BAAA Journal: Fall '24, Vol 9

Issue No. 9

THE

Fall 2024

BAAA Journal

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Letter from the Editor

By Jack Conroy

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Brothers, Greet Your Brothers!

// 5 Homecoming Itinerary

By Colten Conroy

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4th of July with Joey Raymond

A spotlight on our newest Alumni

By Joe Studer

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Contributors

Contact Us

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BAAA Update

By Joe Studer

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Alumni Bulletin

Catch up with the latest news from Alumni

Contents Issue 9, Fall ‘24

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Fall 2024/Issue No 9

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Jim Hennessy Spotlight

By Jim Hennessey

BETA ALPHA JOURNAL

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Letter from the Editor Brothers, We’re thrilled to bring you another engaging issue, packed with exciting updates and highlights. In this edition, we’re shining the spotlight on a familiar face: Jim Hennessey (PC84). Jim needs no introduction, but his contributions to our fraternity are worth celebrating. Additionally, we’re introducing Joey Raymond (PC15), one of our promising younger alumni, who has a unique passion for trading sports cards, playing online FIFA, and orchestrating impressive firework displays. Curious to know which obsession our writer, Joe Studer, delves into? Keep reading to find out!

Click here to have the We also have details on our annual and new Homecoming events taking place at the chapter house on Saturday, October 26th. We look next issue of forward to seeing you there! This year, 2024, marks a significant the BAAA milestone—the 10th anniversary of our major Beta Alpha House renovation. This project was a monumental effort that required Journal extraordinary leadership, intelligence, relentless dedication, sacrifice, and an outpouring of donations. Our alumni tackled this challenge delivered head-on, overcoming numerous obstacles to complete the renovation. directly to The alumni who invested their time, energy, and resources into this your inbox! project knew they would never reside in the house themselves. Yet, their commitment to the ideal of "excelsior" was unwavering. Their efforts ensured that our chapter remains one of the top KA chapters in the nation and a standout Greek house on campus. Many Greek chapters at S&T are renowned within their national organizations, and our house is proud to be among them.

It’s fitting that we spotlight Jim Hennessey in this Fall Edition, as he played a pivotal role in making the renovation a reality. Jim spearheaded a significant fundraising campaign and collaborated with the SELF Board to establish the Beta Alpha Education Foundation (BAEF). This foundation provided our alumni with the confidence to support this vital project.

On behalf of the first pledge class to experience the newly renovated house, I want to express our heartfelt gratitude. The experiences we had in the new house are cherished memories that will stay with us for a lifetime. We are thankful for the opportunity to witness firsthand the exemplary leadership demonstrated by our alumni, setting a standard for us to follow when it’s our turn to contribute.

Thank you for your continued support and dedication to our chapter.

Cheers to our shared history and future!

Sincerely, Jack Conroy

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Jack Conroy PC ‘14 Fall 2024/Issue No 9

BA of KA Homecoming October 26th, 2024

SELF Meeting 10a Chapter Room

BBQ 11a BAAA Veranda Tourney 1p Cornhole Tennis Court Dinner 5p Scholarship Rolla Lions Club* Social 8p Brotherhood Chapter House BETA ALPHA JOURNAL

*Note the new location for the Scholarship Dinner

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Thirsty?

A BAAA Pilsner Glass can fix that.

Sold exclusively at Homecoming. // 6a

Fall 2024/Issue All proceeds go directly to BAEF. No 9

BAAA Update Contact Us: President Bill Thomas wrthomas@cmrestore.com

Newsletter Editor Jack Conroy jackryanconroy@gmail.com

Website Jared Hanisch Jared.Hanisch@gmail.com

Social Media Cole Phinney cjphin31@gmail.com

Homecoming & Reunions Colten Conroy coltenpconroy@gmail.com

Merchandise Leo Hager jswhdc@gmail.com

Recruitment Bryan Babcock babcock.bryan@gmail.com

Brothers, I’ve been thinking a bit recently about the role KA has played in my life, both as an active and an alumni. Rolla really does a great job of setting its graduates up for success. In addition to courseloads, things like the career fair, professional societies, and greek life go a long way in preparing you for those parts of life that go beyond the engineering. By far, the most valuable experience during my time in school has been joining KA. The opportunities provided by the chapter as an undergrad really did help to shape and grow my skills - and beyond that, they gave me the best set of friends I could’ve ever asked for.

School is tough (and a great time) - and during that time we have the house and chapter to celebrate our wins and push through the tough times together. After we graduate, nothing there changes though - at times life may also be tough (and also a great time), and we still have our friends and alumni to learn from and celebrate with! BAAA was formed several years ago to carry this goal along - providing our alumni with opportunities to keep in touch, celebrate their wins, and learn from each other!

Over the past few years, we’ve been experimenting and growing with new ways to support this mission - a revamped mst-ka.org, the yearly Homecoming celebration, and even this publication! More recently, we’ve expanded into merchandise to support BAEF, and are even planning a family friendly event in the near future (stay tuned for more info). To help support this work, we’ve made a few more changes recently, both to our org structure, and our communication model.

For our Org structure, we’ve found that we need a small amount of funds to operate (both for recurring charges like the webiste, and one off charges like ordering merchandise). Thanks to the generous donations of some of our members, we’re able to provide these services, and to help further that effort, we’ve created a formal Treasurer position, which is filled by Jared Hanisch.

For our communication model, you’ll hopefully have noticed some of our emails (sent by betaalphaalumni1903@gmail.com). To receive these emails, please share your info with us here! Additionally, thanks to contributions from our Website team, we now have an Alumni Spotlight form - please take full advantage of this to let us know about anything you or your friends have been up to that you’d like us to share!

As always, thanks for tuning in, and don’t hesitate to reach out to us if you have any suggestions or feedback you’d like to share!

Joe Studer PC ‘16 BETA ALPHA JOURNAL

Best, Joe Studer

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FROM COORS LIGHT TO BUD LIGHT:

Fall 2024/

JIM HENNESSEY’S STORY ON KA, CAREER, AND CANDLE MAKING // 9

im Hennessey. Raytown, MO. Mechanical Engineering. Name, hometown, and curriculum.

J

In 1983, as a new pledge in Beta Alpha, I had to introduce myself this way to everyone I met. Rolla seemed like such a far-off place to me back then. I had lived in the Kansas City suburb since 1964 when my parents moved our family there from Nashville. I was 4 years old. Growing up, my family had not really ventured east of the Lake of the Ozarks.

Most of our vacations were spent in Lincoln, NE where my folks grew up and all my family lived. We ventured to Branson one year, did the obligatory trip to Jeff City in 4th grade, but never made it to St. Louis. And for certain I had never heard of Rolla, MO. This remoteness and unfamiliarity are what made Rolla so enticing when I was looking for colleges.

I had initially wanted to be an architect. Sadly, there were no architectural programs in-state in those days. Engineering never really interested me, nor did I know that much about it. But I was strong in math and science, graduated eighth in my class of 400 at Raytown South High School and my parents encouraged, pushed, maybe even insisted that I become an engineer. Also, my parents, who adopted me when they lived in Denver, happened to know that my biological dad was an engineer, so it all seemed to fit. I played football and baseball growing up in the

Raytown Little League. I played center and defensive end on our high school team.

I can still remember the alma mater from singing it on the bus on the way home from every game. I wrestled some before injuring my shoulder in my sophomore year and I was on the math team. Our greatest accomplishment on the math team was traveling to Wentzville high school and beating what was supposed to be the best math team in the state. Glory years.

After I made a few visits to Rolla, going to school there seemed like a no-brainer. I was rushing KA and Sigma Nu. I committed to KA sometime in the early summer. I went to St. Pat’s as a high school senior with my best friend from high school (we stayed in the Penthouse), went on a rush float trip on the Gasconade in the summer using the house inner tubes, and attended several rush parties at the

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Thomas house on Lakewood in Lee’s Summit, MO circled around a keg and trying not to be too drunk when my mom picked me up. Fraternity life suited me and I was all in.

The pledge class of 1983 had 16 members.

Five were from KC, three from Springfield, six from St. Louis and two from small towns. This was typical of the house makeup back then. In fact, during the 1985 World Series, the house was so evenly divided between KC and St Louis members that we literally placed white tape on the floor dividing every room. The St. Louis people were told to keep on their side of the room. The Royals went on to win the series in a thrilling game 7, 11-0.

(Yes, there really was a game 7, St. Louis).

By the time we graduated, our class was down to 12. I’ve never had a closer set of Fall 2024/Issue No 9

friends before or since.

I found out quickly that engineering school was hard! And despite my initial confidence after doing well in high school, I discovered I was quite average at UMR. I survived because the chapter supported me as it has supported all our brothers.

These were the days before computers, but after slide rules. Professors didn’t yet trust calculators because you could write formulas between the keys. We didn’t know how to use a slide rule because those classes were not offered. All math on tests was done using scientific notation. We had stacks and stacks of files of old tests and example problems to study from. We would gather in groups and stay up all night studying for tests. The year I took Calc II, I stayed up all night studying for the final exam and slept through the first half of the final. I woke up late, raced to BETA ALPHA JOURNAL

campus in a sweat, parked illegally near the EE building and ran inside to take the test. I think I had 20 minutes. I got a B on that test! Best calculus grade of my undergraduate years! I had nightmares of missing tests for years after that.

What were some of my best memories of life as a KA? There are so many great memories! A lifetime’s worth crammed into four years. I loved Greek Week and St. Pat’s. We had great parties at the house called Wing Teas, where every room in the wing had a different party theme and matching “tea” (Everclear punch). I loved the parties we had during St. Pat’s where the front hall was packed, and we had a fridge tap with the crest painted on the front and a walk-in full of kegs. (By the time I graduated we could no longer buy beer with chapter funds and alcohol policies had changed drastically). We had

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bands play in the dining room.

Paul Pryor and I would go to Mizzou and hire bands from the stage of a bar called The Poison Apple. We were living large. We had a vibrant little sister organization, called the Daughters of Lee or DL’s for short, that made social events a lot of fun. We had a beloved cook we called Mom, who insisted on mixing the potato salad for Greek week with her bare hands, up to her arm pits, in a trash bin marked “food only”, cooked “cheese-eggs” every week and made pancakes so dense that if you dared to eat two, you would feel it the whole day. As an officer we went on great trips to Dallas, TX and Washington, DC for KA National Conventions. “Freshmen walkout” to the KA Chapter at Murray State was an epic road trip, where the Kentucky state patrol practically escorted our group to the KA house front door. The lastminute road trips to William Woods, Mizzou and Springfield were always an adventure.

As an active, I was number VI and number II. Being number VI in the eighties was grueling. Only four brothers had computers and Excel was not a thing. We taped 11x14 sheets of accounting ledger paper together to make a “manual spreadsheet” that could be 3 to 4 feet long with every markup and expense listed in detail. The house got one phone bill, and it was the VI’s job to go through it and assign long distance charges to each

member. (Actually, whoever was living with the VI was assigned this task, and I had that job too). We wrote and mailed paper checks to pay every bill. The VI and the I had to sign every check. It was a lot of work, but I liked being VI. I also liked being No. II in that the I, II and III got special room privileges.

In retrospect, as No. II I was too hard on my pledges. They certainly let me know it with a proper pink belly after initiation was over!

I stayed in the mechanical engineering department my whole time at Rolla. I wanted to find a Sales Engineering job after graduating and I ended up getting hired by R.A Behrman Company in St. Louis. We sold water and steam equipment. It was a great hands-on job. I helped open an office in the Kansas City area which allowed me to be closer to home. After a couple years with them one of my pledge brothers, Jeff Morton, talked me into coming to work at Nooter Corporation. They were in St. Louis and when I moved back there, it would be a permanent move. I’ve been in St. Louis ever since. I was a Sales Engineer for Nooter as well. Nooter fabricated custom pressure vessels for the oil and gas and petrochemical industries. They were a hundredyear-old, vertically integrated company and they had their young sales engineers estimate work, travel and sell it, and then handle the jobs as a project manager until it shipped. I learned so much about

BETA ALPHA JOURNAL

metallurgy, metal fabrication, all aspects of testing, machining, welding. Nooter employed a lot of technical expertise and was one of the top 5 pressure vessel manufacturers in the world. It was by far my most impactful job. Of course, none of this was clear at the time and I came to really appreciate that experience later in my career.

After 10 years there I left and did a short stint at Barry Wehmiller Design Group as a Project Manager, building out new conveyor systems for consumer product companies. I then went back into metal fabrication as a Project Manager at Nooter/Eriksen, as sister company to Nooter Corp, whose fabrication shop had gone out of business, a victim of globalization. Nooter/Eriksen was very busy with building this country’s gas-fired combined cycle power plant infrastructure. I started in 1999, before the Enron crash, which would be a catalyst event to the dot.com bubble and subsequent recession. It was a great time to get started in the power business. I spent almost 20 years working for Nooter/Eriksen.

I did project management for the first 10 years and product development for the last 10 years. I managed projects installed all over the world and had some great experiences traveling and working with all kinds of people. Today, I am Fabrication Manager at a design build automation company called EPIC Systems. I’ve consolidated the last

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30 years of work experience and combined them into the job I have now.

Soon after I met my wife, Chris, in 2018, she and I started down a new career path of having our own business. Our business is called Urban Candle Company, and we make and sell candles for retail, wholesale, private-label, and fundraisers. This business started as a hobby to have a little more cash on hand, better concert seats and better vacations. During the pandemic years it became a whole lot more when a candle series celebrating local businesses went viral during the lockdown. I do the nerdy stuff – making candles, keeping the books, ordering supplies, keeping everything organized and Chris does everything that involves people selling and marketing. Making candles is like doing a chemistry lab. It’s surprising how much my engineering and manufacturing background has helped with this seemingly unrelated business. We have been recognized locally and won several small business awards.

For those alumni toying with the idea of venturing out on their own, I highly recommend it.

My wife Chris and I have 6 children between the two of us. We have been married for 2-1/2 years.

All our kids live in St. Louis, of which we are very grateful. We just welcomed our first grandchild last December. What a joy she is! We continue to live in St. Louis and

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love the vibrancy of living in the city. I’ve been in the St. Louis area for 36 years. I wear my Cardinals jersey to the Royals games when they come to town. I switched from Coors Light to Bud Light many years ago, but now am firmly in the craft beer scene.

I still remember that the Royals won game 7, however, and the Chiefs will always be my football team.

Many of you reading this know my oldest daughter, Jessica. She is 31 and married. Jessica is a chemist with Spectrum Brands and her husband Rick works in IT. Many also remember my son Otton from work weekends. Otton lives close to us and is 24 years old. And my biological dad, I mentioned earlier, who was the engineer? Well, through a 23andMe DNA submission daughter Jessica made several years ago, our family trees were connected and we met 2 years ago. He was an EE, an inventor, entrepreneur and politician.

My volunteer life with the chapter started soon after I graduated in 1987. A very small group of us got on the SELF Board mostly because we were pretty sure they (the alumni) were taking advantage of the chapter, and we were going to fix that! Ah, the arrogance of youth. It didn’t take long to figure out that managing a house full of 18-year-olds is hard and that the alumni (of which I was one by then) were right!

I really enjoyed volunteering on the

Fall 2024/Issue No 9

SELF Board. All the great and interesting alumni were part of that organization: Ed Schmidt, Jerry Gilmore, Geroge Anderson, Billy Browngard, Ubes Sfreddo, Jim Sowers, Gene Kellermeyer just to name a few. If you like listening to stories of the old days in the KA house, these guys had great stories.

Some even lived in the house on State Street. Today, if you follow Tim Bradley Way from the current chapter house to the Welcome Center in the new Arrival District on campus, it takes you to the approximate location of the original house.

I was elected President of the SELF board in 2000 following Greg Bolon’s term. Ed Schmidt did 99% of everything back then (and today too), but he liked others to run the organization. Ed always made me feel important and needed. We would go to Zeno’s and have a drink. He would introduce me as the president of SELF to someone from town and tell me he was always proud that I was involved.

I was not special in this regard as Brother Schmidt makes everyone feel welcome and special. But as a young man, his and others’ generosity really made an impact on me.

I stayed involved over the years of marriages and kids. I would bring my kids down to meetings and work weekends. I have almost guaranteed that none of my kids will come to Rolla as they only think of it as a place where old guys

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Jim and his wife, Chris as they travel // 17 the world.

hang out and work assignments.

In about 2007, Greek housing on campus started to change. During a work weekend, we noticed that Kappa Sig had a serious renovation project going on. Brother Bryan Babcock and I went over to investigate.

We learned about things like education foundations and 501(c)(3)’s. We were amazed that our neighbors had taken on this big project. Pikes had remodeled a few years before after a house fire.

We learned that Sig Ep was also renovating their house. All this new construction prompted the SELF board to discuss updating our house.

Brother Bob Brinkmann had gotten involved, and he had architectural renderings and plans started. In 2008 the housing crisis came, a deep recession followed, and we put our plans on hold.

During Homecoming of 2011, Brother Babcock, myself (can you see a trend here?) and Harold Chernoff were discussing the need to renovate again. We knew a lot about what Kappa Sig had done at that point, but we wanted another house’s perspective. So, the three of us got in the car and went over to Pikes. We walked in and asked if anyone from the housing corporation was around. We ended up sitting down with a group of half a dozen of their alumni and they were extremely gracious, telling us how they financed their house, and how they organized their alumni and collected scholarship endowments. I am a firm believer

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that a strong Greek system at MS&T raises the level of all the houses and, in turn, supports the Greek system even better. We took what we learned in 2011, hired a lawyer that specialized in Greek housing and in 2012 founded the Beta Alpha Education Foundation.

I developed a financial plan that showed how we would finance the house over 20 years. It was a combination of alumni donations, borrowed money and strategic house bill levels, which put us just

Fall 2024/Issue No 9

alumni support. We announced our plans in 2013, and we started asking for 5-year pledges. It’s hard to express the proper gratitude towards alumni that donate money towards a house they will never live in. They do it only to perpetuate the brotherhood and experiences that enriched their own lives. In many cases I knew these amounts were a stretch for them. Our brotherhood has always been extremely strong, and those years were a testament to that. below the levels the university dorms were asking. This plan has proved to be resilient, and we still reference it today. 2024 will be the 10th anniversary of the completion of our house renovation.

Starting the BAEF was the catalyst to raising enough money to renovate the house. Our 501(c)(3) status gave alumni the confidence to pledge large amounts of support.

Brother Brinkmann instilled in me the confidence that we could actually raise a million dollars in

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As we finalized our plans, we saw the pain that Kappa Sig and Sig Ep endured to house their members during construction.

So Brinkmann came up with a plan to demo and rebuild all over one summer.

We would start demolition in April 2014 and be completed before school started the next fall. Brother Adam Siburt who worked for Bob became the “designated KA on staff”.

Seriously, who better than a brother to manage this ambitions project.

The renovation went great and was on time. When the members came back in the fall, they were greeted by a much grander house. It was the talk of the Greek community. I think the renovation of our house was the tipping point that forced all other houses with a large enough alumni base to remodel. For a university the size of MS&T, the Greek housing stock is amazing. If you have not been able to visit the chapter house since 2014, I invite you to visit. You will want to move

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in again.

When the BAEF was formed, I resigned my position as president of SELF handing it over to Bryan Babcock. Bryan did an outstanding job during the renovation. Harold Chernoff was the BAEF’s VP. Brother Chernoff had experience running public charities and was invaluable in setting the proper boundaries between the BAEF and the SELF Board. Sadly, Harold passed away in 2018, but his contributions are still tangible today. The alumni that led us

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through the house renovation have Deserve some recognition: Ken Ludwig, Bryan Babcock, Greg Bolon, Bill Thomas, Tim Bradley, Jim Sowers, Ed Schmidt, Bob Brinkmann (and special thanks to Kim Brinkmann), Adam Sibert, Bill Nance, Christopher Markus.

They are not my pledge brothers, but I am as close to any of them as my pledge class. Thank you, gentlemen, for your brotherhood and commitment all these years.

After 10 years running the BAEF, it has been passed on to a new group

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guide them. It's been a long journey from being the pledge who added a fake class to my schedule, posted on my room door, because I didn’t want to come back from campus to clean! That produced another epic pink belly, but, again, I digress.

of brothers. I feel Ed’s pride when I think of how they stepped up and volunteered.

Joseph Walker, Clayton Newburry and Jared Hanisch are the new officers. They have done a great job so far. In 2017 at the KA National Convention in St. Louis, Ed asked if I would take over as Alumni advisor. Of course this was a big honor. I really enjoy working with the active chapter.

I am continuously impressed by the quality and caliber of young men that become officers in KA. I feel honored to be able to counsel and

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Over the years I’ve had other great experiences on a larger stage within KA. I am the Registrar for the Chiles Province Court of Honor, doing that in tandem with Bob Kelly from the Delta Pi chapter in Joplin. I’ve had a chance to get to know several alumni from across the state and across our Order. At the 2017 Convention, I was also honored to be asked to be the Director of the Model Initiation.

The initiation was performed in the ballroom at the Missouri Athletic Club. After practicing all week, our chapter and Alpha Eta from Westminster combined to give a flawless execution. I got to sit next to the retired Knight Commanders from my era as an undergraduate, Jack Taylor and Idris Traylor and see their emotional reactions to our chapter’s performance. It was a very humbling and proud moment as a Beta Alpha alum.

I’m very proud to be a member of Beta Alpha and of Kappa Alpha Order. It’s been a large part of my life to date and will continue to be.

There are a lot of stories that space precludes me from telling. If I see you at the house in Rolla, I would be pleased to relive those old memories over a beer. Cheers!

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Architectural Engineering Location: St. Louis, MO Title: Project Engineer Employer: McCarthy Building Companies

Pledge Class:

PC2k20

Major:

Chapter Involvement

Service chair

Campus Involvement

Architectural Engineering Institute

Pledge Class: Major: Civil Engineering PC2k18 Location: St. Louis, MO Title: Project Manager Employer: ARCO National Construction Chapter Involvement

Vice President (II), Treasurer (VI), Steward, Brotherhood Chair

Campus Involvement

-

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Fall 2024/Issue No 9

Pledge Class:

Major:

PC2k20

Location: Bismarck, ND Employer: Chapter Involvement

Title: -

English & Tech.

Comms.

-

Ritualist (IX), House Manager, PR Chair

Campus Southwinds Arts Magazine - Vice President and Involvement Student Council Rep Engineering Management Location: St. Louis, MO Title: Project Engineer Employer: Bingman Construction

Pledge Class:

PC2k20

Major:

Chapter Sergeant-at-Arms (VIII), IM Chair, Merchandise Involvement Chair Campus Involvement

-

Metallurgical Engineering Location: Bismarck, ND Title: Metallurgist Employer: Bobcat Company

Pledge Class:

PC2k19

Major:

Chapter Involvement

Ritualist (IX)

Campus Involvement

ASM, Blacksmithing Club

Pledge Class: Location: Employer:

PC2k20 Chesterfield, MO

Mechanical Engineering Mechanical Reliability Title: Engineer Bayer

Major:

Chapter President (I), Council Commander, Recruitment Involvement Chair, Assistant Recruitment Chair Campus Involvement

IFC, ASME

Spring ‘24 BETA ALPHA JOURNAL

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The 4th of July with Joey Raymond An Alumni Spotlight Joey Raymond (PC ‘15) has been putting on an ever growing fireworks display for over a decade now we sent a few questions his way to learn more about this passion of his and share with you all!

Q: How long have you been putting on a fireworks show, and what made you want to start this hobby?

A: I've been doing my 4th of July party since high school, but it really took off after freshman year of college when I could invite my entire pledge class.

Q: You must use a ton of fireworks - what's your process for choosing what you order (when do you start, what are you looking for, etc) and how do you get them?

A: I am quite lucky to have "A guy" for fireworks which allows me to buy at cost, each year I spend some time going through the new releases and base my order off a mix of new products and classic fan-favorites.

Q: Walk me through a fireworks show you've done what are the highlights you're trying to hit?

A: Each year I try and make it better, for 2024 I really focused on the pacing of the show. Having an igniter module that controls when the fireworks launch greatly helps with this, as I can coordinate the entire show ahead of time and ensure that everything goes exactly to plan. I want it to feel much more like a thoughtful assembly than 15 minutes of chaos. Having a big finale is always a must, but I want it to have highs and lows.

Q: What's been your favorite part of putting on a show every year?

It's great to see everyone, I have pledge brothers from all over who travel here just for the weekend.

Q: From year to year, what are you looking to change, and what do you like to keep constant?

I have a few staple fireworks that will be in every show, "Toxic Rain" and "Blonde Joke" are always great at their price point. Using the Igniter module allows for musical integration with the show, something I will try and do next year!

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Fall 2024/Issue No 9

Note: Folks were too busy enjoying the fireworks shows to take 25 BETA ALPHA JOURNAL pictures, so we’ve turned to AI for this dramatized retelling of the//show.

Doran Grieshaber (PC ‘15) and Emily Neely got engaged in Italy!

Joe Studer (PC ‘ Emily Roznow engaged in Red National Pa // 26

Fall 2024/Issue No 9

Tyler Gass (PC ‘17) and Kendra Dumsky got engaged at Ocean Isle Beach in North Carolina!

Austin Sylvester (PC ʻ15) and Crystal Newland recently got engaged while traveling Europe!

‘16) and wski got dwoods ark!

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Andrew Dunn (PC ʻ14) caught a stunning photo of the Solar Eclipse earlier this year.

Andrew was introduced to Astrophotography just a couple years ago. He has been capturing spectacular images of celestial events, astronomical objects, and areas of the night sky throughout the country.

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See @gateway_galactic on Instagram for more of Andrewʼs Fallwork!

2024/Issue No 9

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Fall 2024/Issue No 9

The Beta Alpha Alumni Association Back to School BBQ on August 17th was a hit. Brother Bolon barbecued hot dogs and hamburgers on the new grill donated to Beta Alpha by Brother Bradley. It is a fine piece of equipment. Brothers Schmidt, Glovanavitz, Mays, Harness, Isom, Babcock, Lynn, Minihan, Bolon and Hennessy provided the hamburger, hot dogs, chips, buns, watermelon, and desserts.

Alumni took the opportunity to meet the chapter's members and caught up with each other on a fine Rolla, MO afternoon.

Special shoutout to Brother Scott Mayes (PC ʻ81) for donating the amazing rug (pictured to the left) to the chapter!

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Contributors

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Jack Conroy

Joe Studer

Jack Conroy (PC ‘14) is an Account Executive living in St. Louis, MO. Jack has been the Editor of the BAAA Journal since the first edition, released in the Fall of 2020.

This edition is Jack’s last as editor, as he transitions to a new role in BAAA.

Joe Studer (PC ‘16) is a Software Engineer living in Seattle, WA. Joe has been the Layout Editor for the BAAA Journal since it’s inception. Previously, Joe also contributed to the revamping of the Chapter website.

Colten Conroy

John DeStefano

Colten Conroy (PC ‘13) is a Sales Engineer in St. Louis, MO. Colten has been leading BAAA in planning Alumni gatherings - in particular Homecoming and St. Pats.

John DeStefano is a Patent Attorney in St. Louis. John authored the first Alumni feature in Volume 1, sparking a similar feature in the Kappa Alpha Journal.

John will be taking over as the editor of the BAAA Journal in Spring ‘25.

Leo Hager

Jim Hennessey

Leo Hager (PC ‘19) is a Project Engineer in Illinois. Leo recently stepped up to lead BAAA’s merchandise efforts, helping to provide a new way to raise scholarship funds for BAEF.

Jim Hennessey (PC ‘83) has been an active contributor to the BAAA Journal through his previous efforts as the President of BAEF, and more recently, by writing our most recent alumni spotlight!

Cole Phinney

Jacob Walker

Cole Phinney (PC ‘17) is a Project Engineer in St. Louis. Cole runs BAAA’s Instagram account, and is also responsible for gathering info for our “Greet your Brothers” section.

Jacob Walker (PC ‘14) is Project Manager in the St. Louis area. Jacob sources all the content for our Alumni Bulletin, keeping in touch with alumni throughout the year.

Fall 2024/Issue No 9

A 501(c)(3) charitable organization

Donate to

B BAEF

Giving over $20,000 in individual, non-endowed scholarships each year!

Recent tax law changes and increased amounts for standard deductions have made it more difficult for some to itemize charitable contributions. If you are retired and have IRA, please consider using a Qualified Charitable Distribution from your IRA to donate to the BAEF. You can donate in the following ways: • Send a check to BAEF, P.O. Box 1884, Rolla, MO 65402-1884 • Visit our website, www.baedu.org and donate through PayPal. WeALPHA recentlyJOURNAL had our website professionally made. Check it out! On our website you can also // 33 BETA choose to make your donation re-occur annually.

Have a fun story?

Pledge Brother you want to brag about?

Let us Know: betaalphaalumni1903 @gmail.com You could be featured in the next BAAA Journal! // 34

Fall 2024/Issue No 9

Contact Us

President Website Newsletter Recruitment Homecoming/Reunion Planning Merchandise General Email

BAAA Contacts

Bill Thomas (wrthomas@cmrestore.com) Jared Hanisch (Jared.Hanisch@gmail.com) Jack Conroy (jackryanconroy@gmail.com) Bryan Babcock (babcock.bryan@gmail.com) Colten Conroy (coltenpconroy@gmail.com) Leo Hager (leo.r.hager@gmail.com) betaalphaalumni1903@gmail.com

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BAAA Social Media Kappa Alpha Order - Beta Alpha Alumni Association @BetaAlphaAlumni Kappa Alpha Order - MS&T

Alumnus Advisor Number I Recruitment Chair

Chapter Contacts Jim Hennessey (jim.hennessey@outlook.com) Trey Brown (twbyny@umsystem.edu) Chris Altamirano (ceak3z@umsystem.edu) Chapter Social Media

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BETA ALPHA JOURNAL

Missouri S&T - Kappa Alpha Order @mst_ka Kappa Alpha Order - Beta Alpha Chapter @MST_KA www.mst-ka.org

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Interested in Joining BAAA? Want to be featured in the next Journal?

Email: betaalphaalumni1903@gmail. com

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Fall 2024/Issue No 9