Spring2012

the sword& the heart

Letter from the president:

the sword and the heart 02state of the chapter

Sigma Phi Epsilon - NY Phi ChapterSpring 2012 Roster

Ben Basche • PresidentCharles Rivera • VP of Brother Developemnt

D. Perry Nickerson • VP of ProgrammingBlake Pinnell • VP of Recruitment

Ross Bruck • VP of FinanceChris Canales • VP of CommunicationsJustin Feit • VP of Risk Management

Graham Pupo • ChaplainFredrik AasaarenMichael AbrahamSpencer Almen

Graham AndersonMatt ArciniegaMax Banaszak

Sidd BhattEric Bohn

Steve BoyleLane Brokaw

Jonathan BubarTheodore Buchsbaum

Peter CalelloAlejandro Cazzulino

Andrew CelsusAndrew Chapman

Brandon ChristopheDarren Chu

Alexander CicucciJohn Clapp

Garrett CottrellJohn Croll

Christopher DavidsonJonathan Dean

Connor DoughertyMichael Escobar

Alex FelsbergMark Fernandes

Jack GagneAlec Goldberg

Jacob GoldwasserAndrew Gonzalez

Andrew GrantPalmer Greene

Greg GudisGeoff Hahn

Vasilis HristidisMichael KahnJohn Kenney

Thomas KlosinskiWill Krasnoff

Nathan LevickEli Levin

Thabet MahayniBrian Marcus

Daniel MartinezCooper MatthiesonRobert McMahon

Elliot MeadeEvan MunroAnchit Nayar

Daniel NitiutomoBrendan O’Hearn

Devansh PasumartyJohn PengEvan Platt

Alexander PowellKevin PowersBilly ReggioKyle Rhee

Matt RidgewayCameron RossMario Rosser

Felix SchadeckMax Segall

Alexander SimmondsNicholas Sinchak

Jon SistiAnders SmedsrudWilliam Stamatis

Roger StoneRandy Subramany

Richard SunNorman Toy IIIJames Winford

Frank YinKelly ZhangJohn Zucchi

The Sword and the Heart is a publication produced by the brothers of the NY Phi Chapter of the Sigma Phi Epsilon Frater-nity at Columbia University. Opinions ex-pressed in articles, including but not lim-ited to those of people quoted in articles, do not necessarily reflect the views of the staff of the publication or of the fraternity as a whole. General inquiries about the publication, its contents, or its practices or about the NY Phi Chapter in general should be sent to:

columbiasigep@gmail.com

Press Statement

Sig Ep NY Phi President Ben Basche

Chapter continues growth, successAlumni and Parents,

The 2011-2012 year has been, in no uncertain terms, a resounding success for the NY Phi Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon. We have added some top-drawer young men to our ranks, have shined in campus activities, and have generally outper-formed my own expectations for the first half of my presidency.

Before stepping down last fall due to family obligations, now-former VP of Recruitment Randy Subramany managed to recruit many excellent men to join our brotherhood during his two years in the position. Kudos to him for all of our his service to our fraternity. VP of Recruitment Blake Pinell his committee added stellar recruits this past spring, bringing in a 15-man Sigma class of the highest quality. New brothers have been seamlessly integrated into Sig Ep’s Balanced Man Program via our Sigma development program under the stewardship of our fine Sigma coordinators.

We have more brothers than ever before in upper-level leadership posi-tions in student government, pre-professional groups, and other organi-zations on campus, and several of our brothers recieved awards both from the national organization and from the university.

We are very proud of these and other accomplishments. NY Phi looks forward to improving our philanthropic footprint at Columbia with some new initiatives that you will hear about in the near future, including an ex-citing reworking of the Balanced Man Scholarship. We also plan on further developing the revived Brother Mentor program and raising our chapter’s cumulative GPA from its already impressive 3.55. We hope to continue to receive updates from our alumni and hope to see as many as possible at our upcoming events.

I hope you enjoy this issue of the Sword and the Heart. As I’m sure you can see, the newsletter has been completely redesigned and revamped. We would love to hear what you think about the new look and, as always, we really want to know where you are and what you are up to.

Fraternally yours,

Benjamin M. BaschePresident

Ben Basche

Chapter Snapshot

83 brothers(during spring 2012, 58 in Fall 2010)

3.55 avg GPA (3.50 in Fall 2010)

15 new Sigmas(in Spring 2012; 4 in Fall 2010)

43%

1.4%

50%

Growth since Fall 2010

his

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Words from a founding father

Schmid, CC ‘00, refelcts on visit to House, shares wisdom

Back in September of this year my wife Amy and I had the opportunity to spend a day in NYC. We’ve been bouncing around the US the last few

years and trips to the Big Apple seem fewer and fewer in between, which feels strange given that we both lived in the city for over ten years. Amy is finishing her PhD at Co-lumbia and her academic work affords us the occasional visit back to campus. On our only night that trip, I wanted to swing through Morningside Heights to visit some old haunts. Amy had not been to the chapter house in years so we decided to drop in to see how things were going. I must admit that I didn’t know what to expect, as I am several years removed from my time on the alumni board and have read of all of the recent (and often somber) happenings in-volving other Greek organizations at Columbia’s campus.

As such, I was very pleasantly surprised when Amy and I were welcomed into the chapter house with open arms by a group of polite, enthusiastic, and grounded young

men who seemed as surprised at our arrival as we did at the level of hospitality afforded to us. The chapter seemed genuinely surprised to have a founding father in the house. I came to learn that the chapter is now number one (by far) in terms of campus manpower, and chapter members ap-pear to have assumed key leadership roles across a wide va-riety of campus organizations. The attitude amongst this group was a can-do, enthusiastic spirit. We spent quite a few minutes talking through the whereabouts of many an alumnus, and the current group of brothers seemed eager to reconnect with alumni from years past for career men-torship and life guidance.

I would encourage our alumni to reengage with the chapter and provide what you can, both financial and ser-vice wise, to help continue to build upon the traditions of virtue, diligence, and brotherly love that we helped create over the past fifteen years. I would encourage the current brotherhood to reach out to alumni for advice and mentor-

ship, and to also be humble and wary of the pitfalls that can ensnare even the most successful of organizations. Just look around you to other former Columbia greek chapters to see what can happen when a standard of excellence is allowed to slip. Be sure to maintain a strong working re-lationship with both your campus administration and the broader SigEp organizational leadership in Richmond. Without the support of both of these entities, you will never be able to reach your fullest potential.

Amy and I look forward to our next visit, whenever that may be. Please keep up the tradition of newsletters and chapter updates- the alumni, especially those far away, ap-preciate it.

Best,

- James A. Schmid IIICC’ 00, GSB ‘05

James Schmid, CC 2000, sits in the main room with ten undergraduate brothers during his visit to the 113th Street House.

snap

shot

Brother Vernon Gibbs II (CC 2000) was in DC for some meetings with government agencies, and his dad (CC

‘74) was able to help set up with a meeting with the At-torney General of the United States Eric Holder (CC’73).

Brothers Max Segall (CC 2014), Mike Escobar (CC 2014), and Spencer Almen (CC 2012) painted their chests for a snowy football game. They were featured on multiple na-tional television networks for their decision to brave the cold shirtless.

Brother Julien Barbey (CC ‘09) returned to the Chapter House

for his annual development seminar on the topics of women, love and channeling what he jokingly calls “the gigolo.”

In attendance were a mix of Sigmas & Phis, with a few grizzled Epsilon veterans

also sitting back and enjoying the show, which fo-cused on how to approach and woo women.

“Among other things, Julien’s presentation in-stilled a sense of confidence within me that I previ-ously did not have,” brother Peter Callello said.

Barbey gave his classic powerpoint presentation, complete with a rich history of ladies men past,

from Don Juan to Casanova to Marlon Brando, and laid forth his own legendary dogma. Brother Barbey covered in-depth strategies for impressing women and lectured on healthy diet & exercise.

“The presentation on Friday taught me how to take care of myself which can sometimes be a dif-ficult task in college,” brother Alejandro Cazzulino said. “Not only do the lessons benefit me but it was also interesting to meet some older alumni.”

Brother Barbey also shared with the chapter that, after two years of working as a paralegal with the United States Attorney’s Office in New York, (where Brother Fernandez-Ledon, CC ‘10, currently works) he is now pursuing his Masters degree in Interna-tional Affairs at Columbia’s own School of Interna-tional and Public Affairs. Julien will specialize in international security policy and hopes to work for the United Nations following graduation.

“The 2003 summer father and SigEp BBQ--20 brothers, a few dads, and a 40 pound pig on a pole grilling in the back. Fun times had by all.”

virtual

Gavel PassAndrew Stinger, CC, 2006

“Several years after graduation, I had the op-portunity to serve on a medical mission trip to

set-up clinics and provide care to HIV posi-tive citizens of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. To go,

I needed to raise $3,500 to cover my travel costs, team supplies, etc. Over half of those funds were contributed by SigEps, including

several that graduated before I had the chance to meet them. Thanks to that generosity, my

team and I were able to connect with hun-dreds of individuals affected by HIV, poverty,

malnutrition or all of the above and provide basic medical treatments and prescription

medications to which they otherwise wouldn’t have had access.”

Carlos Andre Bermudez, CC 2004

Davis Richard Thompson, SEAS 2002

“In my senior year, I decided to have an of-ficial pinning ceremony (check the LROB) for my girlfriend Khanhvy, who was at Cornell. I changed it a bit, but kept it true in purpose and spirit. In preparation, I learned to play

Dear Old Fraternity and Stand By Me on the piano and recruited a bunch of guys to sing

the song while I played during the ceremony. It was awesome. The best part was the reac-tion of my girlfriend (now wife, 5 year anniver-sary in August). The second best part was the

reaction of Conrad Eberstein, who was there to sing along as well. I cherish that day.”

the sword and the heart 04

ΣΦΕ

“But, of course who could forget...we were playing football in Central Park. The ball ended up in a lake, I think Hofstetter “thre” it. That’s when two of our members who are/were Marines sprung into action. Diving into a lake from the shore, the idiot split open his head on a rock. Semper Fi.”

Christian Thomas Wiederholz, SEAS 2001

Benjamin Yerby Lowe, CC 2001

“I am really proud of the chapter’s growth in the last decade. As a founder, my main hope

was that the chapter would still be going strong years later and that the efforts of my

classmates and fellow brothers would be rewarded. I did not expect to join a fraternity

at college, but I can hardly think of a more meaningful experience during my four years at

Columbia.“

“I joined Sig Ep because of the Balanced Man Award. During orientation week I strolled up to the house for an interview with Brothers Park-er and Silverzweig. I had a pretty traditional notion of fraternities and had no expectation to join one. But there we were talking, and I connected with these guys in a way I hadn’t with anyone else on campus at that time. If this was what guys were like, I thought, then I had to be part of it. One of the best decisions I have every made.”

Keith E. Hernandez, College 2007

...it’s great to be a Sig Ep.

Every NY Phi brother adds something to Columbia’s campus, but not every brother is recognized by Student Affairs for their

contributions. Brothers Randy Subramany and Spencer Almen, however, can say that their efforts warranted just that type of attention. The pair were given Endowed Awards by the University for their leadership and contributions to student life.

Subramany recieved a The Campus Life Leader-ship Award, which is conferred from time to time to a student from CC or SEAS whose participation and involvement in undergraduate campus life at Columbia has enhanced the very spirit of student life on campus, and has created a more purpose-ful, caring and celebrative community at large. The

measure of the undergraduate experience can be found not only in academics but in the service and acceptance that one extends to others, and, as a re-cipient of this award, Subramany has been success-ful in his endeavor to create a more understanding and accepting environment that preserves the ide-als and heritage of the University.

Almen was given the George Vincent Wendell Memorial Medal. Established in 1924 by alumni and faculty friends of the late Professor George Vincent Wendell to honor and perpetuate his memory, the award is a certificate and medal granted annually by choice of the class and faculty to the member of the SEAS graduating class who best exemplifies his ideals of character, scholarship, and service.

Sig Eps recieveleadership honors

Two brothers recognized by Student Affairs for their service to campus

Barbey, CC 2009, teaches comical life lesson

Barbey

Subramany Almen

the

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Seni

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NY Phi 2012 Graduates:

Spencer AlmenMax Banaszak

Jonathan BubarBrandon Christophe

Xander CiucciGarrett Cottrell

John CrollChristopher Davidson

Andrew GrantVasilis Hristidis

Nate LevickBrian Marcus

Bobby McMahonNachit Nayar

Danny NitiutomoEvan Platt

Alex PowellBilly Reggio

Jon SistiRandy Subramany

Frank Yin

The brothers of Sig Ep New York Phi would like extend our congratulations to our newest group of alumni, the class of 2012. The chapter graduated 21 seniors, and we wish them the best in the future.

Welcome new alumniNY Phi graduates 21 senior brothers

the sword& the heart