Fall Edition - Rho Alpha Alumni

ΖΨ
Rho Alpha Review
October 1, 2013
Zeta Psi Fraternity of North America, Rho Alpha Chapter
Words of the Phi
Ben Frank, AI ‘14
third floor storage room is being remodeled and arranged for
group studying. I am thrilled
about this change, and am
looking forward to seeing Zetes
using this new space for collaborating and problem-solving.
Inside this issue:
Words of the Phi
1
Alpha Sigma Report 1
Reflecting on Rush 2
Zetes in Shape
2
The House Stands
Higher
3
Meet the Pledges
46
Greek Letter Officers 7
Community Service 7
Spotlight
Social Spotlight
7
Zetes are back in Cambridge,
after spending the summer
hacking in Silicon Valley, working at Bose and Palantir, and
advancing medical research.
We have already had a busy
start to our 35th year, and are
excited about a new pledge
class, fresh renovations, and a
reworked social calendar!
During this fall’s work week,
run by House Managers Will
Dominas AI ’14 and Natzem
Lima AΛ ’16, we put the finishing touches on renovations to
the house’s bathrooms and
first floor bike room. We also
made substantial improvements to the bar, music/
workout room, and various
individual rooms. This year, we
are undertaking an exciting
transition--the underutilized
Fall 2013 Issue
As the semester gets into full
swing, we are hoping to maintain our momentum from many
of the successes of last year,
while improving in certain areas. We are planning a more
regular elder dinner schedule
and a packed social calendar
(our first party of the year drew
over 600 guests throughout
the night!). In addition, planning has already begun for this
year’s spring Elder Banquet,
which will be Rho Alpha’s 35th.
These renovations were made
possible, in part, through the
well-coordinated summer session. Tommy Anderson AΘ ’13
and David Couto AI ’14 ran a
tight ship, and Natzem worked
hard to keep the house running
in good shape as Summer
The Alpha Iotas, Kappas, and
House Manager.
Lambdas have already been
lucky to welcome many elders
Zetes maintained a strong inback to greet a number of local
volvement in this orientation
and out-of-town elders. In parand rush, with nearly 20 preticular, Kyle Fink ’11, Adam
orientation program counselors Tourgee ’11, Chichi Okeke ’12,
and orientation leaders. Max
Lionel Sotomayor ’12, Michael
Kolysh AI ’14 and Alex Torres
Leaman ’12, Chip Whittemore
AΛ ’16 led the recruitment ef’12, Zachary Stauber ’12, Alex
forts. Our energy and persisGarcia ’13, and Chris Rullan
tence leading up to and
’13 have all come back to visit
through rush week resulted in a in the last few weeks. We are
stellar class of 14 pledges. We looking forward to seeing many
are incredibly excited about the more in the near future! With
Alpha Mu pledges and know
this enthusiasm, I am excited
they will be a fantastic addition about another strong year here
to the house. Pledge Process is at Rho Alpha. Damn Proud to
already underway, with Dan
be a Zete!
O’Donovan ’15 serving as
pledge trainer.
In TKΦ,
Ben Frank, AI ‘14
Alpha Sigma Report Noa Flaherty, AK ‘15
Greeting brothers! Another fall
semester is upon us and with it
comes a new pledge class. This
issue of the Rho Alpha Review
proudly presents the Alpha Mu
pledge class, made up of 14
outstanding young men, as well
as articles from some of our
other house positions.
The semester might yet be
young, but we have already
seen many familiar faces as
elders have been stopping by
regularly. A big Tau Kappa Phi
to all of those that came to our
first elder dinner of the semester, which focused on networking and career help. It is great
to see Zetes helping Zetes get
jobs.
Our elder dinners have been
going strong, occurring regularly twice a month now. I would
encourage all of you local Zetes
to stop by and grab some dinner and hang out!
We are also excited that this is
the first of hopefully many Rho
Alpha Reviews to be published
through Stewart Howe, an external marketing company. In
summary, there a big things
happening in the world of elder
relations so stay tuned!
In TKΦ,
Noa Flaherty, AK ‘15
Page 2
Rho Alpha Review
Reflecting on Rush Alex Torres, AΛ ‘16
Rush 2013 began on Saturday
August 31st with our 27th Annual Car Bash and, as always, it
was a hit. We bashed a
Mitsubishi Eclipse from the late
1990s and we had about 100
people attend the event. The
next day, we introduced an allnew jaunt in place of our usual
laser tag: SkyZone Trampoline
Dodgeball. This was a great
new event and it drew a large
turnout of guys that came out,
jumped around, and played
dodgeball with us.
The rest of the week consisted
of Six Flags, Paintball, and
Night Ultimate Frisbee. We also
had nightly dinners, including a
luau, rib dinner, Italian night,
Epic Meal Time: Pizza Edition,
and steak & lobster. We ended
up inviting over 30 guys to the
steak & lobster dinner, all of
which attended the event. On
Friday we took those who were
given bids to Pour House in
limousines.
At Pour House, we rented out
the entire basement bar and
Rho Alpha Zetes bash on a car during rush. On the left is Alex Kiefer,
AK ‘15 and on the right is Alex Markovits AΛ ‘16
had the event catered with
chicken wings, stuffed chicken,
teriyaki beef and much more.
Earlier that day, we gave out 22
total bids, which broke down
into 21 freshmen and 1 sophomore. Of those 22 bids, 11
were also given bids by other
fraternities, the highest number
of cross-rushes among all of
MIT’s fraternities. When the
book opened Saturday at 8:00
AM, four signed right away and
by the end of the day, we had
six signatures. Over the next
week, we won five crossrushes. When the book closed
on Friday at 5:00 PM, we had a
total of 14 signatures. We are
very excited about the Alpha
Mu pledge class as they have
already shown great promise.
Alex Torres, AΛ ‘16
Zetes in Shape Alex Markovits, AΛ ‘16
It has been a great year for
Intramurals. Attendance continues to be stellar (not a game
missed!), and we’ve had substantial success. Four out of
our six teams made the
playoffs, and in basketball Dan
Eisenberg AI ‘14 and a Kappa
Phi Zete, James Collins, led us
to the Final Four. Old veterans
led us to success in ultimate
frisbee and indoor soccer,
where we put up stiff competition. We also learned a lot; in
softball Natzem Lima AΛ ‘16
found out that you cannot
throw the ball at runners like in
kickball, to the hilarity of spectators. Natzem returned the
favor by teaching us the exhausting sport of waterpolo,
and we mastered billiards under the late night tutelage of
pool-sharks Abhi Mitra AI ‘14
and Ariel Wexler AΘ ‘13. Besides Intramurals, we’ve had
many brothers on varsity sports
teams. Abhi Mitra and Curtis
Wu AI ‘14 captain the squash
and tennis teams, respectively.
Here are the rest of our athletes:
Lacrosse - Billy Kelleher, Dan
O’Donovan and Will Dominas
Squash - Alex Markovits
Club Hockey - Max Maybury
Club Tennis - Camilo Ruiz
Crew - Sam Oppenheim, Billy
Martin, David Ashpole, Ryan
Webb, Erik Pearson, Matt
Hunter, Peter Augusciak, and
DC Danko.
We love attending our brothers’s events and loudly voicing
our support.
Will Dominas AI ‘14 and Caleb
Jones AI ’14 play some night football during rush
In conclusion, Rho Alpha Zetes
are keeping active and having a
great time playing on the field.
Alex Markovits AΛ ‘16
Page 3
Fall 2013 Issue
The House Stands Higher Natzem Lima, AΛ ‘16
To kick off the year, our house
managers William Dominas AI
‘14 and Tyler Mehrman AI ‘14
(substituting for Natzem Lima
AΛ ‘16), planned and executed
a work week full of necessary
renovations and repairs.
Over the course of the semester
and IAP the Alpha Mu pledges
will be converting the third floor
storage into a dedicated academic space to be used by all
classes. To prepare for this, Dan
O’Donovan AK ‘15 and Dakota
Tyler Mehrman AI ‘14 along with Heiserman AI’14 cleared out the
a team of three others, conarea of all unclaimed items.
structed new table tops for the
Claimed items were moved to
dining rooms. With a highthe new storage area installed
quality pine surface, oak trimunder the TV room seating.
ming, and five layers of polyacrylic, the tables are now ready Along with all of these exciting
for games of beirut and Viking
work-week projects, we accomDinners!
plished a lot with house improvements over the course of
Dan Eisenberg AI ‘14 led a team the semester as well.
to renovate the first floor
workout area including replacBoth the 2nd floor and the 3rd
ing sections of the floor padfloor bathroom have gone
ding, installing a new carpet,
through an exciting new phase.
and installing new speakers
The walls were painted a new
chosen by Alex Kiefer AK ‘15.
color, the floors were replaced
with 16”x16” ceramic tile, and
Tom Burrow AI ‘14 installed
new granite countertops were
LEDs with a solid state switchinstalled. In the 2nd floor bathing circuit in the traffic light for
room, four separate leaks were
the bar. This will allow the traffic addressed. A new copper showlight to strobe and display music er pan was installed, the drain
patterns turning the bar into the was extended and sealed
perfect music hang out location. properly, the water line to the
toilet was extended, and a
Ben Chrobot AΛ ‘15 and Caleb
cracked urinal drain pipe was
Jones AI ‘14 installed a much
replaced.
needed new garbage disposal
which was found for a third of
This past summer has been a
the estimated replacement cost busy summer for Colliers Interby Doug Feigelson AI ‘14.
national, our building manage-
A view of our new pine tabletops
ment company. To better serve
the hot water demand, Colliers
installed a new boiler. This required running new exhaust
pipes from the basement through
the steward’s closet and up to
the roof. In accessing the stewards’ closet, Colliers installed
heavy duty shelving. Furthermore, Colliers is moving forward
with extensive renovations to the
facade of the building including
new awnings along the first floor
perimeter.
clude regrouting the showers,
replacing the radiator covers in
the dining room, and redrywalling the dining room.
With enough funding the house
would explore replacing the
dining room floor with a bamboo floor (more durable, less
abrasive, and higher quality).
Natzem Lima, AΛ ‘16
To wrap it all up, the state of the
house stands strong and will
continue to strengthen over the
years. Planned projects for the
2013-2014 academic year in-
Our bathrooms look incredible thanks to a huge renovations done to the shower, floors, walls, and countertops
Rho Alpha Review
Page 4
An Introduction to the Alpha Mu Pledge Class
Ben Claman
Anchorage, AK
I grew up in Anchorage, Alaska as the younger of two children. I attended Chugach Optional Elementary,
Romig Middle School, and West Anchorage High School, where I played varsity tennis, JV soccer, varsity
cross country skiing, and varsity track. I started my own photography business junior year and have played
in a few different jazz combos and bands, as well as performed solo with my high school band.
Phil Cherner
Swampscott, MA
I grew up in Swampscott, MA, a small suburb of Boston. I attended Swampscott High School. During high
school I ran for the varsity outdoor track team and started a crew club. I was also captain of my school's
FIRST FRC robotics team (team numer 4311).
Colin McDonnell
Hi! I'm Colin, a sophomore majoring in EECS. I grew up in a military family so I've lived all over the place
including Oklahoma, California, Virginia, England, Germany, and Turkey. After living overseas for about 7
years, I can say with certainty that America is way better than the rest of the world (we have Taco
Bell). I'm interested in entrepreneurship, politics, technology, soccer, golf, hiking, the Lord of the Rings,
Taylor Swift, and Apple products.
Joe Figura
Chicago, IL
I was born and raised in Wilmette, a suburb north of Chicago. I joined cub scouts in 2nd grade, and stuck
with scouting until earning my eagle rank last year. In middle school I started playing videogames like Age
of Mythology and Rome Total War. I tried a variety of sports before beginning rowing my first year of high
school, and I've continued rowing since. In my summers I went backpacking and canoeing with boy scouts.
Throughout my youth I developed an interest in science and technology and decided to apply to MIT. I got
in and now I’m here.
Kenny Friedman
Binghamton, NY
I am originally from Binghamton, NY. Before 7th grade, I moved to Manlius, NY. Since then, I have played
tennis competitively, participated in Science Olympiad at the national level, and played the drums in my
free time. I also develop iOS applications, play ping pong, and ultimate frisbee. I plan to major in Electrical
Engineering and Computer Science.
Page 5
Fall 2013 Issue
Anthony Kawecki
Kansas City, MO
I was born in Minneapolis, Minnesota and moved to Kansas City, Missouri with my parents and little sister
when I was five years old. I spent a lot of my time growing up camping with my Boy Scout troop and earned
my Eagle Scout when I was 16 years old. In high school I played football, baseball, and cross country. I
was also a captain of our FIRST Robotics Competition team.
Elan Ness-Cohn
Morton Grove, IL
Born and raised in Morton Grove, Illinois, Elan graduated Niles North High School and currently attends
MIT as a freshman. His academic interests include Computer Science with a focus on artificial intelligence
and Mechanical Engineering. Elan is an active member of the Habonim Dror youth movement, where he
runs value based education for 4-11th graders. In his free time, Elan loves playing soccer and swimming
with friends. Elan aspires to become an educator, pursuing research in AI and integrating technology into
the classroom to enhance early childhood learning.
Obasi Onuoha
St. Louis, MO
Though I was born in San Antonio, Texas, I grew up in the suburbs of St. Louis Missouri. I was the eldest
of four children and the only boy. I attended an odd blend of public and private schools until fifth grade,
after which I was home schooled through middle school. I attended Fort Zumwalt West High School,
where I captained the robotics team, founded the mock trial team, and was president of the science
club. I enjoy hiking, particularly as mountains are involved, and am trying to summit all of the fourteeners
in Colorado.
Nikhil Punwaney
Dubai, United Arab Emirates (UAE)
Born in Mumbai, India, I spent the early part of my childhood in Sana'a, Yemen and then moved to Dubai,
UAE, where I spent the last thirteen years of my life. I attended Cambridge International School until 6th
grade after which I transferred to Emirates International School - Jumeirah. During high school I played for
a number of school sports teams including soccer, basketball and athletics. I also had the opportunity to
represent UAE in a number of international squash tournaments in Spain, Portugal, Germany and Amsterdam over the past few summers. I'm psyched about event management and my ultimate dream is to own
a casino in Vegas!
Ian Reynolds
Kansas City, MO
I was born in Washington D.C. and lived in London and Boston before moving with my mother and brother
to spend most of my childhood in Saint Paul, Minnesota. I attended Cretin-Derham Hall high school and in
that time I ran varsity cross country, captained the Science Olympiad team, and took on leadership roles
in community service. I'd like to study computer science or chemical engineering and work on alternative
energy projects.
Rho Alpha Review
Page 6
An Introduction to the Alpha Mu Pledge Class cont.
Kyle Saleeby
Destin, FL
Growing up on the water, I enjoy fishing, scuba diving, and going to the beach. Although I love to build
things, I can’t imagine life without music or engineering. I hope to major in Course 2, mechanical engineering.
Derek Salvucci
Plymouth, MA
The middle child of a family of 5, I grew up just south of MIT in Plymouth, Massachusetts. I grew through
the Plymouth Public Schools system where I ended up at Plymouth North High School, playing baseball all
four years there and being named captain for one season. Moving to Cambridge was the first time I would
be leaving Plymouth for an extended amount of time, spending all 18 years in the same house.
David Vargas
Long Island, NY
I am from Long Island and have two younger brothers. I played baseball and basketball on my school team
up until my sophomore year in high school, but I quit the team because I was frustrated with how poorly I
was playing. I am a huge Eminem fan with almost half of my iPod consisting of his songs. My all-time favorite show is Dexter with no close second, but I also watch Walking Dead, Family Guy, and Tosh.O. My favorite Pokemon is Jigglypuff because it matches my personality. I am thinking of studying course 2 and
course 18 either as a double major or as a 2 major and 18 minor.
Ostin Zarse
Sahuarita, AZ
I've lived most of my life in the place where dreams go to die and old people go to rot in the sun -- Sahuarita, AZ. Sahuarita is a bunch of rocks and dirt in the middle of nowhere, so I had to drive 40 minutes to my
middle school, Sonoran Science Academy. I attended there four years before transferring to Tucson High
Magnet School. While at Tucson High, I participated in science research, robotics, and welding. Welding
was by far the best part of my time there. I began solar research in the 8th grade and continued through
high school, eventually solving all energy related problems on a global scale. I founded the FRC Robotics
team at my school before it died out my senior year because no one gave a sh*t. I placed 6th in my state
for welding -- I would have made it to nationals had I not failed the math portion that solely involved adding and multiplying. That was one of the only math tests I've ever failed and my only regret.
Page 7
Fall 2013 Issue
Greek Letter
Officers - 2013
Φ
Ben Frank
AI ‘14
AΦ
Billy
Kelleher
AK ‘15
Σ
Sam
Oppenheim
AΛ ‘16
Community Service Spotlight Sami Alsheikh, AΛ ’16
Rho Alpha has been working hard to improve
its community service program and this semester is no exception. Besides all of the
great events we have planned, Zetes have
continued to contribute to our community over
the summer as well.
Camp Kesem is a one-week sleep away camp
for children ages 6-18 whose parents have
been affected by cancer. Brother Sami Alsheikh AΛ ‘16 was a counselor and
unit leader at Camp Kesem MIT. The Camp is
completely student-run. They ensure that the
kids have an awesomely fun-filled week at no
cost.
The camp tries to give kids a week to not worry about any problems they have back home,
although there are definitely times for them to
open up. Swimming, hiking, arts and crafts,
sing-along games, and all of your other normal
sleep-away camp activities can be found at
Camp Kesem, but there is more to Kesem
than that.
Every counselor and camper gets to choose
their camp name (Sami’s was “Cheese”),
and that is the only name everyone else at
Camp knows them by. Through nightly cabin
chats, everyone is given a chance to talk
about topics ranging from their favorite
super hero to the one thing they wish they
could change about their life. Camp Kesem
fosters bonds that last between kids who
have gone through more than most of us
can imagine. Sami had an awesome time at
Camp Kesem 2013, and is on the Coordinator Board for Camp Kesem 2014. You can
find out more about Camp Kesem MIT
2013 in the Boston Globe article: “A summer camp for kids who have a parent with
cancer.”
Sami Alsheikh, AΛ ‘16
The Social Scene Andrew Mikofalvy, AΛ ’16
AΣ
Noa Flaherty
AK ‘15
Γ
Doug
Feigelson
AI ‘14
Δ
David Couto
AI ‘14
ΣΡ
Max Maybury
AK ‘15
This upcoming social semester at Zeta Psi is
off to a good start. Our first party, celebrating
the closing of the book, was a huge success.
The party titled “Hieroglyphs and Bare Midriffs” was Egyptian themed and included a
walk-in, hieroglyph covered, black light tomb
containing murals depicting the fourteen newly signed members. According to actives,
“Hieroglyphs and Bare Midriffs” was the best
party in recent history.
The bar is set high for the rest of this semester as the entire collection of Boston area
universities are abuzz about Rho Alpha party
scene. The semester’s musical entertainment
features our two in-house DJs David Couto AI,
‘14 and Dakota Heiserman AI, ’14, as well as
a live guest performance by a local musician.
Preparation is already underway for our next
parties: our now regular Casino Night, the
ever successful Halloween Party, and the
annual AllZete which is slated to be even
bigger than ever before.
We are currently planning a variety of mixer
events with neighboring universities’ Greek
societies, allowing us to continue to extend
our amorous nature, form new connections
and make new friends.
Andrew Mikofalvy, AΛ ‘16
Zack Bright, AK ‘15
Ariel Wexler AΘ ‘13, Noa Flaherty AK ‘15, and
Abhi Mitra AI ‘14 party in our laser crypt