|
Paragon April 2025 |
 |
|
Welcome Newly Initiated Brothers! April Work Weekend is a Success |
Upcoming Events April May July October |
| A Message from the President |
|
|
Brothers, On April 29, we celebrate the 66th anniversary of the day two traditionally Catholic fraternities merged to form Phi Kappa Theta as we know it today. This anniversary provides us with an opportunity to reflect; reflect on all that we have done over the past year to build the brotherhood, and what we will do in the next 12 months to continue that work. To be sure, we have ambitious plans for the year ahead. Executing on those plans, however, will only happen with your support. That’s why I’d like to offer my sincere thanks to those brothers who have offered financial support since the last issue of the Paragon. Neal Pence ‘01 became the newest member of the Ernie Schmidt Club. We also received donations from Frank Kearney ‘01 and Michael Urbancic ‘70. Brother Urbancic’s donation was in memory of Kevin Anthony ’73, whose passing was noted in our February issue. In addition to being the month when we celebrate Founders’ day, April is also National Volunteer Month. As we wrap up April by celebrating this anniversary of our fraternity’s founding, I ask you all to consider volunteering your time to our Ohio Alpha Beta Alumni Association. It has largely been the same group of alumni leading this effort for the past four years. With more support, we could do that much more to build our brotherhood. Finally, in the spirit of volunteering, I would like to thank the many, many brothers who volunteered their time for our successful April 12-13 Alumni Work Weekend, which you can read more about later in this Paragon. We will be throwing our next Alumni Work Weekend on July 19 and 20 and hope to see you all there! Yours in the Bonds, Nicholas DeCenzo PS - If it has been a while since you were a pledge or associate member and you need a quick refresher on the history of our chapter, check out the timeline section on our website for all the dates and details. |
|
| Welcome Newly Initiated Brothers! |
|
|
On Saturday, April 5, we initiated the three newest members of our fraternity. We are pleased to welcome Sameer Shenoy, Bryan Ye and Isaiah McMahon into Phi Kappa Theta!f |
|
|
L-R: Bryan, Isaiah, Sameer |
|
| April Work Weekend is a Success |
|
|
We had an enormous turnout for the April work weekend. Alumni in attendance included Eugene Choi ‘03, Ken Nagano ‘01, Tyler Weingartner, Neal Pence ‘01, Tony Rossi ‘00, Davey Rowan ‘00, Jason Dolan ‘02, Joe Gall ‘03 and Patrick Glynn. They were joined by essentially the entire undergraduate chapter. |
|
|
My apologies to anyone we missed. Next time, sign the registration form! |
|
We kicked off the weekend with a happy hour at Boss Dog Brewing Company in Cleveland Heights on Friday night. Then we got to work. With such a large crew of volunteers, we were able to complete a tremendous number of projects. Here is a partial list of the items that were completed during the April work weekend:
|
|
|
The newly updated stairs to the third floor. |
|
|
Glass block window installation in progress. |
|
|
The Wine Cellar used to be a bedroom in the basement before some flooding. It now has new electrical and lights as the first step toward a full renovation. |
|
|
All of this work was funded by your donations and performed by alumni and undergraduate labor. However, there are always a few projects where it makes more sense to hire contractors. During work weekend we obtained quotes to replace 3 windows. We also identified a gutter that needs repair but can’t safely be reached with the ladders and equipment we have available, so a contractor will need to be hired to correct that too. |
|
| Join Us for the July Work Weekend |
|
|
It’s going to be hard to top the success of our April work weekend, but we’re going to give it our best shot on Saturday, July 19 and Sunday, July 20. Registration is now open on our website for one or both days. We plan to to have at least one social event that weekend as well; details will be announced in a future issue. Brothers of all ages and experience levels are welcome. Maybe you’re so skilled that you should really be hosting a television show called “This Old PhiKap House” or maybe you’re more inclined to sit on the porch and tell stories for two days straight. Either way, we’d love to have you come by the house for the July Work Weekend. As of this writing, we already have brothers signed up who will be coming in from California, Texas and Pennsylvania. It’s going to be the Phi Kap event of the summer; if you haven’t been back to the house in a while this is great excuse to grab your classmates or pledge class members and swing by to see how things are going! We’d really prefer to see you in person, but if you can’t make it that day, please support our efforts by joining the Ernie Schmidt Club and helping ensure that the house lasts another 110 years. |
|
.png) |
|
|
|
|
| More Big Brother Updates |
|
|
The family tree we put on the website in our March issue became obsolete almost immediately. James Miller ‘71 sent in the information from his black book, and he added 12 new Big Brother / Little Brother pairs to our database. Thank you Brother Miller! Most excitingly, he pushed our “biggest brother” back once again. As of our March issue, Dennis Kulpa ‘69 (or possibly ‘70) was the “Biggest Brother,” meaning that he was at the top of the unbroken family tree that leads to every single active brother today. Thanks to Brother Miller’s black book, we now know that Dennis Kulpa’s big brother was Frederick Keady ‘66. |
|
 |
|
| Brother Keady now takes over as the “Biggest Brother”. He was initiated in 1963, which means we are probably only one or two big brothers away from tracing the family tree all the way back to the merger in 1959. Unfortunately, Brother Keady passed away in 2019, so if we are going to find out who his big brother was, it will have to come from you. Do you know who Frederick Keady’s big brother was? Do you have other big brother information that you haven’t shared with us? Whether it’s the full contents of your black book or just the name of your own big brother, hit reply and send it along to us so we can update our records. |
|
| Chapter Eternal |
|
|
Since our last issue, we learned of the passing of two of our brothers. As noted in the prior article, we learned that Frederick Keady ‘66 passed away in 2019. His obituary can be found here. We also learned of the passing of Anthony McNamara ‘59. Brother McNamara’s son Brian dropped by the house during the April Work Weekend and dropped off a few of his father’s Phi Kappa Theta specific possessions for the chapter. Brian informs us that his father passed away in 2017. His obituary can be found here. Brotherhood is for life, but our database isn’t always up to date, as evidenced by our just learning about Brothers Keady and McNamara passing away in 2019 and 2017, respectively. If you know that one of your classmates has passed away and you haven’t seen an appropriate notice in the Paragon, please hit reply and tell us their names so we can make sure our records are updated appropriately. Thank you.
|
|
|
Brian McNamara holds his father Tony’s certificate and points him out on the 1959 composite. |
|
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
|
|
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 |
