Dear Brothers, Family, and Friends of Phi Kappa Tau Alpha Rho,
This past year has been like no other, and the Alpha Rho Colony of Phi Kappa Tau at the Georgia Institute of Technology was not left unaltered. Nevertheless, as a Brotherhood, we have persevered through perhaps the most significant world event of our generation. We have had many setbacks, yet we also proudly boast a myriad of achievements. Unfortunately, many things that make our Brotherhood unique were forced to adapt to the changing environment. Each week, we gather for Chapter Meetings virtually via videoconference, and have hosted many other of our regular events and traditions either online or safely together with health-conscious protocols. Seeing the light at the end of the tunnel, we look forward to soon being able to resume normal activities like welcoming Alumni back to the house on gamedays, Chartering, and growing as a Fraternity.
Spring 2020 - PreApocolypse
Shortly before COVID struck, we were able to go on a brotherhood retreat (pictured above). Brothers traveled north to Chattanooga, TN, where we stayed together at a campsite, hiked through the woods, and ate a delicious barbecue. We are planning to do a similar event this semester, with the supplement of requiring a negative coronavirus test for attendance.
The Delta Class and House Improvement
Despite an online rush format, last fall’s recruitment season was very successful, and we gained five new brothers: Nathaniel Greve (1st-year Computer Science), Neil Jackson (1st-year Mechanical Engineering), Kevin Lin (1st-year Electrical Engineering), Sabin Placanica (2nd-year Aerospace Engineering), and Bruno Mfonfu (4th-year Chemical Engineering). They are all highly motivated in furthering this fraternity and are all involved in a wide variety of sports, arts, religious, and other student organizations on campus.
For their new member project, the Fall 2020 New Member Associate Class voluntarily made several improvements around the house. Namely, they added a bar feature to the basement’s outside wall (Below, left). The gentlemen spent weeks planning, sanding, and staining the wood as well as including other decorative elements. Another improvement to the house involves the newly cleaned tool shed (Below, right), where all tools and materials were organized and properly stored. Another GT Student added a new abstract mural to make the house more lively. These new members have already integrated well into our fraternity and are all focused on improving the Colony. As a matter of fact, two of them have already been elected to positions on the Executive Board. Nathaniel Greve has become Secretary, Neil Jackson has become Scholarship Chair, and Sabin Placanica is Assistant Treasurer.
Philanthropy and Wellness
We have also been able to continue with our philanthropy. On Friday afternoons, members have been volunteering to package excess food from Brittain Dining Hall to be donated to food-insecure students.
“Phi Tau Fridays” have become a favorite weekend event where Brothers gather to hang out, play games, and jam to music in a Covid-Sensitive way. Active members are getting tested for coronavirus at Georgia Tech surveillance sites weekly, and we have been handling the prevalence of the virus responsibly.
On Wednesday, March 24th, 2021, we enjoyed our “Wellness Day” that replaced Spring Break this year. We capitalized on this as an opportunity to get together as a Brotherhood and grill out on the front patio.
The Epsilon Class
Despite the limitations of the worsening Coronavirus, we also had a very successful Spring Recruitment and gained five excellent New Member Associates: Tensei Nakamura (1st-year Aerospace Engineering), Christopher Kitchens (1st-Year Economics), Logan Putnam (1st-year Aerospace Engineering), Rahul Chawla (3rd-year Computer Science), and Adi Sankaran (1st-year Chemical Engineering). With the expectation to have relatively-low recruitment, the Executive Board conducted a study comparing our recruitment to other fraternities on campus. Stunningly, our growth to current membership ratio elevated us to second-place for proportional recruitment across all Fraternities at Georgia Tech.
For their New Member Project, the Spring 2020 New Member Associate Class will begin to restore and hang composites around the house to honor our Chapter history and nurture a new sense of tradition and identity for Alpha Rho. One render has been included below, but there are plans to hang composites respectfully and appropriately throughout the house.
An Aside for Alumni Appreciation...
This fruitful recruitment season was made possible with generous donations from the Alumni, which enabled us to treat our new Brothers to many exciting events as they decided to join us. We swung clubs at Top Golf, dined at Rocky Mountain Pizza, and bowled at Midtown Bowl. We also spent a fair amount of time utilizing the new pool table and ping pong table, which were purchased with winnings from the 2020 Roll Call Greek Alumni Challenge, in which we won 1st place in our league. To all those who participated, thank you for your generosity.
Looking Ahead
Finally, we are very excited to announce that we plan to Charter on May 1st 2021, at the Georgia Tech School of Medicine Venue. Our chartering will be a momentous occasion, as we have been eagerly anticipating this event for quite some time. We extend a gracious thanks to all who have helped make this possible. More details will be provided as the date nears.
The 2020-2021 Brotherhood of the Alpha Rho Colony of Phi Kappa Tau trust that this has been an informative and entertaining edition of The Alpha Rhover. We would like to express our gratitude for all of our Brothers, Family, and Friends’ support this past year. Please, continue to reach out to us if you have any opportunities for Brothers, the house, or the Fraternity. We want to make our mark at Georgia Tech once again as a top-performing fraternal organization. So much of that goal is reliant on your counsel and care. Due to an unusual job market, many members are looking for Summer, Fall, and Spring internships, Co-op, and Job opportunities to finance their education and enhance their careers. The link to our updated roster has been attached to this publication here, and interested Brothers seeking employment have included what they are looking for, their resume, and notes in the far right-hand columns of the spreadsheet. Also, we are always looking for ways to improve the house. Several members have discussed decorating the basement walls with typical fraternal adornments: signs, lights, posters. We have also been on the lookout for used game-room equipment such as an air hockey table and foosball table. Once the furniture is restored to the Chapter Room and Basement, the house will be more spirited again. On the note of hanging up the older composites, we have only discovered about thirty in our closet. If you currently are storing an Alpha Rho composite and would like it to be returned to the house, please reach out to us. Part of our Initiatives for the 2021-2022 School Year is to foster new relationships with Alpha Rho alumni, as almost a third of our current active members have yet to meet any of the alumni at all. The fraternity hopes that you have been doing well during this whirlwind of a year, and we look forward to hearing from you soon.
In Brotherhood,
Alpha Rho
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