House On The Hill Legacy Campaign-
Urgent
Greetings Brothers !
We’ve come a long way in the last six years, including our new House on the Hill, christened in January 2009.
- The new house is full and working out great, supporting itself for annual operations. All 12 rooms have been full every semester since finishing the house in January 2009. The Brothers have doubled up a couple of the larger rooms the last 2 semesters so occupancy has actually exceeded the plan.
- The Chapter Brotherhood is growing stronger each semester as the facility and traditions attract quality pledges. The actives are establishing priorities and criteria for grades, house duties, house and campus activities, and leadership.
- The Brothers are enjoying the return to having a cook and eating meals together on a regular basis. Out-of- House Brothers can also sign up for the Kappa Sigma meal plan and join in group meals at the House.
- Faculty advisor and Brother Marek Kolar is mentoring the EC and the GT on chapter financial management. Marek is a professor of Business and Finance at TU.
- Alumni Keith Turner and Mitch Rhoads are mentoring the EC and House Manager on facility care and operation management. Keith is an ex-GM (1975) and recently retired, splitting his time between Auburn, Crooked Lake, and Florida. Mitch (KSK 1966, KS 2010) is on TU’s Board of Trustees, and splits his time between Angola, Colorado, and Texas.
Alumni participating in the ground breaking for the new "House on the Hill back in 2008.
- We have a Brother working for TU in the Student Life area who is helpful in the background with to facilitate engagement and leadership in campus activities. Campus leadership is a traditional strength for Theta-Xi and is a priority for the House.
When we decided to build the new House on the Hill, we raised substantial initial funds for the down payment, and financed the balance of the house project cost. We have a mortgage of about $900,000. We’re paying the loan interest every month with operating revenues, and making some progress on the mortgage principal pay off, but not very fast. With the global economy and banking situation, we would be much better off to reduce and eliminate our debt as soon as we can
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The people in attendance for the dedication of the new "House on the Hill back in 2009.
Our steady annual alumni financial support comes from about 50 guys averaging about $850 per year. That’s less than 10% of our total alumni group; it’s an unbalanced unsustainable load on too small a group. A significantly safer and more stable position would be to broaden our alumni support base to say 250 brothers averaging $360 per year ($30 per month). That’s still less than 50% of our total alumni group.
So this fundraising campaign is very important and it is aimed at our entire alumni group to try to get to at least 250 steady annual donors for the next five years. This will help greatly to strengthen our financial position and give us a better view down the road for financial planning.
A group of alumni brothers has agreed to match a portion of the donations from NEW DONORS, in order to encourage more brothers to get involved. That challenge match provides added incentive and benefit for growing our donor base this year and every year, and will help us pay off our mortgage even faster. One alumnus Brother has already kicked off with a donation of $25,000, and we have another Brother’s pledge for $10,000 over the next 7 years.
Ribbon Cutting for the new "House on the Hill by active brothers back in 2009.
Every donation, large or small, is important and will get us closer to our goal of raising $80,000 - $100,000 per year from a much expanded support base. History of the new house project and the current goal and action plan is attached below.
Click here for more information on the house and our financial concerns.
A Special Thanks
A special thanks to TJ Miley (past Grand Master) and Curtis Holcom (current Grand Scribe) for establishing a new communications traditions by authoring, "A Reflective Message from our Past Grand Master" and "A Year in Reflection" respectively.
These effective articles are featured in this issue of the Hill Top Breeze and most importantly serve as a communications precedent for future GM's and GS's. Please read each of their messages below.
Kappa Sigma Transformation
Everyone attends college to pursue their dreams and fulfill their expectations set by themselves as well as others in their life. It is a place where you are exposed to new situations and forced to make decisions that you have never been faced with. College isn’t all about classes and grades, it is about becoming a new person based on the experiences you go through. There are many activities that provide these experiences that are outside the lines of classrooms and books that assist in molding you into a more diverse individual.
My Kappa Sigma experience began the first semester of my sophomore year. I had contemplated going Greek my freshmen year but decided against it so I had no intention on doing it my next semester either. My roommate finally convinced me to give it a try and once I started the pledge process I knew that I had made the right decision. The following semester after I was initiated I was voted in as the new Grand Scribe and became a leader in the fraternity. That summer I joined three other newly elected E.C. members at the Grand Conclave in San Antonio, Texas. Not only did we have a blast, we also learned a lot about the fraternity on a national level and what steps we needed to take for our own chapter. We took the advice we were given and were able to have a very successful year where we were able to initiate more new brothers than we had in a long time. As the year ended I became Grand Master by default and was in charge of the whole operation.
Many responsibilities came with being in charge of everything because everyone comes to you with all of their questions. I have to admit at the beginning I was a little overwhelmed with the responsibilities, but was able to settle down and handle everything. Being in charge of twenty some college students seems simple enough but there were definitely difficulties involved along the way. Overall, it gave me the tools that I may need in the working world if I am able to become a manager of some sort because I will know how to handle many situations based on experiences that happened in the fraternity. This year we were able to improve to second place on the President’s Cup standings as well as having the most improved GPA out of the other fraternities.
Many people view fraternities as a place to buy friendship or a place that only parties, but I can assure them that they are much more. I grew immensely throughout the years that I was fortunate enough to be part of Kappa Sigma and wouldn’t change it for the world. Of course there were times when we all had fun together and made memories that will last a lifetime, but we also understood that we had responsibilities that had to be met. I had a great time transforming from a pledge that knew little of Kappa Sigma to becoming the Grand Master. The knowledge that I received is irreplaceable and I hope that many young men in the future are able to experience the changes that I went through.
TJ Miley
A Year in Reflection
Fellow Brothers,
We just finished another great year. I feel that we are progressing as a chapter and I feel that we have come along way to get where we are today. There is a positive vibe for the brotherhood in the Angola and Trine University community. We need to keep up the positive progress we have made. I believe that we should be the most prestigious fraternity on campus.
Now looking back on the progress we have made, the year started with a small but honorable pledge class. The beginning of the year seemed to be very busy for the brothers with all of the seniors, athletes, and involvement with the school and community. We also held many rush events including dinners for the brothers and the rush, which seemed to be more productive for the spring 2011 pledge class. The Christmas Party was epic. The party consisted of great stories, hilarious presents, and memories that will stick with us forever.
The second semester was just as great. The semester started with a huge Super Bowl party, and a decent sized pledge class. We spent a lot of time together, and worked on improving the pledge process. The Tin Caps game in Ft. Wayne was a hit, along with March Madness. The pledge class put up one of our old signs. It looks great, and can be seen from anywhere on Moss. St.
As most of you know Trine University has a new faculty member in the student life department, who is an alumnus of Kappa Sigma. His name is Evan Bosworth. He is a great guy, and has helped us out with campus involvement. This is a great opportunity for Kappa Sigma to become more involved more. If any of you get a chance or have any ideas don’t be afraid to contact Evan.
As most of you know we were rewarded second place in the Presidents Cup. Of course it isn’t first but this is still quite an achievement from past rankings. We also were third in Academic Standing, but gained the overall highest improvement of GPA from spring 2010 to fall 2011. We also achieved second in philanthropy/community service, and third for on campus involvement. In intramurals and wellness we were pleased to take second. This is quite a task, brothers, but I believe we can take first place next year. Keep up the hard work, come ready and focused for the next year.
Congratulation and best wishes to all of the seniors, from all of your brothers.
Grand Scribe,
Curtis Holcom
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