Phi Kappa Psi IL Delta Newsletter October 2017 IN THIS ARTICLE: Samoan Games Page 1 Homecoming Weekend Page 3 Greek Cup Soccer Champs Page 5 Samoan Games By: Roger Blanco Give us Samoa! During the fall semester here at Phi Kappa Psi, we have our big philanthropy event called Samoan Games, which took place on October 6 th, 2017. Originally, the games were set out to be on September 29 th, 2017, but it had to be moved due to an interference with another philanthropy event on campus. Although it may not In-house Basketball League Page 7 seem reasonable to have these types of games during the beginning of fall, the weather Pregame Huddle 1
was adequate. The games are revolved around a Samoan theme, in which we contacted sororities to participate and help raise money for our philanthropy, The Boys and Girls Club of America. Phi Kappa Psi Illinois Delta s Philanthropy Chair, Pregame Anticipation Mike Johns, ran and organized the Samoan Games. A total of 8 sororities participated in the games and those were: Alpha Xi Delta, Chi Omega, Alpha Chi Omega, Kappa Kappa Gamma, Alpha Phi, Kappa Delta, and finally Gamma Phi Beta. With their participation we helped raise over $1,250 to the Boys and Girls Club. With each team contained a maximum up to 8 players and each participated in 4 events. The events that were played were, Sand Volleyball, Slip and Slide Relays, an Obstacle Course, and Tug of War. The brothers of Phi Kappa Psi helped volunteer and coach their respected team that they signed up for. The brothers that volunteered were myself, Behram Lalji, Nicholas Diamantopoulos, Erik Jacobson, John Postlethwait, Jack Langen, Benjamin Jeon, Roberto Elizarraraz, Alex Sulek, Austin Koukol, Benjamin Hampton, Benjamin Rapp, Adam Kwiatt, Alec Deuter, Blake Nicolls, Brian Roggensack, Christian Westergaard, Colton King, Dametrick Evans, Issac Ginnodo, Jack Zimmerman, Josh Balon, Matthew Flach, Michael Stucky, Trent Wheller, and Michael Byckowski. Magically, the games ended with a 3-way tie between Chi Omega, Kappa Kappa Gamma, and Alpha Phi. Overall, even though Mike Johns had to overcome some obstacles with the event, it was a success and we were happy to help and support the Boys and Girls Club of America. Slip and Slide event
Homecoming Weekend By: Benjamin Jeon My name is Ben Jeon, and I am currently the Alumni Relations chair here at the Illinois Delta Chapter of Phi Kappa Psi. This past weekend was the University of Illinois s Homecoming weekend, and I was the one to coordinate the events that went on throughout the weekend for our esteemed alumni of Phi Kappa Psi. The weekend was jam packed with events. First, we started it all off with tours at our new Brother Benjamin Jeon chapter house for the alumni. They got to see all the new additions that we brought to the house this year, which includes the new lounge area in our foyer, study tables in the card room, our new updated library for all the brothers to use, and many more. Homecoming day began with a great tailgate at Grange Grove. It s exciting to see that tailgating has made its return this semester as the university decided to try to move everyone from Block at the bars back to tailgating at Grange Grove. Even though we experienced some crazy cold weather during the tailgate, I believe I speak for myself and the brothers at Phi Kappa Psi, everyone had a great time grilling some good food, playing a few tailgating games, and meeting all the alumni from recent times to way back. After our tailgate, everyone headed over to our chapter house for an amazing barbeque dinner prepared by our wonderful chefs, Adam and Spencer. It was a fantastic spread of pulled pork, barbeque chicken, coleslaw, and Hawaiian rolls. 3
Event after event, the brothers of Phi Kappa Psi put on our best attitudes and showed how well-mannered the gentlemen at Phi Kappa Psi choose to be on a day to day basis. At the house, we had the men that are currently pledging Phi Kappa Psi help out with a few more house tours for those that were not able to see the house the night before. We ended the night with a reservation we made at KAMS from 5 pm till 8 pm in their basement for all the alumni and brothers to enjoy. It was a solid Homecoming weekend for Phi Kappa Psi as well as the University. I m proud of our chapter and our alumni. We have come a long way these past couple years, and seeing how much we have flourished is heartwarming for me and the brothers to see. It was a pleasure organizing the events for Homecoming weekend, and I hope to see more alumni in the future! Thank You. Homecoming Banner
Greek Cup Soccer Champions By: Alec Columbus My name is Alec Columbus and I was part of the Phi Psi Intermural team for Illinois Delta. The Fall 2017 Soccer Intramural Greek Cup proved to be a challenging yet rewarding season for the men of Phi Kappa Psi. The members of the team were Trevor Giannetti, Joseph Griffin, Brian Murphy, Benjamin Hampton, Brandon Brother Alec Columbus Schwartz, Daniel Wood, Ethan Walmer, Issac Ginnodo, Jack Coutre, Jack Langen, Joseph Banks, Jake Novacek, John Bomba, Josh Balon, Julian Hilpuesch, Lucas Semitka, Matthew Uthupan, Neil Sundaram, Kyle Styve, Stephen Hawthorne and myself.. Our season started off strong with 3 straight wins against strong teams such as Pi Kappa Alpha and Acacia. We suffered our first lost on our fourth game, but rebounded strongly by finishing our season with a 5-0 win. We entered the postseason feeling confident with a 2nd seed position and first round bye. The semifinal game proved to be anticlimactic with a 0-0 regulation score and a win in penalty kicks. We started off our championship game strong with a goal early on in the first half. We kept our composure and was able to finish the first half with a 1-0 lead, but lost in the second half off of a breakaway. Just like our semifinal game regulation time ended in a draw leaving the intramural championship win on the shoulders of five brave team members. Following a miss in the third round, our goalkeeper made back to back saves, and then secured the win with a wellplaced shot to the corner. 5
This season was not only a success because of the championship win; player turnout was consistently high throughout the newly extended 5 game season. Brotherhood showed its beautiful face as at least 40 brothers filled the bleachers to cheer us on for our championship win, and then rushed the field to celebrate. Here s to the 2018 Spring Cup ship. Illinois Delta Greek Cup Champions: Top (Left to Right)- Brother Langen, Columbus, Bomba, Griffen, Giannetti, Hipuesch, Semitka. Bottom (Left to Right)- Brother Uthupan, Banks, Hawthorne, Murphy, Sundaram, and Walmer.
In-house Basketball League By: Joseph Griffin Hello! My name is Joe Griffin and I am a senior now. I was initiated into the fraternity in the fall of 2014, and I have enjoyed many different benefits of the fraternity, but perhaps my favorite part is the intramural sports. In fact, our men s outdoor team just won the Greek Cup championship! Additionally, our men s softball team is currently in the semi-finals of the Greek Cup. Besides these sports, I have also participated in outdoor co-rec soccer, indoor men s soccer, co-rec sand volleyball, mens s ultimate frisbee, men s flag football, Brother Joseph Griffin and men s basketball. Over the last year or two, Johnny Grimes, who graduated May 2017, organized our first basketball league solely made up of brothers of Phi Kappa Psi. Unfortunately, some logistical issues presented some challenges for the league. I have built off of what Johnny started, and the league has been very successful this fall semester. We have 6 teams of 8 to 9 guys each, and we have just completed the regular season with each team playing 5 games. Over the entire regular season, we have had just one forfeit, and 51 brothers have participated. The playoffs begin this upcoming weekend and they should be exciting! Overall, I am very happy with how things have gone, but more importantly I am very happy to see how much fun other brothers are having with the league. Lastly, I am looking forward to continuing and possibly expanding the league next semester when we will have a new pledge class initiated. Hopefully this is a tradition that many brothers can enjoy for years to come. 7
Social Media: Like us on Facebook! facebook.com/phipsiuiuc Follow us on Twitter and Instagram! Twitter: @PhiPsiIllinois Instagram: @phipsiuiuc Visit our Website! www.illinoisdelta.org Created by Roger Blanco Summer 2017 www.illinoisdelta.org