Gustavus Adolphus College Minnesota Gamma Est. 2007

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A Message from the Eminent Archon

Brothers of MN Gamma: Alumni, Actives, and freshly initiated Epsilon Pledge Class just after Initiation Ceremony on October 16th, 2010

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Fall 2010Newsletter

Greetings families, friends, and Alumni,

The Fall 2010 semester has been fantastic for the brothers at Gustavus Adolphus College. We began the year welcoming 16 new members into our Order and finishing second place in the Student Organization Homecoming Competition. More recently we hosted over 150 brothers for the Provence Tau Leadership School where we were recognized as the winners of the Fred Martin Singing Competition, the Outstanding Chapter GPA Award, the Campus Involvement Award, and the Province Cup. In addition, three of our brothers were awarded the Order of the Phoenix, recognizing outstanding commitment and loyalty to the Fraternity.

All the official recognition is nice, but I think greatest achievement our Chapter has made has been the outstanding growth in brotherhood. We do a fantastic job holding weekly brotherhood dinners and movie nights, but even more impressive is seeing brothers hanging out together at other times. I think it’s great that nearly every time I walk past the Courtyard Café, I see a different group of brothers hanging out.

Overall, it’s been an unbelievable semester and I couldn’t be more excited as I look forward to what the Spring brings.

Phi Alpha,

John Rasmussen ’11

Eminent ArchonNewsletter Editor:

Andrew Schmitt ’12Photo Contributions:Martin Barnard ’11

A Message from the Eminent Archon. . . . . . . pg 1

Program Processing from the Pledge Educator . . . . pg 2

Memories of Pledging from the Epsilon Class . . . . . . . . . pg 2

Exec. Board, Highlights, and MN Gamma Fun Facts . . .pg 3

SAE Service and Philanthropy 2010 Report . . . . . . . . . .pg 4

Highlight on Province Tau Leadership School . . .pg 5

What’s Inside:

Pledge Programming from the Pledge Educator

Epsilon Pledge Class Fall 2010

Nick Atkins ’12Bryce Bjork ’11

Erik Bryz-Gornia ’13Sam Burnton ’12 Phil Cleary ’11

Ross Giel ’12Phil Helt ’11

Brandon Hirdler ’12 Ian Ingersoll ’13Josh Miller ’12

Tyler Mulcahey ’13

Josh Sande ’12 Andrew Schmitt ’12

John Thon ’13Tom Ulsby ’12

Chris Weins ’11

Greetings!

I am Taylor Fish, a Junior baseball player and also this year’s Pledge Chairman for the Minnesota Gamma chapter of Sigma Alpha Epsilon. This year’s pledging time was a great success! Not only did we welcome 16 new members (our largest class ever!), but we also were able to create a strong sense of brotherhood between active members and new brothers!

The pledge period this year consisted of a four week period from mid-September to mid-October in which we strive to teach new members about our Fraternity, begin building friendships, and promote overall brotherhood and respect throughout our organization. We do a wide variety of events and activities in order to meet our goals such as educational gatherings and brotherhood events, as well as social and service events.

There are many events from the month of pledging that deserve to be highlighted, but there are two specifically that illustrate what our Order strives to achieve during pledging. The first event was a service event to clean up the Arboretum on campus. While this may sound like a mundane garbage pick-up, the guys really took to it! Between cutting down trees and ripping up invasive plants the brothers bonded in being real “wilderness men” for an afternoon, while also helping the clean-up effort.

The second event that illustrates some of the fun and bonding during pledging was a social event with a local sorority. A tradition for our Fraternity during pledge is that our pledge group prepares a song and dance out of respect for a sorority on campus. Well this year, the men really pulled it off! Through some catchy lyrics and some flashy dance moves, the ladies were more than entertained and impressed! The event was a great success, but the best part was the collective work of the guys to step up with leadership and a sharing of responsibility to put on a great show!

Outside of the great events, one other aspect of pledging that we take great pride in is our anti-hazing stance. Unlike the typical fraternity stereotypes, we spend a lot of time analyzing our pledge activities to ensure that nothing we do could be construed as hazing. This is a strong focus for us, and I think we do a great job enforcing the standard we set for ourselves. I feel strongly that you can ask any of our new members about their experience during pledge and there would be 100% agreement that our chapter does not force pledges to “earn” their letters through demeaning tasks or embarrassment. This is a point of great pride and something that we feel differentiates us from other groups.

As I have mentioned, this pledge period was absolutely amazing! We accomplished our goals and brought in new, impactful members. Pledge is a time of great fun and also great fellowship. We accept new members into our midst and also strengthen those close ties between current members as we work to make everyone feel comfortable within the organization. Pledging is truly the lifeblood of our Order, and after working with and teaching this year’s class, I can personally say that our organization will only continue to grow stronger in the coming years!

Sincerely,

Taylor Fish ’12

Pledge Educator

PLEDGE MEMORIESFROM THE EPSILON CLASS

“Initiation was purely amazing”

“Brotherhood building activities”

“Learning about brotherhood, meeting wonderful new guys, and

making new best friends”

“Participating in the Homecoming Competition with the Actives”

“Preparing a song and dance for the TMT sorority”

“Hosting a spaghetti feed and a massive capture the flag game for

Active brothers”

FALL 2010MINNESOTA GAMMA

EXECUTIVE BOARD

John RasmussenEminent Archon

Dain ClausenEminent Deputy Archon

Martin BarnardEminent Recorder

Nick PrinceEminent Treasurer

David KreftService and Philanthropy

Chairman

Bobby ElwellRecruitment Chairman

Ben CarlsonSocial Chairman

Taylor FishPledge Educator

NOTIFICATION NIGHT SEPT. 19TH

PLEDGING SEPT. 20 - OCT. 16TH

HOMECOMING COMPETITION SEPT. 20TH - 25TH

FORMAL PLEDGING CEREMONY AND BANQUET SEPT. 26TH

SOCIAL EVENT WITH TM’S SEPT. 30TH

RALLY RUN SERVICE EVENT OCT. 2ND

PLEDGE BAKE OFF WITH SIGMA’S OCT. 2ND

PLEDGE ARBORETUM CLEANUP OCT. 3RD

PHI ALPHA WEEK OCT. 10 - 16TH

PLEDGE RETREAT OCT. 15TH

INITIATION CEREMONY OCT. 16TH

WOW ZONE OCT. 30TH

LANDFILL CLEANUP NOV. 5TH

PROVINCE TAU LEADERSHIP SCHOOL NOV. 13TH

VALET PARKING FOR CHRISTMAS IN CHRIST CHAPEL DEC. 3RD-5TH

FOUNDERS DAY MARCH 9TH

PATTY MURPHY WEEK MARCH 13TH - 19TH

TRUE GENTLEMAN DAY OF SERVICE APRIL 15TH

AND SO MUCH MORE!!!

DID YOU KNOW THAT...?---PROVINCE TAU CONSISTS OF 13 SIGMA ALPHA EPSILON CHAPTERS FROM THE STATES OF NORTH DAKOTA,

SOUTH DAKOTA, MINNESOTA, IOWA, AND NEBRASKA

---MN GAMMA ACTIVE BROTHERS ARE FROM 7 DIFFERENT STATES AND 1 OTHER COUNTRY

---100% OF THE MN GAMMA ACTIVES ARE INVOLVED IN CAMPUS ORGANIZATIONS OTHER THAN SAE

WHAT WE’VE BEEN BUSY WITH:

LOOKING AHEAD...

GAC HOMECOMING COMPETITION

This year, during the Gustavus Adolphus College Homecoming

Competition, Sigma Alpha Epsilon MN Gamma took 2nd place

from a field of over 20 campus organizations. The events

throughout the week-long competition included Window

Painting in the Caf, Mad GAC, Dodgeball, Variety Show, and

the Homecoming Parade. In the individual events, MN Gamma

took 2nd place in Dodgeball and the Parade, and took 1st

place in the Variety Show with a wonderful dance routine

choreographed by our own dance extraordinaire, David Kreft.

In summation, the week was a great one for MN Gamma,

providing great Brotherhood time, bonding, and all around fun.

MN GAMMA BROTHERS AND THEIR 2nd PLACE HOMECOMING ‘LION’ FLOAT

Service and

Philanthropy

Fun Facts for 2010

Total Money Fundraised:

$1,500.93

Service Events:

11

Total Fall Service Hours:

212.5 hours

SAE Service Report This Spring 2010 was another good semester for SAE service. Brothers once again held our traditional Bic-a-Brother fundraiser for the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. In this high stakes event, members raised money to shave five brothers’ heads, which was done publicly for all campus to see. This support continued with a fundraiser at Patty’s Bar & Grill, where members sold paddy melt tickets in advance and at the door. With both of these events combined, SAE raised $1,260.93 for the CF Foundation. MN Gamma brothers also participated in Relay for Life, in which our members got sponsored to walk around the track for 12 hours raising $240 for the American Cancer Society. Additional spring events included the Linneaus Arboretum cleanup and willow removal and the bingo night at the Wilds of Sand Prairie nursing home.

In the fall, SAE continued our involvement with the Cystic Fibrosis

Foundation by volunteering to direct riders and stamp cards at their Rally Run fundraiser. Service events sponsored by the Inter Greek Senate included an Arboretum tree removal, ushering and traffic control for the 2010 Nobel Conference, and the Halloween Fun Run and Walk. Additionally, we helped clean up trash in a woodland area at the Ponderosa Landfill Site for Blue Earth County. We enjoyed brotherly bonding time while stuffing tons of garbage in bags, and we were able to make a solid dent in the clean up process. Lastly, our semester cumulated with the Building Bridges Valet Parking for Christmas and Christ Chapel, which is an annual event attracting tremendous participation at Gustavus. We definitely enjoy giving back to the community, and during the year, we pride ourselves on our high levels of campus involvement and dedication to service.

David Kreft ’11

Service & Philanthropy Chairman

The trash picked up by some Brothers at the area outside Ponderosa Landfill

Our Foundation of Choice:

The main charitable organization supported by MN Gamma through fundraising and service events is the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation.

The mission of the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation, a nonprofit donor-supported organization, is to assure the development of the means to cure and control cystic fibrosis and to improve the quality of life for those with the disease.

The Foundation is the leading organization in the United States devoted to cystic fibrosis. It funds and accredits more than 115 CF care centers, 95 adult care programs and 50 affiliate programs, and more than 75 chapters and branch offices nationwide.

For more information or to donate, visit www.cff.org

Congrats to PTLS Award Winners:Fred Martin Singing Competition*MN Gamma

Outstanding Chapter GPASD SigmaIowa Gamma*MN GammaIowa Sigma

Outstanding Pledge Class GPAIowa Gamma

Most Improved Chapter GPAIowa Gamma

Alumni RelationsSD Sigma

Campus Involvement*MN Gamma

Gordon A. TimpanyMember EducationMN Alpha

Roy L. Miller Community ServiceMN Alpha

Outstanding ChapterMN Alpha

Province Tau Leadership SchoolAfter we attended our first Province Tau Leadership School in Ames, Iowa in 2007, we knew we wanted to host one as soon as possible after we got our Charter. During our installation, Clark Schoening, Province Tau Archon, announced that we would be hosting the event November of 2011. We were excited about the news. Later on, at the end of April, we got an unexpected call from Clark asking us if we wanted to host PTLS fall of 2010 instead of 2011. We accepted the offer and started to plan things right away. Usually chapters have a whole year to plan and prepare for the event, we had nearly six months.

After all the preparation and planning done by the PTLS Committee (countless meetings, conference calls and changing plans several times), everything came together nicely at the last minute… except for the amount of snow that we got Friday night and Saturday morning. Before registration forms came in, we were expecting 80-100 brothers from the Province. After receiving all registration forms, we had an astonishing 232 delegates including 17 neophytes ready for initiation. Because of the snow, several chapters drove halfway to Gustavus and decided to turn around and head back. Chapters, who made it and were staying nearby in Mankato, had a difficult time going up the hill.

Fortunately, most of our speakers and brothers were able to find a way up to campus. We started the event a couple minutes late while we waited for some chapters to arrive. Then, in the middle of the singing competition, the power went off. With the help of Clark and the MN Gamma, we re-arranged the morning schedule on the spot. We continued with the singing competition, had two different 3 small sessions in the morning instead of having one big session and four small sessions. While we waited and tried to figure out the power problem, our guest speakers arrived and the power went on again. From that moment on, everything else went according to plan.

As usual, the Gustavus Dining Service did an amazing job with all the meals served to us throughout the weekend including the banquet that concluded the event. The Initiation Team went all out setting the room in Alumni Hall for a formal Initiation Ceremony. There was also a remarkable performance by Mike Yearneau. Mike was one of the only two undergraduate students with roles in the Initiation Ceremony, and had very impressively, fully memorized his part.

I would like to thank the PTLS committee for their hard work and dedication; Mark Imbriglio, Cynthia Favre and Erin Wilkin for preparing lectures for the event; GAC Dining Service, Cassandra Nelson and Margi Willmert for facilitating with the planning of the event; Clark Schoening, Michael Evink, and all Province Tau officials; and Steven Priepke and Brandon Weghorst from the National Office for their dedication to the fraternity and helping out to make sure this event was a success.

Lastly, Congratulations to Justin VerMeer, Mike Yearneau and John Rasmussen for receiving the Order of the Phoenix award.

I’m looking forward to coming back to Gustavus when we host our second Province Tau Leadership School.

Phi Alpha,Ignacio Belmonte ’102010 Province Tau Leadership School Chairman

More than 150 SAE Brothersfrom Province Tau in

Wallenburg Auditorium for PTLS

The Order of the Phoenix Award recognizes brothers who show outstanding commitment and loyalty to the Fraternity. Congratulations to the 3 brothers from MN Gamma who received this award.

Justin VerMeer

Mike Yearneau

John Rasmussen

Order of the Phoenix Award

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Trenz Pruca

4321 First Street

Anytown, State ZIP

GUSTAVUS ADOLPHUS COLLEGEC/O SIGMA ALPHA EPSILON800 W. COLLEGE AVE.SAINT PETER, MINNESOTA 56082

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