Winter 2004 - Indiana Eta

BROTHER
TO
BROTHER
N EWSLETTER OF INDIANA ETA , SIGMA PHI E PSILON AT INDIANA INSTITUTE OF TECHNOLOGY —WINTER 2004/2005
Indiana Eta’s Quest to Greece
S
ince its inception in 1930, Indiana
Institute of Technology has changed
and grown to meet the needs of its current
students. It has meant new buildings, new
programs, and new opportunities for students. Among these new programs and
opportunities is the chance for students to
take a humanities elective overseas. In a
past year, Adam Greb and Kris DelBarba
visited Spain; but this year, actives Ryan
Camp, Mark Gilson, Kris DelBarba,
Mike Riley, and Tim Novinger had the
opportunity to go to where it all started for
the modern fraternal world: Greece.
I asked Mark to summarize his
experience. He writes: “Over winter
break most Indiana Tech students went
home to their families to celebrate Christmas and New Years; this was not all that
took place for a few students from the Indiana Eta Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon.
Those few chose to take a humanities elective over the winter break and were taken
on a journey through the very heart of that
which we derive much of our beliefs from;
this place, of course, being Greece.
“Throughout the trip we visited
many historical sites such as the Acropolis,
Delphi and the Temple of Apollo, Olympia, Epidaurus, Mycenae, and even a day
cruise on the Saronic Gulf. All these sites
were breathtaking and virtually indescribable on paper but I found that the Temple
of Apollo in Delphi topped them all. Here
we learned of all the ritual they had with
the Oracle of Delphi as well as the principles which each citizen followed.
“There were two main principles
followed in Delphi and these were: “know
thy self” and “no excess.” To know thy
self is to understand who we are and what
our purpose is. No excess is referring to
every day life; one must not do too much
in one direction, but do some things in all
directions of life. I found that they were
very similar to what all brothers in Sigma
Phi Epsilon follow.
“Overall I am very pleased with
my decision to take part in this trip and I
think I can speak for all the brothers who
took this journey with me by saying they
feel the same. Many interesting things root
from Greece and after traveling and experiencing the life there I can understand why.
The trip has given me a deeper appreciation of SigEp’s ritual, principles, and the
fraternity as a whole.”
The students who went had to
submit a paper detailing the trip to Susan
McGrade. In his report, Tim wrote that
the students from Tech wound up with a
group from Roger’s William’s University,
and while unexpected, they made quick
friends with them. He then goes on to say
that the little differences were the ones that
surprised him the most. For example, taxis
that are Mercedes-Benz, the currency, and
breakfast that, well, wasn’t exactly breakfast.
Of course, it wasn’t all studying,
learning, and sight-seeing. Tim says that
they got to try many traditional drinks including Ouzo, Metaxa and the Greek wine
Retsina.
Indiana Tech has indeed learned
to grow with the times, especially if it is
offering it’s students these opportunities.
When I looked at all the pictures, I remarked that it didn’t even seem real. To
the men of SigEp, it was much more than
that, it was surreal; and a life-changing
experience. §
[Many thanks to Mark, Tim, and Kris
who contributed to the article]
Ryan Camp, Mike Riley, Kris DelBarba, Tim
Novinger and Ryan Camp at a fountain in Greece
The picture above is at the ancient site of
Epidaurus, famous for its open air theatre.
It is (apparently) the best preserved theater
of its kind in all of Greece. Like other
things that the ancient Greeks built, this
theatre was built into the side of a hill.
The acoustics of the theatre were absolutely astounding. At the top of it, the
speaker on the stage could be heard clear
as day—almost as if they were sitting next
to us, as opposed to being 300+ feet below.
Alumni News & Notes
Chad Pieper and his wife, Heather, are
expecting a child on June 10th. Chad has
recently taken a position of recruiter for
Indiana Institute of Technology.
Gregg Koppelmann recently participated
in a Bowl-a-thon for his kid’s former
church school. Gregg also reports that his
son Sam is now a junior in high school and
his other kids: Brandon (15) and Kyle (13)
are keeping him busy.
Tom Gallup reports that things are going
well for him. He is now a partial owner/
manager of a division of Needham and
Associates, Inc. that does custom software
development. He primarily works with
AutoCAD, but is also working on a commercial website. Tom also provides the
chapter with the webspace for
www.indiana-eta.org. He reports that he is
busy, and that you can see http://
www.whimsplace.com/Twins.htm if you
are wondering why!
Carlos Reckner has had some contact
with Paul Litcher and reports that things
are going well and that his kids are getting
big. Jen is now in first grade and Chris is
in preschool.
In the last issue of BtB, we reported on JD
Hill and his wife’s pregnancy complications. Sadly, when Gabrielle came into the
world on 1/4/05, she was only 2 pounds
and 6.2 ounces, she passed away shortly
thereafter. If you would like to see pictures of Gabrielle, they can be found at
http://hill.bnkweb.com/Gabrielle.html. If
you’d like to send condolences or otherwise, JD’s address is 1827 Canoe Drive;
Lutz, FL 33559. JD asks that if you
would like to contribute something in Gabrielle’s honor, you can do so to the Polycystic Kidney Disease Foundation at http://
www.pkdcure.org/home.html
David Durocher reports that he is hoping
to get back to visit the house and Tech in
the near future. In the meantime he is
working for a company called Centorr
Vacuum Industries and has been there for
10 years now. He does electrical controls
for the products they make —some of
which can get up to 3000 degrees Celcius.
He still plays soccer in an over-30 men’s
league. If you’d like to reach David, you
c a n
f i n d
h i m
a t
[email protected]
ALUMNI NEWS TO SHARE?
Jerry Williamson retired from Dow
Chemical Company in Midland, MI after
34 years and 2 months. He has since relocated to Arizona [see On the Move].
Paul Knupke reports that they lost their
oldest child, Paul Jr. (31) in 2002. His
death was unexpected and of natural
causes.
Aaron Diers sent this updated picture of
his first son, Christopher. Check out news
of Aaron’s other bundle of joy in the
‘Weddings…’ section.
On the other side of the coin, JD reports
that he has maintained his employment at
Verizon for the past 5 years and is getting
along very well there. He also has a green
belt in To Shin Do. Lastly, he reports that
he is a “bad golfer” when he can spare the
time to get out and play.
Evan Katon sends his hello from Atlanta
where he continues to work for a company
doing service claims in the Auto Industry.
Chris and Jen Reckner
Lee MacSorely reports that he is a volunteer firefighter with the Hoagland Volunteer Fire Department; and also a volunteer
EMT with the Hoagland EMS. In his free
time he scuba dives, and plays volleyball
(somewhat) competitively. He is also an
avid Komet Hockey fan. He is still working as an Information Technology Manager at Northeastern REMC in Columbia
City, IN.
Just remember, BtB is a newsletter for
alumni by alumni. We can’t do our
job very well if we don’t hear from
you guys. So, when you’ve got news,
gossip, stories, memories, or something else that you’d like to share with
your fellow brothers of Indiana Eta,
drop us a line at:
[email protected]
Hope to hear from you soon!
Here’s your chance to reconnect
with alumni from Indiana Eta,
as well as alumni from all over
the country! From August 10
through August 14, thousands
of SigEps converge on Nashville. Early registration is still
going on until June 30! Cost is
$355 per person. More information at:
www.sigep.org/conclave
Random Ramblings
Jim Spelbring has been hosting some
Texas Hold’em Tournaments at his apartment complex. SigEps have faired somewhat well at these gatherings, with active
Matt Stephens winning the first one and
Brandan placing second at the next one.
Of course, Brandan and Matt donated their
This year Nationals hosted a Fantasy Foot- winnings to their favorite charity.
ball League in association with AllStarStats. It was a chance for all SigEps to
compete in some good natured competition
while meeting new brothers. Our very
own Savan Thakkar entered a team called
Kakana’s Champs. For a while, Savvy led
the league in first place; but eventually he
dropped off a little. In the end, he wound
up placing 4th with a point total of 1793,
just 20 points off of the leader (Seth Promisel from MO Beta). Unfortunately,
Matt Herald (foreground) and Matt
Stephens (far right) at JSOP I
Savvy missed out on the prizes since only
the first three places got an award. Here’s
to next year!
Greek Games returned to Indiana Tech this
year after a brief hiatus. A banner contest,
Another local league for just the Indiana chant/cheer contest, ping pong, fooseball,
Eta alumni was established by Shawn pool, trivia, a marshmallow eating contest,
Lang he and brothers Brandan Haines, a “frozen T-shirt” contest, and a best padJohn Kosmakos, Greg Fetting, Savan dle contest were held. Indiana Eta came
Thakkar, Reid Hochstedtler along with away with first in many of the events, and
former members Dave Spelman and Josh wound up first overall. Congrats to the
Armas all took part in Shawn’s Pocket- active chapter on winning Greek Games.
Jacks Yahoo FFL. In the end, Fetting’s
team the Spacely Sprockets which he had- Indiana Eta celebrated its 41st anniversary
n’t touched or changed since the beginning on November 2, 2004. Paul Litcher sent
of the season and went into the playoffs in his best and hopes everyone is happy,
last made a valiant run for it. Fate and healthy, and having fun.
luck ran out in the championship game
which saw Fetting lose to Spelman’s Enterprising MVPs. Incidentally, Brandan’s
EW EMBERS
team called I’mSoGonnaLose did just that,
placing 8th. Shawn will probably be doTravis Dean
ing a NCAA Basketball bracket within the
Finneytown, OH; IS
next few weeks. An invite will be sent to
the Yahoo Group. If you aren’t a member,
Jesse Dudgeon
sign up now!
N
M
Bluffton, IN; Internet Tech.
Dean Duncan [Honorary ‘67] stopped by
the house in early October. He arrived
during ritual, and was welcomed by the
actives and alumni that were present.
Many of the brothers had a chance to talk
to Dean and we managed to scrounge up
one of the old SigEp license plates for him.
He also got to participate in the pinning
ceremony that took place that day. He
expressed his appreciation to the chapter
for their hospitality and enjoyed his visit.
Matthew Zavodny
Fort Wayne, IN; EE
Brandon Abernathy
Kansas City, MO; CS
Chris Brown
Blytheville, AR; CS
Bobby Munger
Geneva, IN; Internet Tech.
The active chapter participated in a philanthropy for the Fort Wayne YMCA in December. The guys got up early on a Saturday do some general work for the YMCA
which included painting the locker rooms.
Sanguine et Purpure, the “Unofficial and
Unauthorized” SigEp Blog (at http://
redandpurple.blogspot.com), recognized
Indiana Eta as their “Chapter of the Week”
in December of 2004. S&P is constantly
running stories about happenings in the
Greek world, as well as the good and bad
happenings and opinions on SigEp as a
whole.
Allen Price [Founder] dropped us a line in
December to let us know that he appreciates the work that active Tim Novinger
has done on the website. He also reports
that his business (http://gothotel.com)
which specializes in internet hotel reservations is doing very well. Stop by gothotel
if you are looking for over 5,000 pages of
hotels throughout the world.
Mike McDowell, current Regional Director, also gave us some praise for the work
on the Newsletter and the updated website.
He is really pleased with the chapter and
recent work we have done on improving
communication.
Is your contact information with Nationals
current?
If not, you can visit
www.sigep.org/alumni/update.asp to get
everything up-to-date.
Chad and Keri Grooms wanted everyone
to meet Chance, the newest member of
their family. He is about 6 months old
now and is a playful black lab mix.
Weddings, Engagements, and Births
Lance Robert Kontowsky was born to Irv
and Kathy Kontowsky at 9:32pm on
Wednesday, February 9. He was 9lbs. 14
oz. and was 22 inches long. Irv promptly
gave him his first birthday present (yes,
that is Mr. Daniels).
Lance Robert Kontowsky does his daddy proud!
Active Tim Novinger and his girlfriend
Christina are expecting a baby in May.
Hopefully, I’ll have some more pictures
and news in the next edition of BtB.
Aaron Diers and his wife Amanda were
surprised when she went into labor a little
over a month early. Ian Michael was born
on Saturday, January 22 and is reported to
be a much more active baby (Amanda confirms this was true in the womb as well!).
There were a few scary moments during
labor, but he came out at 6 pounds and 9
ounces (after only incubating for 33
weeks) and healthy.
Ed Wetzel and his wife Kris are proud to
announce the birth of their daughter,
Amanda Nicole on 10/3/2004. She was
21” and weighed 7 lbs. 6 oz. As for his
other kids: Anthony (8) is active in cub
Ian Michael Diers
scouts, soccer and wrestling; Alexandra (3)
likes tap dancing; and Andrew (2) is a
Justin Hoffman (current President of
handful and the “best way to describe him
Alumni Board) and his wife Shannon, wel- is busy”.
comed Samantha Lynn into the world on
January 26 at 1:04pm. She was 8lbs. 2
Andy and Jamie Dye were wed on January
ounces and 20 1/4” long. Shannon and
15, 2005 in San Antonio [see related artiSamantha have been doing very well since cle].
coming home. Keira [the couple’s first
child] has been helping every chance she
gets. Justin reports that he is now outnumbered 3-1 and that he better start behaving.
Return to San Antonio
W
hen Andy Dye announced that
he was getting married in San
Antonio, it didn’t take long for the brothers
and friends of Andy and Jamie to book
their flights, their hotels, and confirm that,
yes, they would indeed be attending. After
all, this was a very special couple, and San
Antonio is a great place.
Among the brothers to attend
were: Paul Litcher, Adam Greb, Greg
Johnson, Brandan Haines, Dave Pask,
and Tommy Le . Greg and Tommy’s respective girlfriends, Trish and Carrie as
well as friend of the house Heathyr Dwight
attended.
On Thursday, the wedding party
and guests were treated to a night on the
town courtesy of Howl at the Moon. For
those of you that don’t know, it is basically
a dueling piano bar where they take re-
Samantha Lynn Hoffman
quests (and tips) to do certain songs. The
most entertaining part of the night was
when the guys at the piano asked Jamie up
to the stage. Jamie took a seat on the piano and all of the guys in the place got up
to sing her the Righteous Brothers’ You’ve
Lost that Loving Feeling. Afterwards,
Jamie would say that she had an absolute
blast and that she really enjoyed it.
On Friday, some of the group
headed out to Ruth Chris steakhouse
(courtesy of Paul) and went to the comedy
club that is at the RiverCentre mall.
On Saturday, we attended the
Army High School All-American Football
game at the Alamodome. We had good
seats about 12 rows back from one of the
end zones. It was a pretty entertaining
game, which saw the West destroy the
East.
On the
Move
Jerry Williamson: 18842 N. 16th Place;
Phoenix, AZ 85024
Chad and Heather Pieper: 1611 Randford
Place; Fort Wayne, IN 46815
Andy and Jamie Dye: 2016 Bayview Dr.;
Fort Wayne, IN 46815
Bryan Thorsen: 503 Bounty Dr. NE;
Poplar Grove, IL 61065
Jamie Baugh: 311-B McCromick Ave.;
Capitola, CA 95010
Tim Wilhoite : 6826 E. County Road 800
N.; Brownsburg, IN 46112
Clarence Bunch: 37569 Brynford Drive;
Clinton Township, MI 48036
[Return to San Antonio, Continued]
After the game, we returned to the hotel to get
changed and ready for the wedding. The ceremony was held
in the hotel. It was quite nice and well attended. The reception immediately followed (also in the hotel). We had a pretty
good time at the reception, stealing each other’s beers when
people weren’t looking, singing [although poorly] SigEp
SweetHeart to Jamie, and doing the He Ain’t Heavy circle
with Jamie and Andy in the middle (followed, of course, by a
rousing rendition of Drink Beer).
I think it says a lot for the quality of character that
Andy has, and the strength of brotherhood in Indiana Eta, that
a decent number of brothers were able to find the time and
money to go down to San Antonio to be a part of Andy and
Jamie’s special day. We were all glad that we were able to be
there, and Andy and Jamie were very thankful.
Sweetheart Ball 2005
Saturday, April 9
6pm to 12am
Shiloh Banquet Hall
3127 Carroll Road
Fort Wayne, IN
RSVP by March 22
$45/person
For more details contact Mike Riley: [email protected]
Other News and Notes
Andy and Jamie share their first dance as
Husband and Wife
*
It’s Beginning to Look a lot Like...
The annual Christmas Party/Gathering is alive and well. The
traditions of exchanging Santa Bros, joke presents (and maybe
*
a real one here and there), and mugs are still followed. This
year’s gathering was no exception, as active Travis Dean
looks on, alumnus Matt Herald plays Santa, and active Jesse
Dudgeon celebrates a gift he got.
*
Actives Ryan Camp, Michael Earnhart, and Steve Eckhart
were all members of the 2005 edition of Who’s Who Among
Students in American Universities and Colleges. Congratulations guys, and keep up the good work.
Jeff Walls’s presentation “What Motivates College Students to
Cheat” has been accepted to be shown at the Teaching Conference held in Schaumburg, Ill.
The Alumni Board of Indiana Eta will be purchasing one of the
bricks for the patio outside of Abbott Center. The inscription
will read: Sigma Phi Epsilon/Est. November 1963/Virtue, Diligence and/Brotherly Love.
*
Actives Michael Earnhart, and Steve Eckhart are part of a
program sponsored by Tech that is competing to be the first
“amateur” group to launch a rocket into space. Their first test
rocket reached two miles. On April 1, they will launch again
hoping to get the necessary 62 and a half miles to reach space.
For more information on this unique opportunity, check out
www.indianatech.edu/News?news.aspx#181
*
The alumni address database management has been moved back
in-house. All further updates and mailings [including this one]
will be processed internally. We hope that this change will further solidify our communication efforts and provide some cost
savings.
?
Brother to Brother
WINTER
2004/ - 2005 Issue
Address Update Form
Update your information with
this form and send to:
Editor/Designer: Brandan A. Haines
Sigma Phi Epsilon - Indiana Eta
ATTN: Brother to Brother
6501 Hill Rise Drive
Fort Wayne, IN 46804
This issue covers 11/04 through 02/05.
Next issue will be around August 2005.
Name: _____________________________________
Joined in:
UPCOMING INDIANA TECH
ALUMNI EVENTS
______________ (i.e. Spring 82)
Street Address:
__________________________________________
__________________________________________
City: _______________________
ZIP: __________
*
*
*
May 2005: Commencement
June 2005: Alaskan Cruise
September 2005: Indiana Tech 75th Anniversary
Gala and Homecoming
State: _____
Home Ph#: _______________
UPCOMING ALUMNI EVENTS
eMail: ____________________________________
*
Publish my eMail on Indiana-Eta.org
*
*
Brother to Brother
ATTN: Brandan Haines
6501 Hill Rise Drive
Fort Wayne, IN 46804
RETURN SERVICE REQUESTED
ADDRESS CORRECTION REQUESTED
Alumni Corporation Meeting—Saturday, April 9,
9am at the house
SweetHeart Ball—Saturday, April 9 [See p.5]
Conclave—Wednesday, August 10 through Sunday,
August 14—Nashville, TN [See p. 3]