Theta CrescentUniversity of MissouriFall 2009

Noble Ruler Report

Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity

What’s InsideTheta Alumni Spotlight2010 Founder’s DayNew Initiates

Recruitment ReportStrategic Planning SessionAnd More...

Theta Brothers, The fall semester here at Mizzou is already under-way and the men of Theta Chapter are as busy as ever. The summer ended and a promising class of new members has started to make the transition into college life. CAFNR week has just finished and the guys have been busy par-ticipating in the activities and organizing the events of the week. We have al-ready started participating in some philanthropies and will continue to par-ticipate in service events throughout the semester. Homecoming has also become more and more of a time commitment as the semes-ter has progressed. The women of Alpha Chi Omega and the men of Delta Chi have already proven to be very valuable through their devoted work in pomping, skit, dance, and float. Even with all the extra-curricular

involvements our men still continue to emphasize the importance of academics. We finished in the top group of fraternities last spring with a 3.156 cumulative, all-

house GPA. The men of Alpha Gamma Rho are looking forward to the football games, socials, and events that still remain this semester. We will con-tinue to encourage each other to get involved on campus, keep our grades high, and to make the most of Mizzou and Alpha Gamma Rho. I encourage any alumni to stop by the house anytime, as your

continuing support is very important to us. Feel free to contact me with any concerns you have.

Fraternally, Bryant KagayNoble Ruler

Over the summer Theta Chapter’s Building Associa-tion made several improvements to our Chapter House. Study room locks and some door handles were replaced throughout the house, providing brothers their own per-sonal room key. In the north and south stairwells the concrete floors were painted with a polymer sealant, for ascetic and

cleaning purposes. The walls in the dining room, hall-ways, spiritual center and study rooms were re-spackled and painted, and the columns in the front of the house were repaired. These improvements have only reinforced Theta Chapter’s ability to have one of the best living facilities on campus.

Theta Chapter Gets a Face Lift

Theta Alumni Spotlight

Two AGR brothers have expanded a family greenhouse into a destination –Three Trails Winery. Located five miles west of Lexington, Mo., just off Highway 24, Three Trails Winery at Fahrmeier Farm is a picturesque surprise on a hilltop facing the bluffs of the Missouri River. In that part of Missouri, Three Trails refers to the Santa Fe, Cali-fornia and Oregon Trails. The number three also brings to mind the three Theta brothers Brandon (1994), Brad (1994) and Bret (2002), and the three generations of Fah-rmeiers currently running the family business. Once a row crop and beef farm, the greenhouses evolved when labor became scarce as each of the brothers left to pursue higher education at the University of Missouri. That is when the greenhouse business was launched. The flowers are still for sale, as well as providing a colorful background for the winery patio. In the springtime garden vegetable plants are also available. But that is only the beginning. The farm market has seasonal fresh fruits and vegetables available including asparagus, tomatoes, corn, cucumbers, squash, green beans, blueberries and fresh rhubarb. They are cooperating with Mizzou by providing a 2.5 acre test plot project in cooperation; they are currently working to establish more contracts to provide produce to retail gro-cery chains. This summer they contracted with Kansas City Price Choppers to provide 4,000 pounds of tomatoes weekly. During the fall, there are acres of pumpkins. And in between, Brandon and Bret are busy with the winery. “We hope to make your trip to the winery an event,” Bran-

don stated. “But we also know we have to provide a good product once we get you here.” The ICCVE-Missouri has four test plots on the Farm. They include both white and red cultivar trials of varieties that they feel are commercially viable. They have a one-half acre Cabernet Franc and one-half acre Vignole both in root stocks trials. The MU Institute for Continental Climate Viticulture and Enology (ICCVE) conducts research on best wine mak-ing and grape growing practices and how they impact the growth of the wine industry in Missouri and the Midwest. Plan a visit to Three Trails Winery at Fahrmeier Farm. Buy some fresh produce, and sip a glass of unique hand-crafted wine. Fahrmeier Farm is a family friendly place that includes the winery, a greenhouse, a farm market, educational activities, vineyards, tours and wine tasting, gardens, flowers and a playground. Enjoy the view from the winery patio garden and sample some wine in a great family atmosphere where fun and learning come together. Visit the winery at threetrailswinery.com or e-mail Bran-don and Bret: info@threetrailswinery.com.

Brandon and Bret Fahrmeier at Three Trails Winery.

Three Trails Winery at Fahrmeier Farm

Our motto is To Make Better Men, and we want to show you how we do it! Founder’s Day will be combined with the 17th Annual AGR Classic Cattle Show at the Boone County Fair Grounds. The judging contest will begin at 8 a.m. and the heifers will start showing at 11 a.m. Coffee and pastries will be available on the balcony at 9 a.m. We will have a special area for our “Over Fifty” brothers. That’s not your age, that’s the number of years you’ve been an AGR. Bring memorabilia and share stories with fellow brothers. The Classic BBQ Buffet will serve brothers and guests from 11:30-1 p.m. in our reserved location. Donations will be appreciated. Ten, 25 and 50 year members will be honored with a citation during the buffet hours. Alumni

from 1994-2009 will be recognized for their participation in the 16 previous cattle shows. You will also be given an opportunity to participate in this year’s Classic! Chapter Award winners and Payne/Longwell Scholars will be announced. We encourage you to make separate reservations for the 2010 Ag Unlimited Dinner and Auc-tion at the Holiday Inn Expo Center. Sponsored by the CAFNR Alumni Board, the proceeds help to fund schol-arships for Mizzou CAFNR students. Five members of Theta are 2009 recipients. Support the CAFNR alumni and enjoy an evening of good food and good friends! Cocktails and the silent auction begin at 6:30 p.m. with dinner and the live auction to follow. For more informa-tion and reservations contact: TBA

SAVE THE DATE! 2010 Founder’s Day Saturday, Feb. 6, 2010

Thad Koenigsfeld Named to CAFNR Ag Alumni Board This past spring Theta Alumnus Thad Koenigsfeld (’98) was honored by being nominated onto the Uni-versity of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources Ag Alumni Board. Koenigsfeld rep-resents Area 1 which includes the Kansas City metro area north of Jackson County. Koenigsfeld serves as a representative between the CAFNR alumni in his area and the college while also distributing CAFNR news and information back to those alumni. Koenigsfeld is a member of two committees within the board; the Ti-ger Ag Classic Golf Tournament and the special events committee. The 18th annual Tiger Class was held Sept. 11. His du-ties included helping to solicit sponsorships and teams to play, as well as, all planning, coordination and fa-cilitation of the event. This year a full slate of 37 teams competed with all proceeds benefiting CAFNR student scholarships. Sixteen Theta alumni participated in this year’s tournament which will directly benefit five Theta undergraduates during the current school year.As a member of the Special Events Committee he as-

sists in coordinating events to thank the CAFNR alumni for their support. One such event is tailgating at Mizzou home football games. The main mission of the University of Missouri Ag-riculture Alumni Association is to support the students of the University of Missouri College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources. In the current school year the association will provide for 25 $1,500 scholarships to students and $47,000 to be awarded to student clubs and departments. A large portion of these funds are gen-erated through the Tiger Ag Classic and Ag Unlimited Banquet & Auction. Other ways the board helps to develop future leaders of Missouri Agriculture is by participating in student recruitment, scholarship fund development, public rela-tions programs, student career development, legislative interaction and leadership recognition. Koenigsfeld would like to invite all Theta brothers to consider join-ing the Ag Alumni Association. If you would like fur-ther information visit their Web site: CAFNR.missouri.edu/alumni/alumni-association.php

To Men of Theta: It’s my pleasure to extend this invitation to Alpha Gam-ma Rho’s 2010 Convention to be held in St. Louis Aug. 12-14, 2010 when our theme is ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’. Those of us on the Steering Committee are delighted with the site selection and decision to hold AGR’s bien-nial event in this area. The St. Louis area, home to hundreds of AGRs repre-senting more than 40 chapters, has it all: an easy drive or short flight for many AGR brothers, an affordable family-friendly atmosphere, not to mention unlimited choices for fun. Importantly, St. Louis has a rich heri-tage deeply rooted in serving agriculture. Three major rivers, interstate highways and hubs for major railroads all serve an integral part of the transportation and distri-bution system that enables those in agriculture to meet the challenges of feeding America while providing ef-ficient access to overseas consumers of food and fiber. It’s no coincidence these and other natural advantages have attracted many corporate global leaders who call St. Louis headquarters, recognizable names in agricul-ture and numerous committed supporters of our 2010 Convention you can expect to meet here. I’m grateful and we are fortunate to have so many en-

ergetic and enthusiastic AGRs from the area who vol-unteered their time and talent in the planning to ensure the program and fun activities at the 2010 Convention is a positive experience for everyone. We are commit-ted to providing the right balance of activities to fa-cilitate the renewal of past friendships, provide interac-tive discussions of current interest designed to inform and educate, and family-fun that will encourage AGRs from every chapter and their families to attend. Please mark your calendar now for Aug. 12-14, 2010 and monitor the new Web site, www.alphagammarho.org, or your mailbox in the coming weeks for more in-formation on hotel and convention registration. Mean-time, contact your fellow Thetas and make a plan to reunite old friendships and make some new ones in keeping with the theme ‘Meet Me in St. Louis’. On be-half of the entire 2010 Convention Steering Commit-tee, we look forward to seeing you in St. Louis. Fraternally, Ken Morrison Chair, 2010 Alpha Gamma Rho Convention Theta Chapter, initiate class of 1973 ken@morrisononthemarkets.com

Ken Morrison Addresses Theta Members

Recruitment Report & New Members Initiated

Theta is proud to welcome 22 new fall initiates to the chapter. Recruitment is now underway for the spring 2010 semester, and Theta plans to have a strong class to initiate in January. In addition, names are already be-ing complied for the 2010 fall recruitment. If you have any potential recruits please contact Jason Reichert at: jlrkb4@mail.missouri.edu, or fill out the recruitment rec-ommendation on the back. The new Theta brothers and their information are: From left to right, first row:

Tyler SchwaderSt. Joseph, Central High SchoolBrother: Grant Schwader (’05)

Michael GillumUnionville, Unionville High School

Brent DyeParis, Paris High School

Spencer SnodgrassRayville, Polo High School

Cousin: Spencer Snodgrass (’03)

Joe Maurer Belton, Belton High School

David ClaycombRidgeway, Ridgeway High School

Second row:Joe KaufmanOrrick, Orrick High School

Jacob CainKansas City, Pembroke Hill High School

Chase HeathMoberly, Moberly High School

Avery FisherEldon, Eldon High School

Adam GriffinCarrollton, Carrollton High School

Paul BehlmannSt. Paul, St. Dominic High School

Nick MuellerRepublic, Republic High School

Samuel FairchildHamilton, J.C. Penney High School

Brothers: Wally (’04) and Sully Fairchild (’05)

Third row:Zack BrannonBolivar, Bolivar High School

Luke BrandtBlackburn, Santa Fe High School

Drew AdamsCarrollton, Carrollton High School

Logan GraceKansas City, Park Hill High School

Jacob BuehlerKansas City, Park Hill High School

Breck BabbsLinn Creek, Camdenton High School

Tyler RyserRich Hill, Rich Hill High School

Dalton WieligmanWellington, Wellington High School

Grant Schwader was omitted from the list of 2009 graduates. He graduated magna cum laude with a BS in Agri-culture Economics. He is working on the family farm in St. Joseph, Mo.

Correction

Crescent Publishing ServiceThis issue of the Theta Chapter Crescent was published through the Crescent Publishing Service (CPS). This is a special project of the AGR Home Office to assist chapters in improving communications with alumni. Chapters pay a small fee for the service below the actual pro-duction cost to encourage regular contact. This project is made possible by donations from alumni like you. Please consider contributing.

Strategic Planning Session Held

Sixteen Theta alums and undergrads, along with Housemother Marcia Napier met Sept. 26 & 27 to ad-dress issues and establish a new strategic plan for the Theta Chapter. Zane Akins (‘59), Theta brother, Hall of Fame Inductee and National AGR Nomination Committee chairman, was there to facili-tate this meeting. Undergrads and alumni board members sat down to revise our vision statement and establish goals to address the future of the fraternity. Akins, who has fa-cilitated 97 of these planning meetings with AGR chapters across the nation, proved to be a valuable asset to this meeting, which became an energizing and productive event. Issues that were ad-dressed were recruitment, brotherhood development,

communications, finance and risk-management. Along with these goals, we adopted this revised vision state-

ment. To be the premier fraternity developing lifelong brothers with the highest standards of leadership, scholarship, service and moral charac-ter among men with common bonds in agriculture, food, life sciences and natural re-sources. Participants at the planning session were in agreement these goals should be used to drive and nurture the develop-

ment and successes of our fraternity over the coming months and years. We encourage every member to view the plan in its entirety by logging onto our Web site: www.mizzouagr.com.

CAFNR Week• Tri-director, Bradley Meineka. Steering Commit-

tee members: Jon Kirchhoff, Tony Amos, Brandon Thiel, Jason Twenter,

• Barnwarming King, Kyle Eckler

American FFA Degree winners• Trent Braungardt, Dalton Brown, Sam Cope, Phil-

lip Durbin, Jared Henderson, Jared Main, Dustin

Mareth, Wesley Newland, Dale Ryan, Tony Ryan, Matt Snook, Brandon Thiel and Jacob Thompson

Farm Bureau Ambassadors• Adam Francis and Meredith Jones (sister of Tyler

Jones ’05)

2009 Homecoming Steering Committee• Logan Chrislaw and Brandon Salmons

Undergrad activities, achievements and awards…

Lost AlumniBelow are a few of Theta Chapter’s lost brothers, if you have any information, please let us know so we can keep all brothers up to date. Please send information to: Theta Chapter, 602 S. College Ave., Columbia, MO 65201. Roll # First/Last Name Init. Date Roll # First/Last Name Init. Date766 James Gray 9/10/1967791 Ricky Stamps 2/10/1969858 John Henbest 1/1/1972860 Ricky Watson 4/24/1972873 William Griffin 2/5/1973882 Robert Chapman 4/1/1973931 Marshall Metzger 4/1/1976943 Mathew Farris 1/1/1977950 James Watson 3/1/1977951 Thomas Kent 3/1/1977967 James Crews 1/31/1978993 Wesley Donelson 11/1/1980

1008 Darrell Lathrop 1/1/19801018 Wade Forsythe 4/1/19801036 Robert Kyle 3/23/19821052 Michael Peterson 1/21/19831054 Kenneth Rinehart 1/21/19831056 Dennis Dunivan 1/21/19831064 Christopher Carman 2/13/19841083 Steven Angel 1/1/19851092 Mark Burgess 9/1/19851095 Robert Midles 2/4/19861097 Michael Willis 2/4/19861098 Curt Dunn 2/4/1986

Name: Age: Address: E-mail address: Phone - home: School:Classification/Major:Comments:

Your name and address:

Please Mail to: Alpha Gamma Rho – Theta Chapter, Attn: Recruitment, 602 S. College Ave., Columbia, MO 65201

Recruitment RecommendationPlease help us recruit the best of men. If you know someone who would make a good addition to our Fraternity,

please let us know so we can contact him and enhance our brotherhood.

Alpha Gamma Rho Fraternity10101 North Ambassador DriveKansas City, MO 64153-1395

RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED

NON-PROFIT ORG.U.S. POSTAGE

PAIDKansas City, MOPermit No. 4092

Theta Chapter Crescent

Have you visited our web site? Log on to www.mizzouagr.com and see what’s happening at 602 S. College Ave.

Alumni….please log on to update your alumni profile.