Hello, and welcome to the

first edition of the Parents

of Pike Newsletter!

The objective of this news-

letter is to keep the parents

of Beta Chi members up to

date with all of the great

things that your son has

accomplished here at Pi

Kappa Alpha.

Pi Kappa Alpha (PIKE) is an

extremely proud organiza-

tion with a rich history da-

ting back to March 1, 1868.

More information on the

history of Pi Kappa Alpha

can be found at

www.pikes.org.

Although we may not like to

admit it at times, parents

are the most important peo-

ple in our lives. Your finan-

cial, mental, and emotional

support are the pillars on

which a Scholar, Gentleman,

Athlete, and leader are built.

Without your constant en-

couragement and backing,

none of us would be where we

are today. By sharing our

plans for the future and the

things we have achieved in

the past, we hope to give you

a better perspective of what

PIKE is all about, and how

PIKE continues to build on

and preach the morals and

principles that you institute

at home.

So sit back, relax, and enjoy

the first edition of our Parents

of PIKE Newsletter as well as

Parent’s Day!

Introduction To Parents of Pike

Looking Forward

The Beta Chi chapter has a

bright future, and we know

it. We just came off of one of

our most successful recruit-

ing years ever, initiating 26

new members in the fall.

With our current New Mem-

ber class we are on the brink

of 100 members and transi-

tioned to a new era in our

chapter’s history.

The most prestigious award a

Pi Kappa Alpha Chapter can

receive is the Robert Adger

Smythe Award. The Smythe

award “recognize overall

chapter superiority and

prominence and are given to

the top 5% of ΠΚΑ chap-

ters annually”. Our goal

this year is to win our

chapter the famous Smythe

award, and bring Beta Chi

to that top 5% of PIKE

chapters.

This is the 1st edition of the Parents of Pike Newsletter, a Beta Chi Chapter Newsletter, Published via email biannually. This newsletter is written and edited by the Secretary, and is meant for the professional use by the parents of Pi Kappa Alpha Members.

The Beta Chi Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha Presents:

Volume 1, Issue 1

Parents of Pike

Newsletter

Our beautiful house at 1318 University Ave.

Special points of in-

terest:

Welcome to Parent’s Day!

You are reading the very first

edition of the Parents of Pike

Newsletter.

As a fraternity, we strongly

follow four value pillars,

Scholars, Leaders, Ath-

letes, and Gentleman, or

SLAG. For more information

on Pike’s values, visit

www.pikes.org.

You can also check out Beta

Chi’s chapter website at

www.minnesotapikes.com.

Inside this issue:

Homecoming

2

Alumni Networking 2

Cycle for Life 2

Athletics 3

Fire Truck Pull 3

Pike University 4

Pi Kappa Alpha Mission 4

During the second week of Octo-

ber The University of Minnesota

held its annual homecoming

week. The week was full of great

school spirit, fun, and competi-

tion between the Greek pairings.

This year the Beta Chi chapter of

Pi Kappa Alpha was paired with

the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity, the

Alpha Omicron Pi sorority, and

the Alpha Sigma Kappa sorority.

The week had several competi-

tions such as a cheer competi-

tion, a lip-sync competition, a

flag football tournament, a pa-

rade, and the house front con-

test. Our pairing “Legends of the

Hidden Temple” took 1st place

in house front contest for

the 5th year in a row

thanks to the hard work

and over 80 hours put into

it by PIKE’s own Ben Blas-

ka. The weekend also wel-

comed dozens of alumni to

the house, where they met

active members and en-

joyed the game day cele-

bration atmosphere. Over-

all, the week proved to be a

great success for Pi Kappa

Alpha as well as the Uni-

versity of Minnesota as a

whole.

Written by Cully Leverenz

and Christopher Hipp

memory of fallen Pi Kappa

Alpha brother Taylor Trudeau.

Taylor passed away in August

2008 after a yearlong battle

with Leukemia. This year’s

event was a great success with

both teams combining to raise

over $6,000. It was held at

the Madison recreation center

where students could come in

a donate money to put a PIKE

The Taylor Trudeau Cycle for

Life event was held during

October at the Wisconsin

Beta Xi chapter of Pi Kappa

Alpha. The Beta Chi chapter

traveled 4 hours from Minne-

apolis to Madison for the

annual philanthropy event

held in memory of brother

Trudeau. The Taylor Trudeau

Cycle for Life was created in

on a bike or pedal themselves.

All the money raised was do-

nated to researchers looking

for cures to Leukemia Lym-

phoma, and Melanoma. The

Minnesota and Wisconsin

chapters look forward to con-

tinuing this event and renew-

ing the philanthropic rivalry

every year.

Written by Cully Leverenz

and Christopher Hipp

Homecoming

Cycle For Life

the great time he had bonding

with they alumni, stating that

they “did a wonderful job put-

ting together the event….what

more could the actives ask for

with over 80 alumni from all

over the country coming to-

gether for the weekend? It is a

perfect opportunity to net-

work for the actives.” The

involvement of our alumni

does not stop at alumni

events. Our alumni database

contains over 2500 names,

and each of these alumni are a

valuable networking resource

for our members. For exam-

ple, alumni Jeff Kroll is the

Manager of Premium Services

for the Minnesota Twins, and

each year he hires a number of

men to serve him in the luxury

areas of Target Field. Getting

paid to watch baseball? That

has got to be a crime.

- Written by Daniel Louden-

back

Alumni Networking Alumni are a huge part of

what Pi Kappa Alpha stands

for, and you’ll never meet a

group of people who are so

proud to represent their

roots. Last year PIKE actives

and alumni alike gathered to

share in great times and make

new memories and friends.

The first alumni event was the

annual Boot Hockey game.

Alumni took on actives . Sen-

ior member Erik Ordal recalls

“It is a perfect

opportunity

to network for

the actives.”

Page 2 Parents of Pike Newsletter

As the third pillar of our val-

ues, athletics are extremely

important to our members.

100% of our members partici-

pate in some type of intramu-

ral, club, or varsity athletic

team, and many participate in

multiple teams. The majority

of members are also in fitness

clubs or maintain an individu-

alized workout routine. We

have intramural soccer, foot-

ball, basketball, softball, hock-

ey, dodge ball, and volleyball

teams. During the 2011-2012

school year, Pike dominated

the intramural world at the

University of Minnesota. In

the fall, our Greek basketball

team succeeded in bringing

home the championship; un-

fortunately, during the Spring

league they lost in the champi-

onship. Our football team also

boasted a championship dur-

ing the Spring league in TCF

stadium, but lost heartbreak-

ers in the playoffs during the

Fall and Spring Greek leagues.

Our teams this year are also

well on their way to champi-

onships, so stay tuned!

- Written by Daniel Louden-

back The 2012 TCF Spring League Championship football team.

Athletics

a table set up with infor-

mation. The Hennepin County

Medical Center Burn Center

provides intensive, acute, and

rehabilitative care to children

and adults from the Twin Cit-

ies and surrounding states

who have sustained burn inju-

ries and other complex

wounds. Raising Cane’s spon-

sored the event by providing

lemonade and water for all

teams and a 50 piece dinner

for the winning team. Team

“Vote NO” eventually won

after beating “Team Brick

Squad” in a fire truck pull-off

for 1st place. Pike ended up

raising just around $1200 for

the HCMC (Hennepin County

Medical Center) Burn Unit.

We are proud about how the

event went and plan to make it

an annual tradition.

- Written by Cully Leverenz

and Christopher Hipp

Fire Truck Pull The Beta Chi chapter held its

first annual Fire Truck Pull to

raise money for the Hennepin

County Medical Center’s Burn

Unit. Teams took turns pulling

a fire truck 25 yards as fast as

possible. There were prizes for

the fastest team, best costume,

and most firefighter determi-

nation. Different groups from

all around campus showed up

to compete including sorori-

ties, other fraternities and

various student groups. The

Burn Unit also had a team and

Page 3 Volume 1, Issue 1

1318 University Ave.

Minneapolis, MN

55414

For comments and questions regarding the

Parents of Pike Newsletter, please contact

Daniel Loudenback at loude027@umn.edu.

www.minnesotapikes.com

As members of the Pi Kappa Alpha Frater-

nity, we commit ourselves to uphold the

values taught in our Ritual and restated in

our Vision, Mission, and Creed. The True

Pike is committed to a life of caring for

others as he cares for himself. In pursuit of

that ideal, we reaffirm our commitments

to Ourselves, to our Brothers, to our Fra-

ternity, and to our Community. Pi Kappa

Alpha is dedicated to developing men of

integrity, intellect, and high moral charac-

ter and to fostering a truly lifelong frater-

nal experience.

Pi Kappa Alpha: Beta Chi Chapter

which is another great part of

joining a national fraternity

like Pike.

- Written by Daniel Louden-

back

Pi Kappa Alpha is dedicated to

developing men of integrity,

intellect, and high moral char-

acter and to fostering a truly

lifelong fraternal experience.

One way that we do this is by

hosting national leadership

conventions called “Pike Uni-

versity”. During the fall Pike U

is in Kansas City, and in Chi-

cago during the Spring. We

had an awesome turnout in

the Fall, but during the Spring

session in KC our chapter sent

28 members, the second most

of any chapter nationwide! We

take pride in our Pike U’s and

the great information we ob-

tain from them. It is also awe-

some meeting other Pikes

from around the country, and

working on our networking,

Pike University

SLAG:

Scholars, Leaders, Athletes,

Gentleman.

Credit for the Parents of Pike Newsletter goes to Christopher Hipp, Darbus Sinjem, Cully Leverenz, Tyler Cowart and

Daniel Loudenback.

This newsletter is meant solely for the use of the Beta Chi Chapter of Pi Kappa Alpha.