A Holiday Shout
FIJI Christmas 2011 We’re missing a few Brothers, but who likes taking pictures.
Individual Highlights: Page 2-Cabinet Elect Page 3-Cabinet Elect Continued/Presidential Address Page 4-Pledges/Rope pull/Pig Dinner Page 5-Military Brothers Page 6-Athletics Page 7-Special Thanks Page 8-Donations and Scholarship Fund (IMPORTANT READ!!)
Happy Holidays Members of Alpha Deuteron Brothers, Special greetings from the undergraduates of the Alpha Deuteron Chapter of Phi Gamma Delta. We have decided to restart the house newsletter The Occasional Shout in order to reestablish connections between the house and the prestigious alumni who have come through it. This is only a brief edition that we are putting out before the end of the year to get the tradition back in swing. This year has gone well to date. We have 10 outstanding pledges that have rushed this fall semester and led us to a victory in rope pull‌ And we have an additional 5 that have already committed to rushing in the spring.
Cabinet Elect President Elect – Nick Liberatore Hometown: Channahon, IL Major: Psychology/Pre-Physical Therapy GPA: 3.8 Comments: Thank you for taking the time to read our Holiday Shout Christmas Card. This card has been the culmination of efforts from each of the future cabinet members, and it is with great pride that we look forward to leading this house to a very successful year. We are very committed to improving alumni relations and fostering an atmosphere of brotherhood amongst undergrads and graduates alike. I would love to hear from each and every one of you: your thoughts, comments, and questions. What can we do to improve this house? You can reach me at nliberat@iwu.edu or give me a call at 815-315-2248. Special shout out to my cousin Gary Modrow, a graduate IWU Fiji brother!
Treasurer Elect – Juan Gomez…. Hometown: Brookfield, IL Major: Physics GPA: 3.1 Comments: My main goal as treasurer is to erase as much debt as possible from our house. With that being said I would also like to establish a set of guidelines for the following treasurers to follow so that the next transition may be easier on them. Overall I think our house is going to head in a good direction to begin to come back to its glory days.
Recording Secretary Elect – Tommy Tyrrell Hometown: Wauconda, IL Major: Business Administration and Economics GPA: 3.6 Comments: As Recording Secretary I am very excited to make a contribution to this house. My organizational skills will be a great benefit to this house and I believe our cabinet will be great. I’m a Sophomore with a Junior status as of the completion of this semester. I’m a very competitive person which allowed me to excel in Football, Wrestling, and Baseball all four years of my high school career. I graduated 2nd of 280 kids which enabled me to attend this fine institution. I look forward to helping Pete reestablish The Occasional Shout as well as starting many more traditions. I love this house and all the brothers involved in it and look forward to our future. I hope to get to know as many of you as possible so please email me at ttyrrell@iwu.edu or call me at (847) 849-0047 if you have any questions or would like to grab a meal while in town. Happy Holidays to all of you and your families.
Corresponding Secretary Elect – Peter Ruther Hometown: Channahon, IL Major: History GPA: 3.1 Comments: As Corresponding Secretary I would like to personally express my excitement for this Christmas card, as it is my first opportunity in reaching out to you, our Alums. First and foremost, we as the new cabinet know that you are just as important to this house as we the undergraduate brothers; more so in fact. And we are rededicating ourselves to reaching out to you. Please enjoy The Occasional Shout and other forums we will be sending out to keep you updated on the house. I will be the main face of this so by all means please contact me at pruther@iwu.edu or at 815-6668519 if you have any suggestions, ideas, donations, or comments. We are mighty proud to be your FIJI brothers and hope to see you at Pig Dinner. Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays
Historian Elect – Evan Enix Hometown: Centennial, CO Major: Computer Science GPA: 2.82
Comments: As the new Historian, I have set two goals. The first goal is to bring back more ritual and old traditions to our chapter. Having these rituals can bring our brothers closer to the Phi Gamma Delta house. With our house having a rich history, I have set my second goal to better educate my brothers not only about the Alpha Deuteron house but also our fraternity Fiji, as a whole. I will include fun facts and interesting information about our chapter during each chapter meeting. Such as: Did you know the 23rd Phi Gamma Delta convention was held in Bloomington, IL on October 26th through the 28th in 1887?
The President’s Address Over the past two years, our house has made many strides forward. We have brought two double digit pledge classes into the house, in which no other fraternity on campus can rival the quality of new members that we have brought in. Since I have been president, we have focused on financial issues. We have cut expenses substantially, but, we’re still Phi Gams, we know how to have fun without money. Highlights from the year include improving our reputation on campus. We gave valentines to each of the sororities and have attended many meetings on campus to improve our rep with faculty and staff. Our house GPA is on the cusp of 3.0 and we had the best “in house” GPA on campus, among all fraternities, last semester. Since I have been president, we have had two philanthropy events including the Polar Plunge which raised money for the Special Olympics, and we had a luau in which admission was given to students who bought leis. This event raised $375 selling $1 leis, and thus, was quite substantial. That money went to the American Red Cross, Phi Gamma Delta’s national philanthropy. Our fall ’11 pledge class won rope pull. Fiji enjoyed very successful social functions on both Halloween and Christmas this year. To the REALM! The future of this house is in great hands. I believe that we have elected a cabinet that may be one of the best ever cabinets to go through the Alpha Deuteron chapter. I hope we transition cabinets well and can take a considerable sized chunk out of our debt, over the next year, while still living the fun lives of college students. I hope our GPA will continue to rise and that we can continue to bring quality members into the house, training them to be leaders. We will continue to improve and always aspire to reach the goal of human endeavor. -Joe Howard
Fall Pledges
James Jason, Brad Jenisch, Mike Kronberg, Mike Leftakes, Steve Losos, Ross Munsterman, Andy Seidel, Bryan Strah, Victor Rhee, and Zach Zimmer
Our Pledges destroy the Sigma Chi this year at rope pull, reestablishing a long lost tradition that is here to stay again!
ANNUAL FRANK NORRIS PIG DINNER Date: April 14th Location: Biaggi’s in Bloomington Speaker: Tom Swartz Comments: Save the Date! And please join us as we try to have the best Pig Dinner yet! More details to follow in the coming months. Contact: pruther@iwu.edu or nliberat@iwu.edu
Our Current Military Brothers
Alex Bates-National Guard Freddy Krueger (yes that’s his name) - National Guard
We personally thank these two brothers and all of the FIJI brothers who have dedicated themselves to protecting our freedom. Please pray for them and we ask if you feel compelled to donate a care package to them or our soldiers please do so. Contact the house for more information.
House Athletes Football-Ben Houk (all conference), Scott Wenzel (all conference), Bert Blodgett (starter), Brent Schroeder, Kyle French, Brad Jenisch, Mike Leftakes, and Steve Losos . The football team finished 9-2 after a close playoff lost to Monmouth College in the first round. Track-
Andrew Petro, Nick Liberatore, Zach Morrison, Ross Munsterman, Peter Ruther, and Juan Gomez
Swimming-Evan Enix and Gabe Chanez Volleyball-Juan Gomez, Ethan Szpara, and James Jason
Look at Zach Morrison go! Scott Wenzel making a clutch interception
The Captain himself Mr. Ben Houk
‌.and no. Band will not be mentioned Matt Seidel, Andy Seidel, and Kyle Lewis. Get over it
Special Thanks While there are many prestigious alumni deserving of this special thanks, the brothers of the Alpha Deuteron Chapter would like to especially thank Van Miller for his contributions to the chapter. In fact, Van Miller is the reason why you are reading this card at all, as he is the man behind all the emails (Save the Date, this Christmas card) and all the emails to come. For this we salute you Van. Van’s biography on IWU reads as such: Van Miller graduated from Illinois Wesleyan University in 2004 and began working in the admissions office that same year. While attending IWU, Van ran varsity cross-country and was a member of the men’s club volleyball team. On campus, Van was the co-founder of the Rock Climbing Club and was involved with a national fraternity and campus radio. What his bio fails to mention though is that he also happily married to his wonderful wife, Laine, completed an Ironman in 2008, and is currently working at IWU’s Alumni Relations. Personally, Nick and I can’t say enough good things about Van, and we will continue to look forward to working with Van in the future. Van we are MIGHTY PROUD!
Donations and Scholarship Fund Brothers, As you may or may not know, the house has been experiencing financial instability. At the moment we have two separate debts: a debt of $9,767 which we inherited and an undergraduate debt of $5,154. First and foremost, we understand the undergraduate debt is completely on the brothers living in the house and it is our responsibility; please feel no need to help us on that front. And make no mistake, we will pay this off! Instead, it is the debt of $9,767 in which we are asking for your help. This debt is a terrible burden and obviously it hinders the undergraduate brothers’ attempt to pay off our own debt. Our hope though is through your donations and together as FIJI brothers we can continue the proud tradition of the Alpha Deuteron Chapter. We have been improving and any amount of money can help to reduce the debt. To donate, please click this link to our new alumni relations website http://iwufijialumni.blogspot.com/. The link is secure and all proceeds go directly to the house. As a new cabinet we promise we are doing everything we can in this dire situation. It is our hope that through this experience and with your help, eventually we can establish a scholarship fund for brothers who need it and display exceptional qualities in leadership, athletics, and academics. Thank you for your generosity and Happy Holidays to all of you. Sincerely,
The FIJI Brothers of the Alpha Deuteron Chapter Perge!
Alpha Deuteron Chapter 1601 N. Franklin Ave Bloomington, IL