Phi Gamma Delta – Beta Rho

Vol. 1 No. 2

THE BAYOU FIJI

A Message From the President

FALL 2010

Highlights:

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“Style Your Sole” was held on November 11, 2010.

FIJI hosts non-alcoholic Halloween Cut-Out Night.Beta Rho initiates the first pledge class in the house

since 2006. The Beta Class consists of 27 men of strong character and diverse backgrounds.

This month has been a very rewarding and exciting time for Beta Rho. We have successfully initiated 27 new brothers into the colony and we have already begun to recruit new men for the spring. The new initiates represent men from all over the country and we are all excited to have them join our colony and help us to reclaim our charter in the spring. Our

brothers have been working diligently on Pi Beta Phi’s house for homecoming. Fiji also hosted the Style your Sole event benefitting TOMS Shoes, which was a huge success due to the hard work of the colony. As a whole we have represented Beta Rho very well in sports, academics and other extracurricular activities. We look forward to continuing the strong legacy of Beta Rho at Louisiana State University for many years to come with help from both the

Continuing the Legacy

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Scholarship After my meeting with our Field Secretary, I have several ideas for scholarship. I created different categories of study hours based on GPA and a separate study requirement for the new members. Study hours are not only required outside the house, but inside the house as well to have as many members at the house as possible. I am in the process of creating a rewards system for brothers who excel in academics for the current semester and future semesters. After the first week of study hours I have seen some signs of success as I’ve heard several members have done well in their recent tests. I will continue to monitor the study hours and work on incentives for those who do well.

-Farrell Tes

The Beta Class Congratulations to the Beta Class! The following twenty-seven men were initiated into the colony in the beginning of November:

Brennan Baker, Noah Baldridge, Benton Bimah, Thomas Bocock, Robert Breaux, Chris Cho, Chris Dempsey, Pat Desilva, Ryan Dufrene, Robert Dusang, Chris Fountain, Joe Gipson, James Gordey, Trevor Grant, Chad Heidingsfelder, Charlie Judd, Charles Lewis, Jake Lucidi, Miles Mitchell, Austin Pyke, Myles Rieger, Blaine Rivers, Zack Roney, Forrest Sanders, Winston Triolo, Anthony Thompson, and Bo Vahabzadeh.

Clinton VisitOn October 19th the Beta Rho Colony took its third trip to Clinton to visit the gravesite of Daniel Webster Croft. It was the first trip the Beta Class Pledges ever made. The main idea behind the visit was to stress the other most important side of the fraternity. Besides the socials and sports, we are all here for a bigger reason; we all strive to embody the values of Phi Gamma Delta and are united in Brotherhood to help one another grow into integral members of society. We left at 9:00pm and gathered around Croft’s headstone to pray and sing the Doxology. The timing worked out very well; it was about two weeks before the initiation of the new members. It allowed us to integrate with one another and become a tight-knit group. Another trip was made on the morning of October 31st by the pledges and a few actives to clean the site, and another trip is planned for December 3rd to honor Daniel Webster Croft on his birthday.

-Nic Walts

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Phi Gamma Delta – Beta Rho

Contact Publications Chair:Name: Garet EdwardsPhone: (504) 606-1395Email: gedwar6@lsu.eduComments and

Contact the House Mom:Name: Gayle WardPhone: (504) 875-1940Email: gayleward48@gmail.com

In 2006, Blake Mycoskie, a young entrepreneur on vacation in Argentina, noticed the overwhelming population of children living without shoes. Not only were their feet unprotected from diseases in the soil, but without shoes children are not allowed to attend school in many countries around the world. With the spirit of giving in his heart, Blake created TOMS shoes, an innovative company with an unheard of business model. For every pair of shoes purchased, one is given to a child in need around the world, one for one. On November 1st, Blake came and spoke at the Union Theater to a crowd of 1,200 students, faculty, and staff about his story and that of the origins of TOMS shoes.

 Inspired by TOMS' mission, LSU FIJI saw the opportunity to host an all new campus event called Style Your Sole to showcase who we are and what we represent as a fraternity. People were invited to bring

their own TOMS or buy a new pair to decorate them together at the FIJI house. Working closely with TOMS we were able to gain Blake's endorsement for our event during his speech. A special Web page was also designed as part of the existing LSU FIJI website to accommodate ordering of the shoes and tickets to the Style Your Sole party. Over 150 members of the LSU Community came together at the FIJI house to decorate shoes and give to children in need. Included in that number are the 70 purchases for our party alone, providing children around the world, once vulnerable to disease and unable to attend school, with brand new shoes. 

  The extra painting supplies from Style Your Sole are now being donated to Glory House, an organization that tutors less fortunate students in the Baton Rouge public school system.

-Richard Davies & Nick Ferrer

Style Your Sole

Photo Credits: Max Zoghbi

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Social Events Recently we hosted our Fiji Halloween Cut Out Night where we carved out pumpkins with our dates. Each active and pledge was required to bring a date, and the ladies enjoyed themselves very much.

Sometime towards the end of the semester we will bring back Sweetheart Semi-Formal at Avoyelle's, the former restaurant-turned bar in downtown Baton Rouge. The Alpha class and recently initiated Beta class are excited and looking forward to naming our "sweetheart" for this year.

-Sean Cleary

RecharteringAs the semester moves quickly to a close, our work in the rechartering process is still just beginning. Presenting a viable petition to IHQ is a long, detailed process. Our Alpha and Beta pledge classes are doing all we can to restore Beta Rho to LSU, but we need more involvement from graduates to make our goal of chartering in the spring a reality. We are currently working on several brotherhood events for the spring to invite Graduate Beta Rhos to get acquainted with our current Colony Brothers. Please contact Graduate Relations Chair, Andrew Taylor or Board of Colony Advisors President, Mike Odom (BP 96) for ways you can get involved.

-Joshery DuBois