Omicron Chapter

1931

1934

1935

1941

Omicron Chapter (Founded 8 May 1931; Reactivated 1 March 1987) is located at Shippensburg University of Pennsylvania in Shippensburg, Pennsylvania. The Chapter was founded by Chapter alumnus name and is a member of the Central Pennsylvania Region.

Chapter History

Early Years

At the time of the chapter's founding in 1931, enrollment was approximately four hundred members. In the decade prior to World War II, membership in the chapter averaged between thirty and fifty members.

The guiding force in the establishment of Omicron Chapter was Dr. Simon Shearer. This well-liked professor was the chapter's first advisor and served in that capacity until World War II when the chapter became temporarily inactive.The first charter member of Omicron Chapter was President Lehman, but dies of a heart attack six months after the chartering. Omicron Chapter then inducted its first Honorary Brother, newly-appointed President Rowland, at its first Founder's Day Anniversary Celebration. An annual publication called the Epistolin was produced in the early years. There are currently four buildings on campus named after Brothers.

Activities of the fraternity during these early years were quite varied. One annual event was a picnic/smoker for the members and their dates that was held in cabin owned by Dr. Shearer. They also sponsored speeches by education professionals, held an annual Christmas party, and some members even served as ushers at various events on campus. A Founder's Day banquet was also held each spring on the second floor of Morrison's Restaurant ( now the American Legion in town). Awards were presented yearly to various members for outstanding service to the fraternity.

With the start of World War II and the departure of men to serve in the war and women to take their places in the factories, enrollment at the college dropped off sharply. Enrollment was down, faculty members were released, and the school almost closed down. As a result Phi Sigma Pi, along with most of other campus organizations, was put into mothballs until the end of the war.

During the decade of the 1950s, the fraternity experienced a revival. Under the guidance of advisor Mr. Roy M. Dibert, the fraternity consisted of approximately 25-30 men. The organization was considered the most prestigious on campus and an invitation to join was rarely declined. Meetings were held on a monthly basis, along with other social and academic functions. In 1958, under the presidency of Dr. Donald Morningstar, delegates were sent to National Convention in Kansas where Omicron Chapter won the Outstanding Chapter award.

With the coming of social greeks and various other extra-curricular organizations in the late 50s and early 60s, active participation of the fraternity declined. With the new variety of activities in which students could participate, those students who were members had less time to devote to fraternity matters. Futhermore,the new spectrum of activities drew away prospective members as well. By the middle of the turbulent decade of the 1960s the fraternity remained in the name only and by the middle of the 1970s, the chapter's charter was revoked.

The Active Chapter

In 1987, the Omicron Chapter was reactivated on the campus of Shippensburg University. The National Secretary-Treasurer, Mr. Steven DiGuiseppe, initiated approximately 250 new brothers. Fellow brothers from the Sigma (Millersville University) and Iota (Bloomsburg University) chapters also took an active part in the initiation. Officers were elected for the upcoming school year along with the appointment of Dr. Jeffrey Lacy of the Chemistry Department serving as faculty advisor.

Omicron and Rho Chapters receiving their charters

The fall semester of 1987 started out as a very busy one for Omicron Chapter. Regularly scheduled meetings of the general membership were held so that everyone would be able to keep in touch with fraternal matters.

The fraternity ran smoothly for the next decade, as membership continued to grow and the current members gained more experience on what it takes to balance scholarship, leadership, and fellowship and other fraternal matters. In fall of 1997, the first website for Omicron Chapter was created by Keith Ensminger. Then in 1998 under the presidency of Mark Schmelz, the chapter decided to start allowing second semester freshman the opportunity to pledge.

During the next few years, the chapter had ambitions to host a large fund raiser event. In the spring of 2003, Omicron held its first annual fund raiser event and held a Dance-a-thon that raised money for the A-T Children's Project. After the success of this event, the chapter decided to combine the fund raising event make it an inter-chapter event as well. Thus, in spring of 2004 under the presidency of Erin Golembiewski, Omicron Chapter held its first annual Inter-Chapter fund raiser event. Chapters from around Pennsylvania and students from campus participated in a Jello-wrestling match to raise funds for the Association of Retarded Citizens (ARC). Over $3,000 was raised for the ARC and good times were had by all who participated, making Jello-Wrestling at Omicron a popular event. In the fall of same year, Anthony F. Ceddia, the then president of Shippensburg University, was inducted as an honorary member of Phi Sigma Pi.

Brothers representing Omicron in the National Convention in 2005 (From L-R: Eileen Larkin, Julie McCauley, Ed Murren, Becky Vauthier, and Lisa Cione)

Within the next couple of years, the chapter continued to be an active organization in Shippensburg University while Omicron continued as one of the active chapters. In spring 2005, all the hard work was paid when Omicron was awarded with Joseph Torchia Outstanding Chapter Award and the Top in Region Award. Within the next two years, the chapter again proved to be one of the outstanding chapters in the Keystone Region and was awarded with Outstanding Risk Management Award at National Convention held in the summer of 2007.

Past Chapter Presidents

• Wilbur W. Warfal (1937)
• unknown
• Keith Stoltzfus (1995-1996)
• Jason Stambaugh (Camel) (1996-1997)
• Mark Schmelz (1997-1998)
• Debi Zawacki (1998-1999)
• Robyn Burns (1999-2000)
• Matthew Miller (2000-2001)
• Rob Kotenko (2001-2002)
• Jessica Mamrose (2002-2003)
• Erin Golembiewski (2003-2004)
• Lisa Cione (2004-2005)
• Ed Murren (2005-2006)
• Ashlie Wesley (2006-2007)
• Joseph Peltzer (2007-2008)
• Heather Cressman (2008-2009)

Initiate Classes

Main Article: List of Omicron Chapter Initiate Classes

Chapter Events & Activities

Founder's Weekend

Omicron celebrates the Chapter's founding every year in April by hosting Founder's Day Banquet. The event includes lunch session, speeches, Omicron's Superlatives, Hall of Fame. Special recognition is given to brothers or alumni who have contributed immensely.

Other Event or Activity

Every semester Omicron organizes a numbers of events and participates in numerous activities. Some of the recent events are as follows:

• School Supply Drive (March 3, 2007)

A big service event where Omicron brothers conducted a school supply drive for Teach For America at two places in Shippensburg, near the entrance at Wal-Mart and K-Mart. Brothers were surprised by the overly generous people who donated either school supplies or money. Hundreds of items were donated and more items were bought with the donated money.

• Canning (February 9-10, September 9, 2007)

This canning extravaganza was hugely successful both the times. The two day canning in February was to raise funds for Four Diamond Fund. $629.54 and $723.21 were raised on Saturday and Sunday respectively, with a grand total of $1352.75 which were later donated. The canning on September 29 was also very succesful; $653 were raised. This time the donations were raised for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.

• Omicron's First Annual 5K Run (Oct 21, 2007)

Omicron organized its first ever big scale service event on Sunday, Oct 21 to help raise funds for St. Jude Children's Research Hospital. More that 200 people took part in this run and $2,164 was raised with this grand event.

• O(Omicron) FEST

Omicron celebrated its first ever all around three day event extrvaganza from April 25-27, 2008. [[1]] The festival kicked off with the BBQ and various games on Friday. On Saturday, as a part of service event, Omicron brothers helped the local community on the special day which was called "ShipShapeDay" by assisting the Shippensburg Park facility. They painted the long section curve located at the residential area. In the afternoon followed the scholarship event which included brewery tour at Harrisburg,PA. Concluding the event for the Saturday, Omicron brothers attended the formal at Harrisburg.On Sunday, the last day for O-Fest, the brothers took part in the annual Founder's day banquet which included luncheon, recognition of the selected Alumnis (Hall of Famers), superlatives.

Other Event or Activity

• Besides the fundraiser, Omicron takes time off from their daily routine to help the kids at Mary Gail's home situated near the outskirts of Shippensburg. The special needs home houses about two dozens children with disabilites who are all adopted by Mary Gail.

Brothers posing for the camera with some of the children adopted by Mary Gail

Brothers spend their time by cleaning the house, bed rooms and play areas and just by playing with children. Omicron has been organizing this event every semester for couple of some time.

• Another event is the Rake and Run where the brothers rake the leaves and clean the backyard of the selected houses in town. The brothers have also encountered residents who provided them with drinks and cookies as an appreciation for their help cleaning their backyards.

• Omicron is also one of the pioneers of the super popular fundraising event Jell-O Wrestling . In spring of 2004, it hosted its first ever Inter-Chapter fundraiser event. For three years, this event became a massively popular event for Omicron and it also found a place in other chapters as well. However, it was not organized in the year 2007, and the chapter has chosen to take part in other profitable fundraisers and charity events instead.

• Cook N' Discuss- This event includes food and dessert from different countries. Brothers who volunteer to cook bring their dishes to this event and share with other their recipe and other useful information. Afterwards, the brothers enjoy

the food tasting.

Notable Alumni

• Simon S. Shearer

National President (1935-1937)

National Vice President (1937-1939)

• Roy M. Dibert

National Vice President (1961-1962)

• J. Bruce Maclay

National Secretary (1936-1937)

• Anthony Ceddia, Honorary

President of Shippensburg University. Inducted on November 11, 2004.

Campus Buildings

There are four buildings on campus named after Brothers;

• Shearer Hall is named after Dr. Simon Shearer
• Lehman Library is named after President Ezra Lehman
• Rowland Hall is named after President Albert Lindsay Rowland
• Ceddia Union is named after President Anthony Ceddia. He was inducted into Omicron Chapter shortly after it was reactivated in 1987.

Chapter Alumni Hall of Fame (as voted upon by active brothers)

• Rob Kotenko
• Matt Johnson
• Ryan McIlmoyle
• Eric Fitzgerald
• Alex Bazley
• Keith Ensminger
• Erin Golembiewski
• Lisa Cione
• Megan Larrisey
• Ed Murren

Chapter Honors and Awards

National Awards

• 1963-64 Joseph Torchia Outstanding Chapter Award
• 1990 Joseph Torchia Outstanding Chapter Award
• 1992 C.H. McClure Single Service Award
• 2005 Joseph Torchia Outstanding Chapter Award
• 2005 Top in Region Award
• 2007 Outstanding Risk Management Award
• 2007 Top in Region Award

University Awards

• None to date

Other Awards

• None to date

Further Resources

• Omicron Chapter Website