Beta Chi Chapter | FOUNDED 1868

This past weekend, recruitment chair Ross Gebauer signed the first pledge of the 2010 fall class of the Beta Chi chapter, Tanner Fuchs.  Tanner is from the metro area and is enrolling in the College of Science and Engineering (formerly known as the Institute of Technology).  He was a varsity athlete in both football and track in high school, and is an excellent fit for the Pike House at the University of Minnesota.  Welcome Tanner!

Lakeville is a city about 20 minutes south of Minneapolis, and they have a Clean-up Day every spring. Participants walk along the highways in the area and clean up garbage. Pike had over 20 members help with the clean-up efforts; we picked up the sides of a 2.5 mile stretch of road. The mayor was very pleased to see that we came all the way from the U of M to help out.

Relay for Life is an anual event at the U of M to raise money for the American Cancer Society. It started at 6pm on April 16 and ended twleve hours later. Pike had over 25 members participate, one of the larger groups in attendence. It was great to see a large number of participants at the event and Pike will continue to support Relay for Life in the future.

On Saturday, April 10, 2010, the Epsilon Class was initiated. We are honored to welcome these new members into our fraternity and believe that they have a lot to offer. This class is one of the largest on campus this spring. We also initiated Phil Thompson, the first president of Beta Chi when Pike was restarted in 2006.

Once a Pike, always a Pike.

The Beta Chi Chapter is proud to annouce their pledge class for Spring 2010. Each person exemplifies S.L.A.G. (Scholars, Leaders, Athletes, Gentlemen) and is excited to start learning about the history of Pike and begin to get involved. The pledge class includes the following:

-Luis Guitart

-Parker Hanson

-Joseph Roth

-Habib Salama

-Garrett Schaefer

-Bobby Thoits

-Brent Williams

Every person shows promise for the future of the fraternity and we are proud to soon have them become a initiated member of Pi Kappa Alpha.

Pike University serves as a teaching tool to the over 200 international chapters of Pi Kappa Alpha. The Beta Chi Chapter sent 14 members to this event just outside of Chicago during the weekend of February 27. The members learned a variety of information about building an award-winning chapter. These events help to push our chapter in the direction an award-winning chapter that benefits our community and university. This event also served as a brotherhood event, in which members were able to hang out with each other the entire weekend.

The Beta Chi Chapter celebrated Founder's Day with the alumni on February 27, 2010. A few of the undergraduates enjoyed a dinner at Jax's Cafe and social time with some of the members of the Twin Cities Alumni Association (TCAA). Topics discussed included events to get more alumni involved and creating a smoother transition from active member to alumni. The alumni have helped the chapter in numerous ways; we would not be at the point we are if it wasn't for our alumni.

March 1 marks the 142 anniversary of the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity. Since the chapter received their charter on Novermeber 7, 2008, the chapter has been working closely with them to increase alumni involvement to create a solid alumni base around the Twin Cities. The chapter hosts barbeques, poker events and more for the alumni in addition to the events TCAA hosts for the alumni throughout the year.