The past four weeks have been exciting, fun-filled, and incredibly successful for Sigma Phi Epsilon’s future. Earlier this week we had 23 excellent rushes accept the bids that we extended to them. As we move forward, we are all excited to see how they handle the sigma challenge. We are prepared to show them all what it means to be a Sig Ep.
Rush began on January 17; our first day of classes. Mitch Goldich, a former VP Recruitment at our chapter and current Communications Manger for SigEp, as well as Rob Sowell, our regional director, came to our chapter to hold a module on rush. They got the ball rolling by making us set a goal of 24 new members and stressing the importance of brotherhood involvement. All eyes were on Steve Erbrick, VP Recruitment, and his cabinet to inspire the brothers to put their best foot forward and work for a great new class.
Open houses were Thursday of that week, and we saw some familiar faces from the fall, as well as plenty of new ones who we talked to and invited to future events. The next day we had 34 brothers in attendance at the BMS dinner as well as the majority of the applicants. This was a long process of advertising, interviewing, and it was aptly celebrated at the beginning of our rush process. Billy Mattarazo and Andrew Overgaard took on the majority of this responsibility and selected great candidates. The winner was Delen Wong who was a rush, but after debate we decided to not extend an invitation to join our house. However, BMS was a success as we networked with a group of freshman who may have not come into contact with Sig Ep otherwise. We did give bids to a few candidates who were there that night.
Two Sundays consisted of watching football. We set up a projector and hosted well over 50 people at both games. Plenty of rushes came up as well as friends, and Roland made great wings and subs.
Earlier in the week we had a lot of different dinners. We had two seafood dinners where a sorority and the rushes would all come to the house and feast. Other nights we had senior dinners where we went to a Brazillian Steakhouse, or Steve would place a small group of brothers and rushes together, and they would all go out and get dinner. These smaller more intimate events gave the brothers a chance to really get to know the rushes, and I was surprised at the great turnout we had week after week.
Another eating event I want to highlight was during the the first week of rush. We went to
As the weeks progressed the events became bigger and better. We went to a Philadelphia Sixers game, Blue Mountain to go tubing, had a poker night at the house, went to Atlantic City to see an MMA fight called the “Ring of Combat,” we went to the Lehigh Valley Grand Prix go-carting, and had a blast at our “Grab-a-date Roller Rink Date Party,” which we all dressed up in 80’s attire and went rollerblading. I think another highlight was during the MMA fight; Somehow Steve and Harrison Katz managed to talk the MC into allowing them to go into the cage and give a shout out to SigEp. We really wanted to see them fight, but it’s probably a good thing they didn’t.
Steve Erbrick and Harrison Katz in the ring!
I really enjoyed our recruitment dinner towards the end of rush. We invited 32 rushes to come up to our house which was very nicely decorated with plaques and awards, nice tablecloth, rented silverware and plates. We all had quite a fancy steak and lobster dinner prepared by Roland. It was a great time to talk to rushes we were seriously considering. Steve, President Adam Snee, and David Thompson, an alumnus, came back to give a nice speech about Sig Ep and how important this decision would be in their lives. This was a turning point for me in rush where I think the rushes were able to take a step back and evaluate the gravity of their situation. They started to realize just how life-changing joining SigEp could become.
The last week closed out with an open house for parents on Saturday. On Sunday, February 13th, we spent several hours debating, discussing, and ultimately deciding to hand out 28 bids to potential new members. They all made their decisions and 23 signed. Looking over the list I can safely say that we took Mitch’s “Quantity of Quality” literature to heart. These were 23 exceptional guys who Steve made the following comment about (and I couldn’t agree more with): “I wish I was staying another four years because these guys look to be our best class yet.” Looking at this quote more closely I think it embodies an underlying ideal of rush that I’m glad we upheld: Recruit better men than yourselves. I’m so excited about the new class and know that I am graduating leaving this house in trustworthy hands. I have the utmost confidence in them and would expect nothing less than greatness.
The new members are listed below:
- Grant Atherholt, Freshman
- Aaron Baek, Freshman
- Daniel Bayer, Sophomore (ROTC)
- Caleb Buchanan, Freshman
- Jeffrey Buzen, Freshman
- Jack Connolly, Freshman (Eagle Scout)
- Neal Cousino, Freshman
- Tyler Davenport, Freshman (ROTC)
- Kevin Delfosse, Freshman
- Adam Janes, Freshman
- Kevin Gun Hee Jeon, Freshman
- Alexander Kyritsis, Freshman
- Jeff Levy, Freshman
- Mark Mahoney, Freshman
- Ian McConville, Freshman
- David Melnyczuk, Freshman
- Ian Miller, Freshman
- Andrew Moodie, Freshman
- Matt Nikbin, Freshman
- Renan Reinoso, Freshman
- Brandon Salzman, Freshman
- Aaron Siev, Freshman
- Ian Stanford, Freshman
I’d like to thank Steve Erbrick for his unyielding commitment, working around the clock and behind the scenes to make this year a great success. Additionally, the rush cabinet did an outstanding job, and we even had two motivated sophomores join the rush cabinet a week into rush to help secure a great class. They are listed below:
- Stephen Erbrick, VP Recruitment
- Andrew Bassler, Rush Chair
- Zachary Carter, Rush Chair
- Stevie Hollopeter, Rush Chair
- Billy Matarazzo, Rush Chair
- Andrew Overgaard, Rush Chair
- Matthew Scannella, Rush Chair
- Michael Yanosik, Rush Chair
It’s great to be a Sig Ep!
- Written by brother Zach Carter