Summer 2008 Phiota! 1

PHIOTA!SUMMER 2008

www.phiota.org

Dr. GuardiaLatin@Fraternity-SororityEthnic Identity

Phi Iota Alpha National Convention 2008The New Generation of Pan-AmericanismLong Beach, California

UNT Colony Hosts Music Ed.

A Scholarship Benefit

BuildingLatin America Alpha Gamma Rebuilding a School in Peru

Breast CancerAwareness

with a kick

Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity, Inc.49 East 41st StreetSuite 449New York, New York 10165

T H E O F F I C I A L M A G A Z I N E O F P H I I O TA A L P H A F R AT E R N I T Y, I N C .

Pan Americanism in a Microscosm

FROM THE DESK OF OUREXECUTIVE DIRECTORSaludos Mis Distinguidos Hermanos,First and foremost, I hope this letter reaches everyone and their family in the best of health and well being.

Over the past year we have seen many improve-ments within the brotherhood, however this is only the tip of the iceberg. As we continue to improve internal operations, strengthen our financial foun-dation, increase membership services, continue to expand and focus on community relationships, it should noted that there is still much work to be done to live up to the ideals of our pillars. These improvements will serve to better our brother-hood, improve the communities we serve and to continue to build on the greatness that is Fi Iota Alfa.

This magazine is such one of those improvements to our brotherhood. The magazine will serve as a communication medium to inform the brotherhood and our supporters of Fi Iota Alfa initiatives. It will be a testament to the ideals of our pillars, to the ideals that have kept Fi Iota Alfa alive and well for over 75 years as the oldest latino fraternity in existence.

Our members spread through many generations, many professions, many walks of life but as I am often remind by our brothers who were inducted over fifty years ago, all Fiota men are men of quality, man of professionalism and they are the latino leaders of yesterday, today and tomorrow. Contribute to this magazine; submit your articles so we may keep our brotherhood and the community aware of our happenings and our contribution to the Pan American ideal.

Semper un Fiota,Jason “Promesa” NicolauExecutive DirectorPhi Iota Alpha

National Management Jason NicolauExecutive Director Edwin BerroaDirector of Operations Omar LopezDirector of Marketing Jose PizarrosoDirector of Human Resources Francisco LugoDirector Undergraduate Affairs

Alberto ElviraDirector of Information Technology

Phiota! MagazineSteven L. Garza Editor in Chiefeditor@phiota.org

Wanted

Currently we are seeking writers for the magazine to report on current Phiota events. Also, we are seeking writers interested in writing on diverse topics, such as cultural, professionalism, and etc. If interested in a writing position, please email editor@phiota.org to obtain an application form or if you have any questions/comments.

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The PHIOTA! is a quarterly professional magazine based on the ideals of the pillars of Fi Iota Alfa. It is the official publication of Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity, Inc., the oldest existing latino fraternity, establish in December 26, 1931 at Troy, New York, with its roots beginning at 1898.

Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity, Inc., 49 East 41st, Suite 449, New York, New York, 10165 www.phiota.org

ContentsPHIOTA! * SUMMER 2008

Dr. Juan GuardiaLatin@ Fraternity-Sorority Ethnic Identity

Pan Americanism in a Microscosm

Building Latin America Alpha Gamma Rebuilding a School in Peru

Breast Cancer AwarenessTau Chapter Hosts Phiota Cup

UNT Music Ed-Scholarship Benefit

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VOLUME 1 ISSUE 1

Spring ̀ 08 New Members2

Ms. Phi I A Scholarship Pageant

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CrossingDate FirstName LastName Chapter4/3/2008 Oscar Orengo Nu4/3/2008 Jaime Hermosillo Nu4/3/2008 Victor Padilla Nu4/3/2008 Jeffry Bolivar Psi4/3/2008 Raul Duverge UMASS4/3/2008 Jeff Munoz UMASS4/4/2008 Oliver Diaz Lambda4/4/2008 Rolando Gomez Lambda4/4/2008 Arturo Santiago Lambda4/4/2008 Joaquin Camarena Lambda4/4/2008 Nelson Escobar Lambda4/5/2008 Jonathan Nieves Kappa4/5/2008 Lucio Rojas Kappa4/5/2008 Jason Morales Kappa4/5/2008 Richard Rodriguez Kappa4/5/2008 Anthony Ortiz Kappa4/5/2008 Amed Lopez Kappa4/5/2008 Juan Lombert Kappa4/12/2008 Luis Valerio Arkansas4/12/2008 Frank Berlanga Arkansas4/12/2008 Humberto Albarran Arkansas4/12/2008 Jorge Andrade Arkansas4/17/2008 Jose Ramon Valdez Alpha Eta4/19/2008 Carles Canamas FSU4/19/2008 Anthony Fabre FSU4/19/2008 Aldo De La Paz FSU4/19/2008 Angel Valladares FSU4/19/2008 Michael Paisner FSU4/19/2008 Alex Preito FSU4/20/2008 Roussel Arias Delta4/20/2008 Jose Espinal Delta4/20/2008 Jose Hernandez Eta4/24/2008 Chris DeOliveira Pace4/24/2008 Charles Rivas Pace4/24/2008 Daniel Vigil Pace4/24/2008 Carlos Martinez Phi4/24/2008 Jose Garza UNT4/24/2008 Rubem Garcia UNT5/3/2008 David Hernandez U-Hartford5/17/2008 Jose Urbaez Armstrong Atlantic State University5/17/2008 Raimar Rivera Armstrong Atlantic State University5/17/2008 EmilioRene Garcia Armstrong Atlantic State University6/7/2008 Luis Gerardo Montes University of Texas6/13/2008 Jose Gonzalez San Diego6/13/2008 Hector Equihua San Diego6/13/2008 Diego Cota San Diego

*Please contact Mike Rivera, registration@phiota.org, if any corrections are needed to be made to the above list.C

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Pan Americanism can be defined in a variety of ways. I define it as a movement towards the economic, political and social unification of all Latin American nations based on the ideals promulgated by Don Simón Bolívar, Don José de San Martín, Don Bernardo O’Higgins, Don José Martí, and Don Benito Juárez. But how is it that we can accomplish such a gargantuan feat? Where do we start? Do we wait for diplomatic conversations between the governments of each Latin American nation (I consider the United States of America a Latin American nation)? Reader, here’s a challenge for you. How about starting the creation of Pan Americanism with YOU! How would you undertake such a colossal peregrination? I could estimate that not everybody we meet on a daily basis knows or understands our ethnic background. So, you educate those you meet on the culture and folklore of your native country. After you establish a friendship or camaraderie with another individual from a different Latin American nation then you have the opportunity to enlighten them with facts about your own country. This way you start building a very tight friendship, where frontiers and barriers no longer exist, thus, creating a microcosm of Pan Americanism. Also, creating socio-economic awareness of the daily life of Latin Americans stems from this element of education. You can approach education in a variety of ways: poster board presentations, forums, community service, meetings, or via this newsletter.

So do we wait for somebody else to create Pan Americanism or do we start first in our microcosm? Here are examples of important people I think took it upon them to create an awareness of the socio-economic situations of the people of Latin America apart from the aforementioned historical individuals: Rubén Blades, Roberto Clemente, and Ernesto “Che” Guevara. Maybe someday you could include yourself in this list or include other persons I may have forgotten. Here is another example of how creating friendships amongst Latin American individuals can be considered a microcosm of Pan Americanism. A group of men in 1898 took it upon themselves to establish Pan Americanism. They called themselves Union Hispano Americana (UHA). This organization later merged with the fraternities Pi Delta Phi and Phi Lambda Alpha keeping the name of the latter, the emblem and constitution of Pi Delta Phi and the motto and ideology of the UHA. On December 26, 1931 Phi Lambda Alpha and Sigma Iota merged to create Phi Iota Alpha, making it the oldest existing Latino fraternity currently in existence, still living its Pan American ideology. Reader, would you like to live that ideology? Start in your own circle of acquaintances and look to expand into the bigger cosmos.

Pan Americanism in a Microcosm By: Jorge G. Muñiz

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Since the founding of the oldest Latino fraternity in the United States, Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity, Inc. in 1931, and the first Latina sorority, Lambda Theta Alpha Latin Soror-ity, Inc. in 1975, Latin@ Greek letter organi-zations (LGLOs) have found homes on many college and university campuses in the United States. According to LatinoGreeks.com, as of May 2007, there were 13 Latino fraternities, 28 Latina sororities, and 6 Latino/a co-ed or-ganizations on American college campuses. Monica Lee Miranda and Michelle Mar-tin de Figueroa (2000) noted in Perspectives, the publication from the Association of Frater-nity Advisors, that LGLOs have adopted four primary purposes from the Latin@ culture into their organizations: advance Latin@/Hispanic cultural awareness, advocate for Latin@/His-panic goals, provide a family atmosphere at college or university campuses, and solidify the Latin@/Hispanic population. In addition, I would add a fifth: LGLOs contribute to the ethnic identity development of their members. My first experience working with LGLOs was as a student affairs administrator at George Mason University (GMU) in Fairfax, Virginia. In that position I worked with the only Latino fraternity and only Latina sorority on campus.

Latin@ Fraternity-Sorority Ethnic Identity Development

By: Dr. Juan Guardia

Dr. Juan R. Guardia

Born: June 29, 1976Line Name: Varadero..........#1Semester Pledge: Spring 2005School Pledge: Iowa State University

BiographyDirector of Multicultural Affairs and Visiting Instructor in the Higher Education graduate program at Florida State University. He received his doctorate from Iowa State University and his graduate and undergraduate degrees from Florida State University and Miami-Dade Community College.

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Although I was not the advisor to either orga-nization, I was intrigued by the members’ com-mitment and dedication to their organizations. It was clear that the Latin@ culture played an important role in the cultural, social, and edu-cational programs the organizations and their members contributed to the GMU campus. In addition, members constantly discussed how participation in the Latin@ fraternity and so-rority affirmed their ethnic identities. I discov-ered that the student members were empow-ered and confident in those ethnic identities. Recently I completed my dissertation on the ethnic identity development of Latino fraternity members at a Hispanic-Serving In-stitution. Prior to my study, only one had ex-plored the connection, that of Jennifer Nuñez (2004) who wrote about a Latina-based soror-ity at a predominantly White university in the Midwest. Findings from my study demonstrate the powerful relationship between member-ship in a Latino fraternity and ethnic identity development. Participants described joining their Latino fraternity because they sought an organization that embraced the Latino culture and provided them with a familial (herman-dad) atmosphere on campus. Students also de-scribed how speaking Spanish was reinforced and supported by fraternity brothers. One par-ticipant explained: “When we’re together [as a fraternity] we speak Spanish and Spanish is kind of like our family language.” Moreover, students described how the Latino fraterni-ty helped them identify with those outside of their nationalities and with the greater Latino/a community, thus providing them with affirmed messages regarding their ethnic identities. At my current institution, I have the op-portunity to work with LGLOs and directly ad-vise one Latino-based, multicultural fraternity. Through discussions with individual students and participation in campus programs, I have

witnessed the same results being realized. As a result of their participation in LGLOs, students are more prideful members of the overall Latin@ community and their respective Latin@ nation-alities, and they are more engaged on campus. Throughout my undergraduate career, I was not affiliated with a fraternity; I became a member of Phi Iota Alpha Fraternity, Inc. as a doctoral student in spring 2005. I found it an or-ganization through which I can see myself mak-ing a lifetime commitment to education, com-munity service, and brotherhood. In addition, my own ethnic identity was enhanced after com-pleting the educational process for my fraternity. My own experiences have informed my work with Latin@ college students (and all students) as I have made it a point to support students in their paths of iden-tity development and encourage them to be proud of their racial/ethnic groups, cultur-al backgrounds, and their various identities. The college experience helps shape people into more well-rounded individuals, personally, so-cially, and academically. For many students of color, including Latin@ students, involvement in ethnicity-based student organizations posi-tively reinforces self-worth and pride in their backgrounds. In addition, student involvement in LGLOs and similar organizations enhances ethnic identity development. These organiza-tions allow their members to explore their indi-vidual and group ethnic identities, which con-tributes to a pluralistic society that benefits all members of the higher education community.

This opinion piece was originally published in the September 10th, 2007 issue of the Hispanic Outlook in Higher Education.

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University of North Texas Colony Hosts MUSIC ED.-Scholarship Benefit

By: Oscar Morales

UNT hosted their first scholarship benefit music show on Thursday March 27, 2008 from 6pm-8pm at the University of North Texas Lyceum. All money generated from the music show went to benefit their first annual Phiota Scholarship that will be given out to a Dallas and Denton High School Senior Attending UNT.

This event featured many local Latino artists from the surrounding Dallas/ Fort Worth Area. It was capped off by a well known band from Ft. Worth called, “Amiztad”, a band that specializes in Crunk Cumbias. They raised funds from prominent businesses in the Denton and DFW Area such as restaurants, soda shops, makeup companies, Lawyers, and our very own PFF (Phiota Friends & Family). All the bands agreed to perform for free since it was going towards a good cause and raffled off prizes to those in attendance during our intermission. They had support from Greek and Non Greek Student Organizations as well as members of the Denton Community and were filmed by a Latino Student film show known as, Guateke. All the brothers put in a tremendous amount of work from planning, fundraising, decorating and to the setup of the whole show. It was their first big event and a huge success in that they were able to exceed their goal of raising money for just one scholarship and were able to raise enough money to offer (2) scholarships (A $1000 and $500 scholarship).

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Breast Cancer Awareness with a KickBy: Paul Quillen

Last Spring semester, Alpha Eta, held its an-nual Miss Phi I A Scholarship Pageant at the down-town Buena Vista Theater on March 8, 2008. The pageant theme was “Women’s History Month” to dedicate the contributions Women have done to our community. This is the reason the pageant was es-pecially dedicated to one of our fraternity brother’s mother, Mrs. Alicia S. Rodriguez, whom recently passed away to cancer in February. The event contained five ladies, students at UTSA, whom competed in five different categories. Three categories were completed before the day of the event: fundraising, pre-day interview, and re-sume writing. The two other categories which took place at the event were evening gown and question and answer. The categories were to test on their pro-fessional skills; instead of judging for their beauty and talent. During the day of the pageant Alpha Eta also awarded two high school scholarships, Don

Benito Juarez and Rigoberta Menchu Scholarships, at $200 each. This year, they had received 10 times the number of applications from students for the high school scholarships. This year’s winner was Andrea Garcia from Sigma Lambda Alpha Sorority whom would be ap-plying her scholarship to her first semester in law school. Overall the Miss Phi I A Scholarship Pag-eant awarded $2,000 in scholarships and gifts this year.

Miss Phi I A Scholarship PageantBy: Mark Melchor

This past spring semester, the Tau chapter, Baylor University, of Phi Iota Alpha held its annual All-University Women’s soccer tournament. They had 9 teams competing this year for the chance to raise the Fiota cup trophy.

The double elimination tournament took place in a two day span from March 28th to the 29th. Also, they team up with the local Susan G. Komen breast cancer foundation to help raise breast cancer awareness. The final day of the tournament they had a Susan G. Komen representative on hand to accept donations and give information about the foundation. The tournament was a great success raising $500 dollars to donate to charity, and all of the players had a blast competing against each other. The overall winner of this year’s tournament was Kappa Alpha Theta, whom have now won Fiota cup two years in a row.

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BUILDING LATIN AMERICA

ALPHA GAMMA

SCHOOL PROJECT

In the summer of 2007, Alpha Gamma,were presented with an opportunity to change the lives of hundred of students in Palomar, Peru. The con-ditions that they studied in were way below the standard that any child should have to deal with. They currently study in a building that was in-tended to last only a few years, but which became a permanent fixture because of the lack of fund-ing provided by the community.

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HOW CAN YOU HELP?SEND AN EMAIL TO jorge.guevara.project@gmail.com WITH THE FOLLOWING INFO: *FIRST/ LAST NAME *CHAPTER *PHONE NUMBER *EMAIL

The children were also playing in an un-safe environment because of the lack of proper fencing needed to prevent them from possibly falling off of the side of the cliff that the school in located on. Their schooling conditions were be-low the standard, to say the least. Waldo Guevara saw these conditions first hand and brought back with him the promise to change the lives of these students with the help of his friends and family. We have been able to understand that this feat cannot be accomplished by ourselves and we appreciate the support that we have received thus far. They were fortunate enough to fund raise over $1,300 to assist in the start up costs needed to have an architect come and make the plans for the new building. Initially, that was going to be the contribution needed from the chapter to help get the ball rolling. Since the government would then consider funding a major portion of the project as it was designed and approved by a licensed architect. Fortunately enough, they were able to have this project picked up by the mayor of Palomar and moved to the front of his agenda. Being touched by our service efforts, the mayor of Palomar, Javier Toledo, has decided to personally fund the rest of the construction of the school. This personal contribution by Toledo will remove the burden of financing this operation from the parents of the children and citizens of the community. His decision to do so has also sped up the construction process by over a year. With his generosity and cooperation in this project, Alpha Gamma have decided to extend him the opportunity to come to New York

City, and personally speak on the conditions and historical dynamics of Latin America. He will not only speak about the current status of Palomar, but the historical factors that have led to such situations throughout Latin America. With his knowledge in the field, it is our hope that he will be able to shed light on how such situations have come to existence, and what role we can play from overseas. Alpha Gamma would like to once again thank those for their generosity and cooperation in this effort to change the lives of hundred of students in Peru. This initiative will not only touch the lives of those students currently attending the school, but it will also touch the lives of future generations of students that will finally have the proper environment to learn in.