Upsilon Ups - Dec. 2011

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The Upsilon UpsWinter Edition December 2011 www.illinois-pikapps.com Pi Kappa Phi, Upsilon Chapter, University of Illinois Est. 1921

Members elect new board

This has been a great year for the Upsilon AlumniChapter and were hard at work on making 2012 evenbetter. As we close out 2011, let me review a bit of

what weve been up to and touch on our plans fornext year.

Our major event this past year was Upsilons 90thanniversary. We held a weekend-long event, from May20-22, in Champaign and over thirty brothers joined

us to mark the occasion. Past National President John Andrews and then-interim Chancellor RobertEaster also joined us for our banquet.

Our year continued with another successful Day atthe Races at Arlington Park, where about thirty alum-ni brothers and guests enjoyed a beautiful day of horseracing and a delicious buffet and beverage package.

Homecoming was a success the Illini beat theNorthwestern Wildcats in an exciting game (lets nottalk about the rest of the season, though) and thechapter house was packed with brothers of all agesthroughout the day.

The Alumni Chapter also held its annual meet-

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By Aa NklaAlumni Chapter Newsletter Chair

CHICAGO - Following the Boardof Directors meeting Saturday, Dec.10, the new Alumni Chapter boardappointed Gene Giannotta to con-tinue serving as Alumni ChapterPresident.

Giannotta (Y1030) was oneof two members re-elected to theboard. He and Kevin Spitz (Y1020)have served on the board since itsinception in 2008. They are joinedby three new members - all recentgraduates of Upsilon Chapter.

Sky Opila (Y1037) and TommyCarrato (Y1056) will serve as Vice-President and Treasurer, respectively.Both are former Archons of the un-dergraduate chapter. They are joinedby Daniel Schriks (Y1062), whoserved as Push Chairman while anundergrad.

A combination of experience and

youth is invaluable to the AlumniChapter right now. The excitementthese new members bring is very in-spiring, Giannotta said.

Members are elected to at-largepositions and appointed to specificoffices by the board itself. Follow-

ing the general membership meet-ing, the board went into executivesession to decide who would fill

which office. Having been Presidentfor three years, Giannotta was reap-pointed to the post for one year.

Genes done a great job. Hes thereason the Alumni Chapter has pre-served to this day, Spitz said. Gene

has had very good vision. He feelshis work is not complete.

Several new members joined inthe days prior to the election, so theycould participate in the vote. One of

Three new representatives take on leadership roles

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ALumNi BoArd2012-2015

Gene GiannottaPresident

Sky OpilaVice-President

Tommy CarratoTreasurer

Dan SchriksSecretary

Kevin SpitzChaplain

Ech e ee

Chte imve

Happy FoundErs dayPreSideNtS Letter December 10, 1904

On a quiet December evening in 1904 in Charleston, S.C., three friendsAndrew

Kroeg, Simon Fogarty and Harry Mixsonmade a choice to lead. Those three men

chose to start their own fraternity. The three grew to seven; seven grew to eight; eight

grew to 11. From the College of Charleston, they spread to nearby Presbyterian in

1907and then to California in 1909. In just over four years, Pi Kappa Phi had become

a truly national fraternity. Over the course of a century, a fraternity with humble begin-

nings has grown into a brotherhood of more than 100,000 strongall because three

men made a choice to lead. ~ From PiKapp.org

New Push America fundraiserplanned for end of March


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Winter Edition December 2011 www.illinois-pikapps.com Pi Kappa Phi, Upsilon Chapter, University of Illinois Est. 1921

Upsilon celebrates 90 yearsAlumni convene to reflect on chapters history

(Top) Alumni Chapter President GeneGiannotta as the room is sat fordinner.

(Above) University of Illinois then-

interim Chancellor Robert Easter is

entertained by Upsilon alumni GunnaSchalin (Y541) and Joseph Stanton(Y563).

(Left) Schalin delivers a speech duringthe evenings program.

(Left) Alumni Chapter Chaplain KevinSpitz introduces the next speaker.

(Top) Guests greet eachother at the opening

of the banquet, held atHawthorn Suites on May

21 in Champaign.

(Above) Upsilon HousingCorporation PresidentJames Nelson speaks

with Funmi Mokaand Charles Moka

(Y1029).

(Right) Alumni Jacob

Chodash (Y1077),Perry Chodash(Y1039), Tommy

Carrato (Y1056) andTim Lamkin (Y1017)

speak prior to dinner.

(Right) Guests listen asthe evenings speakersdeliver their thoughts.


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Your Alumni Chapter ofcersare here to help. If you haveany questions or concerns,feel free to contact them.

PresidentGene Giannotta(630) [email protected]

Vice-PresidentSky Opila(708) [email protected]

TreasurerTommy Carrato(847) 722-8232

[email protected]

SecretaryDan Schriks(708) [email protected]

ChaplainKevin Spitz(847) [email protected]

Housing Corp. PresidentJames Nelson(630) 334-0177

[email protected]

Rick Barritt (Y1014) andAngela Simpson married onJuly 11, 2011.

Kevin Spitz (Y1020) andCasey Roth married on Oct.29, 2011.

Sky Opila (Y1037) andLauren Etmekjian marriedon Sept. 10, 2011.

Alex Dierkes (Y1040)and Maggie married on July3, 2011.

Blair Schaefer (Y1016)married Amanda on June 2.

Mike Reedy (Y872) andhis wife Nicole welcomedtheir son, Luke.

Gene Giannotta (Y1030)earned a Masters Degree inpolitical science from University of Illinois at Springeld.

Do you have any news toreport? A new job? A babyon the way? Send us yournews - wed love to ll upthis column!

ANNouNcemeNtS

coNtAct iNformAtioN

The Upsilon Chapter has con-tinued to grow and make our nameknown here at the University of Il-linois.

One thing that makes us standout from most chapters is Push

America. Over the pastyear we have raised over$6,400 for Push Americafrom our annual CampOut on the Quad andan Empathy Dinner inthe spring. Last spring wehad over 100 people eat atour empathy dinner and

raised over $1,200. Theplans are to build off theempathy dinner in futureyears with additional events to createa multi-day fundraiser.

This year at the Camp Out, wewere able to reach our goal in justunder seven days by raising $5,239.

We had a great time out there thisyear and were graced with wonderful

weather. The event also featured thenew Pie a Pi Papp, which provedto be successful.

This past summer Jay Chae was

on the crew for Journey of Hopeand has already decided he will be

riding for it next year. Our continualeffort for Push America makes us atop fundraising chapter every year.

As our name still continues togrow on campus, so does our socialcalendar. This semester we had social

events with all but foursororities.

Although we havemoved up socially, ourchapter still strives forhigh academics. This pastsemester we were rankedsixth out of 45 chapters

with an average of 3.25.

All of these things makeour house stand out in re-cruitment from others.

Although recruitment is not quitedone, we have been very satisfied

with how everything has been go-ing so far. I definitely could noticean increase of recruits who showedup because someone recommendedus or they had heard good thingsabout us.

All the hard work that our broth-ers have put in since refoundingshows because of where we are today.

I would like to thank all you thathave done so much for this chapter

in the past and assure you that weare working hard to keep improving.

In Pi Kappa Phi,Eric Langenfeld (Y1122)

Philanthropy highlights chapters mission

Undergrads continue to thriveArchoNS rePort

uNdergrAd BoArd2012

Eric LangenfeldArchon

Chris MulreedVice-Archon

Andy LuckmanTreasurer

Ray UrbanSecretary

Casey KarmellWarden

Jon KieferHistorian

Griffin PriceChaplain

Annual Pi Kapp Open welcomes young alumni

This August, about 30 Chicago-

land Pi Kapps met in Lombard forthe annual Pi Kapp Open.The event is organized each year

by Bruce Swanson, from the In-diana chapter. He organizes thegolf tournament at Ken Loch GolfLinks, arranges to have all the prizesfor the event, and coordinates thetraditional dutch lunch at Hootersfollowing the event.

For Upsilon alum Tim Quirsfeld(Y1039), it was his third year par-ticipating in the event.

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Golf event turninginto a tradition for

recent alums


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ing at Morettis in Edison Park(Chicago), where we had din-ner, reviewed our work for thepast three years and our plansfor the future, and voted in anew Board of Directors.

On that note, I want to thankour outgoing officers for theirhard work to set a success-ful foundation for our alumnichapter.Adam Nekolahas beenan invaluable part of Upsilonsince his time as Archon duringthe rechartering. We workedclosely on establishing thealumni chapter and hes been

my right-hand man for the pastthree years, producing award- winning newsletters along the way. Hell stay involved as ourNewsletter Chair.

Nick Stoczanyn, our outgo-ing treasurer, was also invaluablein setting up our finances andproviding us with great ideaslike the Arlington event and ourstill-in-the-works fundraisingsystem. Stocky has been com-mitted to alumni brotherhoodsince his time as undergradtreasurer and that energy made

our alumni chapter stronger.Its been an honor to work withthem and a greater honor to callthem my brothers. On behalf ofthe new Board and the rest ofour alumni, thanks for all youvedone and best of luck in every-thing you will do.

Speaking of the new Board, Iwant to welcome our three newmembers: Sky Opila, TommyCarrato, and Dan Schriks.Sky and Tommy are former ar-chons, and, along with Dan, all

three bring great new ideas and

energy to our organization andIm excited to work with themand our hard-working Chaplainand fellow Board veteran, KevinSpitz, in the coming years.

And that begins with ourplans for 2012. Were currentlyhard at work planning ourfirst-ever Push America alumnifundraiser, a bowling event ten-tatively scheduled for the end ofMarch in Chicago. You can alsoexpect the other usual events,from the Day at the Races toHomecoming and our Found-

ers Day/Annual Meeting inDecember.

Our other major goal is fi-nally putting our newsletterson a regular schedule you canexpect two print ones in themail (summer and winter) andtwo digital editions betweenthose, for a total of four eachyear. In addition, were going tobe making a big push to recruitnew graduates into the alumnichapter and take a greater rolein Initiation and the Graduat-

ing Senior Ritual.

All in all, the past three yearshave been a great success. Weveestablished a solid foundationfrom which to work in the com-ing years. Our alumni, youngand old, now know that there isa place for them beyond gradu-ation, and have been incrediblysupportive and more involved astime has gone on.

If youve joined or donatedto the alumni chapter in 2011,thank you for your support, andif not, I encourage you to do so

with the enclosed form and en-

velope. Your membership duesand contributions help makethese communications, ourevents, and, in the future, sup-port of the undergraduate chap-ter, possible.

I wish you a very happy, suc-cessful, and blessed 2012 andhope we can count on yourcontinued support in the com-ing year!

Fraternally,Gene Giannotta (Y1030)

Letter from page 1

these was Mike Hua (Y1012).Hua recently relocated to New York, but was

in town for work the weekend of the meeting. He

became a member just prior to the meeting.I saw so much value in it, he said.The board set Dec. 28 as the date for their first

meeting. Additionally in executive session, the board

appointed Adam Nekola (Y1007) as newsletterchairman. Nekola had served on the board since2008 and was primarily responsible for the news-letter. He decided not to run for re-election in or-

der for more people to become involved.I felt it was time to allow others some lead-

ership opportunity. They can rely on me to con-tinue my involvement, he said.

The election drew attention from alumni across

the nation, with many mailing in proxy votes orwriting letters of encouragement.

John Shustitzky (Y595) wrote to share histhankful sentiments.

I appreciate your leadership of the alumnichapter, and I know that many of us who are olderalumni do as well, he said. It is comforting toknow that there is an active group of alums whoare keeping the traditions alive.

To ensure the Alumni Chapter tradition continues, the board is currently tasked with developing a strategic plan for the coming years. Topicsinclude fundraising, donations, this newsletterand annual events.

The annual meeting in December will be oneof the events alumni can count on each year. Theboard announced at this years meeting that theyare looking into an annual bowling tournament tobenefit Push America each spring. These eventcan be looked forward to each year.

Weve got big plans for the future, and withour growing alumni support, we are confident wecan achieve our goals, Spitz said. n

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Nekola continues to serve as Newsletter Chairman

Sean Costello (Y1018)Ben Dobbins (Y1071)Will Duryea (Y1006)Brian Flynn (Y1078)Mike Hua (Y1010)Sky Opila (Y1037)

Blair Schaefer (Y1016)Dan Schriks (Y1062)

Alex Stezskal (Y1055)

Ac memBerS

Welcome, toour newestmembers!

Several members joined since our laste-newsletter, many specifically so theycould vote in the December election.

In Champaign some of the best times I hadwere when we would put a team together ev

ery year for the Gamma Phi Beta Gator Golfphilanthropy event, Quirsfeld said. For metheres really nothing quite like spending anafternoon out in the sun with brothers, beerand birdies -or in this case, bogeys; lots of bogeys.

He added that its good to see alumni fromdifferent age groups interacting, but evenmore encouraging that many still enjoy getting together for brotherhood activities.

Quirsfeld participated in a group withNick Stoczanyn, Tony Cutinello, and ByronHousten. Housten went on to win the puttingcontest for the event, as the participant with

the fewest total putts.The event is held each August. n

gl from page 3

Mark your calendars - the first annual UpsilonAlumni Chapter Push bowling fundraiser istentatively planned for March 31, 2012!

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Upsilon Ups - Dec. 2011