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Paragon February 2025 |
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Spring Work Weekend April 12&13 Alumni Sponsored Rush Event is a Success |
Upcoming Events Friday, April 11 – Social Event TBA Saturday, July 19 – Summer 2025 Work Weekend |
| A Message from the President |
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Brothers, I was recently deleting some old emails when I found a Paragon from 2017 where it was announced that the former OAB Housing Corporation chair was stepping away from participation in the alumni association due to burnout, and how the actives were going to tackle a disciplinary hearing before the University with the help of a newly formed local board of coaches. The goal was to avoid having the chapter’s charter revoked. Thankfully, our chapter is in a much better place now. After 4 years of work by the board of the current iteration of the Alumni Association, the chapter is recruiting better, the house is in better shape, and we can contemplate some truly transformative changes to our chapter house to keep up with the shiny new dorms with single occupancy sleeping rooms and full HVAC located right down the street. But we can’t do it without your support. As we prepare to launch our new capital campaign, the unavoidable fact is that our progress has largely been driven by the same group of alumni brothers since 2021. We are not immune to burnout. We need a fresh set of eyes and leadership to carry the task forward. Please consider giving your time to your alumni association. We are supporting the only currently active chapter of Phi Kappa Theta in Ohio. Our support absolutely helps the chapter succeed, and national is well aware of our efforts. Join us! Yours in the Bonds, Nicholas DeCenzo |
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| Join Us for Our Spring Work Weekend on April 12 & 13 |
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Our first work weekend of 2025 will be held in April. Mark the dates on your calendar now to help enhance the physical structure of the house while having a great time with your brothers. On Friday, April 11, we will be hosting a social event for alumni and undergraduate brothers as well as guests to kick off the work weekend. The time and location will be announced in March, but it will be “pay your own way” event. On Saturday, April 12 we will start working. We plan to put a lot of sweat equity into the basement. It is time to start renovating some of the basement rooms that suffered water damage several years ago. Previous work weekends tore down damaged dry wall and replaced parts of the plumbing stacks. This weekend we intend to rough-in the basement bedrooms and ½ bathroom with electrical, lighting, framing and doors, all of which will set the stage for completion at a future work weekend. Depending on the number of volunteer and how things go, we will repoint the brick in the party room (to the right as you face the bar) and demolish the old shower to prepare it for a future renovation. We also have several minor electrical repairs cued up. We will wrap up on Sunday, April 13. Work Weekend is always a lot of fun. If possible, please RSVP for one or both days on our website. Even if you can’t help out, we’d love for you to drop in, say hello, meet the undergraduates and check out what we’re up to and what we’ve done in past work weekends. Can’t make it in person? Support us in spirit by joining the Ernie Schmidt Club! |
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Mark your calendars for the Summer 2025 Work Weekend on Saturday, July 19 and Sunday, July 20. If you’re not living near Cleveland, it’s the perfect excuse to come back to the campus and hang out with your fraternity brothers! |
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| Join Us for Initiation |
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Initiation will be on Saturday, April 5 at Eldred Hall. The hall will be open at 10pm with Initiation to start around 11pm. No RSVP is needed for Initiation, but remember that by tradition the associate members believe Initiation will be at a later date, so please maintain the surprise if you see them beforehand. Additionally, the brothers have a tradition of treating our associate members to dinner out the night of their initiation not that they know it’s initiation. Dinner will also be on April 5; time and place will be announced closer to April 5. |
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| Alumni Sponsored Rush Event |
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| The active chapter hosted a select group of Potential New Members last month at the Quaker Steak and Lube in Valley View Ohio, during rush. With discussion topics ranging from crazy Super Bowl score predictions to tips on how to juggle a challenging academic semester and a social life, the group remained engaged in lively conversation while getting to know each other and enjoying a fun night out. | |
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| Rebuilding Our Family Trees, Part 3! |
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Back in September, we attempted to systematically document our Big Brothers. By our October Paragon, we were able to connect every undergraduate member to one family tree leading all the way back to Ted Purcell ‘80. By our December Paragon, we had pushed that tree back to more generations to Richard Parsons ‘76. That made made Brother Parsons “The Biggest Brother” of every current undergraduate brother. He held that title for less than 24 hours after he December Paragon went out. The December Paragon hadn’t been out even 8 hours when Carl Polisena ‘79 replied with a ton of information from his Black Book. First we learned that Richard Parsons’s Big Brother is Martin Smalc ‘73, and then we learned that Martin Smalc’s Big Brother is Dennis Kulpa ‘69. |
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Martin Smalc ‘73 from the 1972 Composite |
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Dennis Kulpa ‘69 from the 1968 Composite |
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Not even 24 hours later, Bob Sepsi ‘75 sent in glorious family tree that he drew out when he was a pledge back in the Spring of 1972. It confirmed the info Carl sent and extended it even further. |
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Unfortunately, the corner is torn and Bob doesn’t remember who Swami’s (Wilho Suominen) Big Brother is. Even without that tidbit, between the information from Carl and Bob and a few other one-off responses, we now have documented 464 Big Brother / Little Brother pairs, which is 33 more than we had in December. 170 of those have been confirmed by the Little Brother in question. Thank you so much to Carl and Bob and everyone else who has helped us compile this information over the last several months. However, we can still do better. So, how can you help? [1] We’d love to push the “Biggest Brother” as far back as we can. Unfortunately, we don’t have any contact info for Dennis Kulpa so we can’t ask him directly who his Big Brother is. Do you know who Dennis Kulpa’s Big Brother is? Are YOU Dennis Kulpa’s Big Brother? Or do you know how to reach Dennis Kulpa? He was initiated in 1966, so we’re only 7 short years away from connecting every current undergraduate to the year Phi Kappa merged with Theta Kappa Phi! [2] If you haven’t responded and told us the name of your Big Brother or Little Brother(s), this is the perfect time to do so! Every little bit helps! [3] Do you have your Black Book? Send the Big Brother / Little Brother information along! It doesn’t have to be a fancy tree like the one Bob sent us, although we certainly won’t complain if it is. We’re particularly light in the mid-1980s for some reason, so if you graduated in (for example) 1988 and have your Black Book we really want to hear from you. |
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| Chapter Eternal – Fred Mau, David Archer and Kevin Anthony |
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We have been notified of the passing of three of our members since our last issue. Fred Mau ‘61 passed away on January 10, 2025, in Galena, Ohio. He is survived by his wife Pat, 3 children and 4 grandchildren. Pat informed us of his death. His obituary may be found here. David Archer ‘76 passed away on January 23, 2025 in Lakewood, Ohio. He is survived by his wife Deborah. His obituary may be found here. Kevin Anthony ‘73 passed away on February 1, 2025 in Solon, Ohio. He is survived by his wife Mary, two children and four grandchildren. His obituary may be found here. Thank you to Gary Jarkewicz for informing us of David and Kevin’s death. The Ohio Alpha Beta Alumni Association extends its condolences to the family, friends and fraternity brothers of Brothers Mau, Archer and Anthony. May their memories be a blessing, and may they find peace. |
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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. https://www.ohioalphabeta.org/civicrm/mailing/optout/?reset=1&jid=&qid=&h=fakehash https://www.ohioalphabeta.org/civicrm/mailing/unsubscribe/?reset=1&jid=&qid=&h=fakehash 11016 Magnolia Dr
Cleveland, OH 44106 United States |
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