sadness from his friends, family and fraternity brothers, for a man who is described as loyal, dependable and genuine. “His character and integrity was second to none,” said Wes Price. “He had a huge heart that he often tried to hide.” Fennerty was, in a sense, born into the military tradition. He was born in San Diego, Calif. at the Naval Hospital while his father was on active duty. He then lived in Tucson, Ariz. before moving to Portland, Ore. where he graduated from Jesuit High School in 1999. After graduating from OSU, Fennerty joined the U.S. Army in July 2004 and became an Airborne Soldier. He was stationed with the 25th Infantry Division at Ft. Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska. Friends and family said Fennerty always wanted to serve in the military. “He had ﬁnally found the purpose that he often struggled to realize in college,” said Fennerty’s friend, Andy Bartley.“He stood for something, and I could tell he was proud of that.” Fennerty was deployed to Iraq in September of 2006. His friend and fraternity brother Patrick Smith said that he spoke to Fennerty while he was serving there. “He called me from where he was stationed. He was upbeat and his spirit seemed high. He was always excited to talk to his friends.” “Sean fell victim to a fate that has taken many of America’s best away from us,” Bartley said. Brother Sean Fennerty is survived by his father Brian, his mother Mo, two sisters, Kelly and Colleen, and his brother Conor.

Winter 2007 • www.sigmapi.org

Lonnie Beauchamp (ΓΓ, Central Missouri ’98) and his wife Vanessa are living in Jefferson City, Missouri, with their two daughters Olivia and Adalynn, ages three years and six months. Lonnie is currently chasing his dream in the disaster restoration ﬁeld. He is currently working on a million dollar project with a ﬁre at Lincoln University.

Sigma Pi brother falls to roadside bomb

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

I WAS A SIGMA PI I have heard this time and time again in my almost four years working for Sigma Pi Fraternity. As Director of Alumni Services, it was my responsibility to ﬁnd and train volunteers. It was rewarding, frustrating, exciting and disappointing at different times throughout. As my time here drew to a close, I thought that I would give all of you; undergraduates, alumni, friends and family who all might read these words, a better understanding of “A lifetime Sigma Pi brother.” “I was a Sigma Pi in college,” words that he said to me after we did the “ofﬁcial informal handshake.” I think he could tell that I kind of looked at him funny, I mean, what does that mean? He said that since graduating from college, he had not been to the house or even the university where he graduated. He has had some contact, mainly an email or phone call here or there with a few pledge brothers, but that’s about it. He asked what I do, and I told him that I worked on staff. He smiled and said that must be fun, which I agreed it is. But I also said that at times it is very frustrating because I can’t understand why some people almost push what they were, at one time, away. I even just caught myself there, what they were. I meant to say, what they are. We exchanged conversation about some old times in this brief chance meeting between two strangers who were only talking because they chose the same fraternity in college. That was why we are forever bonded, the same handshake, letters and pride in what we were…I mean what we are. This conversation, it seems, has been played over a few times since then, and I feel will be played many more times throughout my lifetime.

Since graduating in 2001 and achieving alumni status in Sigma Pi, I have served as a housing corporation president, the recruitment advisor on my alumni advisory board, a colony director and have served on staff of the Executive Ofﬁce. Why, some ask? To give back… that’s all. I don’t want hardware and my name in lights. I want the brothers after me to have the same or even better experience that I had. I do not want to re-live my college days (even though, at times….) I want to pass on what I have learned from Sigma Pi to the brothers after me, who will in turn, keep those traditions going after them. I stood in a few of my brothers’ weddings, on what generally is the biggest day of a man’s life, possibly next to fatherhood. I also stood next to them in meetings, mixers, brotherhood events and Greek games. Life has changed with a few more grey hairs, greater responsibility and a greater importance of the ones around us. Life has changed, but the values that I was taught when I was a 20-year old man are still a

part of me…even though I am years past college. I was a Sigma Pi in college—and I still am a Sigma Pi. There have been so many great men of Sigma Pi who have given back to the generations that followed them, that we have been able to build our fraternity into what it is today; one of the ﬁnest men’s social fraternities in the world. The men give back what they can, with time, donations and simple stories of what it was like when they went through. The amazing thing? It was all very similar. When you went through in the 1960’s, you probably had a job, a girlfriend, a family, a tough class schedule and many obligations at the time. Turn to today…what do the men have today? Probably a job, a girlfriend, a family, a tough class schedule and obligations that take up their daily lives. But just like you, they chose to make Sigma Pi a part of their lives. Do you remember an older brother or alumnus helping you get through a problem or tough decision in 1966? Forty years later there is an

IN COLLEGE… undergraduate brother who is looking for that same advice. Will you be there to help him? Can you be?

the reward? The day they win a Greek Week event, the day they win an award on campus, the day that you see the guys graduate, the day when one of the guys says thank you to you and says that you made a difference, the day where you understand that it is no longer about you, it’s about them, it’s about guiding them through their journey as a college man to a man who is just starting his career and his family, it’s about the day when you see that brother who said thank you to you helping an undergraduate brother just the way you did. It is about the feeling that is has now gone full circle, and you kept that tradition alive and well for Sigma Pi. I wrote this in large part because we are in need of volunteers in several different areas. We need chapter and colony directors, we need province archons, and we need brothers to serve on housing corporations and alumni advisory boards. We need alumni who will volunteer a little time per week to help pass on those ideals

and values that he learned as an undergraduate. I say we, but in reality, it is the undergraduates that desperately need this support, it is OUR Fraternity that needs this support, this guidance to help us further our goal of becoming THE leader of men’s college social fraternities. Sigma Pi needs your help. Our youngest brother who just initiated needs your help. Our future needs your help. You might ﬁnish this and think, “I was a Sigma Pi in college.” I hope that you will stop yourself, and say “I am a Sigma Pi.” Fraternally, Paul Wydra If you are interested in being a volunteer in any capacity please contact: Jonathan Frost jfrost@sigmapi.org or 615.373.5728.

Winter 2007 • www.sigmapi.org

“I was a Sigma Pi in college,” he told me after he shook my hand. I saw him wearing an old rush shirt and thought that I would say “hi.” We talked a little, he told me about his undergraduate days and how much fun he had, and that he hasn’t been involved in over 10 years. I asked why and he said that it was just something to do in college. I agreed it was. I brought up the fact about volunteering and all of the positives that it has when you can assist Sigma Pi. He said that he thought about it, but did not know how. I said that it is pretty easy to get involved; you just do it. You do not go to mixers and hang out drinking until 4 a.m. on a “work” night. You give advice, you answer your cell phone, you answer your email, and you give guidance…all of this while balancing your family, your job, your ﬁnances, your other responsibilities. Just like you did in college.

The big difference is that you can do that so much better now thanks to the guidance that Sigma Pi brothers and alumni gave you so many years ago. You understand why meetings were held once a week, why the schedule was somewhat hectic, why you had to learn your I Believe manual. All of that was preparing you for the real world and real life experiences. Those experiences prepared you for what you are today; a husband, maybe a father, perhaps a boss or a team worker in an ofﬁce. So you are a recruiter for a Fortune 500 company? I bet you use some ideas that you ﬁrst got when you were recruiting freshman to choose your letters over someone else’s. The similarities are everywhere you look. You might wonder what is your reward for being an alumni volunteer. You don’t get paid, you are away from your family for a couple hours once or twice a week, and you miss that episode of the Sopranos (thanks TiVo), and you sometimes get frustrated by today’s generation. So what is

Fall 2005 • www.sigmapi.org

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

Akron - Gamma-Nu Rick Ryland ’81 7/19/00 Arkansas - Alpha-Sigma Dwight Brown ’65 10/9/06 California-Irvine - Eta-Upsilon David McKinnon California-Santa Barbara - Alpha-Omicron John Thomas ’61 10/2/06 Drexel - Beta-Theta Richard Scherfel, Jr. ’82 5/14/04 East Stroudsburg - Beta-Psi Norman Muir ’63 2004 Michael McDonough, III ’63 2003 Martin Altschuler ’63 8/04

Penn State - Theta Kent Whittenberger ’52 12/05 Michael Rosenberger ’48 7/12/06 Purdue - Eta George Robertson ’52 7/1/06 Edward Bloch ’28 8/19/06 San Diego State - Alpha-Omega Charles McDonald ’69 SIU - Carbondale - Beta-Nu Gaylord Hayden ’59 4/5/03 Troy - Delta-Psi Michael Grubbs ’74

Kenyon - Lambda Jan Hallenbeck ’61 8/9/06 Roger Stauffer, Sr. ’37 11/25/06

UCLA - Upsilon Ralph Morris ’35 1/22/86 Howard Smalley ’36 11/12/79 George Howland ’40 1/22/94 Robert Yingst ’43 6/10/85 Michael Creamer ’35 8/23/86 James Brooks ’28 2/29/84 John Cotterrel ’32 9/27/83 Galt Whipple ’33 11/9/70 Joseph Gebauer ’29 1/14/79 Adoph Biewend ’29 5/13/90 James Armstrong ’27 12/05/78 Waldo Edmunds ’26 4/24/88 Wendell Hubbard ’24 8/6/77 Ralph Diehl ’25 3/26/62 Robert Howe ’52 9/9/06

Lock Haven - Beta-Omega Richard Walbridge ’87 2003

Utah - Pi Asael Taylor ’48 2001

Loyola - Chicago - Beta-Chi Thomas Mikalauskas ’74 10/1/06

Wake Forest - Alpha-Nu Stuart McGuire ’85 12/14/05 Louie Mauney ’61 11/2005

Embry-Riddle (AZ) - Epsilon-Phi Terry Boom ’99 2005 Franklin & Marshall - Nu Edwin Overholt ’45 9/24/06 Indiana - Beta Dale Craig ’52 9/3/06 Iowa - Xi Douglas Huggins ’83 6/10/06

Millersville - Zeta-Gamma Andrew Reilly ’07 8/20/06 Mississippi State - Alpha-Lambda Ray Applewhite ’50 7/6/06 Missouri - Rolla - Alpha-Iota John Kueser ’47 9/27/06 James Prall ’42 1990 Missouri State - Alpha-Rho Wilbur Slentz ’50 12/12/04 NJIT - Alpha-Mu Ivan Amo ’42 9/25/06 Oregon State - Omega Sean Fennerty ’04 Phillip Semmens ’54

Wayne State - Gamma-Omega Michael Morrin ’77 6/20/03 William and Mary - Alpha-Eta William Ditto ’44 8/28/06 Richard Gatehouse ’56 10/7/06 Wisconsin - Whitewater - Gamma-Phi Dean Slinger ’71 8/1/01

Consider an online gift in memory of a Sigma Pi SIGMAPI.ORG/EDFUND

2 Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

What to Do With “Obsolete” Insurance Do you have a life insurance policy you purchased years ago to provide financial protection – and no longer need it? If so, it may be a great asset to give The Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. Consider the benefits when you irrevocably name Sigma Pi Educational Foundation as both the owner and beneficiary of the policy: 1. You receive an income tax deduction. When you fill out your itemized tax return, you can claim a charitable deduction for the cost basis of the policy or an amount approximately equal to the cash surrender value. For deduction purposes, the gift is treated as though it were cash. This means you can deduct the gift up to 50 percent of your adjusted gross income. And if you can’t use the full deduction in the first year, you can carry forward the unused portion up to five additional years. 2. You reduce the size of your estate. At death, the face value of most life insurance policies is includable in the taxable estate of the deceased. For some estates, this can mean a significant increase in estate taxes. However, transferring the policy during life will remove this “hidden” asset and reduce

the size of your estate and any applicable taxes. 3. You leave your current income undisturbed. Many people desire to give more to the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation, but are concerned about their own cash ﬂow and any unforeseen emergencies. They are reluctant to reduce investment assets. We at the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation do not want any of our friends to jeopardize their security in making charitable gifts. At the same time, it’s quite possible that you have either forgotten about an “obsolete” life insurance policy or consider it an unneeded asset. In any case, the beauty of giving such a policy is that it doesn’t affect your current in-come stream.

Easy to Do Making a gift of life insurance is easier than you might think. Your life insurance professional can help you obtain a transfer form from the insurance company or you can contact the company directly. Of course, our President and Chief Development Ofﬁcer, Richard Robinson, is ready to assist you as well. You can reach him by calling (800) 332-1897. You can also contact him through our Web site at www.sigmapi.org.

Giving Real Estate A vacant lot. A vacation home. A few acres of raw land. Many friends of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation have real estate like this. They have property and they don’t quite know what to do with it. One possibility is to donate all or a portion of the property to the Educational Foundation, either as an outright gift or in exchange for a lifetime of income. Consider Mr. and Mrs. Benson.* They had ﬁve acres of raw land that appraised for $100,000. They purchased it years ago for $10,000, thinking they might build a house on it someday. That plan never materialized, but they continued to hold the land. They thought of selling it more than once, but the idea of paying capital gains tax on the sale slowed them down. Also, they were overwhelmed just thinking about all the time and trouble it would take

to market and sell the property. And so they just let it sit there. Then they learned that the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation was willing to receive the land and to sell it, using the proceeds to create an endowment fund in their name. They were also pleased to discover that they would receive an income tax charitable deduction for the gift. The Sigma Pi Educational Foundation’s President and Chief Development Ofﬁcer, Richard Robinson, is available to assist you in thinking through the opportunities and issues related to real estate gifts. He will be happy to come to your home or talk with you on the phone. You can even come to his ofﬁce if you wish. To arrange a meeting with Richard in person or by phone, call toll free, at (800) 332-1897 or visit our Web site at www.sigmapi.org.

*ﬁcticous name

We are only as strong

as the support of our Alumni

Become a member of the Brotherhood of the Golden 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. For more information, contact the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation: (800) 322-1897 â&#x20AC;˘ sigmapi.org

Winter 2007 â&#x20AC;˘ www.sigmapi.org

Emerald of Sigma Pi Fraternity

FROM THE

FOUNDATION

Foundation Volume IV, Number 1 • Winter 2007 FOUNDATION BOARD OF TRUSTEES Chairman Thomas A. Moore (ΓΡ, Western Michigan ’69) Vice-Chairmen Gary T. Dvorchak (Ξ, Iowa ’86) Edward J. Panconi (ΕΣ, Loyola Marymount ’84) Allen W. Yee (ΑΦ, Georgia ’99)

Dear Brothers:

Moore

Everyone leaves footprints on the sands of time. Our prints are made by the imprints of our lives on others. A person is remembered for the weight of his or her character. For indentations of accomplishment. For shapes of kindness. For length of compassion. For width of personal warmth. For generosity. For values. When we leave positive impressions behind, we enhance the lives of our friends and loved ones. We give them footprints to follow. Thoughtful estate planning is one means we have to make a print in the sand to help others recall our priorities. For example, consider the effect of a plan that includes provision for family members and resources for charitable organizations like The Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. 1. An estate gift makes a positive statement. When you include the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation in the ﬁnal disposition of your estate, you declare to your family and friends that you believe in and care about the mission of Sigma Pi. Your parting gift becomes a clear declaration of your values. 2. An estate gift provides needed funding. Estate gifts are especially valuable, not only because they tend to be larger than annual gifts, but also because they often come at critical times. They provide that extra boost to the budget that can make the difference between program advancement and program retrenchment. Estate gifts can be designated for a speciﬁc purpose or they can be unrestricted for use where needed most. They can also fund endowments that perpetually provide an ongoing witness to your friends and loved ones that you believe in the work of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation.

Treasurer L. Nelson Farris (ΒΟ, Cal State – Long Beach ’66) 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) Brenan C. German (ΕΝ, Cal State – Fullerton ’91) Paul W. Hansen (ΒΤ, Valparaiso ’80) John D. Kitch (Η, Purdue ’73) John J. McCann (ΑΜ, NJIT ’83) R. Todd Miller (ΕΤ, Tennessee – Martin ’87) Larry P. Rovira (ΕΝ, Cal State – Fullerton ’85) Marc S. Saffren (ΗΛ, SUNY – Albany ’92) Michael J. Simmons (ΕΝ, Cal State – Fullerton ’87) Jay M. Vaden (ΘΚ, Texas Tech ’03) Clifford A. Wilke (ΔΖ, Missouri – St. Louis ’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

3. An estate gift encourages imitation. There’s something about a well-planned estate gift that inﬂuences others to “go and do likewise.” As friends and family members plan their own estates, they may recall your generosity and thoughtfulness. Your gift may unlock resources from other estates. As we move into this new year, I would like to thank all of our donors for you continued commitment and support of the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation. Your generosity exempliﬁes the ideals of our great Fraternity, and I would like to ask each and every one of you to consider making the Sigma Pi Educational Foundation a part of your estate plan. Your forward thinking will help to secure the future of Sigma Pi, its educational programs and scholarships for all Brothers that follow.

ADMINSTRATIVE OFFICES 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

Helping Our Fraternity Build “A New Generation of Leaders”

Sincerely and Fraternally,

Thomas A. Moore, Jr. Chairman

Foundation www.sigmapi.org • The ofﬁcial publication of Sigma Pi Educational Foundation • Winter 2007

Know how you can help Sigma Pi? See page 2

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.

Prsrt Std Non-Proﬁt U. S. Postage

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Sigma Pi Fraternity P. O. Box 1897 Brentwood, TN 37024

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