omega alpha newsletter
TRANSCRIPT
OMEGA ALPHA NEWSLETTER Alpha Kappa Psi
University of Delaware, February 2017
Chapter Review
Chapter President: Samuel Bebout
Executive Vice President: Claudia
Seemans
Chapter Advisor: Frank T. Cara
Faculty Advisors: Diane Wright, Ellen
Monk, & Mark Serva
Newsletter Chair: Megan Garner
Editor: Mike Henretty
Active Brothers: 121
Save the
Dates
UDance - March 12th
Pie-a-Psi - March 22nd
MidCourt - April 9th
Golf Outing - April
22nd
Initiation - April 29th
Interested in attending any
of these events? Contact
Valerie Choy at
Chapter News
New Executive Board The Omega Alpha Chapter elected its new executive board for the 2017 Calendar
Year. The new positions are as follows:
President – Vice President of Communications – Vice President of Samuel Bebout Jillian Palmieri Operations – Hannah Chan
Executive Vice Vice President Vice President of President – of Education – Professional Development – Claudia Seemans Cricket Francisco Jack Coyle
Vice President of Vice President of Master of Rituals – Accounting – Sean Bates Finance – Amanda Flores Dalton Layfield
Vice President of Alumni Vice President of Membership – Relations - Valerie Choy Anthony Manno
Brothers Abroad Welcome back to brothers Matt Richardson, Erica Watson, Erin Mickles, and Megan Garner, who spent the fall 2016 semester abroad traveling across Europe. While we have missed these brothers in their absence, their diverse and eye-opening experiences will aid them in their future contributions to the chapter. Matt Richardson, who spent his semester studying in Paderno Del Grappa, Italy, along with Erica Watson, found that many of his past perceptions of Italian culture were immediately challenged when he found himself immersed. Matt said, “Most of the course work that I took
revolved around the different cultural values and norms that all of these different places held. Through learning about them and experiencing them first hand I have been able to gain a new perspective on the world.”
Erin Mickles cited a similar experience from her time spent in Paris urging other brothers to study abroad if possible. Erin said, “I highly recommend experiencing life within another culture. It allows for a new
understanding of a culture different from your own. Living in France and exploring other countries, I gained a newfound respect for cultural differences.” These brothers spent four months abroad in their respective countries, and in between studying and sightseeing within their host countries, managed to find time to explore other parts of the world as well. When Matt reflects on his experience abroad, he remembers his time visiting the Greek Island of Santorini most fondly, as he explained, “It may have been the most beautiful place that I have ever traveled to. The picturesque views, the unique white cliff-homes, and relaxed atmosphere is something that I definitely could have gotten used to. I will definitely be back one day!” Megan Garner, who was abroad in London had a different sort of favorite memory, recalling, “Being in Europe opened up the whole world, and yet suddenly made it so much smaller. During my time abroad, I was lucky enough to see each of our brothers who were studying abroad in various countries throughout the world. It was a unique experience that I will cherish forever.”
Erica Watson (left) reaches the top of
the Arc de Triomphe on a trip to
Paris.
Matt Richardson (right) stands atop a catamaran on his trip to Santorini,
Greece.
Brothers Megan Garner (left) and Erin Mickles (right) smile at the top of the London Eye.
Winter Session in Review What a winter! While many of us were sitting on the couch binge watching Netflix shows, our brothers Avalon Greene, Josh Kleinman, Ally Siegel, Claudia Seemans, Maggie Loughran, Sam Bebout, Tom Esposito, Hannah Chan, Alex Chiodo, Kaitlin Woo, Hannah Crismon, and Marie Stellato were out exploring foreign lands, pursuing their professional endeavors, and just being downright awesome. Take Avalon and Josh for example: while immersing themselves in the culture of Barcelona, they also held marketing internship positions. Avalon worked for SpaceUp, where she created an operations manual for the business. Josh worked for Alba Delgado, a start-up technology consulting company, where he helped them reach their target market and wrote an operations manual with the founder of the company. Ally and Claudia explored Italy over this winter and if you weren’t jealous already, check
out their Instagrams for some breathtaking pictures of the trip! Maggie had the best of both worlds – traveling to both Spain and Italy! But the traveling doesn’t end there – Sam and Tom spent their winter in New Zealand and Fiji. Sam Bebout, Mr. President himself, has also landed an internship with Ernst and Young in the Northeast Assurance group. Hannah Chan has also accepted an offer as the Data Analytics intern for PricewaterhouseCoopers in New York City. She took this winter as an opportunity to explore South Africa – way to go Hannah! Back here in the U.S., Alex is commissioning as a field artillery officer in the U.S. Army. He has devoted his college career to the ROTC program and the Reviresco chapter. Huge congratulations to you, Alex. Kaitlin participated in the UD Job Shadow Program, where she had the opportunity to shadow UD alumni in workplaces such as Rutter Associates, Showtime Networks, and The Melini Group. She has committed to an internship with J.P. Morgan Chase & Co. as their Technology Analyst Program Intern. Marie Stellato will be interning for Ross Stores, Inc. as an Assistant Buyer in their NYC location. Hannah Crismon has also secured a summer internship with the Investment Management division at Vangaurd in Malvern, PA.
Winter 2016 Graduates
A bittersweet congratulations goes out to Mike D’Amico, Logan Horn, Talia
Jarmus, Matt Hahn, Laura Gettier, and Zach Campbell in honor of their graduation last semester. While we will miss you dearly, we also look forward to celebrating the many accomplishments you will make in the future. Thank you for all of the memories and contributions you have made to better our chapter over the years. Best of luck to you in all your future endeavors, and don’t forget to come back and
visit!
PBLI
Earlier this month, the Omega Alpha Chapter was represented by 16 brothers at the Principled Business Leaders Institute (PBLI) conference in Philadelphia. Brothers attended a number of keynote speakers, networking and professional development workshops, as well as reaching out to other chapters to share our chapter operation strategies. At the conference, Omega Alpha won second in the Annual Case Competition, along with the Recruiting Excellence Award!
From left, brothers Jack Coyle, Amanda
Flores, Anthony Manno, and Joshua Clarke pose after winning second in the
PBLI Case Competition.
UDance
Dear Alpha Kappa Psi Alumni,
With the 10th annual UDance taking place on March 12th, we are putting our best efforts into fundraising by sending letters and emails to our family and friends, going canning, pairing with restaurants near campus, and reaching out to our esteemed alumni. Most of the money raised for UDance is raised in these last few weeks, when we rally around our excited B+ Heroes and help ready our campus for the single largest philanthropic event at UD.
We fight For The Kids and so that no parent has to hear the words “your child has cancer.” Alpha Kappa Psi had the privilege of being paired with our very first B+ Hero, a 2-year-old boy named Nate, last year and we are doing our best to help him and his family in every way that we can. This year will be the first year that he will be in attendance, since he was in the last round of cancer treatment during UDance last year. Whether it was playing with him at the FTKarnival, cheering for the Women’s Lacrosse Team with him, or getting his family a Christmas
card, he has been in our brothers’ hearts and minds all year. We hope that you will consider donating to our team’s page to help us reach our goal of raising $20,400. We are
currently 52 percent of the way there and will be doing everything in our power this last
month to raise the last 48 percent.
If you would like to donate and help provide support, hope, and encouragement to Nate and his family, you may do so either online, using the following link: https://www.udancede.org/bpos_teampage.aspx?eventtag=ud2017&teamid=569&mode= or via check payable to “The B+ Foundation.”
Brothers attend a Blue Hen’s football game with
Nate and family.
Nate and the rest of the Griffiths family pose together for their annual Christmas card.
If you choose to send a check, please be sure to include our team name, “Alpha Kappa
Psi,” in the memo section, and mail it to the following address: UDance
015L Perkins Student Center University of Delaware
Newark, DE 19711 Any amount, whether small or large, can make a huge difference in Nate’s life and the
lives of the other B+ Heroes. If you would like to increase the impact of your contribution, The B+ Foundation is a 501c3 charitable organization, so your company may even be willing to match your donation.
We would like to thank you for your continued support and for all of the years and effort you have put into making Alpha Kappa Psi the great chapter that it is today. We would love to see some of you back for UDance, as there will be a UDance Alumni Welcome Back event the night before, March 11th, somewhere on Main Street!
In U... and I...,
Your 2017 UDance Chapter Representatives: Mackenzie Campbell, Kristen Brokaw, Amanda Flores, and the rest of the Alpha Kappa Psi Omega Alpha Family
Brothers Amanda Flores (left) and Mackenzie Campbell (right) with our B+ Hero, Nate.
Brother Spotlight – Frank
Haendel-Gonzalez
Frank Haendel-Gonzalez traveled alone to the United States from Caracas, Venezuela at the age of 15 while speaking very limited English. Fast-forwarding to now, Frank is a senior with an economics and international business double major and French studies minor. Frank joined the Omega Alpha Chapter in the fall of 2014 as a member of the Lambda pledge class. Shortly after obtaining his membership within Alpha Kappa Psi, Frank secured his first internship as a Strategy and Operations Consulting Intern for Deloitte back in his home of Caracas, Venezuela. He recalls, “Living and working within the hostile and unpredictable environment of Deloitte Venezuela was a challenging but enjoyable experience. I quickly learned to not bother planning, because those plans would immediately have to be changed.”
Since that first internship, he has also gone on to work as both an Academic Intern and Derivatives Intern for JPMorgan Chase & Co, as well as a Capital Structure Summer Analyst for Bloomberg LP. Through these experiences, Frank has found that, “everyone thinks they know everything until they actually don’t know anything,” citing that both staying humble and
maintaining a willingness to learn have been key values that have helped him through his professional journey.
When asked if he had any advice for his fellow brothers, Frank immediately responded, “All too
often people spend too much of their time labeling others into categories, yet there is so much more that we as people have in common that truly defines us. You can learn a lot from unlikely people, but only by being humble and having a willingness to change.”
Alumni Spotlight – Sam
Negri
Sam Negri is a member of the Theta pledge class and rushed Alpha Kappa Psi during the spring of 2013. She currently works at Bloomberg LP in the New York City office with the Technical Operations team. Her role is customer service driven as she helps both clients and other employees through technical difficulties with the Bloomberg Terminal Software. Sam looks back fondly on her time as a brother of Alpha Kappa Psi and attributes much of her business soft skills to the professional development coaching she received from the Omega Alpha chapter. Sam reflects saying, “Alpha Kappa Psi played a huge role in helping me develop professional
business skills. My family did not come from a business background and I really needed help with my resume and communication skills for interviewing and speaking to potential employers.” In retrospect, Sam encourages younger brothers to build a broad professional network, to utilize the long winter session term, and to preserver towards one’s goals. Sam leveraged Alfred Lerner
College of Business & Economics’ strong alumni network following graduation and has even kept in touch with one of her favorite University of Delaware professors. She also took full advantage of the winter session to work towards both her personal and professional goals. Sam maintained contact with a firm that she was unable to intern with during the summer and secured a winter session internship. Her professional success is a testament to her determination and perseverance. In the long run, Sam sees herself in a marketing role with a professional sports organization. She hopes to utilize her talents with brand management and event planning in the sports industry
following her career with Bloomberg LP. We cannot wait to see how your career unfolds Sam! Keep up the great work.