2010 Delta Chi Chapter History
The following is an overview of 2010 Delta Chi Chapter History.
Contents
Rush
The 2010 Rush year was led by Sydney Lane, who brought some new fresh ideas to the process. Besides the usual PowerPoint presentation and speeches, the Rushes learned what it means to be a Brother through a video created by Initiate Adviser, Marc Rein. It had Brothers speaking about their experiences in Phi Sigma Pi.
The events are themed after the tripod in order to give the Rushes a clearer idea of what our organization is all about. Some of the events that were a big hit are a Turning Point or Teach for America info session to teach about our philanthropies, Team Building which contains a large variety of fun activities, a Field Day, Learn How to Dance and a Learn How to Act event. During the Rush process, there was also Pref interviews where those who made it to Pref week are asked a couple questions about themselves so Brothers can get to know them better.
Sigma & Tau Initiation
We welcomed 25 Sigmas in the Spring and 13 Taus in the Fall as new Brothers. For the first time since Spring 2006 when Dylan Smith took the Kappa Class to the Poconos, the Initiate retreat was an off campus overnight event for the Sigmas. Initiate Adviser, Marc Rein, planned a special retreat at Ariel Kule’s aunt’s house in the Poconos. The Sigmas got to know each other through ice breakers, cooking dinner, and other various activities. Also for the Sigmas, ritual was moved up in order to allow them to go to Alpha Beta and bond with their new Brothers. Although Initiates were allowed to go, the Brotherhood did not feel comfortable having them attend before the very important Final Vote.
The Sigma class gift brought the Delta Chi mascot, Nom Nom the crocodile, to life in the form of a giant stuffed crocodile wearing the Sigma class shirt.
The Tau class had some great events for their Initiation that they held. They volunteered at Abbe Hall for a Halloween Karaoke Party and for Fellowship they had everyone meet up at the Drinker lounge to watch Aladdin and make delicious caramel apples. The Taus also had a very creative fundraising event. Capitalizing on the Lehigh-Laf fever, they raised about $250 selling bracelets themed for the rivalry.
The Tripod - Stand Out Events!
Leadership chair, Sami Christal, planned an exciting new service event. Partnering with teacher, Monica Barreto at JFK Elementary School in Portchester, NY, Sami arranged to have the brothers and Ms. Barreto’s first graders exchange pen pal letters. The letters and videos meant so much to the children. They all wanted to be in Phi Sigma Pi; they even made games centered on PSP. At the end of the semester, we signed certificates for the students, honoring them as members in Ms. Barreto’s first grade honor society.
A few brothers volunteered at the Crayola Factory in shifts. The Brothers worked at different stations assisting the kids make crafts and cleaning up after them. In between shifts, the Brothers also partook in the activities themselves.
On September 15th, a few brothers partook in a hiking expedition to learn about nature and survival tips. They scaled mountains, crossed log bridges, and enjoyed being out in the woods. On October 13th, Michelle Spicer held the first Yoga event. Yoga was so popular, it became a regular Wednesday event. Every year the Women’s Center hosts a night to combat domestic violence called Take Back the Night. This year, Delta Chi joined the cause and took the midnight march. Before the walk, the Brothers learned about what they can do to help stop domestic violence and help those inflicted.
The annual end of the year BBQ took place on May 1st at Josh Brown and Austin Baker’s house. Along with most of the collegiate chapter in attendance, several alumni joined in on the fun. To celebrate the seniors, the Brothers partook in a “roast” of “remember when” storytelling. The Brothers learned more about the future alumni in that span of time than they probably wanted to know. Along with the senior gift, the seniors were presented with purple and gold chords to be worn at graduation to honor their achievements as Brothers. In between shoving their faces with burgers and hearing embarrassing and memorable stories about the seniors, the Alumni Transition Ceremony was held.
Delta Chi’s Spring Formal themed a masquerade took place on Friday, April 23 at the Beethoven Waldheim. To prepare for the fiesta, Liz Christensen held a mask making event beforehand and had masks available at the formal as well. There was a great outcome of brothers as well as some very creative masks.
ICR
The brothers of Delta Chi were psyched to go to Philly Cup once again. Sadly, the date was moved to the same weekend as the big Lehigh-Laf game and none of the brothers wanted to miss that. Hopefully Delta Chi can attend next year.
Alpha Beta was a bit of a roller coaster this year. Over 50 brothers, including a bunch of Sigmas attended the ICR event on April 9-11th. The Board Games themed party was a success, with most of the Delta Chi chapter going as Guess Who characters. Going along with the theme, the chapter showed their pride during the weekend by sporting DX Taboo styled shirts; it’s the game of unspeakable fun. The Stallions took home first place once again which also cemented a new tradition of a different way to give the grip which is how the stallions would start their games. Delta Chi and a few other brothers celebrated in the river for the 4th time, according to Andrew Kump and confirmed by Brian Ade, keeping with tradition. The weekend ended with a highlighter party to top it off.
A Generous Supporter
David Joseph, executive director of student services, used to donate money to Delta Chi. Alumni, Suzanne Murano, used to be the go between with Mr. Joseph, but Delta Chi lost contact when she graduated. Thankfully, David Joseph contacted Delta Chi president, Katelyn Reef, to find out what Delta Chi is about now, and decided to donate once again. David Joseph also supplied food from Lehigh University for Founder’s Day. Delta Chi thanks David Joseph for all his help.
Technological Improvement
Lehigh University is going in a different direction with class and club web space. Instead of Blackboard, all class information will be posted on Coarsesite and clubs are being move to The Hub. While the Hub was a good idea, it is confusing and so far unwieldy, making it ever more important to have a strong website. Rather than continuing to try to improve the current website, Tech Chair, Justin Goodrich, has decided to make an entirely new one. With the creation of our new website, http//www.pspdx.org, a lot of things we do are now online. Rushes fill out a form on the website and post a picture rather than using paper. This way, the Brothers can log onto the site and review the rushes at their discretion and paper is saved. Also, the pref. interviews and Brother Initiate interviews are written online as well. All of the attendance, files, brother pages, calendar and links to wiki pages are posted on the site.
That Thing We Do On Fridays
Since McGrady’s no longer allows people under 21 to eat there during happy hour, aka half price appetizers time, the Brothers At Large have started ‘That thing we Do on Fridays’. Brothers hang out at different BAL’s houses on Fridays and do whatever they want. This includes baking, watching movies, reading Cosmo, building pillow forts, and just hanging out. It’s a great time of brother bonding outside of credits.
Standards Committee
Last semester, an amendment was passed to add Standards Committee to review and update documents and deal with disciplinary procedures. This semester, the committee was put into action. Over the semester, the committee rewrote the operation policies and bylaws. Next semester, the brotherhood will be voting on the changes. The committee was a huge help in fixing outdated documents. However, disciplinary actions will return to the executive board.
Brotherhood Retreat- A Novel Idea
Corresponding Secretary, Julie Frehafer, and Brothers at Large, Andi Howard, Sami Christal, and Liz Christensen planned an amazing brother retreat based on books.
Brothers were divided into groups of book categories. The groups were Science Fiction, Children’s Stories, Romance, How To, Nonfiction, and Mystery. Each team was given a book to act out. The stories were filmed and sent to last year’s pen pals to go along with their English segment.
While a group was filming, others played Quidditch, from Harry Potter. Two teams rode around on pool noodles simulating brooms while other teams threw kick balls as the bludgers. Andi ran around the field in gold wind breakers as the snitch. Once she is caught, the game ends.
After lunch, the Brothers wrote group stories. Each Brother started a story. After a couple minutes, they passed it to their right and continued the story from their left. This was repeated until each brother got back their original story, only added upon. At the end, each brother had a story that all of the brothers added to. There was also a large scrabble game. Teams were given paper sized letters and added words as teams to the board. Following this was a novel themed game of spud, and then a relay game.
At the end of this busy fun filled day, Mystery came out the victors.
