Ohio Gamma Enjoys Carlson Leadership Academy Recognitions

Carlson Leadership Academy

The Midwestern Carlson Leadership Academy was held Feb. 6-8, 2009 in Chicago, Ill. Over 600 undergraduates and alumni were in attendance. Sig Ep Chapters from Ohio, Kentucky, Michigan, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Nebraska, Wisconsin, Minnesota and the Dakotas were represented. Ohio Gamma was well represented with 21 undergraduates participating plus one alumnus, Mike Lockwood. These Academies consist of a series of small group leaning sessions and discussions with your undergraduate peers and typically lead by an Alumni and/or senior undergraduate on various aspects of fraternity operations, e.g. recruitment, financial, programming, membership development, Chaplain, and President. The Alumni Volunteers also met in small group sessions to discuss and share successes with volunteer recruitment, Board operations, alumni relations activities, alumni newsletters and fundraising events.

Numerous awards were distributed during the Academy. Ohio Gamma won the 90+ Manpower Award and the Phi Beta Kappa Wheelhouse Award for a Chapter GPA in excess of 3.15 – fall quarter was 3.36. On the alumni side, Mike Lockwood was selected the District 13 (Ohio) Volunteer of the Year Award for 2009 for his work on the Centennial Committee for Ohio Gamma’s 100the Anniversary Celebrations during 2008. Mike was recommended by the Undergraduate Chapter and selected from a group of Alumni Volunteers for the Ohio Sig Ep Chapters by Marcus Robinson, the District Governor for District 13. Mike was most appreciate of this honor but wanted to make sure it was shared by all of the members of his 2008 Centennial Committee.

Chapter Initiates Alumni Member: Adam Burden, OSU Class of 2005

Every couple years, the Ohio Gamma SigEp undergraduates make the decision to honor a volunteer for the fraternity by inviting him to join Sigma Phi Epsilon. The Renaissance Brother Ritual has been performed for several brothers including Chapter Advisor, Dr. Don Stenta '02, OSU Alumnus Ibi Krukrubo '05, Father of past president Scott Phillips Sr. '03, and now OSU Alumnus Adam Burden. Adam was chosen by the undergraduate chapter to become a brother as an alumnus in early 2008.

On February 29th, Adam was initiated into Sigma Phi Epsilon the same way that brothers have been initiated in the past. The ritual role of President was performed by Scott Phillips Jr '05, The role of Chaplain performed by Brad Griffith '04, and the role of Vice President performed by Dr. Don Stenta '02, who was also a Renaissance Brother Initiate.

Adam is a 2005 graduate of The Ohio State University and is currently working for OSU in Student Affairs as Coordinator of Student Involvement. During his undergraduate years, Adam majored in both Math and Political Science. Additionally, he was involved with numerous student activities—ranging from Club Volleyball, to Sphinx Senior Class Honorary, where he served as president, to a University Ambassador. He was also a member of the 2004 Homecoming Court.

In 2007, Adam graduated from OSU with a Masters degree in Higher Education & Student Affairs. Having experienced OSU as both a undergraduate and graduate student, scarlet and gray truly runs in his veins. His passion for OSU also extends to the cultivation of tomorrow’s Buckeye graduates as he serves as an advisor to the Beanie Drake Scholarship Board and Bucket & Dipper Junior Class Honorary. Beyond his love for OSU, Adam, always with a trick up his sleeve, is also an accomplished magician. With his numerous accomplishments and love for Ohio State, Ohio Gamma is delighted to welcome into our brotherhood!

Thanks to Christopher Alvarez-Breckenridge '05, for his contributions to this article.

Alumnus Shares His SigEp Pride with Chapter Leaders

as told by: Doug Hange '05

(pictured: Hange left, and Mike Repasky right)

Over this past Thanksgiving holiday, I had the distinct pleasure of having dinner with two of Ohio Gamma's finest. Those two brothers were Nathan Weber and Mike Repasky. Both have been long time friends and are now leaders of the fraternity. I took them to dinner at one of my favorite Ohio State establishments, Eddie George's Grill on High Street. The guys shared with me the many great things the chapter was accomplishing, such as increasing their chapter GPA towards a 3.5 average, winning athletic championships, and branching out to have social gatherings with different sororities such as the Kappas and the DGs. I was very proud of the guys for helping to increase the chapter count to over 90 plus quality men who believe in the principles of virtue, diligence and brotherly love. More importantly, they have found men who strive to be leaders, gentlemen, scholars and athletes. A great Ohio Gamma, Dennis Kaps, once said, "You must recruit men greater than yourself." I honestly feel this discipline has been followed during recruitment. Nate and Mike gave much of the credit to fellow brother Ryan Dressler, who was VP of Recruitment. They also informed me Ryan had been chosen by SigEp Nationals for a Regional Director position after graduation.

I challenged the gentleman that evening at dinner with one task. I asked them to continue to work on a mentoring program with alumni. I feel that is one piece of the pie that would be beneficial to the chapter and alumni. Unfortunately I no longer live in the Columbus area as I live and work for the Ford Motor Company in Orlando, FL, but I still like to keep in touch with my fellow brothers. I wish them all the best of luck in 2008 and look to hear many great things that make me proud every day to say I'm a Sig Ep.

Alumni Board Meeting - January 2008

The Alumni Board's quarterly gathering for January 2008 was attended by:
President: John "CJ" Waggoner '70
Treasurer: Ken Butler '70
Facilities Mgr: John Barta '70
Webmaster: Brad Griffith '04
Mentoring Chair: Christopher Alvarez-Breckenridge '05
Secretary: Scott Phillips Jr. '05
Foundation President: Bob Barnett '71
and a dozen undergraduates...

The meeting was very efficiently run by CJ, who is now operating in his second term as President of the AB. The finances of the chapter, which we cannot post publicly on this site, are in better standing than ever. We learned about the new standards of physical fitness being put into effect for the undergraduates that includes a one-mile run, push-ups, sit-ups, pull-ups, and one-legged squats. Flexibility is also a key aspect of the fitness testing. High GPAs and good fitness in our Ohio Gamma chapter certainly personify the Balanced Man.

The rest of the meeting can be summarized in bullet points.

• Alumni Programming is looking forward to the Queen of Hearts Ball on February 9th.
• Alumni Communications is currently producing the February version of the Ohio Gamma Red Door Newsletter completing three years of timely publications!
• Chapter Standards reported a GPA of 3.29 for Fall Quarter which placed 3rd among fraternities and was shy of the 3.5 goal.
• Chapter Recruitment reported a current membership of 95 brothers including 19 men who just joined in January.
• Alumni Mentoring is beginning an aggressive campaign to pair alumni with undergraduates in need of community mentoring to help them grow and prepare for post-college life.

Next meeting TBA

Brotherly Love in the Big Easy

As told by Scott Phillips Jr - '05

About 18 months ago I created this list of things I want to do in life. I hesitate to call it a "bucket list" as I don't really plan to kick the bucket any time soon, but you get the idea. Long story short, I made this commitment that I would be present for OSU winning a National Football Championship. I tried in 2007, but fate was not on my side. So in 2008, I gave it a shot again, and while things AGAIN didn't turn out as I wished with the game, I had one experience I wish to share to start our SigEp blog.

First let me say that the whole reason I even had a chance to get to this game was because my brother (our brother) Christopher Alvarez-Breckenridge got me a seat. I know there's a million friends he has out there, but he knew how much it meant to me to get the chance to go. His generosity was a great act of brotherly love.

Then came perhaps the most random act of brotherhood I've experienced in a long while. I was walking through Christopher's hotel, when I ran into a couple brothers, Matt Potts '04, my big brother Mike Zion '04, Mike White '04, and Mo Gupta '03. We talked for a little while and they quickly found that the buddy whose place I was supposed to stay at that evening was not answering his phone leaving me "homeless" in New Orleans for the night (bad metaphor, I know.) Without hesitation, the guys gave me their address, room number, and promised me a place to crash for the evening. With the exception of Mike, I hadn't seen these guys in a long time and within minutes of re-connecting, they had me staying on their couch that night. With all the chaos on the streets that evening, it was really nice to be able to hang out and share my misery of a second straight loss with some great brothers. How many friends from your office or your rec league softball team would take care of you like they did me? If we're similar people... not many. Mike even woke me up at 6am so I could make my flight on time even though no one else had to be up until after 8. You just don't find friends like that... only brothers. Thanks, brothers, for reminding me that our bonds are "true friendship" and for "helping any worthy member of SigEp." Thanks for living up to our oath.