May 2015 Omegaphone
THON 2015 - Omega Chapter Contributes in Fight Against Pediatric Cancers
Over the years, Theta Chi brothers have built reputations as resilient dancers at the grueling, two-day dance marathon known as THON. And as the annual 46-hour, no-sleeping, no-sitting dance marathon came to a wrap in February, Theta Chi’s Sam Kulp was still standing.
Chosen as Omega Chapter’s dancer, Kulp, along with A.J. Bobby, his sisters and with the support of the rest of the brothers, THON staff and Tapestry Dance Company helped raise $53,284.51 for the Four Diamonds Fund.
In total, nine brothers lent helping hands on THON committees. They were: Ryan Campbell, Rules and Regulations; Sam Shively, Public Relations Captain; Alejandro Buxo, OPPerations LT; Stephen Sanford, OPPerations; Sam Kulp, Communications, Faculty and Staff Outreach; Ryan Gattoni, Rules and Regulations Event Safety; Frank Donato, Rules and Regulations; John Lin, OPPerations Canning Coordinator; and Joe Saylor, Dancer Relations Theme Hour Chair.
Overall, THON was a massive success again as $13,026,653.23 was raised for the Four Diamonds Fund in the ongoing effort to help
Congrats to everyone for all your time, effort and hard work!
Work Weekend - Annual Cleanup Yields Results
There’s something about a fresh pile of mulch that signifies a job well done.
It also makes red bricks pop. Take a drive down South Allen Street and see for yourself. There, Theta Chi’s stately manor got an exterior facelift and interior scrub- down in mid-April thanks to a handful of brothers who picked up shovels and rakes and turned in a weekend’s worth of work to improve the property’s overall aesthetic.
Blessed with good weather – temperatures reached into the 60s and the sun provided plenty of work light – brothers tackled numerous outdoor chores. At 9 a.m., brothers donned their work attire – most wore sweats and hoodies while others opted for the more utilitarian bib overalls – and split into groups. Soon thereafter, the rakes and shovels could be heard scraping and clawing at the earth over the next several hours.
Outside work included a spring cleaning of the planting beds and any remaining leaves and debris from the fall were removed from the side lot. Four yards of mulch was then spread over the planting beds. The side porch was cleaned and organized, sunken paving bricks were repaired and all trash and old bikes were removed.
Inside work was concentrated on the first floor. The living room and library carpets were cleaned. The mail room and coat room were cleaned and re-organized removing all old accumulation of lost coats, unclaimed mail and other miscellaneous clutter. A few other small repairs were completed, including the re-installation of some doorway trim that had fallen off.
Cleanup efforts continued into the week as the actives fully tidied up the first floor in preparation for Parent’s Weekend and Blue-White Weekend.
Thank you to all who participated on Saturday, with a special thank you to Brothers John McElwee ’47, Rich Maltz ’90, James Stuhltrager ’89 and Jeff Damcott ’91 for their donations.
Capital Renovations Update - Work Ongoing at Chapter House With Plenty More to Be Done
By Jeff Damcott '91
The renovations at the chapter house are ongoing as the Board continues to work toward improving the living conditions for the actives.
We anticipate the completion of some of the smaller projects in the architectural review this summer. The first item is the refinishing of the bar floor. Timing logistics prevented us from completing this between semesters, but we will now be able to use the summer house closure to have a commercial floor installed.
The bathroom off of the laundry room in the basement will receive an aesthetic facelift. Estimates are being gathered to repair and repaint the cornice, moldings and trim on the exterior of the house. The exterior painting project could be finished this summer, but there is still much work to be done and your donations will only help.
The following long-term tasks still need to be completed:
Replace stair landing French door
Replace and upgrade electrical systems in the basement, first and second floors
Renovate all second floor bedrooms
Repair/replace roof structure over kitchen door
Renovate first floor
Convert bedroom off the pool room to meet ADA requirements
Repair and refinish all floors and staircases
Achieve full ADA compliance
Also this summer, the board will take inventory of the house. Using the results, we will plan to replace some of the equipment inside the house as some of it is aging.
Omega Chapter has invested close to $100,000 in just the past three years. We are continuing to work on a plan to make these needed repairs in a cost-efficient manner. The scope of a few of the items and the code requirements make this a challenge. Your continued support is greatly appreciated and crucial to our longevity at Penn State.
Greek Week - Omega Chapter Rises to the Top
The quad of Theta Chi, Sigma Kappa, Alpha Tau Omega and Delta Lambda Phi came in first place in the 2015 Greek Week competition. They received a $500 donation to GI Theta Chi program for their efforts.
Brother Sean Curry competed in the Greek Pageant as one of the five selected Fraternity representatives.
The chapter came in second place in the Greek Week Volleyball tournament and also participated in the kickball tournament.
Congrats to the brothers on their hard work!
Alumni News
Richard L. Hill ’59 - I am going on a cruise of the Hawaiian Islands in August.
Richard R. Jones ’60 - I am back working for the state of Connecticut in environmental protection-boating education. I arrange classes and instructors teaching boating safety. I am waiting for warm weather to captain launches for the Mystic Seaport Museum. I am an active Lions Club president, Power Squadron treasurer and my weekends are spent driving to duck decoy shows along the East Coast and meeting up with Brothers Larry Reader ’57 and John Coleman ’61. Other than that, I am just taking it easy.
Thomas W. Hankey ’65 - I got married in March to Linda Young. We reside at my house in Chester, Va. I am a 1965 graduate with a bachelor’s degree in Chemical Engineering and will be attending the 50th anniversary in June.
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Gregory L. Schlegel ’73 - Still going strong!
I’m a principal with a computer software company doing complex modeling and the founder of The Supply Chain Risk Management Consortium providing services to mitigate and manage risk.
I also teach risk management in two MBA university programs at Lehigh and Villanova. I still do a lot of global travel. I’m actually still utilizing many of the methodologies acquired in QBA and Comp Sci. (now called Supply Chain) at State! I just published my first book: Supply Chain Risk Management: An Emerging Discipline and have been happily married for 35 years to Philly sweetheart, Mariann.
Paul D. Faircloth ’81 - As I get older, the milestones keep flying by. My lovely wife Keri and I will celebrate our 29th wedding anniversary in April. I still marvel that she’s put up with me all this time! We are coming up with ideas for our next “just the two of us” excursion.
The clan is all doing well. Nick is 24 and in Staunton, Va., for the time being growing an organic garden for the Virginia School for the Deaf and Blind. The work is the second part of a two-year fellowship with the Allegheny Mountain Institute.
Chris is in his junior year at the University of Delaware working on a mechanical engineering degree and is a section leader in the Blue Hen Marching Band. I sheepishly admit that I haven’t seen the Blue Band for a number of years but my brother-in-law has seen both and gives great props to the Blue Hens. Their show this fall was the music from “Tommy”.
Hannah is a high school junior beginning to look seriously at colleges. She’s heavily involved with the theater program at Cape Henlopen High School. She’s also been very involved with the Conference Council on Youth Ministries, planning and participating in a three-day program for UM Youth that attracts 4,000 students each year.
Michael Crawford ’07 - I’m employed at Clansburg Medical Associates.
David G. Hartwich ’09 - I got married to Jesse, my high school sweetheart in November. We live in Bridgeville, Pa. Jesse works for Dick’s Sporting Goods as a copywriter in the product development department. I am working as a research engineer at Harbison Walker International.
John T. Boston ’14 - I will be taking on a greater role as a sales representative for Dow AgroSciences and I am moving from South Dakota to Rochester, N.Y. to take over an open sales territory.
What have you been up to lately? Update brothers on your status or spread some news by sending your updates to: alumninews@affinityconnection.com.
2015 Spring Initiates
We are proud to announce the following young men have been initiated into the brotherhood of Theta Chi. Congratulations to:
Matt Birkbeck
Tim Gregory
Steve Hatten
Neel Parikh
Oduwa Pat-Osagie
Milton Rahman
Giovanni Rindone
Chris Silverwood
Thank you to all those brothers that shared their news with us. Please send us your photos and updates whenever you can.
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