Pi Kappa Alpha Iota Delta Chapter

Congratulations to the eight new Brothers of the Alpha Chi class who were initiated tonight!

Danny Beyrer
Nicholas Burger
Jesse Cherbak
Will Eckert
Scott Gallmeier
Ryan Morley
Paul True
Andrew Ulrey

Earlier this quarter we reported on Pike's established presence in the many academic honors societies at Rose-Hulman, including the sweep of all executive positions in Eta Kappa Nu, the international ECE honors society.

Not to be outdone, members of Pike's freshman class have been recognized by their peers for their leadership qualities in being elected to be officers in Alpha Lambda Delta. Membership in Alpha Lambda Delta is only open to freshmen with GPAs above 3.5 and in the top fifth of of their class. The Chapter would like to congratulate Russell Bennett (ALD President), Nathan Jackson (ALD Treasurer), Jesse Cherbak (ALD Historian), and John McLaughlin (ALD Historian) for being inducted into Alpha Lambda Delta.

The local Pi Kappa Alpha Chapters at Rose-Hulman and Indiana State University are making their philanthropic efforts a priority. Instead of spending their respective Spring Breaks lounging on a beach, 21 Pike Brothers - 17 from Rose-Hulman and 4 from ISU - worked 8 hours a day for 5 days to help rebuild homes devastated by Hurricane Katrina in August 2005.

The Rose-Hulman Pikes worked through a program run by the Kenner, LA Vineyard Church. The church operates a full fledged reconstruction program with 5 full time staff and the ability to provide housing and 3 meals a day to over 30 volunteers on a weekly basis. Jeff Hirschoff, the Project Manager, says there is a clear ongoing need for help and they will continue to operate on a 3 to 6 month outlook.

David King, the Brother who organized the trip, said "It was the most fun and rewarding Spring Break trip I've been on. We will be back."

Eta Kappa Nu is a prominent national Electrical and Computer Engineering Honors Society. Annually, the top 25% of the junior class and top 33% of the senior class are invited to join. Six of this year's fourteen initiates - Scott Fieldhouse, Ryan Roberts, Brandon Finan, John Stargel, Jonathan Kellerman, and Whitney Zimmerman - are Pikes. The 2008-2009 President, Vice President, Secretary, and Treasurer are all members of Pi Kappa Alpha. The new executive board have big plans to make significant improvements to the activities of the Honors Society.

Pi Kappa Alpha is well represented among the academic honor societies at Rose-Hulman including Alpha Lambda Delta, Tau Beta Pi, Upsilon Pi Epsilon, Pi Mu Epsilon, Sigma Pi Sigma, and Blue Key. You can find out more information about these societies on Rose-Hulman's website.

Saturday, March 8 marked the return of comedian Steve Hofstetter to Rose-Hulman’s campus. Pi Kappa Alpha Fraternity hosted the comedian at Hatfield Hall, in efforts to assist Big Brothers Big Sisters of Vigo County. The event was marketed to all of campus and also to the entirety of the Wabash Valley, selling tickets at five dollars for Rose-Hulman students and seven dollars for non-Rose-Hulman students.

The event, designed to assist the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Vigo County, coincided with the Big Brothers Big Sisters of Vigo County “Bowl-for-Kids’-Sake,” an annual event that comprises one of the organization’s largest fundraising drives. This year the goal had been set to $50,000 in funds in order to further assist the youth in Vigo County. This goal was through the contributions of all who attended Saturday night’s performance by Steve Hofstetter.

Hofstetter’s performance appeared to be well received, with approximately four hundred people in attendance.

Chicago, IL-Pi Kappa Alpha is fortunate to have the premier leadership program in the Greek world. In recent years Pike University has grown from a small set of annual events to include six regional leadership summits in Philadelphia, Kansas City, Atlanta, Los Angeles, Dallas, and Chicago. Iota Delta regularly sends interested Brothers to the end of year Chicago summit. This year, the Chapter met its goal of sending 20 men to the summit; all classes, freshmen through seniors, were represented. The event culminated a successful year for the Pike University program.

This winter we had the pleasure of enjoying a festive evening in Indianapolis to celebrate the recent initiation of the new Alpha Phi class as is our tradition, but we also had the pleasure of celebrating the Iota Delta chapter’s 20th Anniversary of its chartering. The event was of special magnificence and was held in the ballroom of the Scottish Rite Cathedral in Indianapolis on the evening of January 26th, 2008.

Photography from the 20th Anniversary Banquet was provided by Megan King (wife of alumnus Tim King) of Megelaine Images. Photos are available for viewing and purchase online.

The Spring Rush results for Iota Delta were similar to previous years but a little on the higher side in terms of the number of bids accepted. Iota Delta gave out thirteen bids for the spring class and of that we had ten guys sign bids. With three master associates and ten new associates the Alpha Chi class of Iota Delta could have thirteen members initiated. Thirteen would be the largest spring class in Iota Delta’s history.

Sophomore Preston Render stepped up to fill an unexpected vacancy in the Rush Chair position due to a Brother's illness. Preston performed extraordinarily well and was essential to our successful Spring Class.

A week ago at nine in the morning, brothers and alumni converged in the back lounge to receive the many jobs planned for work day. Projects included adding an overhang to the barn roof, trimming the trees along the back field and along the road into the Fraternity, patching up and fixing the drywall in the main house and annex, tidying up the trail leading to the Heritage Trail, fixing the sidewalk torn up when the water main was fixed, filling potholes in the parking lot, building a waterproof storage room in the basement, and cleaning off the roofs of the buildings on the grounds. Thanks to all the brothers who spent their Saturday working around the grounds. A special thanks goes out to all the alumni who came back and helped us complete all the projects we had planned.

About a month ago, the first step was taken to transform the GMC pumper firetruck into the ultimate tailgating machine. The original 800 gallon steel tank was removed to make room for the tailgating equipment. A 200 gallon plastic tank will be installed so we can still pump out water onto unsuspecting individuals. Futhermore, a tailgate will be installed with removable grills and mounted speakers on the back of the truck. Add to that a new deck and lights and everyone will be able to tell where the burgers are at. Implementation is expected to take two years. Pictures from the recent Fire truck workday can be found here.