Volume XIV Issue VII

May 2012

In this Issue

Convention Uncensored (1)

Scholarship Reminder (2)

The Wall of Prejudice (3)

Overcoming the Odds in

Record Time (4)

Summer Recruitment (6)

Summer Checklist (8)

Convention Uncensored

Over the years there have been

many articles and emails written by

IHQ staff about how wonderful and

exciting Convention is. For this is-

sue of the Paragon, we at IHQ

thought it would be more productive

to have a fellow undergrad simply

share his experience from Conven-

tion. Below is an interview with Ar-

mand Anderson, Rex of our Canada

Kappa Kappa Chapter. Please

note that Armand was not given

directions about how to answer

the questions, nor were any of

his answers censored.

Why did you want to attend

Convention last year?

“It was a combination of

things. I'd been to conclaves

and had phenomenal times and

I'd heard Convention described

as "taking three Conclaves and

putting them on steroids". I was

also excited by the idea of

meeting brothers from every

chapter. I'm a huge fan of visit-

ing other chapters so I thought

it would be awesome to meet a

bunch of the guys before I got

there. And finally I'd heard amaz-

ing testimonials from brothers who I

held in high regard.”

What were your expectations of

the weekend before you attend

Convention?

“I expected to meet a lot of people

and learn a bunch of things and

have a great time. Understand

though, saying that is like watching

a video of someone skydiving and

describing your expectations for

jumping out of a plane: The real

experience is very different.”

What was your favorite session?

“Without a doubt it was the recruit-

ment seminar from Phired Up. It's a

high energy session that goes be-

yond simply teaching great recruit-

ment techniques. It inspires great-

ness. I'm very excited to hear that

Phired Up will be returning to Con-

vention 2012.”

What did you learn during Con-

vention?

“Many things. Although I feel eve-

ryone takes different things away

Chapter Spotlight

NY Kappa Tau

Rensselaer Polytechnic

Institute (RPI)

Brothers Anthony Policastro

and Artie Adams visit the

Great Wall of China.

(see picture on pg. 9)

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

NY Phi Lambda

Adelphi University

Brother Pedro Hipolito re-

ceived the Established

Student Leader award

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

OH Beta Tau

Baldwin-Wallace College

Brother Rich Teal was

elected President of the

Student Government

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

WA Epsilon Alpha

Eastern Washington

University

Brothers Richard Arquette

and Cameron Pilkinton were

elected to the Pacific Affiliate

Regional of the National

Association of College and

University Residence Halls

from Convention. Chief among the

things I learned was a deeper un-

derstanding and respect of Pi

Lambda Phi itself. Along with the

sessions that went into detail about

our values and purpose, there

are also alumni brothers in atten-

dance who have been around the

fraternity who offer decades of wis-

dom and experience. Beyond that,

chapter operations, fundraising

ideas, brotherhood events, manag-

ing brotherhood, and amazing re-

cruitment techniques to name a few

things.”

Overall, what was your favorite

part of Convention?

“We had over one hundred under-

graduate delegates attend the 2011

convention. These brothers repre-

sented the best of the best of our ac-

tive brotherhood. For the first time I

felt how powerful Pi Lambda Phi is.

Being around a hundred motivated

and committed brothers made me

feel like we're unstoppable. It's truly

an amazing feeling. I left with a re-

newed passion to achieve amazing

things with my chapter, and the feel-

ing has carried on until now.”

Reflecting back on the expecta-

tions of the weekend, was Conven-

tion anything like what you

thought it would be? If not, what

is your view of Convention now?

“Convention exceeded every expec-

tation I had. It's very difficult to put

into words how profoundly glorious

a Convention is. It is an experience

that has to be lived.”

So why have you decided to at-

tend Convention for a second year

in a row?

“Convention was one of the

most amazing things I'd ever been a

part of. I wouldn't want to pass up

an opportunity to experience that

again.”

Why should brothers attend Con-

vention?

“It will change you. On top of

learning about the fraternity we

love in a professional setting you

will also learn from the delegates

from every chapter. A lot of these

guys have learned things in their

time that I hadn't, and vice versa.

We all learned as much from each

other as we did from the sessions.

You will meet brothers from chap-

ters all over North America and

learn about different traditions and

quirks of every chapter. And finally,

heed this very well: you are not in a

learning session the whole time.

Things will get wild.”

Anything else you would like to

mention in regards to Conven-

tion?

“Three things to any undergraduate

who plans on coming to Conven-

tion: First, use it as an excuse to

visit other chapters along the way.

It will heighten the experience. Sec-

ond, spend as much of your free

time as you can with your fellow

delegates. You will learn exponen-

tially more that way. And third, per-

haps the most important, bring a

gift of some kind for Laura Patricio.

She is a saint.”

Scholarship Reminder

Are you a hard working student and

Fraternity brother who could use

additional financial support to con-

tinue your academic success? Con-

sider applying for one of Pi Lambda

Phi's Educational Foundation Schol-

Chapter Spotlight

Order of Omega is a leadership

honor society for members of

Greek organizations. Order of

Omega recognizes juniors and

seniors who have exemplified

high standards in the areas of

scholarship, leadership, in-

volvement within their respec-

tive organization and within the

Greek, campus, and local com-

munity. Members are selected

from the top 3% of students at

each institution. Pi Lambda Phi

would like to congratulate the

following brothers for being

inducted into the Order of

Omega this academic year!

CA Tau

University of California, Berke-

ley

Lin Derek

-

MD Kappa Delta

Salisbury University

Samuel Voorhees

Michael Walker

-

NC Omega Beta

University of North Carolina,

Chapel Hill

Francisco Andrade

Thomas Mazzawi

arships and you can potentially re-

ceive the support of your Fraternity

in achieving your academic endeav-

ors. Pi Lambda Phi's Educational

Foundation awards scholarships

each year to those undergraduate or

graduate brothers in good standing

who are most deserving at our An-

nual Leadership Convention.

Through the generous donations of

our alumni brothers, the Educational

Foundation is able to award multi-

ple scholarships and you need only

complete one application to be eligi-

ble for the different scholarships.

Please read more about the applica-

tion process at our Scholarships

Page and apply today! You can also

view last year's scholarship recipi-

ents in our Banquet Program on the

Convention 2011 Review. The

deadline to apply for scholarships is

June 30, so don't wait and apply

now!

The Wall of Prejudice

What began as a small event to pro-

mote a better understanding be-

tween people

through small

discussions on

Carroll Uni-

versity’s cam-

pus quickly

became some-

thing much

more. On

M o n d a y ,

April 16,

2012, after

months of

planning and

working with

the university,

the WI Chi Upsilon chapter of Pi

Lambda Phi revealed their philan-

thropy event, “The Wall of Preju-

dice” (the Wall).

The Wall was simply a temporary

wall, made of wood built in a public

place, where people can write every

derogatory term they have been

called. A few days later, the people

who wrote the hateful words, which

had negatively impacted their lives,

would have the opportunity to tear

them and the Wall down. The pur-

pose of the event is to bring tradi-

tionally unspoken topics, such as the

impact of prejudicial terms, to the

forefront of discussion.

Reactions from this event ranged

greatly from those moved to tears as

they reflected upon personal experi-

ences and saw words either used

against or by themselves written on

the wall to those who felt this dem-

onstration was both inappropriate

and would fail to make a lasting dif-

ference in the way people treated

one another.

Although the concept of the event is

simple, write words on a wall and

then tear it down, the impact of this

event was anything but simple. Stu-

dents, campus administration and

faculty, members of the community

and even the local and state media

Chapter Spotlight

Order of Omega cont.

NC Omega Zeta

Western Carolina University

William Reid Baker

Douglas Bridges

Daniel Glen Keener

-

NY Kappa Tau

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute

Patrick Edward Flanagan Jr.

Anthony L. Policastro

Eric W. Sellke

-

NY Omega Epsilon

University at Buffalo

Karan Kapoor

-

NY Phi Lambda

Adelphi University

Joseph Vernace

-

Baldwin-Wallace College

OH Beta Tau

Rodney Hildebrand

Richard Teel

took notice as a group of college

Fraternity Men stood up against the

negative impact prejudice plays in

the lives of millions of people. Lo-

cal Talk Radio Host, Charlie Sykes

was one of the first to publically

comment about this event. Conver-

sations about this event continued to

grow and eventually gained recogni-

tion and airtime on Fox6News Mil-

waukee. Fox6News reported on the

Wall twice, once prior to tearing

down the Wall and once again re-

porting on the tearing down of the

Wall.

Although opinions varied on

whether this event was appropriate

or would lead to the elimination of

prejudice, it did accomplish its pri-

mary goal. This goal was to simply

fulfill the mission of the Elimination

of Prejudice: “creates long lasting

community change by addressing

the underlying differences between

people that prevent progress. By

setting the conditions for sensitive

societal conversations to take

place, the Elimination of Prejudice

promotes a better understanding

between people.”

To more fully understand the impact

and various opinions and feelings

towards this Wall, here are a few

quotes gathered from Carroll Uni-

versity students, administration and

faculty:

“It was a very eye-opening

event. Many conversations were

had in classes and all around cam-

pus about prejudice and how there

can be a better understanding be-

tween people. It is a topic that can

be forgotten and pushed aside. Hav-

ing the wall on campus made people

f a c e t h e i s s u e . ”

– Kevin Trigonis (WI Chi Upsilon

Chapter Advisor & Carroll Univer-

sity Football Coach)

I think that this particular activist

move is outrageous. The idea may

sound fine in principal, but in prac-

tice falls through. I’m embarrassed

to say that I am a student at the

University with that wall up on cam-

pus. I think that it is absurd that the

school OK’ed its creation.

– Carroll University Student

“You have set a great example not

only for other Greeks, but individu-

als on campus.” - Carroll University Student

“Thank you, Pi Lambda Phi Frater-

nity, for providing this experience,

albeit all the controversy the wall

got this past week. I've never been

so proud of being a Carroll student

(and a Best Buddies member, when

it comes to tearing down the "r-

word") as I was today :) “

- Carroll University Student

“As a professor, I loved the passion

and reactions of the students. I ad-

mired their ability to learn and

grow from the wall and share per-

sonal experiences with classmates.

Student apathy is a concern at times

in education, and what happened

yesterday in my classroom was any-

t h i n g b u t t h a t . ”

- Carroll University Faculty

Overcoming the Odds in

Record Time

The reason for closing a chapter

comes in many forms. Tens of thou-

sands of dollars in utility bills and

lack of recognition from the univer-

sity due to variety of risk manage-

ment issues was justification for re-

voking PA Alpha Delta’s charter in

the early 2000’s.

Following the closure of the chap-

ter, the thought of returning to Tem-

Chapter Spotlight

Order of Omega cont.

PA Kappa Eta

Widener University

Jonathan Daddario

Josh Koble

Tony Mathew

-

VA Omicron Zeta

Virginia Polytechnic Institute

& State University

Milad Soufastai

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

Is your chapter or a Brother

doing noteworthy things on

your campus? If so, please let

us know!

Email Patrick Spanner at patrick.spanner@pilambdaphi.org

ple University’s campus appeared to

be more of a dream than a realistic

idea to most. However, a few moti-

vated alumni, with the support of

then Executive Director Gary Sand-

ers and the International Headquar-

ters (IHQ), were determined to have

PA Alpha Delta rejoin the ranks of

the top chapters within Pilam.

“Mike Naegle, Jim Kelsh, Bob Ar-

thur and Shawn Mahoney were the

primary cogs in the wheel of reor-

ganization,” said Ryan Overturf, the

current Chapter Advisor. “Without

these men, we wouldn’t be any-

where, let alone where we are to-

day.” Fred Brehm, a member of the

PA Alpha Delta housing corp, also

played a key role in managing chap-

ter funds in the absence of a chapter.

In 2009, after a partnership between

IHQ, alumni and Temple University

was formed, Ian Lowe and Phil

Spence began recruiting the men

who would inevitably lead the chap-

ter to its unprecedented success.

Jacob Atar, along with his friend

Andrew Bollinger, noticed the op-

portunity at hand. After setting up a

meeting with Ian, the two were in-

stantly sold on the values and pur-

pose of the Fraternity. “I remember

thinking that we could not possibly

fail as a chapter if we have a virtu-

ous purpose,” stated Jacob.

The two men were joined by twelve

other motivated young men, includ-

ing Bryan Mann. “Like many of my

Brothers, I never thought I would be

joining a Fraternity,” said Bryan.

“Through Nate [Moore, a fellow Re

-Founding Father,] and the Creed, I

found myself joining the best or-

ganization I could ask for and some-

thing I never considered for my-

self.”

From the beginning of the re-

colonization process, many of the

Re-Founding Fathers figured out

how much work it would be to be-

come a chartered chapter. However,

the workload did not scare them and

they began recruiting quality men

and working through the long list of

requirements established for them to

achieve their goal of becoming

chartered chapter.

Success did not come easily to the

chapter. “There were many chal-

lenges the brotherhood faced ini-

tially like how to increase their pres-

ence on campus and legitimize

themselves as a burgeoning chapter

in an ever-growing Greek campus.

These challenges were easily met by

solid work ethic and espousing a

good message, that of equality,”

stated Ryan. “The harder challenges

came from within the chapter.”

Like many other standards based

chapters, PA Alpha Delta inevitably

had to address the issue of Brothers

failing to meet the standards.

“Within the first year we had people

not paying dues on time or getting

poor grades and I would say the

hardest moment was letting go of

some of our best friends who didn’t

want to follow the rules,” shared

Jacob. “It was hard because we

started bending rules slightly in the

beginning and all hell broke loose,

finally we stopped and realized it

was much better to love those broth-

ers from afar and that it was best to

let them go. It was the hardest and

best decision we’ve ever made and

the chapter is 100% better off since

we’ve gotten past that point.”

Through the successes and chal-

lenges, on April 20, 2012, PA Alpha

Delta once again became a char-

tered chapter of Pi Lambda Phi.

From all of the interviews and dis-

cussions, Jacob summarized the re-

founding of PA Alpha Delta the

best:

“Being a re-founding father was

hard work, but we wouldn’t have

gotten their without our alumni and

especially IHQ. With all our grum-

bles and fights they kept us on

course and focused and I’m glad for

all the long hours they put in to keep

us honest. I think Kovner said it

best, its hard work but in the end

when you work for something it’s

so much more meaningful and I

hope my chapter continues a tradi-

tion of always bettering itself no

matter what. I hope they continue

moving forward year after year.”

Summer Recruitment With summer in full swing it is im-

portant to not lose sight of what is

ahead of you, and the opportunities

that lay right in front of you.

Whether you are getting settled into

summer classes, an internship, job

or just relaxing at home, there are

many things that you and the broth-

ers of your chapter can be doing

NOW to work towards a successful

recruitment class in the Fall. Simply

put, you can't say you recruit 365 if

you're not recruiting right now!

Here are a few things you and your

chapter can do to keep recruiting

throughout the summer, regardless

if you are within close proximity or

not:

Update Your Names List

Keep your contacts organized by

updating your chapter Names List.

Remove men who graduated and

mark those who joined another Fra-

ternity. Add notes to those who you

spent additional time with through-

out the semester to make it easier

for brothers to remember him in the

fall. Think through and add the

classmates you had in the Spring

that you wish you spent more time

with and if you are taking summer

classes, go ahead and add the men

you have met in your current

classes. Make sure every brothers

checks Facebook and talks to

friends to see who from their home-

town or high school is coming to

your University or College and add

them as well.

The larger your recruitment pool,

the higher probability you will find

the type of men you are looking to

recruit. One of our colonies with

just over 10 brothers started last fall

with a names list of over 300! They

went on to initiate over 10 men in

both the Fall and the Spring. What

is your chapter's recruitment poten-

tial?

Schedule Events

Don't wait to get back to campus to

schedule your Fall events. Regard-

less if you have a formal rush or an

open recruitment on your campus,

make sure you setup your calendar

now so you can spend time meeting

the people you will invite to those

events. Don't stop with just your

large events either. Take time to

plan out what small activities you

can do and go ahead and schedule

those as well. Even something as

small as playing pickup sports

games every day the first week of

classes, putting it on the calendar

now will help brothers prepare for it

and gives you an easy excuse to in-

vite someone you just met or are

looking forward to spending time

with when classes begin.

Summer is just as crucial of a time

to have small events as any other,

and you don't have to spend a lot of

money to do it. Instead of planning

a huge summer bbq, plan a BYOM

cookout (bring your own meat) and

make it more intimate for the

friends you invite. If you are in your

hometown you can do the same.

Plan get togethers with high school

friends and find out who is going to

your school in the Fall.

Probably the easiest events to

schedule are those that are already

planned by someone else. Check

your University calendar for any

welcome week, freshmen move in,

orientation and student activity fairs

for great opportunities to meet peo-

ple with no work besides showing

up.

Schedule a Recruitment Work-

shop

Talking to strangers may come

natural to some and feel painfully

awkward to others. Even more diffi-

cult is meeting someone for the first

time and taking the leap of faith to

open up, be vulnerable and genu-

inely interested enough to form a

friendship, all the while assessing

whether this person has the charac-

teristics and values that we are look-

ing for in a potential member. Plan a

Recruitment Workshop at the begin-

ning of the Fall semester to hone in

on your conversational skills and

ability to communicate the values of

the Fraternity. A classic problem

with Fraternity men is that we get so

close to each other we sometimes

forget how to make new friends.

Practice meeting someone for the

first time, make sure everyone feels

comfortable asking for someone's

phone number and inviting them to

hang out at your next small gather-

ing and review when and how to

bring up the Fraternity. Invite your

Chapter Advisor, alumni, your

Greek Life Advisor or even sorority

women (great way to build relation-

ships for your next social event) to

make the workshop the most im-

pactful.

If you want to do anything well in

life, you have to practice. Don't as-

sume you will become a great re-

cruiter by just reading some tips. Go

out and practice meeting people and

bring experiences to your workshop

to help address the challenges other

brothers may have in first interac-

tions or building relationships. If

you're not practicing, you're not get-

ting better. If you're not getting bet-

ter, you're falling behind.

Stay In Contact

The summer days may fly by or

pass at a crawling pace. Either way,

we all enjoy the opportunity to get a

random message from someone

genuinely interested in how we're

doing and the chance to connect

with old friends. Be the person who

stays in contact with your friends

over summer and go the extra step

to actually call someone to see how

they are doing instead of just send-

ing a text (or Facebook message, or

Facebook chat, or tweet...). Reach-

ing out to men on your names list

just to see how their summer is go-

ing creates a great opportunity to

ask what they are planning on doing

in the Fall, what are they planning

on getting involved with or even

what they wish they did in last se-

mester. Many brothers say they

have a PNM "locked up" to join

next semester. Don't count on that if

you aren't making the effort to stay

connected and build on your rela-

tionship because you can bet he is

meeting new people during the sum-

mer who could affect his decision to

join or not in the fall.

Get in contact with incoming fresh-

men and start asking what they are

excited about in the Fall, how they

are planning to get involved and

when he wants to meet up so you

can show him around campus.

Now that you have some tips for

summer recruitment, go out and

start recruiting and preparing for the

Fall! Also check out this Recruit-

ment Challenge from our friends at

Phired Up!

Summer Checklist Summer is a great time to reflect

and plan. Reflect on your perform-

ance from the past academic year in

your classes, in the organizations

you are a part of, in the positions

you hold, in the Fraternity, in your

friendships, in your relationships.

Did you do a good job? Can you

improve? How? Ask yourself these

questions as you reflect and begin to

plan. Plan your classes for the next

few semesters, plan future intern-

ships or summer jobs, plan what

new organizations you will get in-

volved with and what new roles you

will take on. Plan how you will

strengthen your friendships and re-

lationships and think through which

are actually most important to you.

Plan how you can help your Frater-

nity chapter achieve its goals.

Here is a checklist of things you and

your chapter can do to reflect on the

previous academic year and plan for

the next one:

Chapter

Review and asses your goals from

last semester in the following areas

of Fraternity Operations:

Academic - GPA, cumulative

and semester.

Service - Hours per brother,

hours per semester, amount of

projects completed…

Recruitment - Men on names

list, bids extended, bids ac-

cepted, men initiated…

Philanthropy - Dates for your

events, other organizations

events…

Social - Number of events with

sororities, with other organiza-

tions…

Brotherhood - Number of

events.

© 2005-2012 Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity, Inc. All Rights Reserved.

Athletics - Placing in intramu-

rals, number of teams spon-

sored...

Once reviewed, set new goals for

the upcoming academic year and

semester. Make sure every brother

is aware of the goals and bought

into completing them. Everyone

does not have to 100% agree, but

everyone must be willing to work

towards common goals.

Create plans for how you will

achieve each of your goals. Sched-

ule the events you will need to have

in order to achieve them:

Schedule summer and Fall re-

cruitment events.

Schedule service events and be-

gin coordinating with the or-

ganizations you will need to

setup the event with.

Schedule Philanthropy events.

Schedule Social events.

Schedule Brotherhood events.

Schedule an Executive Board

Retreat to help coordinate every-

one's plans and dates. Use this to

also review each position's re-

flections of last year's goals and

upcoming plans.

Individual

Review past performance and create

new goals for yourself in the follow-

ing areas:

Academic - GPA, cumulative

and semester.

Service - Hours per semester,

projects you participate in…

Recruitment - Number of men

you add to the names list, build

personal relationships with, get

to join…

Involvement - Number of or-

ganizations you are part of,

number of positions you hold in

your organizations…

Philanthropy - Dollars you raise

for another organization's phi-

lanthropy, for the Elimination of

Prejudice...

© 2005-2012 Pi Lambda Phi Fraternity, Inc. All Rights Reserved.