THE NEWSLETTER FOR ALUMNI AND FRIENDS OF BETA GAMMA CHAPTER OF SIGMA PI AT EASTERN ILLINOIS UNIVERSITY - WINTER 2014 Alumni From Six Decades Attend Homecoming 2014 Sigma Pi takes 1st place in homecoming float competition Beta Gamma Recruits Largest Pledge Class at Eastern Illinois 32 New Members this fall Brother Jason Zientarski '04 returns for homecoming with This fall, Beta Gamma welcomed 32 new members! This his children Dylan and June who are eagerly awaiting number is a 100% increase from 2013 and 63% higher than the parade on The Rock. any other fraternity on campus. Fall recruitment began in mid-July when brothers worked with Dean Harwood, the Director of Fraternities and Sororities at EIU, to create a personal recruitment plan. Dean provided brothers with a list of all incoming freshmen men. With the help of Beta Gamma's two recruitment chairs, they were able to locate the incoming freshman on social media sites. Brothers reached out to a number of incoming freshmen Brother Larry Bell '68 looking at composites and introduced them to Sigma Pi and all the brotherhood and reminiscing in the chapter house. could offer them for their next four years of college. These efforts resulted in the largest freshman crowd on move in day. A special thank you to all Beta Brothers worked together to judge character, ability to Gamma Alumni who made build relationships and maintain Sigma Pi's high standards. the trip back for homecoming. Brother Corey Duzan '98, recipient of last year's EIU A bi-weekly rush event was held for the first month of school Alumni involvement and support Distinguished Educator Award, returns to watch the including multiple cook outs, open houses and sporting is greatly encouraged and homecoming parade and introduce the newest member events. The events were planned and executed leaving all of of his family, Avery, to former fraternity advisor, Brother appreciated! the other fraternities behind. Beta Gamma plans to use this Eli Sidwell '55. Eli Sidwell ‘55 Bryan Krisky ‘09 recruitment plan as a foundation to build on every semester Roger Van Dyke ‘59 Danny Zahos ‘09 moving forward. John Lowe ‘61 Evan Moeller ‘09 Ron Pennell ‘61 James Alvarado ‘09 Beta Gamma Larry Bell ‘68 Kyle Wilson ‘09 Ron Tredennick ‘74 Mark Ouska ‘09 Welcomes Tami Camp as New House Mom Greg Muncer ‘89 Sean McCoy ‘09 Beta Gamma welcomes a new full time live-in house mom this year, Tami Camp. Tami first became Andy Henning ‘10 Lance Kunz ‘89 acquainted with Sigma Pi four years ago when she was hired over the summer to help prepare properties for Jeff Hebenstreit ‘96 Cam Meyer ‘10 fall occupancy. She was subsequently hired to clean the Sigma Pi house once a week during the school year. Wes Graves ‘97 Clayton Seno ‘10 Corey Duzan ‘98 Kendal Spurgin ‘10 This past summer, Tami and her daughter, Sadie, were instrumental in cleaning both houses and painting the Jason Zientarski ‘04 Mario Casamajor ‘10 second floor as well as the entire basement. They also removed old carpet prior to new carpet installation. Kyle Ulastcyk ‘07 Pat Peck ‘10 Thanks to Tami's help, the house looked great when school began! John Bakun ‘08 Ryan Seipp ‘10 Mike Tredennick ‘08 Jimmey Bakun ‘12 Tami plans to focus her attention on encouraging academic excellence, teaching responsibility for one's Will Starkey ‘08 Matt Brichetto ‘13 actions and encouraging respect for the fraternity properties. Tami is dedicated to keeping the standards of Jack O’Connor ‘13 Sigma Pi intact for many years to come and Beta Gamma is proud to have her on board full time. Welcome, Tami! www.SigmaPiBetaGamma.com Winter • 2014 Beta Gamma Cellar Dwellers Told by Eli Sidwell, Jr. '55 I often reminisce about the years that I spent in college and my participation in Beta-Gamma Chapter as it developed into a strong chapter and the participation in the Sigma Pi National Fraternity as it advanced to International status. With this beginning I am attempting to recall some of the happenings as I remember them and put them on paper for all the members that came behind me as well to create some kind of record my grandkids can read. I was elected to the position of sage as a sophomore which designated me to be the Pictured (L to R): Former Sage, Tim Addante '03, current past Sage and Recruitment Chair Danny Redmore, current Sage chapters' delegate to the Sigma Pi National Biennial TJ Hahn (4.0 Student), Hector Tamayo, Jr. '03 Chapter Director, Ross Kasnewski, 3rd Counselor (Treasurer) and Christian Kabbes, 2nd Counselor (VP) Convocation that was held in Pasadena, California. in the summer of 1956. This is just a preface of an Brother Tim Addante and his wife Jenny welcomed their son Luke into the world in October 2014 Austin, Texas. Tim also article that will come down the road about that recently launched his own successful business called Custom Sweat. Custom Sweat makes customized embroidered experience. sweatbands for any event, school, race, company, promotions and is centered around giving back to local charities. It was after serving my year as sage and having had the experience of travelling to the farthest state West in the U. S. when I had never been farther Chapter Officers from home than the City of Chicago that I was ready Handshakes & Applause to try something new. I had a strong feeling (and still do) that the pledge trainer was and is one of the most Congratulations to the A huge congratulations to Beta Gamma for an important positions in the local chapter. So I asked following Executive Council incredible year of accomplishments! and was granted the permission to be the pledge members who took office on trainer for the December Pledge Class of 1957-58. • Sent two representatives to National Convocation in December 1, 2014. Alumni are As was the custom at that time for Beta-Gamma each Orlando, FL encouraged to contact these pledge class was expected to design, develop and members and offer words of advice. • 2014 Repeat Intramural Champions complete a project that would be an improvement to the fraternity house. The house was purchased in Many thanks to the previous • Greek Week Little Man Tugs Champions 1954 and while improvements had been made to Executive Council members for their make the house habitable for 25 people there were hard work and success over the • Greek Week Pyramids Champions still many improvements to be made. past year. • 1000 point efficiency score (1 of 8 hapters in the nation) This class took on a very ambitious project Sage (President) of transforming the double garage into a chapter Corey Thiesse, Fall 2012 • Increased efficiency score from 650 points to a meeting room. The plans for the project would close Countryside, IL perfect 1000 points one large door, install a gas line to the building [email protected] • Increased gold standard score for heat, put new wiring in the building, insulate 708-299-0579 and drywall and paint the interior. To pay for • Sigma Kappa Kick in the Grass Philanthropy these improvements 10 new pledges agreed to Champions Second Counselor (VP) sign a lease and live in the garage for the spring Ari Adrahtas, Fall 2012 • Alpha Phi Phiesta Bowl Philanthropy Champions quarter. Work was contracted for, 10 bunks were Lincolnwood, IL purchased, leases signed and plans began to • DZ Turtle Tugs Philanthropy Champions materialize - then we got the bomb shell news. Since [email protected] the building was not attached to the main house it 847-529-4399 • Homecoming 2014 1st Place Float would be necessary to have bathing facilities in the • 32 Man Fall Pledge Class – 100% increase from improvements to conform to city health codes. We Third Counselor 2013/Biggest recruitment class of all fraternities and were between a rock and a hard place. (Treasurer) sororities at EIU Erik Benhart, Fall 2012 We had spent too much money to turn back Itasca, IL Continued on Page 3 [email protected] 630-303-4495 Fantasy Draft to Promote Scholarship Fourth Counselor Sigma Pi requires a 2.7 GPA to stay active nationally. they will be marked as 0.0 towards their average (value in (Secretary) This is above and beyond Eastern Illinois University's pledge retention) Ryan Bonarek, Fall 2013 requirement of 2.59. If GPA averages are not met, Beta 3. Teams must finish with all original members Coal City, IL Gamma faces suspension for the upcoming semester 4. Teams must exceed a 2.7 GPA [email protected] for recruitment, intramurals, events and functions. With 5. New member class must be 30 total men. 815-931-4665 new GPA requirements placed on brothers, it is essential 6. Losing team will plan an alcohol free brotherhood event Beta Gamma implement a plan to prevent any academic and perform extra community service hours First Counselor shortcomings. (Alumni Liason) "It was so fun to connect and talk with these guys on Ryan Frazier, Fall 2013 Instead of setting rigorous policies for brothers to a personal level. I think I earned so much more respect as Braidwood, IL follow, with the help of Hector Tamayo '03, Chapter Director opposed to coming into meeting and setting policies. I plan [email protected] and Housing Director, Beta Gamma was tasked with doing on doing this every semester to keep things competitive, 815-409-3220 a fantasy academic draft at a recent active meeting. The fresh and promote scholarship. I am already hearing teams chapter was split into six teams. Brothers with the highest meeting for study tables and actives supporting pledges," GPA were appointed captains.