Chapter Updates
Boston University
Zeta Deuteron has had a very successful year on many different fronts. To start, 25 new Brothers entered the Brotherhood in the Xi and Omicron new member classes, marking the most successful recruitment year in the history of our chapter. We hosted an alumni reunion with over 35 alumni in attendance. It was great for our younger members to get an opportunity to network with past actives of our chapter. We also had the opportunity to re-connect with on-campus organizations this year, with Brothers participating in philanthropy and charity events throughout the year. Thanks to our Brother-at-Large, ZD went on its first Brotherhood retreat since 2019 to Montreal, where Brothers had an opportunity to disconnect from the stress of classes and bond with each other. With a new house next year and our Brotherhood as strong as ever, we look forward to continuing to grow and become the best men we can be.
California State University- Chico
The Chi Eta chapter received the Chico State 2021-2022 Excellence in Academic Achievement Award for having the highest GPA of any affiliated fraternity on campus. We participated in Adopt-A-Block, a philanthropic effort organized by Chico State where our fraternity helped clean up a designated block. We also threw a successful alumni weekend as well as a Brotherhood Passover seder.
Florida State University
Brothers, I’m proud to announce that the Alpha Epsilon Pi Phi Tau colony is revived and strong. Though we had our challenges, we’re proud of the Brothers in our colony and will continue to explore new avenues to promote Jewish Learning on Florida State’s campus. On April 16, our Brothers conducted our own seder. We had a turnout of 18, not bad for a new formed colony. The Brothers bought, prepared and consumed all the food, as well as ran the ceremony. We’re thankful for two Brothers, Max Siemens and Max Fernandez. Max Siemens put the program together and Max Fernandez ran the ceremony. Events like this will help put AEPI Phi Tau back in campus consciousness.
Georgia Tech University
The Brothers of Alpha Epsilon Pi – Zeta Chapter participated in many philanthropic endeavors this semester. Below are just some of the highlights of what transpired during the past calendar year.
We partnered with Georgia Tech and Georgia State’s Chabad chapter to do many different good deeds for the community – shoutout to Rabbi Schlomo and his amazing wife, Shifra! Among these good deeds were a Hamentashen baking event for Holocaust survivors in Atlanta. It was held at their house, and many Brothers participated in the event. It was an honor doing such a mitzvah – giving back something, even if it was something small, to those who were subjected to the cruelest tragedy in human history. In addition to this, we also participated in a challah-baking event for residents of the Jewish Berman Home, a Jewish nursing home located in the greater Atlanta area. Our Brothers put extra care into the challah-making to ensure that when it was delivered, the love with which it was made could be felt in every bite. These were just a few of the things we did to give back to the elderly Jewish community.
We weren’t just interested in helping the elderly, however; we partnered with Friendship Circle of Atlanta to sing, paint, and spend time with Jewish people with special needs living in and around Atlanta. We learned of the mitzvah of friendship, and the experience left an indelible mark on our brotherhood. Said Josh Korol, a rising junior and GT AEPi’s current social chair, “Working with friendship circle widened my perspective on many levels and brought our chapter together. It showed me how something as simple as eating pizza and painting with these kids for a night can spread a lot of joy and leave a lasting impact on their lives.”
Our most notable philanthropy of the semester, however, was our participation in Georgia Tech’s Alpha Phi Sorority’s King of Hearts event. They hold this event every year around valentine’s day to raise money for the American Heart Association to fight heart disease in women. Our contestant this year was Dennis Goldenberg. He raised $506.31 on his own, largely through small dollar donations, and, combined with the fundraising of the Alpha Phi coaches for AEPi (pictured above), they raised over $1,500. Dennis’s performance – a dance choreographed to Break Your Heart by Taio Cruz featuring Ludacris – netted him a top five selection. Said Dennis of the experience, “I had a blast preparing the dance and raising money. It is awesome to know that doing good for others can feel good too! However, I couldn’t have achieved what I did without my amazing coaches and backup dancers. It was an experience I will never forget!”
In addition to our philanthropy, we also had several notable social events. At Georgia Tech, our IFC allows for parties to be registered; we had two such parties over the past year.
The Coachalpha party was a play on the name “Coachella”, as it was our first collaboration party ever and our collaborator was Alpha Sigma Phi. We advertised it as a coachella-like outdoor event. It featured the talents of one of our Brothers, lovingly named “DJ Berm,” who was the opener for the evening and has been a regular at our events, and we followed up his performance by three fantastic performers.
Earlier in the year, we had a Rave themed party titled Rave-E-Pi, featuring DJ Berm and DJ Yemi, who both made their AEPi registered party debuts at this event, but also the talents of DJ Dani, who was able to elevate the energy in the room. Brothers dressed in bright, construction worker clothing and had glow stick wristbands to coordinate with the theme, and one user on the anonymous social media site Yik Yak afterwards stated that “AEPi restored my faith in frat parties.” The dance floor was jam-packed with Brothers and other lively Tech students that made the night Rave-E-Pi the place to be that night, as our event dwarfed the others competing for the attention and energy of Tech students. First Year Brother David Rozen would later recall that it was “the night of his life” and was thrilled to see that AEPi brought the same energy that he was familiar with during his time exploring the nightlife in Miami. It was truly a sight to behold, and a night most Brothers will never forget! Once again, we have to thank brothers Allen Averbukh and Avi Pearlman for creating this wonderful experience.
In the spring semester, we had our formal in New Orleans, and it was quite the adventure! We took pictures at the famous Lafayette square near our hotel, and the scenery really brought the photos together! Furthermore, we explored Bourbon Street, both during the day and at night. A big acknowledgement must be made to Ben Wellisch, one of our new members, for planning such an eventful and entertaining formal! All this fun could not have been had without his thoughtful planning and execution. Matelyn Riordan, a rising senior at Georgia Tech, when asked to describe the experience, replied “between the bus ride and dancing through bourbon street it was an experience I’ll never forget! It was nothing but positive vibes from the Brotherhood and friends.”
Over the past year, we have added 18 new members and our chapter size has significantly grown! Both our fall and spring new member classes have already made a significant impact on our fraternity.
Our Fall ‘21 new member class numbered 13 in size, and we’ve already seen the impact they have begun to make on the fraternity. Jacob Kraus recently became our co-social chair along with creating a new website for our fraternity. Ethan Wolfson, in just his second semester in AEPi, landed on the executive board as scribe and has shown a level of dedication that surpasses even some older Brothers by faithfully cleaning the house at every cleaning session, as well as attending all social and Brotherhood events. Furthermore, Ben Wellisch served as Greek Week Chair, as well as serving on the social committee. David Rozen has become our newest alumni chair, Ryan Cohen and Reece Parker have become our co-brotherhood chairs, Ethan Povlot has already begun his term as scholarship chair, Cody Nelson has become the fraternity’s exchequer, and Ben Seletsky has become the fraternity’s sentinel, along with serving as steward. This means that, despite this new member class being Brothers for less than a year, they already occupy three executive board positions, and a significant portion of the other positions in the fraternity as well.
However, they aren’t just faithful members of the fraternity, but excellent students as well. Specifically, they were recently presented with an award from Georgia Tech’s Interfraternity council with the highest GPA among all new member classes with numbers above 10. Ryan Cohen elaborated on this: “After coming to school with very few friends, I know that the bonds I formed with my AEPi pledge Brothers will last a lifetime.”
We cannot also forget our great Spring ‘22 pledge class! While they haven’t had as much time to assume leadership roles, they have certainly left their impact as well in their short time here! Julien Franchet-Schaer and Avi Goldman both served as backup dancers for our king of hearts bid, and Edo Baraket currently is on the Georgia Tech ultimate frisbee team, alongside brother Josh Perlmutter; in spite of their brief time as brothers, we can already see their potential! When asked about what being a part of AEPi meant to him, new brother Micah Elywn (second from the right in the below picture) stated “To me, being a part of AEPi is having each other’s best interests at heart and knowing that people are looking out for you.” Micah, we could not agree more, and we know that the next three years are going to be an awesome ride for these guys!
Illinois State University
The Iota Beta chapter has had a very successful school year and are looking forward to the next. Some of our accomplishments over the year include a fall pledge class of six members and a spring class of five. We have doubled our members in just two semesters! We also participated in Mega Shabbat, hosted by Chabad ISU, in addition to attending Friday night shabbat dinners throughout the school year. We have hosted multiple philanthropy events with restaurants around campus and also participated in AOPi’s kickball philanthropy event, coming in second place. We also hosted a Barn Dance with Sigma Alpha Mu. Finally, we’re on the lookout for a new house to help secure our future. If anyone has any leads, please let us know!
Indiana University
The brothers of Alpha Epsilon Pi- Beta Iota chapter at Indiana University had a phenomenal 2021-2022 school year. Trying to expand the chapter to new heights, a new member class of 88 was taken in this year, making it one of the largest ever. Our new members led the charge with philanthropy this year with a number of Brothers participating in Indiana University’s Dance Marathon, where they raised money and were a part of a 36 hour marathon of standing for the kids who can’t for Riley Children’s Hospital in Indianapolis. The new members also organized an event called Paint B-Town where $5,000 was raised for blood cancer research. In total, Beta Iota raised $85,000 for philanthropy this year, the most in many years. In light of many antisemetic comments directed towards our chapter on campus, the Beta Iota chapter took a stand against hate with help from Rabbi Sue and Rabbi Levi from Hillel and Chabbad on campus. Our president, Tyler Burnett, went through campus with Rabbi Sue and Rabbi Levi to put mezuzahs on the doors of all the other fraternity and sorority houses. We plan on continuing the fight against antisemitism in the fall through hosting regulat shabbat dinners for every fraternity and sorority on campus to attend. The Beta Iota Brothers capped off the year with the annual Little 500 bike race. Little 500 week was a successful one for us! DJ James Hype helped conclude the year in style as we hosted a concert in our backyard which was the biggest event in Greek life this year. Beta Iota is excited to continue improving in the community and as a Brotherhood in the 2022-2023 school year.
Kennesaw State University
The Gamma Pi Colony of Alpha Epsilon Pi has had a fantastic year! We’ve grown closer than ever as Brothers, and we’ve nearly doubled the size of our chapter since the start of the school year. During this year we’ve had two successful initiations, adding valuable men to our Brotherhood who are passionate about the values of Alpha Epsilon Pi and Judaism as a whole. We’ve also had multiple successful social events for our Brothers and campus, growing the awareness of Alpha Epsilon Pi around our community. Along with social events, we’ve hosted successful Brotherhood events, which the fraternity as a whole enjoyed thoroughly. Our Brotherhood retreat at the beginning of this current semester was a massive hit; we traveled to Lake Oconee along with our Educational Leadership Consultant, Ian Scheiman. Outside of our fraternity, many of our Brothers are extremely involved with the other two Jewish organizations at Kennesaw State University; many of our Brothers help our Chabad Rabbi with numerous things, setting up for Shabbat dinners and attending Chabad events en masse. During this current semester, many of our Brothers have served on the board of Hillel at KSU, and some of our brothers will continue to serve starting next semester. While we’re very much a small chapter, we’re growing rapidly, a lot in part to our hard-working executive board. Our executive board has worked tirelessly on planning events, rush and for our chapter’s future. We hosted a philanthropy event in partnership with Chipotle to raise money for the Gift of Life Bone Marrow Registry. We’re excited to continue our fantastic relationship with Gift of Life, and we’re incredibly happy to be raising money for such an excellent cause. We’re excited for what the future has in store for the incredible men of the Gamma Pi Colony of Alpha Epsilon Pi and we’re excited to continue growing our Brotherhood and initiating other great men into our chapter!
Miami University
With the first in-person rush since the start of COVID, we put our all into this new pledge class, many of whom are already installed on our Executive Board and eager and excited to create positive change! We continued the traditions of our annual Formal trip to Gatlinburg, Tennessee, our yearly AEPi Passover seder, and our Holocaust Remembrance Walk. Several individuals in our chapter received awards from the Miami Division of Student Life such as “Outstanding President Award” (Sam Belkowitz), “Rising Leader Award” (Brody Criz), and “Senior Service Leadership Award” (Braxton Barrett)! For the first time, we successfully created our own fraternity composite with the help of the skilled photographers and editors of our chapter. To connect with the greater AEPi and local communities, we planned and executed a joint event with our neighboring University of Cincinnati chapter and paired with the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority for a karaoke philanthropy event raising around $2,500 for the Arthritis Foundation. We also hosted an 8-week program with a rabbi for Brothers to learn about Jewish philosophies over weekly dinners.
Northeastern University
With the semester approaching its end, the Sigma Kappa Psi chapter has had a busy few weeks. First and foremost, we are happy to announce our recently elected Fall 2022 Executive Board: Master Ari Antar, Lt. Master Justin Radist, Scribe Jake Friedman, Exchequer Ben Wolpert, Sentinel Saul Israel, Rush Chairman Ely Assaf, and Brother at Large Jonah Seidenfeld. We are excited to see how these young men take control of their new roles! In other news, we recently hosted our AEPi Yacht Club charity night cruise. The event was a tremendous success, selling 600 tickets and raising over $11,000 for Ukraine crisis relief and Boston-area domestic violence survivor support. Finally, as the year comes to a close, we must sadly say goodbye to our graduating Brothers. These 4th and 5th years have made a long-lasting impact on our chapter, and it won’t be the same without them. Brothers Jason Vernoff, Nathan Bollen, Shane Mitnick, Seth Friman, Ben Ebner, Harrison Chisholm, Duncan Dean, Mark Morton, Gabriel Pascual, Andrew Morgan, Noah Letwat, Eric Fichtel, Andrew Rosenfeld, Jake Janowski, Martin Rosenberg, Dan Berg, Sam Goshen, and Spencer Haber will all be missed, and we look forward to watching these graduates do great things after college.”
Oregon
On Wednesday, April 13 at 8:00 p.m. Pacific Time, the Upsilon Omega colony was re-founded at the University of Oregon. The group was re-founded with 15 re-founding fathers and has so far accomplished one Brotherhood event as well as participated in a Health and Safety Seminar. Of the 15 Founders, the five Executive Board members are: Charlie Rinzler (Master), Alvin Levie (Lt Master), Elias Peterson (Scribe), Ethan Meyers (Exchequer and Legacy), and Joey Abrams (Sentinel). The group has members involved in Hillel, the Oregon Football Team, a business owner, a few IM sports athletes, and more! A new chapter is here in the story of Oregon AEPi, and we cannot wait to see what’s to come! PLEASE follow us on Instagram @uoaepi …. Sco Ducks and Esponda!!!
Oregon State University
This year, Omicron Sigma Colony welcomed seven new members, with our Fall pledge class of five being the largest in colony history. The previous two terms we held the second highest and highest GPA in IFC, and are on track for another great academic term. We have worked closely with Hillel this year, hosting Shabbat Fall term and planning for an upcoming community Shabbat this term. Planning for our philanthropy project, AEPuppies, is finally finished, and we are excited to see it take place soon. Overall, it has been a great year for Omicron Sigma and we look forward to further successes.
Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute
This past semester was a very successful one for the Brothers of the Rho Pi chapter here in Troy, New York. Overall, we have one of the highest cumulative GPAs on campus at RPI and the boys here are very proud of what they have accomplished. Due to restrictions placed on Greek Life by the institute, the Rho Pi chapter has had no new members until this past semester. The chapter had a successful rush, gaining eight respectful gentlemen that are motivated to grow the fraternity as a whole. Many Brothers are looking forward to interning over the summer at various companies. To highlight a few: Casey Selinske, our current Master, will be a Civil Engineering intern at Solli Engineering located in Monroe, Connecticut; Almog Cohen, our Exchequer, will be an Embedded Engineering intern at Lutron located in Seattle, Washington; Brandon George, a rising senior, will be interning at Clark Associates, located in Lititz, Pennsylvania. A few of our new members have acquired internships as well. New member Henry Basnight was invited to become a member of the Archimedean Society for posing a 4.0 GPA and will be interning at Cadence Design Systems, located in San Jose, California. New member Aadi Lahiri also secured an internship for this summer with Zipper Agent. All Brothers are looking forward to the fall semester and help build the fraternity back to where it once was before covid.
San Diego State University
The 2021-2022 year has been something special. This year we moved chapter houses and had to adapt like never before. We had the largest initiated class (Alpha Sigma) this house has ever seen at 26 members as well as 14 more in the Spring. Before the seniors eventually graduate, this is the first time our chapter has had over 100 members in most likely its history.
We had philanthropy events where we raised over $1,000 through a Pie a Pi event. Along with this, we got over 40 testing kits completed for the Gift of Life bone marrow registry. We have also had social events with other Greek organizations on campus. For the first time in at least five years, two fraternities on campus hosted an event for the Greek Community. We competed in the annual Noah Hytken Memorial Fund Basketball tournament as well as other intramural sports such as softball, soccer, football, kickball, and dodgeball. We also worked with Students Supporting Israel, TAMID Group, and Mishelanu to throw an Israel Independence Festival. Earlier in the month we also took a moment out of our days to remember the Holocaust in our Walk to Remember event with the Butterfly Project. We look forward to even better things to come!
Queen’s University (Canada)
The Kappa Phi chapter experienced a resurgence in late 2021, with 11 new Brothers coming up through the fall rush and pledge class to further grow our presence in Kingston. Our increased numbers have allowed us to do more charity work, including a Pie-in-the-Face event to raise money for KMHS as well as a blood drive. This year, we increased our outreach to other Kingston Greek organizations, increasing our network of contacts for events and community involvement. The chapter was also able to raise even more money through an auction and a telethon (to reach out to chapter alumni). Our continued growth, fundraising and expanding community presence enabled us to run even more events, including our own Formal Night. By sustaining our growth and outreach, we have been able to maintain relationships with alumni, expand our social network and strengthen our internal structure even further.
University of Alabama
In the Spring 2022 semester, the Iota Deuteron Chapter had great success. Our Crawfish Boil Fundraiser, which we held jointly with Theta Xi, raised nearly a thousand dollars for Habitat for Humanity. We also initiated two great new Brothers the Spring, Ben Chabner and Cameron, who are both already getting involved in the chapter by taking on chair positions for the coming semester. Our formal in New Orleans — where our Brothers and their dates had a great time bonding and exploring the city — was a great success with the event held in the historic French Quarter. We also had multiple Jewish Identity events including Havdalah and a Jewish movie night, hosted by our Jewish Identity Chair and Stand With Us representative for the state of Alabama, Mason Berger. In addition to these other amazing events, our Brothers bonded through activities such as intramural softball, going to Talladega, and backyard hangouts throughout the semester.
University Of Arizona
The Upsilon Alpha chapter had a great school year. We gained twenty new Brothers from the fall and spring classes. The future’s looking bright after our second full year unaffiliated with Arizona’s IFC. We are the only fraternity at Arizona that has survived and been able to continue to operate without IFC recognition.
Throughout the spring we had many exciting events and opportunities for Brothers. We did volunteer work at local schools to rebuild parks, worked at a booth at the Tucson Book Festival, and helped Chabad and Hillel set up and celebrate for Shabbat and holidays. We had a spring break trip to Cabo and a formal weekender in Las Vegas. We also enjoyed Brotherhood events like our 3 on 3 basketball league and Super Bowl watch party.
University of California-Riverside
Ever since Chi Rho has emerged from the COVID-19 shutdowns and scares of the last two years, we have thrived and grown to rebuild our chapter from the ground up. Almost doubling the size of our chapter during this school year must be the biggest highlight so far, and we expect to keep up the pace in the Fall after summer tabling. We jumped from 14 to 26 Brothers in two quarters. Last quarter, the Brothers of Chi Rho hosted a successful Parent’s Day. All Brothers attended and 10 pairs of parents enjoyed a catered brunch while getting tours of our biggest chapter house and meeting all the Brothers. One of the aspects of Chi Rho that we have always been proud of is our cumulative GPA. While it has been a struggle during COVID-19, we pride ourselves on having the highest GPA out of all IFC fraternities. During this year’s winter quarter, we have reclaimed this title, once again showing our commitment to academic excellence as a Brotherhood.
University of California-San Diego
The Chi Sigma Chapter of AEPi at UC San Diego is extremely proud of its accomplishments this past year. At the beginning of the year, we had fewer than 30 Brothers, largely because of COVID. However, we were able to get a rush class of 25 members in the fall and 11 in the spring to more than double the size our chapter! In lieu of the usual conclave, with the help of our ELC, we were able to host a “mini conclave” event with Sigma Delta of SDSU and have a joint health and safety event as well as a joint chabad event. In May, held an AEPi clothing drive to benefit the Alpha Project and we hosted a joint Shabbat with Hillel on campus. Finally, during the recent Sorority and Fraternity Leadership (SFL) Awards, our chapter won the Scholastic Award, which was awarded to the chapter with the highest cumulative GPA for the 2021 school year.
University of Nevada-Las Vegas
Nu Sigma has had a successful semester! We raised $500 through our very successful Pie a-Pi fundraisers both on campus and at the IAC event. Our Rush this semester was definitely a highlight seeing six bid signees. We initiated two new Brothers this past Thursday and we are already prepping our Rush not just for the fall, but for summer as well. Our the chapter has an established plot at the UNLV Community Garden which we are proud of. One of our biggest accomplishments was our Tu Bishvat fundraiser. We raised a total of $360 to have 20 trees will be planted in Israel for the holiday. We also raised an additional $106 for six trees to be planted in honor of our Brother Mike’s father. This semester we are sending off three Brothers: Yoni Gavish, Stone Wachs, and Jon Bronsolier. They have been some of the best Brothers we could ask for and we will definitely miss them. It is worth noting that Brother Stone did recently win two awards in his group’s Senior Design Competition so congratulations to him.
University of South Florida
The Psi Phi Chapter at the University of South Florida had a great spring semester! We did many Brotherhood events, including a camping retreat and other bonding activities to bring everyone closer to each other. In addition, we have been participating in other sororities’ philanthropy events and supported organizations such as Make-A-Wish and Girls on the Run. We also were able to immerse ourselves further in the Jewish community by attending the Tampa Jewish Federation’s Annual President’s Dinner, where we were welcomed by keynote speaker Michael Oren. Lastly, we found out that we were ranked 3rd in terms of GPA for USF IFC out of the 15 chapters on our campus. With a big year ahead, the Brothers of Psi Phi are ready for what’s to come.
University of Tampa
The Tau Phi chapter has had one of its most notable years, starting with the 19 new Brothers initiated in Fall 2021, Our biggest class to date. We’re now 54 Brothers strong, something we have not experienced before. In the 2021-2022 school year we climbed to new heights while making great strides growing this chapter. We are losing nine seniors this spring, and we’re thankful for everything they have done for this fraternity. Philanthropically, we had three big events this year. In November 2021, we hosted a mental health event to spread awareness to the community about the importance of mental health. In December 2021, we hosted a telethon for the AEPi Repairs the World Fund, raising more than $6,200 for this great cause and making it the biggest philanthropy event of the year at the University of Tampa. Also, in March 2022 we hosted our signature event AEPuppies. We worked with the Tampa Bay Humane Society, raising over $500 to help pay for food and medical supplies for these puppies. This year has been a great year for the Tau Phi chapter. We have accomplished remarkable things and we hope to continue with this momentum for years to come.
University of Vermont
In the 2021-2022 school year, Zeta Pi has been active on campus with a number of other organizations in our community. Brothers continue their involvement with Chabad with our chapter advisor, Rabbi Zalman Wilhelm. We also recently attended an event put on by Chabad and Hillel featuring Henia Lewin, a Holocaust survivor. Elisha Wiesel, son of famous author, activist, and Holocaust survivor, Elie Wiesel, also spoke. We have held various social events with sororities, dye tournaments with our close friends in Kappa Sigma, and Greek Life parties with many other organizations at UVM. Our chapter, as a whole, has gotten much closer this year through Brotherhood events like hiking Mt. Abe, regularly attending the trampoline park, and celebrating Passover together. We also plan on holding alumni week in the fall for our Zeta Pi alumni Brothers to reconnect and share stories. We look forward to holding a food drive for Feeding Chittenden in the fall semester, and Brothers are moving to create an outdoor exploration club centered around Jewish male students to connect more with non-Greek Life students on campus. We are extremely excited for the summer and cannot wait to welcome new members in the fall!
University of Virginia
AEPi Mu is excited about where we are, and even more excited about where we are going. A few weeks ago, we initiated the largest pledge class in our chapter’s history, welcoming 25 new men into our fraternity. We are incredibly proud of not only this number, but also the character of each and every newly initiated Brother. On April 9, we hosted our first foam philanthropy event. The event took place during the day and included a lot of foam and the opportunity to pay to pie a brother. The event was a huge success, and we raised over $2600 for the University of Virginia Heart Family Fund. On another note, the kindness and generosity of our alumni have allowed us to add a study room to our house! The former storage room has been immensely popular among the Brotherhood, and it has already been getting really great use. One of our last Brotherhood events of the school year was a barbecue to celebrate the conclusion of Passover. A few Brothers volunteered to grill hamburgers and hot dogs, and I know that every Brother had a great time. We ate bread, talked, and enjoyed the beautiful weather.
Virginia Tech
Over the past semester one of the moments that harbors fond memories for members of the Sigma Alpha chapter was the day of Virginia Tech’s Big Plant. With Hillel at Virginia Tech, many Brothers came out to this service event and helped plant trees to help better the community. Most of the Brotherhood arrived at the event around midday, by the end of our time there so many trees were planted that there was literally no space left to put any more. This picture shows our master, Alex Golden, planting one of the soon-to-be trees. The other picture showcases some of the Brothers who came out to the event. This picture was at the end of the planting area, after all the trees had been planted. Planting was dirty, messy work but the knowledge that we were doing something bigger than ourselves combined with the fun that the Brothers enjoyed being together made coming out to help more than worth the time spent.
Vanderbilt University
This past year was quite successful in the eyes of the brothers of the Alpha Epsilon Pi Tau colony, especially since it is our first year since refounding. We saw great growth, nearly doubling our size with our first two pledge classes. We hosted weekly Sunday brunches in our house — open to all — serving homemade crepes, waffles and omelets. Over the course of the year, we became more confident in our ability to throw social events, hosting “Christmas in November”, “AEPurim”, “AEPril Fools” and a plethora of mixers and smaller social events. We had two successful Pie a Pi charity events, as well as other philanthropic efforts such as regular volunteering at a local food bank, raising nearly $1,000. Not to mention, we managed to place fifth in this year’s Mensch Madness competition. Finally, what truly makes us a fraternity is all the bonding we shared as Brothers. Throughout the year, we had numerous Brotherhood Shabbats, sharing laughs, memories, and delicious meals. Perhaps our favorite moments from this year come from cabin weekend. Each semester, the entire colony rents a lake house. We all learned something new about each other, had a blast, and definitely grew much closer.