Brothers from Across the Nation Take a Plunge to Raise Money for Special Olympics By Dillon Davis (NW Missouri State) Brothers from at least eight chapters across the country hosted or took part in an event for Special Olympics called “Polar Plunge,” which is an event that requires participants to jump in freezing water to raise money for Phi Sigma Kappa’s national philanthropy.
The brothers at Epsilon Tau at Ball State also participated in the Polar Plunge event. The chapter’s event was held two weeks after that on the Pitt State campus.
Early in the morning of February 12, Beta Epsilon President Jake Guenther (Pitt State) and three other brothers got ready to plunge into a pool, which was lined with participants on the outside waiting to jump into the water, which Jake said, “was just below 40 degrees.” Although the chapter doesn’t host Polar Plunge on its campus, it is a city-wide event that Brother Guenther said, “Is a pretty big event. Usually, eight to ten businesses are involved, and both the police and fire departments usually host.” Even though the chapter doesn’t host Polar Plunge, the brothers are always happy to participate in the event. Brother Guenther is still delighted that he participated but said, “I don’t know what was worse, the water or getting out of the pool into 20-degree weather.” The thing that Brother Jake said he was the proudest of was, “together with the four of us that jumped, we raised just under $500, and overall, the event raised around $40,000.” This amount made every second worth jumping in on that cold February morning.
12
SPRING 2022
For the Epsilon Tau Chapter, the brothers had to run booths and start a social media campaign to get participants to take the plunge. With February 26 approaching, Epsilon Tau President Daniel Hood (Ball State) said, “We had to build a pool in the snow and freezing cold weather,” which wasn’t an easy task. The next step was filling the pool. Brother Hood said, “we called the fire department, and they came and filled it.” Even though the water was from a hose, Brother Hood said, “The water was beyond cold.” Even with the temperature outside and in the pool, the chapter never doubted the event would take place because Brother Hood said, “The chapter had 40 brothers and 30 other members of the student body participating in the plunge.” The brothers of the Epsilon Tau Chapter had a phenomenal time, and Brother Hood said, “The event was a success and raised more than $4,500 for Special Olympics.” With the chapter raising that amount of money and putting in a lot of work for the event, the brothers are incredibly proud of what they accomplished. In Oklahoma, the Epsilon Epsilon Chapter had a unique experience because the town of Tahlequah, which hosts the Polar Plunge event every year, said that it had been canceled due to weather. However, the brothers of the chapter were not going
THE SIGNET
