The Bridge Builder, Summer 2013

Summer 2013

Vol. V, Issue 1

Chapter earns second consecutive Knox Award at Beta’s 174th Thirteen Eta Epsilon brothers and advisors traveled south to the Queen City this August to represent the chapter at Beta’s 174th National Convention. Hosted at the Westin Charlotte, brothers had the opportunity to meet and listen to hundreds of actives and alumni, young and old, from chapters scattered throughout North America. Among them were former U.S. Senator Richard Lugar, Denison ‘54, current Secretary of the Navy Ray Mabus, Mississippi ‘69, former NASA Astronaut Joe Allen, DePauw ‘54, former Wall Street Journal editor Barney Calame, Missouri ‘61, and Oscarwinning director Dan Lindsay, Missouri ‘01. Convention participants also attended numerous seminars of the Peter F. Greiner Leadership College to learn how to cultivate improvement in their respective chapters as well as personal growth and development.

Perhaps the sweetest moment of the weekend, however, was receiving Eta Epsilon’s second straight

INSIDE This Issue

Summer Happenings & Reflections Brothers Say “I Do” to Spouses

John Reily Knox Award along with fourteen other chapters among Beta’s128 recognized chapters and colonies. The Knox Award is Beta’s top award presented to chapters considered to be operating in an excellent fashion that mimics the values and goals established by the fraternity.

Brothers were also thrilled to receive the Sisson Award (the second-highest award for chapter excellence), and awards specific to Pledge Education, Recruitment, and Newsletter Publications.

This year’s convention was a memorable social and learning experience for all who attended. The chapter has been proud to celebrate the success it has achieved since its founding six years ago and aims to continue the achievements onward to Oxford next August as more than 2,000 Betas are expected to return “home” for Beta’s 175th anniversary!

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Labor Day Golf Outing Featured Alum: Greg Petsche ‘13

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The Bridge Builder

Vol. V, Issue 1

Summer 2013 This summer, JCU Betas had a bunch of individual summer experiences.

Here are just a few to share out of many!

This summer I was fortunate enough to be selected as an intern for Beta’s Wooden Institute. It was such an amazing experience, and I was glad to be a part of it.

Wooden is a five day program put on by the General Fraternity that teaches participants about leadership, challenges the status quo, and in just five days transforms the lives of all who attend.

On June 21, brothers Ken Clar ‘14, Tommy Collins ‘15, Chris Saniuk ‘12, and advisor Ben Lupica attended the Northeast Ohio Beta Alumni Association’s “Fraternal Fifties” luncheon at the City Club of Cleveland.

On the 4th of July, founding father Kurt Hauber ‘10 proposed to his sweetheart Ciara in Rochester, NY!

Over those five days I was very humbled by the actions of the young men who surrounded me. While I unfortunately was not able to spend the entire time interacting with the brothers (because part of the intern job is setting everything up), I was able to see enough to know how they continued to learn, grow, and become closer as the session drew to a close.

My favorite day, “Giving of Self,” is when all participants go to different service sites around Oxford, Ohio. I truly believe this day sums up the legacy of John Wooden with one act. As my favorite quote of his goes, “You can't live a perfect day without doing something for someone who will never be able to repay you.” This is what the Wooden Institute is all about.

-Tim Ficke ‘15

Two alumni say “I Do” in October Within a week of each other, two Eta Epsilon alumni tied the knot to their sweethearts this fall.

On Oct. 5, former chapter president J.J. Kuczynski ‘10 married his fiancé Katie with brother Andrew Kolupski ‘10 as his best man and Jeff Bradish ‘10 as a groomsman. A week later on Oct. 12, founding father Doug Gault ‘09 married his longtime sweetheart Ashley.

Congratulations brothers! The chapter wishes you and your spouses true happiness from here on out!

The Bridge Builder Volume V, Issue 1 Summer 2013

The Quarterly Newsletter of the Eta Epsilon Chapter of Beta Theta Pi

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Adam Tome ‘15

Public Relations Chair / Editor Joel W. Mullner ‘07

Public Relations Advisor

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Brothers Bill Worms ‘12, Andy Lane ‘12, Nick Skiviat ‘12, Andrew Kolupski ‘10, and Jeff Bradish ‘10 at J.J. Kuczynski’s wedding!

Contributors: Sean Calhoun ‘15 Markus Creachbaum ‘15 Tim Ficke ‘15

The Bridge Builder

Vol. V, Issue 1

Labor Day Golf Outing Free from classes on Monday, September 2, nine brothers hit the links to begin a new chapter tradition—the Labor Day Golf Outing!

The event was a great kick-off to the fall semester. We plan on making it an even bigger event next fall and encourage brothers to golf more often for brotherhood outings!

Summers in college tend to be much different than those in high school. Rather than sleeping in, many college students are up and out of the house by 8am on their way to their summer internships. Working as an intern is one of the most beneficial things a young person can do for their career. I spent this past summer interning back home in Erie, Pennsylvania on the staff of my State Representative, Ryan Bizzarro.

Throughout the summer, I was given tasks and responsibilities that many interns would dream of. The Representative offered me hands-on experience that will be useful in my future career in politics. While working for him, I had the privilege of traveling to Harrisburg on multiple occasions where I worked on reviewing legislation and had an inside look at the

This summer I was afforded the opportunity, through both John Carroll and the Shepherd Alliance Consortium on Poverty, to spend two amazing months on the Navajo Indian Reservation. The Navajo Reservation is about the size of the state of West Virginia and it spans three states in the southwest— Arizona, New Mexico, and Utah. I spent the majority of my time in Arizona at St. Anne’s Mission, a Catholic mission run by the Brothers of the Sacred Heart located in Klagetoh, AZ.

operations of the Pennsylvania state government.

While working in Bizzarro’s District Office in Erie, I was given the opportunity to plan their biggest event for the summer, the Senior Fair. While planning it, I was in contact with over sixty local businesses and dozens of senior citizens from Erie County. The event was an even better success than expected! That day we nearly doubled attendance, setting a record for the highest attended senior fair in the county’s history.

Many of the skills I needed to use over the summer were those that I have developed while in Beta. I am very excited to return to work for Mr. Bizzarro and thrilled for what is yet to come!

and organizing two Bible camps for children. The rest of my time there, alongside my fellow intern from Niagara University, I worked one-onone with the children. We took them to the local public pool, a movie theatre, and a bowling alley.

These children have never seen nor experienced many of these places because of the high rate of poverty on the reservation. Poverty, alcoholism, unemployment, and drugs are major issues facing the Navajo people. On the reservation, there are families without running Over the course of the summer, I water or electricity, as if it was a third assisted four different groups of world country. I went into many people in performing missionary homes which only had three rooms: work throughout Klagetoh. This work one for sleeping, one for cooking, included painting homes, roofing, and the other a bathroom. Life on flooring, building wooden decks, the reservation is difficult; I could see installing new barbed wire fences, it in the faces of the people I met.

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-Sean Calhoun ‘15

Despite a difficult life, I have never met such caring and giving people.

Before I left, I had an assortment of gifts, many of which were homemade. Not only did I enjoy meeting the people, but I also gained so many great memories. In my time there I saw the Grand Canyon, the red rocks of Sedona, and I even killed a rattlesnake.

Klagetoh and the Navajo people will always be special to me because of my experience this summer. I am planning to return this coming summer and I am currently in the works of starting a John Carroll immersion trip to Klagetoh. All in all, during this past summer I learned what it means to experience the world and all that it has to offer.

-Markus Creachbaum ‘15

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The Bridge Builder

Vol. V, Issue 1

Catching up with recent grad “Ole Greg” Petsche ‘13 This past June, brother Greg Petsche ’13 began his career with GE’s Communications Leadership Development Program (CLDP). This program has offered him the opportunity to participate in three different challenging eight-month rotations within one of GE’s six main businesses. Some of his assignments thus far have involved communications work with marketing, employees, executives, PR, and corporate citizens, for example.

The goal of Greg’s program is to develop leadership and crossbusiness experience within the large network of CLDP participants as well as to connect them with senior leaders who act as mentors and assist with global networking for more accelerated professional development.

Shortly after graduation, Greg packed his bags and moved to Louisville, Kentucky to begin what he calls his “out-of-college dream job.” Having lived in Northeast Ohio his entire life, the move was a big change for Greg. The toughest part wasn’t the work, he says, but rather the transition away from the people he developed such great friendships with through Beta and JCU over the past four years.

Mutual Assistance

Brother Petsche ‘13 took some brothers and Beta Sweethearts ziplining through the caves of Louisville this summer!

Despite the distance, Greg says he has managed to keep in close touch with everyone from home by spending time together every few weeks. A couple road trips to Cleveland, celebrating brother Dom Iacozili’s birthday in Columbus, and a Labor Day get-together in Louisville have proven to him that his brothers and Beta sweethearts are friends for life. According to Greg, “the bond we made in the fraternity has only grown stronger since graduation.”

Since beginning his new life in Louisville, Greg has had the opportunity to travel all throughout the country with his new job, from

Intellectual Growth

Trust

big cities like New York and Chicago, to small towns like Greenwich, CT, and Mattoon, IL. To finish up 2013 he will make three more trips to NYC, Georgia, and Tennessee. Next year will intensify even more with a week in Vancouver and then the beginning of the second rotation in the program in February where he expects to go abroad for 8 months.

Greg is very excited for the experiences ahead to develop him not only professionally, but personally, too. He is even hoping to work out plans with a group of Betas to come visit him in Hong Kong!

Responsible Conduct

Integrity

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Want to go Beta? Know someone who does? Visit www.jcubetas.org/recruitment for information on joining our ranks!