Omega alumnus Greg Linder speaks during the chapter's 85th anniversary celebration banquet in 2007.
Alumnus wins fraternity’s highest honor
A chapter alumnus and long-time national volunteer has been named the 2013 Mr. Pi Kappa Phi.
Greg Linder, Omega initiate 951 on Sept. 16, 1974, will be honored on June 8 in New Orleans at a national alumni event.
The title “Mr. Pi Kappa Phi” is the highest honor the national fraternity can bestow upon a member. Tim Ribar, an initiate of the Roanoke chapter, will be honored posthumously at the 2013 event. After the two are so-recognized, there will have been 48 Mr. Pi Kappa Phi’s in the national fraternity’s 109-year history.
Linder has served the national fraternity continuously as a Pi Kappa Phi Properties board member since 1990. His son, Nick, a Pi Kappa Phi initiate at Cornell, has recently joined him on the board that secures local fraternity houses for Pi Kappa Phi. The board works with expansion efforts of the national fraternity to find housing and recruit a local alumni base to eventually take over those facilities.
Linder’s volunteer efforts were not confined to the Properties board. He served on the local Omega of Pi Kappa Phi, Inc. housing corporation board from 1979-89. He supervised the reconstruction of the Purdue chapter in 1987-88. He was a member of the national fraternity’s Centennial Commission, established to commemorate the national fraternity’s 100-year anniversary in 2004.
He is member of the Nu Phi Society, an alumni support society within Pi Kappa Phi.
Picture of the last six R.B. Stewart awards won by Pi Kappa Phi
Fraternity named Purdue’s best
On April 11, Pi Kappa was honored as the best among Purdue’s 40 recognized fraternities for 2012-13.
In fact, Pi Kappa Phi was the winner of seven of the eight categories used to judge the overall RB Stewart Award recipient. The categories that the chapter was judged best include: Social development, scholastic development, leadership development, philanthropy and community service, alumni relations, brotherhood and chapter pride. The only category the chapter did not win was recruitment.
It was the unprecedented sixth year in a row that Pi Kappa Phi was named the RB Stewart Award winner.
“Receiving this award in the midst of such a great Greek community – both in size and achievement – is an honor,” president Caleb Shoup said. “It is very gratifying to be recognized for all our hard work that comes as a result of a group of passionate men who strive to be leaders in all we do.
“It is also very humbling to be awarded the best fraternity as there are so many great fraternities here at Purdue. We accept the award as both encouragement and a challenge push ourselves more and find ways to improve.”
This year, as in the recent past, applications were sent to campuses other than Purdue for judging.
Quality members and chapter programming help set Pi Kappa Phi apart from the field.
The chapter maintains an ongoing volunteer relationship with Lafayette Jefferson High School special needs classes, hosts the Arc of Tippecanoe for a Halloween costume party, conducts a 72-hour Feltner Memorial Bike-a-Thon and sponsors a week-long War of Roses competition, among other events.
Through its Push America programming assisting the disabled, Pi Kappa Phi has engaged nearly 2,500 people in the 2012-13 academic year. More than 1,000 members of the Greek community attended or participated in programming for the April 2013 War of Roses competition alone. The chapter will top the $10,000 mark for Push America fund-raising for fourth straight year in 2012-13, and for the sixth in last eight years.
Furthermore, in October the chapter celebrated its 90th anniversary by hosting a banquet for alumni. The chapter-alumni fund-raising effort related to the anniversary brought in nearly $60,000 in donations, which enabled the installation of a walk-in freezer in December.
Also, 46 brothers participated in the Purdue University Dance Marathon in November – the second most of any fraternity.
The fall 2012 fraternity statics recognized Pi Kappa Phi for being the top in three of the four rating categories. The three categories that the chapter lead include: Tied for largest chapter (147 members) on campus, tops in community service hours(2,037) and philanthropic fund-raising ($8,723).
The chapter does many other programming events during the year as well.
A crowd of over 250 people welcome the riders back from the Pi Kapp 100.
Overflow crowd celebrates Moms Day
A record crowd graced the fraternity on April 13, 2013 as it celebrated the annual Moms Day/Pi Kapp 100 weekend.
More than 275 brothers and their families attended much of the all-day event. The day began early for the 30 riders and crew in Zionsville for the 13th annual 100-kilomer cycling experience.
The Pi Kapp 100 cycling group arrived early afternoon at the Pi Kappa Phi house to a large gathering on the front lawn and street-level sidewalk. The team had to battle inclement weather throughout the day including some drizzle and temperatures in the 30s and 40s.
After the arrival the record audience heard from president Caleb Shoup, academic advisor Rita Baker and chapter advisor Pat Kuhnle.
Shoup announced that two days earlier that the fraternity was named the RB Stewart Award winner, signifying it as Purdue’s best fraternity. It was the sixth consecutive time that Pi Kappa Phi has taken the top spot among 40 campus fraternities.
Shoup lauded his fraternal brothers for their many accomplishments during 2012-13. He said Purdue fall semester statistics showed that Pi Kappa Phi was No. 1 in three of four fraternity ratings. They included: Volunteer hours, money raised for philanthropic events and in chapter size (tied for first in this area).
Furthermore, the fraternity was No. 10 in grades, which included eight members with a 4.0 GPA last semester, 24 on the dean’s list, 27 on semester honors and 66 with a 3.0 or better.
Baker told parents how impressed she has been with the members and explained how she assists the members’ academic endeavors.
Kuhnle asked brothers to raise their hands to indicated they were involved in various activities including special needs classroom volunteering, the Arc of Tippecanoe Halloween party, the 72-hour Feltner Memorial Bike-a-Thon, Ware of Roses, student organizations, intramurals and community service among others. He said the quality of the chapter member along with programming sets it apart from others at Purdue.
Kuhnle then led a roundtable discussion with pre-selected chapter members including Erik Moeller, Kyle Marpe and Branden Sowers who spoke about the chapter’s involvement in various efforts throughout the year. Parents were impressed with the breadth of experiences as well as the quantity of brothers involved in multiple programming events.
Chapter members hosted a 4 p.m. moms reception whereby they could peruse dozens of items being offered in a silent auction. Then the mainstay of the day – a public auction to fund a chapter improvement project, Grand Prix and Push America – started at 5 p.m. More than 200 watched, laughed and bid on various items from concert tickets to cookies for a year from one of the mothers.
The day continued late into the night for mothers brave enough to hang out with their sons.
Terry Foster, mother of chapter member Jake, wrote the chapter afterwards to express her thoughts on the day.
“This group of men my son has chosen to spend his college years with are some of the most thoughtful, well-mannered gentlemen I have ever met,” she wrote. “I am proud of their national philanthropic effort, “Push America,” and know my son will continue to support it (after graduation) … I will miss these wonderful weekends and all of Jake’s new friends.”
Shoup is proud of the annual event as well.
“As an out-of-state student it is great to be able to spend the weekend with my mom,” he said. “Mom's Day is always a fun time for both the mothers and brothers and something everyone looks forward to. Besides the good food and great company, it gives us a chance to share experiences and achievements with our families.”
McKee, who was the chief organizer for the day, was pleased with its outcome.
"Every year our Moms Day takes an amazing amount of planning,” he said. “I think everyone would agree it's one of the most fun times of the year and I couldn't be happier with the way things turned out."
The 2014 version of the Moms Day/Pi Kapp 100 will be held on April 12.
Photos from the 2013 Moms Day/Pi Kapp 100 can be found at:
https://purduepikapps.celect.org/site/albums/36884
Emily Trittschuh of Alpha Gamma Delta basks in glory after being named the Rose Queen of Pi Kappa Phi on April 4, 2013. She is posing on the stage of Loeb Playhouse with her sorority sisters and fraternity members.
AGD takes War of Roses crown
Emily Trittschuh of Alpha Gamma Delta took the top honor in the 2013 Pi Kappa Phi War of Roses competition.
The annual event, which spans two weeks, concluded with a talent show in Purdue’s Loeb Playhouse attended by more than 1,000 people on April 4. Sixteen campus sororities competed against each other with sheet signs, penny wars, talent show ticket sales and participation at various events. Other War of Roses events included an empathy dinner, disability race and volunteering in special needs classes at a local high school.
The empathy dinner on March 26 had participants mimic various challenges the disabled encounter each day. Contestants might be limited to speaking in single-syllable words, only in words that begin with a certain letter, with their hands bound or by having their eyes blindfolded. The dinner helps participants to have a clearer understanding of common challenges for the disabled.
The War of Roses supports the fraternity’s philanthropic efforts with Push America (www.pushamerica.org). A quarter of the chapter’s annual fund-raising goes directly to Lafayette Jefferson High School special needs classroom support.
Winners were announced for the various events and the overall winning sorority had a representative be the Rose Queen. Her photo will be included in the fraternity composite for 2013-14.
Individual competition winners include:
• Sheet Sign: Phi Sigma Rho.
• Disability Race: Alpha Gamma Delta.
• Penny Wars: Kappa Kappa Gamma.
• T-Shirt Sales: Sigma Kappa.
• Audience Choice (by donations from attendees at the April 4 talent competition): Emily Tritschuh of Alpha Gamma Delta.
• Best Performance: Lauren Caputo, Zeta Tau Alpha.
• Runner-Up Best Performance, Maggie Young, Alpha Xi Delta.
• Rose Queen: Emily Trittschuh, Alpha Gamma Delta.
The Sixth Annual War of Roses raised more than $3,000 for Push America. Football player Ricardo Allen, basketball players Ronnie and Terone Johnson as well as the 2013 Miss Indiana Merriebeth Cox served as judges for the talent competition.
Participating sororities include: Alpha Chi Omega, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Omicron Pi, Alpha Xi Delta, Chi Omega, Delta Delta Delta, Delta Gamma, Gamma Phi Beta, Kappa Alpha Theta, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Phi Sigma Rho, Pi Beta Phi, Sigma Delta Tau, Phi Mu, Sigma Kappa and Zeta Tau Alpha.
Photos of the event can be found at:
https://purduepikapps.celect.org/site/albums/36835
