Philings December 2009

issue 3
philings
alpha phi omega
d e c e m b e r
2 0 0 9
s u
&
e s f
a p o p h i . o r g
To the Bros...
I had an awesome time being PR Chair this semester!
Thanks to everyone that wrote for Philings this semester!
It was so helpful having brothers that would write an article, even if I asked them a few days before the issue was
supposed to go out. You guys were great, and I can’t thank
you enough! I would also like to congratulate Ben Vescera
on becoming PR Chair for next semester! I am super stoked
for him to carry on with this position because I know he
has some awesome ideas and is going to do a brilliant job.
Finally, thanks for everyone that has been reading the issues this semester!!!!
For the final time…
Peace, love and Phi,
Lucas Taccardi
in this issue of philings...
-cook for a cause
-big d ay o f s e r v ic e
- t h e l o c k- i n
THE END OF AN ERA
the super duper brother of phi
For the past eight semesters, the brothers of APO have gotten used to having Aaron
Knight sitting in the corner of APO meetings, not the most conspicuous but always reliably
present. Now the last one left from his Spring ‘06 pledge class, Aaron will finally be officially
leaving Phi Chapter.
However Phi will be far from lost in Aaron’s life. During the Spring ’10 Sectionals Con-
ference, Aaron will be making a bid for Section Chair, the position which oversees the running
of the Syracuse, Cortland, Binghamton, Cornell, and Oswego chapters of APO.
Way back in Spring 2006, a young(er) Aaron Knight was persuaded to join our lovely
fraternity by the then advisor Jim Nelson, current alum Brad Wood, Father Lang, and the last
ESF advisor to APO, the late Paul Hopkins. As a commuter student without social opportunities of dorm life, Aaron “found a home on campus” and fortunately for us, has been with us
ever since!
Aaron graduated from SU in Spring ’07 and soon after came to work at his current
job at SUNY-ESF, allowing him to stay involved in Phi. As an alum of Syracuse, Aaron has
also worked on sections staff of APO for the last three years. Aaron says the change will be
“somewhat bittersweet” but is ready to move up in the Alpha Phi Omega chain, “let go and let
the chapter be run by current undergrads”.
Even though Aaron will not be active, it will be long before he is forgotten. Through his
position as PR chair, Aaron implemented Phi’s beloved website and system. Originally Phiserv
and now Phiportal, is the system which allows us to access the directory, easily sign up for
service projects and fellowships, and log and approve hours aka the juice that keeps Phi phlowing phitastically!
Besides the system that makes our world go round, Aaron has also brought been a
strong presence in his family HE. With five littles of his own and many, many grandlittles (and
great grandlittles, great, great grandlittes, great, great, great grandlittles, and one great,
great, great, great grandlittle), Aaron has brought a great many brothers into APO and HE,
many of whom have held important eboard positions including Pledgemaster (Melissa Haaker
x2), Recording Secretary (Mieka John), and Webmaster (Scott Mastin x2 and myself).
Roshni B.
Although we will all miss Aaron and the dedication he has shown Phi over
the years, I hope all of Phi will join me in wishing him the best of luck and
giving him our fullest support in his endeavor for Section Chair.
Good Luck Aaron!
COOK CAUSE
FOR A
December 5, 2009 was a cold day in Syracuse. However, brothers made their way to Nifkin Lounge in order to
support “Cook for A Cause”. Brothers had the opportunity to cook/bake for three different categories: appetizers,
entrees, and desserts. All of these choices gave Phi a large
selection of dishes to choose from. Brothers came with
their family recipes and their own concoctions, in hopes of
reaching the gold. For four hours after the start of the cook
off, people wandered, mingled and tasted delicious food!
Towards the end of the bake off, winners were choosen!
Also an awesome stereo system was raffled off! When the
bake off was finally complete, over $500 were raised for
the non-profit organization “The Call to Serve”.
the call to serve
meg woods at her
bake-off table
indira gupta and kendra healey sampling food
ashley haskins, michaele webb and oliver bojanic
cook for a cause
the winning team of cooking with men
nicole laurin and her friend bake brownies
jennie pikowsky mans the raffle station
Through “Cook For A Cause” Phi was capable of not only helping out another charity
group, but also got to indulge in tasty samples. Thanks to Brenna S. and everyone that helped
to make Cook For A Cause incredibly successful this semester!
BIG DAY OF
SERVICE
This semester has been quite a busy one for Tia and Hannah. There were
so many different service opportunities being presented for Phi to partake
in. Whether it was tabling at Schine, going to the SPCA, helping out at the
Sarah House or Adopting-A-Street, service was everywhere! Brothers were
able to complete there hours and have a great time doing it!
One of the most successful projects presented to the Chapter was the
APO Big Day of Service! This project had many different elements to it. First,
brothers met on ESF campus and from there were able to sign-up for individual projects. From there, everyone split off into groups going to sites
like L’arche, Berry park, SPCA, thrifty shopper, and the Ronald McDonald
house doing everything from walking animals to raking leaves. At the end
of the day over 340 brotherhood hours of service were completed in one
day! Some of the favorite projects were walking dogs for the SPCA (let’s be
real, who doesn’t want to play with cute puppies) and raking a bunch of
leaves at L’arche. The APO Big Day of Service was an awesome way to get a TON
of service done while helping brothers get their service requirement done.
It was also a great way to get Phi involved in off-campus service in the community. Special thanks to Hannah and Tia and everyone who played a part
in planning the APO Big Day of Service for making it such an amazingly successful project.
Initations
With blindfolds on and adrenaline pumping, the Phi In the Mirror pledge class stood anxiously in
Hendricks Chapel awaiting the Initiations ceremony. It seemed as though all the pledges were
unsure of what exactly was going to happen. However, with their Pledgemaster Melissa Haacker
leading them, they knew that it was going to be a fun-filled day. Going into the ceremony, the
lights were dimmed and the mood was set. As the pledge class filed in, bigs took hold of their
little(s) and all observed as the ceremony commenced. (INSERT TOP SECRET CEREMONY INFORMATION HERE). After the ceremony ended, the four families broke off and went to their specific
locations. All the pledges, quickly became acquainted with the traditions and rituals that their
respective families participated in. When family trads finally ended, it was time to celebrate the
pledges becoming NIBS! The evening events included the pie-in-the-face competition as well as
family line pictures. Also, certain pledges and brothers were recognized for their outstandingness
in APO! Superbrother was Meredith Nackley and Superpledge was Jacob Clark, who both received
Michael Jackson gloves as a reward. Chris Ostrom received both the “Most Brotherhood Service
Hours” award, as well as the “Leadership” Award. Other recognized brothers and pledges were
Tia Giermek (Service - brother), Brenna Sacra (Friendship - brother), Meika John (Leadership pledge), Amy Orgel (Service – pledge) and Todd Pearson (Friendship - pledge). Even though these
awards were given out, everyone in APO truly did play a crucial role in making this semester fantastic!
Looking back on pledging this past semester, it has been a great time for both
pledges and brothers. The pledge class has come a long way from when they were
first inducted in Grant all the way back in September. They have all gotten to know
each other and have been an awesome addition to the chapter! We all can’t wait
to see what the Phi In the Mirror pledge class does in future years.
the
LOCK-IN
Phi Philm Phestival? Chubby Bunny? Talent Show? You are probably asking yourself where you could possibly find all of these activities in one place! Well the answer would be the APO Lock-In! This semester, the
lock-in occurred in Nikfin Lounge like many other brotherhood events. The first event of the night was the
Phi Philm Phestival. Janae DeRusso put together the competition by having brothers and pledges submit
videos that they made themselves. Some of the videos made included Tim Schulz completing a rubix cube
blindfolded, Todd Pearson taking on the youtube hit “Unforgivable”, and Mel Zajac, Liz Congdon, Nicole
Laurin, and Kara Moore teaching all of Phi what not do in your letters. However, these were only a select
few of the videos, there were so many other sweet ones made. Check out this link: http://www.youtube.
com/user/PhiPhilms
After watching some awesome videos, brothers got super stoked for the Chubby Bunny Contest. Two
brothers/pledges from each family stood in line ready to shove as many marshmallows as possible into
their mouths. After a little bit of time, a winner was finally determined….Melissa Haacker won Chubby
Bunny for the second semester in a row!
After an epic competition of Chubby Bunny, the next activity was the talent show. After performances occurred, it came down to Meredith Nackley and Royce Russell. In the end though, it was Royce that came up
as the winner! The Lock-In was a great success and really got Phi excited about hanging out with fellow
brothers!
next semester’s eboard...
P r e s i d e n t - Ti a G i e r m e k
V P S - Ya n a T o v p e k o
VP Membership - Janae DeRusso
Pledgemaster - Melissa Haacker
V P R u s h - L u c a s Ta c c a r d i
Tr e a s u r e r - M e r e d i t h N a c k l e y
P R - B e n Ve s c e ra
Alumni Sec - Kristy Blakely
VP of Fellowship - Elizabeth Congdon
Recording Secretary - Mieka John
Corresponding Sec - Ryan Roberts
Service Sec - Rebecca Levy
Historian - Melanie Zajac
SAA - Whitney Lincoln
ESF Liason - Rebecca Osbourne
THE END
t h a n k s
f o r
r e a d i n g