Page 3 - The Illinois Sig - Spring 2011

Chapter News

From the Consul Kappa Kappa initiates record pledge class
and on track to do same in Spring
e are quickly
Wapproaching the n February 5th, we welcomed 29 new brothers into the Kappa Kappa Chapter.
halfway point for this OThe week was treated with the utmost solemnity, and gave the brothers another
semester and I am proud to opportunity to relive their experience, while leading the candidates through their own
say that the state of affairs personal journey to becoming men of the White Cross. As we all know, the path to
here at Kappa Kappa initiation tests the candidates in order to fully understand the meaning of being a true
is very well. I am very Sigma Chi, and our new brothers were ready for the challenge thanks to the amazing
excited to have taken over dedication and preparation from Brother Larry Newquist ’12, their Magister. It was a
this office at such a positive special treat to see a great amount of alumni, recent graduates, and brothers from other
time at this chapter, as chapters in attendance at the ceremonies. Several fathers, brothers, and close friends
my predecessor, Andrew Cochrane ‘12, did an were present to pin their new brother with the Badge of the Fraternity. I would like to
excellent job of setting this chapter up to succeed. give a note of personal thanks to my fellow Ritual Chairman, George Udumula ’12,
Our recent transition to new leadership went very Michael Ornelais ’12.5 and Joshua Sergent ’13, for putting forth their full devotion into
smooth, as two new sophomores, Josh Sergeant the beauty of the Sigma Chi Ritual, and dedicating themselves to organizing a flawless
‘13 and Chris Adams ‘13, took on the roles of Indoctrination.
House Manager and Quaestor. The undergrads are After a very successful rush, we are pleased to have 12 new pledges for this spring.
very optimistic as we wait to see the good these two The combination of hard work from our rush chairs, as well as excellent participation
young members can do for Kappa Kappa. from the entire undergrad chapter made this spring rush the best in recent years. The new
We initiated a record sized pledge class this past class consists of 11 freshmen and one sophomore, and is lead by newly elected magister
February, with 29 members of the 2014 pledge class Jake Forby ‘13. The pledges recently had the opportunity to participate in Alpha Phi’s
joining us as active members of Sigma Chi. Each philanthropy event, “King of Hearts.” The pledges performed a number of dances and
one proved themselves worthy of the lofty ideals even sang a song for the event, whose proceeds are donated to cardiac cancer research.
of the White Cross during their pledgeship and Brother Forby is also encouraging the pledges to get involved in a student organization
the undergrads are all extremely proud of our new outside of the fraternity in an effort to get them involved in the community, and help build
members. We can rest assured that the house will their resume for the future.
be in good hands well into the future. We are proud to have a diverse pledge class, highlighted by the pledge class president
This semester we are seeing numerous originally from Mexico City. Thus far the pledges have been handling their responsibilities
members branch out into outside organizations. We very well, and have been taking the lessons of the White Cross very seriously. In just a
have six members who are actively involved with couple of weeks, a couple of brothers are traveling with the pledges to stay a weekend at
the Interfraternity Council and one, Tim Veldman the Sigma Chi chapter house at Butler for a brotherhood event. We are trying to show the
’13, who is a member of the executive board. We nationwide bond that we have as Sigs, and show that our brotherhood radiates through our
also have two members who are part of Business ideals of friendship, justice and learning. In addition, we are sending a message that the
Fraternities and numerous others involved in bond is reciprocal from chapter to chapter regardless of location or size. After getting to
engineering and finance student organizations. know many of these pledges over the past month or so, we are very confident they possess
Another of our members, Robert Gehm ’12, served the qualities we strive to maintain in Sigma Chi and look forward to their initiation.
as president for Dance Marathon; a rapidly growing
student run philanthropy that raises money for
Children’s Miracle Network.
Kappa Kappa Chapter has also never been so
sound financially. We now have 120 dues paying
members on campus and 67 of those members live
in the chapter house itself. We have managed to
resolve all of the issues that arose with our financial
problems from two summers ago and have been
working closely with our new property manager to
ensure the long term stability of Kappa Kappa.
I look forward to the remainder of this semester
and believe the undergrads here at Kappa Kappa
have nowhere to go but up. I will do my best to
ensure that Kappa Kappa remains the preeminent
Fraternity here at Illinois. With the help of those
values of which we all strive to achieve I know that
this group of undergrads will only continue to grow
as men and strengthen those bonds that keep us all
tied so closely together.

Kevin Pinkos ‘12 3