Paragon

May 2024

A Message from the President

Reminder: Ernie Schmidt Club

Congratulations Graduates!

Previewing July Work Weekend

Upcoming Events

July
Friday, July 12 - Alumni Happy Hour
Saturday, July 13 - Work Weekend
Sunday, July 14 - Work Weekend

November
Saturday, November 16 - Homecoming

Brothers,

Approximately one week ago (as of this writing) we held our first annual elections for the board of directors of the Ohio Alpha Beta Alumni Association. I am very disappointed to tell you that not a single brother, other than those already on the board, attended the meeting. Obviously, no new members were elected.

This failure puts all the progress made over the last 3 years at risk. Burnout is a real thing, and I do worry that some of the existing board members will succumb to it without more help soon.

In response to this, the Board intends to send out a survey to our alumni to better understand what sort of things, above and beyond maintaining the chapter house, you would be willing to lend your support to.

We are also going to explore sending out text messages instead of e-mails with the link to the latest Paragon, or reminders about upcoming events.

Elsewhere in this Paragon, a summary of projects for the upcoming alumni work weekend July 13-14 is available. While I cannot attend this time around, I am sure it will be another successful weekend of house improvements and brotherhood. Please make plans to attend!

Yours in the Bonds,

Nicholas DeCenzo
President, Ohio Alpha Beta Alumni Association

In our Founder’s Day issue, we incorrectly stated that Ernie Schmidt graduated from the Case Institute of Technology in 1941. As noted by Bruce Tomcik ‘65, back then it would have been the Case School of Applied Sciences. It even says so in Ernie's obituary! The school rebranded as the Case Institute of Technology in 1947 and kept that name until the merger with Western Reserve University resulted in Case Western Reserve University in 1967.

While we screwed that up that detail, we didn’t make a mistake when we named the Ernie Schmidt Club in his honor. Members of the Ernie Schmidt Club commit to making a small monthly recurring donations to the alumni association. Many small donations will add up to a larger monthly total that will help us tackle the larger deferred maintenance projects at 11016 Magnolia, particularly those that require the special skills or equipment of an outside contractor.
 
Our newest member of the Ernie Schmidt club chose to remain anonymous when he joined at the Founder’s Level and committed to a recurring donation of $100/month. Over the course of a year that’s $1200, which can fund a lot of work on the house. Thank you brother!

Five members of the undergraduate chapter formally joined the ranks of the Ohio Alpha Beta Alumni Association with their graduation on May 19. Congratulations go out to Matthew Alexy, Timothy Kill, Russell Bigham, Smyan Thota and Connor Cerezo-Allen.  Congratulations to the class of 2024!

L-R:  Russell, Timothy, Smyan, Connor, Matthew

Our next work weekend will kick off with a social event on Friday, July 12 and continue with house improvements on Saturday, July 13, and Sunday, July 14.  We have a tentative list of projects that we intend to undertake that weekend.

• Install commercial grade rubber stair treads on the staircase from the first floor to the bar area in the basement
• Install baseboards in basement rooms where we installed new flooring in March
• Replace poor electrical wiring and wood paneling in basement party room
• Patch broken floor tiles on front porch
• Replace light fixture on back patio
• Replace wooden bases on front porch columns
• Install new house number sign
• Deep clean kitchen including appliances
• Clean out gutters where safely accessible
• Measure for replacement window well grates along driveway
• Measure for replacement chapter room door

We’ll have more details about the July work weekend projects and social activities in a future email, but don’t wait! Please register today! We’ve been doing these work weekends for years now, and we can confidently say that you’ll have a great time hanging out with your brothers and working around the house. Whether you come for a few hours or the entire weekend, your pre-registration helps us plan more effectively. And even if you aren’t able to help with home improvement projects, we encourage you swing by and say hello!

The Ohio Alpha Beta Alumni Association exists to connect the over 1000 alumni of the Phi Kappa Theta Ohio Alpha Beta chapter at Case Western Reserve University through events, newsletters, and other gatherings.

Our subsidiary organization, the Ohio Alpha Beta Housing Corporation, exists to own, maintain, and improve the Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter House located at 11016 Magnolia Drive, Cleveland, OH, 44106.

Please add @‌ohioalphabeta.org to your contact list to ensure delivery of the Paragon.

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