Gamma Xi Grade Report

The Brother’s of Gamma Xi are proud to announce that last quarter, Winter 2011, the chapter achieved a GPA of 2.97 and the active GPA was a 3.05. Even greater 16 brothers made The Dean’s List Winter 2011.

Congratulations:

Brother Andrew Archambeau

Brother Thomas Baden

Brother Zachary Becks

Brother Alejandro Gutierrez

Brother Ryan Kelley

Brother Ray Kuertz (4.0)

Brother William Lehmkuhl

Brother Kevin Meye

Brother Jason Neiheisel

Brother Daniel Parrott

Brother Jeremy Reed

Brother Christopher Reyes

Brother Neil Schraffenberger

Brother Ryan Stanley

Brother Carlton Stine

Brother Eric Van Benschoten

Once again congratulations to those who made Dean’s List and to the chapter who put in such hard work this past quarter.

Winter 2011 Pledge Class & Initiations

The winter pledge class started with eight pledges and finished strong with seven pledges being locally initiated.  Our Chapter size now stands at 64 brothers. 

National Initiation for this class will take place on March 29^th at 6:00PM in Chapter Hall. 

Of course, there is an open invitation for all brothers to attend.  Our Ritual program is drastically improved from a few years ago, to the point of near perfection.  The Chapter is very grateful to have the first dedicated Chapter hall and the undergraduates would happily welcome any alumnus who wished to see the initiation ceremony.

Dean’s List

Congratulations to those twelve brothers who made Dean’s List for the fall 2010 quarter.  (It takes quite some time to receive a grade report from the University – better late than never.)

Andrew Archambeau

Tom Baden (4.0 GPA)

Mark Hearn (4.0 GPA)

Ray Kuertz

Brian Langhorne

William Lehmkuhl

Kevin Meyer

Jeremy Reed (4.0 GPA)

Neil Schraffenberger

Eric Shrider

Vincent Valentino

Eric Van Benschoten (4.0 GPA)

Winter Rush 2011

Last week concluded the winter rush period.  Gamma Xi added eight fine pledges to the Chapter.  While it may seem small, we were second among IFC Fraternities to Beta Theta Pi, who had one more with nine.  Also, we doubled our rush class from last year, bringing the total number of new members this school year to 25.   We look forward to the new class completing their pledge quarter and becoming full active members.

Fall Rush 2010

This year’s fall rush was a success. We followed up on last year’s effort and proved that our program was not a one hit wonder. The fall 2009 and fall 2010 rush periods have seen the Chapter increase in size 28% and 32%, respectively.  This class saw 17 strong men complete their pledge quarter and become initiates of Gamma Xi.  Our total membership now stands at 57 brothers.

Much like the active Chapter, this pledge class reflects our diversity. We’ve taken in many different talents and personalities from as far as Boston and Mexico.  We’re proud to welcome the new pledges into our brotherhood and congratulate them on successful initiation.

The Fall 2010 Pledge Class sans a few guys.

Homecoming 2010

Although Homecoming happened a few months ago, I still wanted to share a few pictures with you.

 

The University of Cincinnati’s 2010 Homecoming theme was “Transforming Bearcats.”   Gamma Xi partnered up with Kappa Delta Sorority this year to create a float that featured a Frankenstein Bearcat.  It was engineered by some of the guys to rise up and down, similar to the classic movie scene.  Although our float did not place this year, this is yet another opportunity to learn and to get a little bit better for Homecoming 2011.  Next fall, the Chapter will be pairing up with Chi Omega sorority.

 

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A President’s Note

“A successful man is one who can lay a firm foundation with the bricks others have thrown at him.” –David Brinkley

Having bricks thrown at you might sound unsettling, but concerning our Chapter at UC, we needed a couple bricks thrown at us.  The undergraduates have been working diligently on building a strong foundation for the past couple of years.  The foundation now almost complete, we have been working hard on climbing that ladder back on top.  Last year saw a successful recruitment; placing 3^rd at Greek Week, and winning awards in Chapter management, yet the undergraduate Chapter was not quite satisfied.  Before this academic year started, the Chapter set goals in order to continue growing and learning.  We wanted another successful rush, to raise our GPA, increase on-campus involvement,   and to continue fostering successful community service events.  In order for us to stay motivated, we decided to create mission statement for the year:

To become the recognized leaders in the University of Cincinnati’s Greek Community in the areas of Scholarship, Leadership Development, Community Service, and Inter-Greek Relations.

Every day the Chapter works hard to turn this statement from words to a reality.  So far we’ve had a successful fall recruitment, excellent collection rate, fun community service and brotherhood events, and a pledge class that will undeniably lead the Chapter in the future.  The completion of the new house will not be the only reason why our Chapter is growing and improving.  Instead it was a catalyst to bring us to the point we’re at today.  Knowing that the undergraduates will not lose focus or motivation, it will not be long now until we are recognized again as a top Chapter on the University of Cincinnati’s campus.

Fraternally,

Eric Shrider