Starting Strong

The Spring 2010 semester has started off on a high note. On January 19th members of the chapter gave a presentation to the Office of Greek Life, which was extremely well received.

This was shortly followed by an Epsilon Ritual on Sunday, January 24^th, in which ten brothers joined the ranks of Epsilon, and are continuing their journey of brotherhood.

Later that night this semester’s Standards Board elected. Congratulations to the Senior Marshall Joe Rey, the Junior Marshall Joe Woods, the Guide Karl Craft, and the Guard Scott Murray.

Congratulations to Kevin Van Loan, Frank Romano, Rob Mannanice, Girschel Blakeman, and Diego Guzman for being the winning team for Fall ’09 Fantasy Academics! It was a close competition, and these men are leading the way for the chapter’s academic improvement.

Welcome back to Brothers Justin Chou and Joe Woods! Each spent the previous semester abroad in China and Spain respectively.

What to look forward to:

There will be both a Sigma and Phi ritual in the coming weeks.

The Brother Auction in February!

The Second Fantasy Academic Draft! There will be an additional team this semester!

Freezin’ For A Reason is this Saturday!

Relay for Life is this semester! If you want to take part or donate to the SigEp Knights team just follow the link below:

http://main.acsevents.org/site/TR/RelayForLife/RFLFY10EA?team_id=589909&pg=team&fr_id=20676&fl=en_US&et=Eu_tKRK9zWUz81fczRHwbA..&s_tafId=412018

Closing the page on Fall 2009

As the fall semester wound down, New Jersey Zeta has set a positive tone for the coming year.

A new Executive Board was elected early in December. Congratulations to our new President Mike Zilly, VP of Programming Ryan Gentilcore, Chaplain Chris Kramar, VP of Member Development Chris Andrews, VP of Finance Ryan Willinger, VP of Recruitment Brian Williams, and VP of Communication Mike Blake! Thanks go to the outgoing Executive Board for your hard work and dedication this past year.

Congratulations to our brothers who completed the Epsilon challenge! Dan Brown, Travis Volosyn, and Frank Romano have joined the ranks of Brother Mentors, and their efforts are helping propel the chapter forward.

NJ Zeta would also like to welcome Brother Matt Checinski, who went through the Sigma Rite of Passage earlier this semester, and is already contributing to the chapter.

Among the major initiatives the chapter has started this semester is the push to establish NJ Zeta as an RLC. Among the first steps for this initiative are raising the chapter GPA requirement, establishing a Faculty Advisory Committee, as well as getting the assistance of a Staff Advisor, Frank Zuccarini .

The Parent’s Association has started off strong, and took part in two events this semester, including the Parent’s Brunch on the 19^th of December, which had a great turnout despite the snow. NJ Zeta would also like to thank the Parents Association for their contributions of a full sized refrigerator for the kitchen, and a television for the lounge!

Some big things to keep your eye on in the coming months:

• The results of Fantasy Academics! Final grades are starting to come in, and soon we’ll see how well our brothers were able to push each other to succeed!
• The new Executive Board will be going to Carlson Leadership Academy to learn how to effectively perform their duties.
• The Balanced Man Banquet! NJ Zeta is taking this event to the next level, and will be honoring a number of members of the Rider Community in addition to presenting the Balanced Man Scholarship.

Great First Month!

Wow, what a great first month of school!

Most of the NJ-Z Chapter of SigEp participated in the Bronc Buddies program to help freshmen move in to their dorms. Because of this, many of the brothers kicked off the semester a little earlier than the rest of Rider students. Day trips, going to the gym, and planning for a busy semester were just some of the activities that occupied SigEp's days.

Also during this time, Brother Andre Thomas, a transfer from the Florida Zeta chapter, was welcomed with open arms to Rider University.

More recently, a Sigma Rite of Passage was conducted on Thursday, September 24th. Because of this, we would like to welcome Luke Hall, Brian Guzman, Mike Blake, and Rob Goldstein to SigEp!

This past weekend was sweetheart weekend. Twenty three girls were given nominations to become SigEp's Sweetheart for the Fall 2009-Spring 2010 academic year, but only one could be named. This year's sweetheart is Allie Eick of Alpha Xi Delta! Congrats Brother Allie!

Additionally, Brothers Karl Craft and Dan Mahony were named the sweethearts for Alpha Xi Delta and Zeta Tau Alpha, respectively. Congrats to all!

Thoughts on Conclave

Brother Karl Craft reflected on his Conclave experience and decided to share a tidbit of how it affected him.

Conclave was an amazing experience that truly made me feel more connected with the national fraternity in whole. I learned a lot of what goes into running this strong organization and was able to help make important decisions that our fraternity will rely on for years to come. I was also able to connect with other chapters in similar situations as a chapter to exchange great ideas. It was extremely insightful and a great asset to my future in the NJ Zeta chapter as well as my own personal development.

Thanks for sharing, Karl!

The first official undergraduate chapter meeting will occur on September 13 at 8 PM in Sweigart Hall room 215. Hope everyone enjoys the last days of summer!

Breaking Ground

As the summer comes to a close, the men of the New Jersey Zeta chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon eagerly prepare for a successful Fall semester. To do so, they will attending the Alumni Volunteer Corporation (AVC) Barbecue, host a Recruitment Retreat, working on the new website and will be finishing part two of the Member Development Retreat.

Exciting things are on the horizon for the chapter that earned a Phi Beta Kappa Wheelhouse Award, finished last year with nearly 50 men, earned the title of Intramural Champions for the second straight year, had Brother Frank Romano elected Student Government Association President, Brother Alex D'Amico re-elected Student Government Association Treasurer, six brothers working on the SGA Finance Board, Brother Mike Zilly elected Finance Board Chairperson, Bryan Persons named the President of Rider University Network, Jose Rey named General Manager of WRRC Radio Station, five of the nine IFC positions including President (Brother Anthony Olsen), and a President's Award recpient in Brother Michael Ciaramella. Additionally, SigEp claimed the honors of highest fraternity GPA, highest new member GPA, highest individual GPA (Mike Zilly), Greek Man of the Year (Dan Mahony), Greek New Member of the Year (Mike Zilly), and won Greek Week! Indeed, it has been a great year to be SigEp.

Look forward to more updates, and follow us on Twitter!