Paragon
December 2022
This
Call for Donations: Help Fund Our Next Improvements to the House
Call for Volunteers: Alumni Coaches for Undergraduate Leaders
Call for Volunteers: Web Site and Membership Lists
Upcoming Events
Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!
A Message from the President
Brothers,
As 2022 comes to a close, I can’t help but think back to where we were a year ago, and how far we’ve come. This time last year, we were planning the first of our alumni work weekends. We had no idea if any of our alumni brothers would show up to participate, no idea of how much we would accomplish, and no idea that we’d have fun doing it and help build our alumni brotherhood in the process.
After four successful work weekends during 2022, our challenge now is to keep the momentum going. As our active brothers have risen to the challenge with a successful fall semester recruitment, we need your help to sustain our momentum.
Later in this Paragon, you will read about some specific volunteer needs for our organization. Please volunteer your time if you have the ability, as the core group of brothers who have been working to build this organization can only do so much. If you can’t donate your time, I hope you will consider donating your funds. In this issue we outline a number of required repairs to the house that will require us to hire contractors to do work we cannot do ourselves.
Speaking of donations, I would like to extend a sincere thank you to everyone who has donated to our organization since our last Paragon, including William Grad, Jerome Lavanish, and Tony Rossi.
Finally, I would like to offer a warm welcome to the six newly initiated brothers of the Ohio Alpha Beta chapter of Phi Kappa Theta: Mobai (James) Jiang, Abhinav Kalhan, Tobechi Nwabudike, Nicholas Ojeda, Alexander Spies, and Matias Torres. Brothers, welcome to Phi Kappa Theta!
Yours in the Bonds,
Nicholas DeCenzo
President, Ohio Alpha Beta Alumni Association
Call for Donations: Help Fund Our Next Improvements to the House
We have completed an enormous amount of work on the house in 2022, as covered in our April, June and August issues as well as in the work weekend summary later in this issue. We can all be proud of our significant investment of time and money in making the house safer, securer, and more beautiful in 2022.
One of the joys of having a 100 year old house is that we still have a large number of projects that still remain to be done. Here is a list of the highest priority projects that the Alumni Association believes need to be completed in 2023. Completing this work will address a number of issues that have made some rooms of the house, particularly in the basement, unusable. Other projects are necessary to ensure the long-term safety of the house.
1. Plumbing repair in second floor hallway - $3,000
An original (~106 years) cast iron pipe has rusted through and is leaking water. The water is rainwater not sewage. We put a short term mitigation in place. Our estimates assume that actives and alumni will handle removal and replacement of drywall, and that contractors will only be used to repair the pipe.
2. Keep Water out of the Basement
We have had ongoing issues with water entering the basement from various locations. Much of the work done in 2022 has greatly reduced the risk of this happening, but we have identified three additional pieces of work that we need to complete in order to be confident the basement will stay dry.
2A. Repair back staircase - $2200
The limestone and brick staircase behind the house is missing entire bricks and allowing water entry. This estimate from a mason would repair that staircase and keep water from entering via that route.
2B. Repair underground storm sewer line - $5300
An underground drain pipe that takes water from a downspout to the sewer has collapsed and is causing rainwater from the roof to seep into the basement. We already had a sewer drain cleaning company out who got all of the other drains working properly. This is a big job that includes saw-cutting the concrete driveway, excavating a trench down to 6 feet below grade, repairing the break, and backfilling the trench with gravel up to the driveway surface.
2C. Replace leaking plumbing stack at West side of house - $4500
According to a report by Brother Greg Vishey (a building consultant who owns a home inspection company) all of our cast iron drain stacks have reached the end of their expected life span. Several already have failed and have been repaired. The next stack that needs replacement is on the west side of the house and is actively (but slowly) leaking. Brother will repair the walls and ceilings after the stack is replaced.
3. Renovate Basement Rooms for Use - $5000
We have already completed demolition of rotten and moldy materials in the basement and performed mold abatement. When the projects outlined above are completed and the basement is confirmed to be dry, we can renovate multiple bedrooms and a half-bath and make these rooms usable. Brothers will provide this labor.
4. Trim Three Large Oak Trees - $4800
There are dead limbs coming from three of our trees that are at risk of falling on our house (bad) and our neighbor’s house (worse). The work will require a crane and working above the house. This quote is from a tree service that was able to provide proof of $1M liability insurance.
These six projects combined will cost us at least $25,000. All numbers are from estimates that the Alumni Board collected from contractors in 2022. Given the current economic landscape, we believe that our costs may be higher than these estimates. While we will continue to do as much work ourselves as possible, there are some jobs that require specific skills or equipment that we will need to hire contractors to complete.
To that end, your contribution to the Ohio Alpha Beta Alumni Association would be greatly appreciated. As noted in our annual report, virtually all of our expenditures for the 2021-2022 year were devoted to house maintenance and improvement. Your contribution via PayPal or check will go directly into ensuring that the physical structure of the house will last for the next 100 years. Thank you.
Call for Volunteers: Alumni Coaches for Undergraduate Leaders
The Coaching Committee is open for new coach applications! The Coaching Committee was formed this Fall to facilitate mentoring relationships between leaders of the undergraduate Executive Council and recently graduated alumni. The program is a collaboration of undergraduates and alumni. The mission of the program is to retain generational knowledge, enable brothers to develop crucial skills, and provide consistent support for undergraduate leadership. One major success in Fall 2022 was a coachee training hosted by the undergraduate President and provided by two volunteer coaches. Coachees learned about expectations in a mentoring relationship and drafted a personal vision as a basis for short term goals.
To join the Coaching Committee and be assigned a coachee for Spring 2023, please submit a letter of intent to Aaron Mann (aaronmann@ohioalphabeta.org). If you know an alumnus brother who would make an excellent coach, please let them know!
Top Applicant Qualities:
- Recent experience as an undergraduate leader (flexible, but within 5 years is best)
- Ability to teach leadership concepts and strategies
- Commitment to pursuing the best learning path for the coachee
- Empathy and active listening skills
- Knowledge of University and Phi Kap National Chapter resources
- Interest in developing the coaching program
Coach Responsibilities:
- Meeting with your coachee once per month or more
- Collaborating at monthly Coaching Committee meetings
- Attending one Alumni Board meeting
- Participating in the semester reflection meeting with the Executive Council
- Meetings will be virtual, so while being local may be helpful, it is not required
Call for Volunteers: Web Site & Membership Lists
Brothers, do you have experience with HTML, web development, WordPress plugins, email newsletters or email templates? Does reading through documentation for our backend system CiviCRM to unlock new features in our website sound like good fun? We have big aspirations for ohioalphabeta.org and need your assistance to bring them to fruition.
Alternately, do you enjoy comparing Excel spreadsheets and/or contacting brothers you’ve never met to help track down our missing alumni? Your assistance is needed to help us find track down the more than 400 missing alumni who have been initiated into the Ohio Alpha Beta chapter of Phi Kappa Theta, and to help update the contact info for those brothers we do have in our database.
If either of these roles sounds interesting to you, please reach out to Nathan Kossover at secretary@ohioalphabeta.org to volunteer. This work can be done from anywhere in the world.
October Work Weekend Summary
The October Alumni Work Weekend was well attended, not only with local area Brothers, but also those who came in from Arizona, Pennsylvania, New York, New Jersey, Maryland, Washington DC, and Germany! Over two days, the Alumni were able to help make progress on fixing up the house while having a lot of fun meeting the Actives and Associate Members, reminiscing with old friends, and swapping stories. Some projects that were accomplished over on October 29 and October 30 include:
- Study Room carpet was removed and new vinyl plank flooring installed
- Red Room was cleaned out
- Foyer, Study Room, Red Room, and Chapter Room ceiling, walls, and trim were repainted
- Unneeded flammable liquids from basement and garage were removed and disposed
- Necessary flammables moved and stored in designated cabinet in garage
- Installed door closer on side door
- Installed railing for side door steps
- Replace incandescent and fluorescent bulbs with LEDs
- Emergency lights and exit signs installed
- Window wells were patched in preparation for future grate installation
- Installed caps on window well drains
- Poured concrete in basement rooms in gaps between flooring and exterior walls
There was also quite a bit of work performed on the House prior to the October Work Weekend to comply with requirements from our insurance company, including:
- Repaired damaged portion of the deck
- Installed handrail on steps at the rear of the House
- Installed railing on side porch
- Fire extinguishers inspected and serviced
- Emergency exit sign and exterior light installed in back door
- Kitchen fire suppression system upgrade completed
- Repaired front porch trip hazard
- Installed numerous safety signs
- Purchased flammable liquids cabinet
Many thanks again to those who have already contributed their time, money, and/or expertise to these Work Weekends in October as well as earlier in 2022. We have accomplished much more than anyone could have expected, but we also still have quite a bit ahead of us. The Housing Committee thanks you in advance for your assistance, and look forward to having an even more productive year in 2023.
Our October attendees included:
- Davey Rowan
- Eric Pinzur
- Joe DiFranco
- John Dutton
- Ken Nagano
- Matias Torres
- Nate Jacobsen
- Nicholas Ojeda
- Patrick Glynn
- Russell Bigham
- Tim Kill
- Tom Andersen
- Tony Rossi
- Tyler Weingartner
- Will Woodfint
Several other Actives and Associate Members participated. We apologize for not having the full list!
A special thanks goes out to Matthew Alexy, father of active brother Max Alexy. Matthew was in town from New Jersey and was personally responsible for much of the progress made in updating the Study Room.
L-R Max Alexy, Nate Jacbosen, Tim Kill, Patrick Glynn (back), Ken Nagano, John Dutton, Tony Rossi (back), Davey Rowan, Eric Pinzur (back), Joe DiFranco
Ken Nagano and Tony Rossi prepare for painting in the Red Room.
John Dutton paints the Chapter Room.
Our insurance company is strongly in favor of handrails. We’re strongly in favor of having insurance, so now we have a lot of new handrails!
To kick off the October Alumni Work Weekend, brothers and friends gathered on October 28, 2022 to enjoy a nice meal and tasty beverages at the Great Lakes Brewing Company on the west side of Cleveland. As is typical during these social events, everyone shared stories about experiences and events from years past, but alumnus Eric Pinzur took this to another level by bringing with him an old History Book containing a multitude of hilarious anecdotes and long-forgotten inside jokes from the late 1990s. If you haven’t been able to attend any of our events this year, you are missing out! But don’t worry - we are also planning a handful of fun social events for next year, so see you in 2023!
Here’s the list of attendees:
- Tom Andersen
- Davey & Noelle Rowan
- Eric Pinzur
- Gage Bunker
- Tyler Weingartner
- John Dutton & Danita Grigsby
- Ken Nagano
- Max Alexy & his father Matthew
- Nate Jacobsen
- Nicholas DeCenzo
- Nick Kernan
- Kate McConnell
- Patrick Glynn
- Tim Kill
- Tony Rossi
- Will Woodfint
L-R: Patrick Glynn, Eric Pinzur, Tom Andersen, Nate Jacobsen