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The Arkies had the highest GPA of any frat this past year. Mark Boelkins, President, believes this is an achievement of which to be proud. "We stress scholastic achievement as well as social involvement. But we're not all study and no fun. We are a diversified group of guys, and this is our strongest quality." Arcadian is very active in the community every year. Events of this nature included their annual Christmas Party for Ottawa retarded children, and a project known as Dating for Diabetes which they worked on with the help of the Delta Phi Sorority. "We also have a lot of our guys involved in the Higher Horizons program, and we contribute in one way or the other to the March of Dimes every year," says Boelkins. Special events are an important part of the fraternity's activity schedule. Not only did Arcadian hold its usual
informal in Muskegon, they also had Christmas, rush week, and homecoming dances. Other events included a Pine River canoe trip, a beach party with the Delphi's, and a square dance with Alpha Gamma Phi. Pledging for the Arkies included 37 pledges and not one de-pledge. Mark explained to me that pledging practices have been drastically altered this year. "We want to stress fun times," says Boelkins. " W e want to make them work, so that the accomplishment of becoming an active is meaningful. But the work is all in fun. We don't intentionally make it rough; that goes against the personality of our frat. The hardest thing we make them do is group exercises. We do that to build a sort of team spirit. We're working on making pledging more positive, and we're stressing encouragement. Basically, we want to give the pledge an excuse to meet as many people as possible, both inside and outside the frat."
FIRST ROW (from left to right) T Kasten, S. Cameron, M McCarley, M. Winchester, E. Beam. J Hodges, B Fisk, M Davis, S Noble B Buhro K Bowman, K Droppers K Brinks SECOND ROW: J. Martinez, M Pearson, R. Molenaar, G. Bussies, K. Kraay, T Bayer, T Kasten, R Westerir R ark THIRD ROW: K Boeve T. Magee M Wick, A. Hall. G. Luther, M. Van Haaften, J. Beuker, B, Brewer, M. Soeter, B Webster, C, Aardema FOURTH ROW; K. DeYoung. D. Dettenbaugh, T. Griffin, M. Northuis, P, Bosch, P, Boersma, D. Hamann, J, Hoekstra, M. Enks. M. Boelkins; FIFTH ROW: D_Northuis, B. Miller, L Korlenng, M Malone, R. Schut, B Hoekstra, T Jasperse, J. Van Hoeven, A, Patterson, P. Kuiken. SIXTH ROW: M. Porte. Karl Droppers, D Heneveld, G Miner, R McKey, J Webster, K Resche, I Myers, B Donker, S Savage.
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