The Year in Review - Annual Progress Report 10/1/05
| Submitted: | October 1, 2005 |
| by | Randy Thompson '83 - President, Alumni Corporation |
| Adam Dahr '05 - President, Active Chapter | |
| Shane Goodenough '07 - Vice President, Active Chapter | |
| Nick Cade '05 - Alumni Relations Chairman | |
| David Dunn '08 – Historian |
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WE'RE BACK! Success in the Board Room, on the Social Calendar and on the Football Field prove that We're Back! With the announcement of the sale of our house and property only a year and a half ago, it looked like the end was near for Phi Delta Theta at Penn State. However, instead our accepting our fate, our alumni and actives rallied together and staged the biggest turn-around in fraternity history! In this report...
United We Stand! Alumni and Actives unite to chart the course for the next 100 years We began last year with a lot of hope but also a lot of uncertainty. We won our court case to stop the sale only two weeks prior to the start of Fall Semester '04. Our actives were high in spirit, but low in number - only 21 lived in the house. Most of our new Alumni Corporation Board Members and our new Chapter Advisory Board Members were enthusiastic and motivated, but lacked real working experience with our chapter - most hadn't been very involved with our chapter for many years. Our directive per the resolution passed at the previous Alumni Corporation Meeting during Centennial Weekend in May '04 was... We should attempt to stop the sale and take the next year, consider all options, and together make the best decision for the future of our fraternity. We also knew this resolution only passed with about an 80% majority. About 20% of our alumni voted against this resolution and we later learned many of the alumni who voted in favor still thought the best decision was to sell and thought we would eventually agree once we learned the facts. Those of us wishing to stop the sale and save our house and property were thought to be basing our decision on emotions rather than the facts. So once we officially stopped the sale, we set out to learn the facts. Working closely with the actives and the previous board members, we studied the operations and finances of the chapter, the condition of the physical plant, and all of the reasons that lead to the sale of our house and property. We presented our findings at the Homecoming '04 Alumni Corporation Meeting.
Homecoming '04 Alumni Corporation Meeting: "The Facts" After a very successful Friday evening open-house, Saturday morning tailgate, Saturday evening open-house and dinner, we met at the house Sunday morning for a pre-meeting breakfast prepared by Sharon and her team. We then posed in front of the house for a quick photo and walked next door to the Sate-of-the-Art Cybertorium in the new IST Building for our Alumni Corporation Meeting. On the Cybertorium's 75' screen, we gave our presentation "The Facts" which was the result of our seven months of research following the Centennial Alumni Corporation Meeting. In a series of about 100 slides, we drilled down into every reason that resulted in the sale of our house and property by our previous board. We concluded that, given the financial state of the chapter, the lack of support by our alumni and with no real good alternatives in sight, we too probably would have agreed to sell the house and property if we had been on the previous board. However, the sale and the thought of losing our fraternity has served as a wake-up call for both alumni and actives. We concluded that we have identified the problems, we have identified the solutions, we have the people and the resources to succeed, and we can and will return our chapter to its former glory in our house on our property.
We then proposed our 3-part Return to Glory Initiative...
After some very emotional discussion, our Return To Glory Initiative was passed unanimously, including the previous board members present who had voted for the sale.
Blue/White '05 Alumni Corporation Meeting: "Building the Blueprint for the Next 100 Years" Following our unanimous endorsement at Homecoming, we all went back to work. Alumni Corporation President Randy Thompson '83, Alumni Corporation Vice President Pete Culp '61, and Chapter Advisory Board Chairman Bill Corbett '88 continued working with the actives developing and implementing our Leadership Initiative - transitioning operational and financial control of our chapter back to the actives. Architect Charlie Yohe '97 stepped up and volunteered to lead our Building Committee. He and his team have been working long hours researching and designing a chapter house that will fulfill our needs for the next 100 years. Our current strategy is to build a new house on our current property because a major renovation to our current house has proven to be too costly and too limiting. Briefly, the new house would have the look and feel of Phi Delta Theta (1950's version), complete with pillars and side porches, with an open staircase and completely updated interior. We will cover this in great detail in a later update. Pete Culp '61, our Alumni Corporation Vice President, volunteered to lead our finance committee. He and his team have been researching ways to finance our dream. As part of their research, they've been working with the alumni of Sigma Tau Gamma who just financed and built the first new fraternity house on the Penn State campus in 17 years. Congratulations Sigma Tau! Full Story
The feature of our Blue/White Alumni Corporation Meeting was our presentation called "Building the Blueprint for the Next 100 Years". Each of our team leaders gave a status report detailing their current progress and outlining their future strategy. After a discussion period, we voted and unanimously endorsed the entire package.
Our eventual goal is to produce a document called "The Blueprint for the Next 100 Years" that will serve as the basis for a major fundraising campaign. Its three major sections will include...
Please join us this year at the Homecoming Alumni Corporation Meeting '05 to learn more!
Alumni Contribute Record Financial Support! Annual Fund '04-'05 hits new all time record and helps save our chapter Many thanks to all who contributed to our Annual Fund '04-'05. We received almost $32,000 last year which is almost three times greater than any previous year! Your donations were an inspiration to the alumni and actives that have been working so hard to save our chapter. They proved you care and also provided much needed financial support in our "turn-around" year. They helped pay for building supplies, kitchen equipment, a bonus for Sharon, an upgrade to our fire alarm system, Homecoming & Blue/White Weekend and also allowed us to award scholarships to some of our outstanding undergraduate leaders. Thank you all!
You can obtain a receipt for your donations at any time in your My Account section of our website.
Alumni Provide Record Hands-On Training, Support & Guidance! For the majority of the last 35 years, a small group of alumni ran our corporation while the actives were pretty much left on their own with no real direction or support. Usually, the only real interaction between alumni and actives occurred when there was a problem, and by then it was too late. Not any more. The goal of our Leadership Initiative is to turn over all operational and financial control of our chapter to our undergraduate leaders under the guidance, support, and encouragement of our alumni. Our interaction with our undergraduates now consists of...
We're also working on an alumni mentoring program for all actives and an alumni guest speaker program to encourage more interaction between alumni and actives.
"No longer will our fraternity consist of an alumni club and an isolated group of undergraduates. From now on we have one team, the brotherhood of Pennsylvania Theta, working together to accomplish our goals" - Randy Thompson '83, Alumni Corporation President Fall Semester '05 Kick-Off Banquet During our recent Fall Semester '05 Kick-Off Summit we held our first ever Fall Semester Kick-Off Banquet. After several days of hard work and planning sessions, we decided to take advantage of some of Sharon's good cooking. Members of our Alumni Board of Directors joined us along with Headquarters Leadership Consultant Adam Cegavske and Penn State's Director of Fraternity and Sorority Life Kevin Kerr. After some good conversation and a great meal, Alumni Corporation President Randy Thompson '83 gave a presentation on Leadership and our expectations for the chapter.
The event was so successful that we're considering making it an annual event and open it up to all alumni and parents. "We really appreciate all the guidance and support that we've received from Randy, Pete, Bill, and the rest of our alumni advisory team - for the first time we feel that we're all on the same team." - Adam Dahr '05, Active Chapter President
Sharon Exceeds All Expectations and Is Here To Stay! Sharon proves she is worthy of receiving the torch from Inez We don't think it's a coincidence that our chapter began its downhill trek shortly after Inez retired in 1998. Any one who lived in the house during her 22-year tenure knows the huge difference that a Cook/House Mother like Inez can make. We all knew that a critical part of our Return To Glory would be to find someone new worthy of filling Inez's shoes. We were optimistic but I don't think any of us really believed that we could find someone of Inez's caliber. When Bill and Sue found Sharon, we were excited, but cautious. She seemed so perfect that we were afraid she was too good to be true.
Now after working with Sharon for a full year, we can report that she is the real deal! Thanks so much Sharon for joining our team. We hope that this was the first of many great years together!
Best Alumni/Parents Events in Years! Homecoming Weekend '04 The Homecoming weekend kicked-off with an open house Friday afternoon and evening. Alumni & Parents got to watch as the actives scrambled to put the finishing touches on their float. Then most of the actives headed off to the IM fields for the start of the parade while others stayed behind to clean up the result of a weeks worth of float building. Alumni, parents, and the remaining actives hung-out in the front yard and watched the parade. Loud cheers erupted when our guys went by and then pulled our float up onto the front lawn. Then everyone dug into Sharon's wonderful food.
Saturday the Nitany Lions took on the Iowa Hawkeyes in a Big Ten Conference match-up. Sue Shields’ father, Lee Shields, kindly provided his wonderful RV (Urban Assault Vehicle) to host the official Phi Delta Theta tailgate. Unfortunately, the Nitany Lions didn’t fare too well in their quest for a conference win, but it didn’t dampen the spirit of the tailgaters! Special thanks to Bill Corbett and Sue Shields for all their work in hosting the event along with Sandy Deveney ’77 who cooked the wonderful food.
Saturday night was the traditional Homecoming dinner at the house. It was just like old times as lots of Alumni and Actives came together to feast upon the wonderful meal prepared by Sharon. The brothers decorated the house with lights and balloons. Three rooms of the house were filled with brothers and their families, along with special guest Inez Packer. Chapter Adviser Bill Corbett and Active Chapter President Paul Silber welcomed Alumni and thanked them for their support of the Chapter.
Sunday morning began with breakfast at the house. We then posed out front for a quick photo and walked next door to the new IST Building for our very successful Alumni Corporation Meeting. Blue/White Weekend '05 Blue/White weekend was another great success. We had an open-house Friday evening where we got a chance to see a lot of old friends. We started Saturday morning with breakfast at the house and then moved into the living room for our Alumni Corporation Meeting. After the game we all met back at the house for dinner prepared by Sharon and her team out on the front porch. We concluded the long day with a late night trip to the Penn State Diner with Jim Cuzzolina '48. The pictures say it all!
House Managers Work Double Time! Our Twin House Managers Adam & Grant Anderson '06 go to work on the House We've made great progress on our house thanks to a run of very talented House Managers over the past year - Adam Dahr in Fall '04, Marc Celler in Spring of '05 and now Adam and Grant Anderson in Fall of '05. After some years of neglect, our guys have done an incredible job improving the condition and maximizing the capacity of our house.
Here are a few of the tasks that Adam, Grant and their team have completed already this semester...
"The house is getting better every week. We've succeeded in preparing the house to comfortably hold 35 members this year - more than we've had in the house for at least 5 years. Now we're concentrating on getting the house ready for Homecoming Weekend. Next we'll concentrate on preparing the house to hold 40 members for next year. We're also planning some major pledge projects to get the pledges involved and to build respect for the house. We are back and great things are in line for this house." - Adam Anderson '06, House Manager.
The Actives Take Charge and Deliver! The Actives prove they are Leaders, in the Board Room on the Social Calendar and on the Football Field! The most important component of our Blueprint for the next 100 years is our Leadership Initiative. This is how we plan to bring our chapter back to the top and keep her there. For the last 35 years a small group of alumni have been running our chapter and the actives have been basically treated as boarders. Not any more. Under our Leadership Initiative, we are empowering the actives to run our fraternity. Under the guidance of our Alumni, we are transitioning operational and financial control of PA Theta back to the Actives. We want our actives to be leaders so we're going to give them a chance to lead with our support, encouragement and guidance. We understand that this is a major transition and will take some time to get it right, but we've been amazed at the incredible progress that they've made in just one year. Here are just a few of their accomplishments...
And these guys are just getting started! Please join us at the Homecoming Alumni Corporation Meeting to show your support and to see our undergraduate officers present the State of the PA Theta. "It's amazing the progress we've made in just one year - and all of this was accomplished with only 21 guys living in the house. Just imagine what we can do when we're back to 45! Thanks to all alumni for your support and guidance and your generous donations to our Annual Fund. Proud to Be A Phi!" - Adam Dahr '05, Active Chapter President Wow - What a Year! Any questions, comments, or words of encouragement for our alumni or actives... |
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