Annual Golf Tournament a Success
Beta-Upsilon’s annual charity golf tournament went very well despite the need to reschedule due to weather concerns. Thirty five players were able to make the reschedule date and the chapter raised over $2200 for the Military Heroes Campaign. The chapter would like to thank all of our sponsors, especially:
The Meridian Realty Group
Philip Stewart Realty
The Spring Pledge Class of 1971: Wayne Mastin, Mike Griffin, John Kelly, Roy Hoffman, Dave Poole, Dain Riley, Barry Rudd, Tom Sineath, and Keith Yount
Daltonharpamayne LLC
Sigma Kappa Sorority
Again, we thank you all for your support and look forward to seeing everyone return next year.
Beta-Upsilon Parents and Alumni,
Every spring since 2002 Beta-Upsilon has hosted a charity golf tournament in Clayton, NC. Not only does this event provide us with a great excuse to come together as a whole, but it also routinely generates donations for Kappa Sigma’s Military Heroes Campaign (MHC) in the thousands of dollars. For those that don’t yet know, the MHC benefits the Fisher House, an organization that provides free housing for the families of wounded soldiers returning from active duty as they receive medical treatment. Increased hostilities abroad have made this an area of constant need, especially in the past decade. In short, it is difficult to think of a better charity to support.
On Saturday, April the 16th we will again hold our tournament at the Neuse Golf Course in Clayton, NC. It will be played in an 18-hole Captain’s choice format and is preceded by a buffet lunch starting at noon. In addition to first and second place awards, prizes will be given to “long drive” and “closest to the pin” contest champions. I hope that you will join us there to support the Fisher House; such that we might begin to repay the debt that we owe the men and women of our armed services. Below are two packets of information regarding team registration and sponsorships opportunities. I ask that you look through each of these packets to determine if you can join us at the tournament or only in our cause, through your support of this very deserving charity.
Please don’t hesitate to contact me if you have any questions about the tournament that aren’t answered in the attached packets.
AEKDB,
Stuart Ruffin
Scruffi2@ncsu.edu
336-416-5565
State of the Chapter
I want to start by saying that the 2009-2010 academic year was one of our most accomplished of all time. Our Chapter recorded its second highest GPA in the last decade, doubled its records in charitable dollars and hours donated, and improved its chapter level of ritual proficiency to over 80%. We were awarded the President’s Cup for athletic excellence, nearly won Greek Week, and came within 20 points of winning another FACE award. In short, we saw marked improvement in almost every measurable aspect of our chapter.
We opened the Fall 2010 semester hoping to build on these accomplishments and I am happy to report that we have done just that. We are on pace to match our charitable records set last year, we have created a chapter parent’s club, and, for the first time in our 108 year history, were named a Caldwell Chapter for 2010. For those who don’t know, the Caldwell Chapters are those chapters that display superiority in the Greek Life Standards Program.
Our latest accomplishments have furthered our reputation of excellence here at NC State and indicate that our chapter is as strong as ever. We look forward to the spring semester with a commitment to continuing Beta-Upsilon’s longstanding tradition of excellence here are NC State.
It is with this mindset that we announce that our 8th annual Alumni Golf Tournament will take place on April 16, 2011 at the Neuse Golf Course in Clayton, NC. The chapter will soon send out competitor and sponsor information packets for the tournament. These packets will outline the event, its history, and the many ways in which our event serves the men and women of our armed forces. For more information on participating in and/or sponsoring a portion of our tournament please contact Brother Stuart Ruffin at: scruffi2@ncsu.edu.
Walker Steele
Grand Master
Beta-Upsilon Chapter of Kappa Sigma
Beta-Upsilon Executive Committee Welcomes Brother Marcus Engel to NC State
On October 14th, Marcus Engel, a ’97 initiate of the Mu Rho Chapter of Kappa Sigma at Missouri State, visited NC State to share his extraordinary story of recovery after being blinded and catastrophically injured by a drunk driver.
The keynote speaker at the 2009 Grand Conclave in San Antonio, Brother Engel is a nationally recognized speaker and author. His inspiring story is one of incredible triumph in the face of whatappeared to be insurmountable odds.
In each of his messages he challenges his audience to achieve success by making intelligent choices, to view obstacles as opportunities, and to live life to the fullest. Beta-Upsilon is happy to have had the opportunity to meet Brother Engel and hopes to have the privilege of seeing him again in the near future.
Tragedy Befalls Beta-Upsilon
Beta-Upsilon has unexpectedly lost two of its alumni since our last official correspondence. Brothers Kurt G. Reinbold (‘87) and John H. Myers (‘78) passed away in June and October, respectively. The chapter would like to express its heartfelt condolences to the families of these fine men. They were active members of the chapter and valued alumni who will be sorely missed.
Brother Richard Burr Reelected
Brother Richard Burr (’75), a Kappa Sigma from the Delta-Omega Chapter at Wake Forest University, was recently reelected to his position as U.S. Senator from North Carolina. Brother Burr is the proud recipient of Kappa Sigma’s 2008 Man of the Year Award and currently serves as the chairman of Kappa Sigma’s Military Heroes Campaign. Beta-Upsilon offers its congratulations and thanks for his continued service to this fraternity and the State of North Carolina.
Congratulations to Our New Members
Beta-Upsilon would like to recognize the members of the Fall 2010 pledge class for their completion of the pledge program. It gives us great pleasure to report that the standards of our pledge program are as high as ever and that these men have distinguished themselves to be worthy to wear the badge of a Kappa Sigma. We are confident that our brotherhood is stronger than before because of their initiation.
Congratulations men.
Eric Engstrom – Winston-Salem, NC
Jordan Sorensan – Winston-Salem, NC
Alex Stewart – Winston-Salem, NC
Justin Hartney – Rocky Mount, NC
Spencer Bell – Rocky Mount, NC
Daire Barefoot – Gardner, NC
Clay Hinkle – Winston-Salem, NC
Will Noble – Rocky Mount, NC
Michael Whitehead – Rocky Mount, NC
Chapter Receives New AA and AAAs
Brother John Morgan (Fall ‘06) was appointed to the position of Alumnus Advisor for Beta-Upsilon by the Supreme Executive Committee in the summer of 2010. He takes over for Bo Manion whose one year reign ends as work takes him from the Raleigh area. Joining John in his new role are four new Assistant Alumnus Advisors: Mat Thompson (Spring ‘04), Taylor Stanley (Fall ‘06), Even Law (Spring ’06), and Scott Peacock (Spring ‘07). Both Morgan and Peacock graduated as class valedictorians in the Spring of 2010. The chapter welcomes each of these distinguished alumni to their new roles and looks forward to the continued leadership of these high caliber individuals.
Beta-Upsilon in New Orleans for Leadership Conference
In late July Beta-Upsilon sent 5 delegates to the Kappa Sigma Leadership Conference in New Orleans, LA. The conference boasted over 950 Kappa Sigmas from around the country each of whom had the privilege of hearing words of wisdom from some of our most esteemed brothers. While the focus of the weekend was teaching and celebrating the values of our fraternity, we also had the opportunity to meet a number of our fellow Greeks. By complete coincidence (or perhaps not), our New Orleans hotel was also hosting over 900 sisters of the Zeta Tau Alpha sorority who were in town for their annual conference. Quite surprisingly, their advisors did allow them to enjoy Bourbon Street while in Louisiana. Some of these fine ladies were even spotted enjoying “Hurricanes” from famed restaurant Pat O’Brian’s. In true Kappa Sigma form, a number of our brothers graciously offered to walk them home… New Orleans proved to be a vibrant city with a the same unmistakable culture that has long made it world famous. Needless to say, the delegates reported the event to be a glowing success and an example of something that the national fraternity is doing right.
We look forward to next year’s conference in Las Vegas and hope to send more delegates than ever before to enjoy the teachings of our fraternity and the… Unique?… culture that only Vegas can offer.
Electronic Newsletter
When we at Beta-Upsilon published the spring 2010 edition of Beta-Upsilon News we learned a number of valuable lessons. We learned that keeping our parents and alumni up-to-date with the chapter via newsletter is a gargantuan task, that the term “up-to-date” can really only mean “up-to-semester” because of the size of the task, and that the price of postage is pretty staggering these days. In light of these lessons and after much debate, we have decided to begin phasing our printed chapter newsletter and phasing in an electronic one. The logic behind this is simple. By switching to an electronic newsletter we can use the alumni emailing list to spread the same information to the same number of people at almost zero cost to the chapter. Moreover, the chapter’s ability to contact parents and alumni will no longer be hampered by changes in physical addresses. We experimented with this in our last newsletter and got very positive feedback.
We are asking that alumni sign up for the alumni emailing list on the chapter website (betaupsilon.com) and that parents update their Omega accounts with accurate email addresses. Look for more information on this switch coming soon.
