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Chapter News

Updates – December and January

By Chapter News

Hello everyone! Apologies on this long awaited update! The website and page admins have been updated and fixed so you will be seeing a lot more posts from now on. : )

Before we talk about January, let’s take a visit to December and catch up on what has happened with the chapter. We mentioned in the last post that Acacia Claus was expected to raise over $1300 dollars this year. WE DID IT. We raised a little over that amount and had a successful time shopping. With the wonderful help from Meijer’s staff, we were able to purchase above the amount raised due to coupons and promotions! Next year we will be meeting with Meijer much earlier in the Acacia Claus process as they have helped us so much and they were very interested in helping the chapter as well.  Our chapter has been making greater connections with the community and we are very excited for all the philanthropic opportunities approaching us next semester. Thanks again to all the wonderful donations given to us from the community, friends, alumni, and everyone else!

Lastly, our planned Dinner of Intent did wonderfully, with a lot of interest from possible new members. It was a wonderful time and we got to know each other a little better!

For the month of January, we came back strong, ready for the new year and new opportunities! January was quite successful with the induction of 4 new pledges! They are fantastic gentlemen and are very excited to be a part of the process. Once they were inducted, we had a special induction dinner for them along with the alumni.  It was a great dinner filled with a lot of laughter and games. A big thanks to the alumni that helped fund part of the dinner!

Other than that, they’re a lot of plans being prepared for this semester. Due to the weather, things have been slow at the chapter/campus but that doesn’t mean we have a lot ready for the coming months!

Night of the Nile has been planned as well as Initiation!  Below are the times to schedule for:

April 5th National Exam @ 7pm in the Mason Lodge

April 6th Initiation @ 7:30am in the Mason Lodge

April 13th Night on the Nile @ 5pm @ Six Autumns in Angola. Dinner served at 6pm

The fantastic dinner of intent!

A successful shopping spree!

That’s A LOT of toys!

Preparing the toys!

We did it!

 

That’s all for the updates! Stay tuned for February’s update as many great things have already happened!




  • Monthly Update – November

    By Chapter News

    With finals coming closer and closer, the fraternity is rapidly coming together for many great events planned for the month! A few significant events to note are initiation, elections, and rush week! These events went super well with few hiccups in between. This fall, we have initiated 1 new fall member: Alex Denton! Alex is a wonderful addition to the brotherhood. With him, he brings wonderful character, great motivation, and a big desire to lead and work with brothers. We are glad to have him.

    This fall is our major election cycle; this means almost all of our executive positions are up for grabs. With this, we elected the following: Venerable Dean – Austin Nault, Senior Dean – Jarod Davis, Junior Dean – Max Green, Cornerstones – Joel Huck, Secretary – Conner Loveless, Treasurer – Jake Rothgeb, Risk Manager – Alex Denton, Sentinel – Max Green, Philanthropy – James Gamage, Sports/IFC – Zach Brown, Webmaster – Jarod Davis, and Chaplin – David Richards. Congratulations to the newly elected officers, we expect you to do great things! Thank you outgoing officers for your time served.

    Months ago, we had planned a rush week. The rush week involved several elements to get our recruits here and interested. With each event, we paired a corresponding food event. Rush week alone has netted us over 15 new names that seem interested in the brotherhood. Tangentially, several members worked together to create a new idea that other fraternities have been doing. Historically, we have not been the strongest when ending the semester. With that, we are planning a Dinner of Intent. This is a dinner that recruits will be invited to, hosted at the Mason Lodge by us, we will have fun activities and food for all the recruits to enjoy and close the semester out strong. We printed the invitations stylishly, and went around campus inviting our recruits wearing suits. We handed out a little under 30 letters. We highly encourage all alumni to attend and bolster our numbers. The dinner will on Saturday, December 8th from 6:30pm – 9pm. We will be pairing this event with another dinner at the start of the semester to hit the ground running. If you are interested, please let Austin Nault know by Friday.

    For Acacia Claus this year, we are expecting to raise over $1300 for Parkview Children’s Hospital. This couldn’t have been done without the generous donations from the community, friends, alumni, and everyone else. Thank you dearly for making this possible. Expect pictures from Acacia Claus in the December update.

    That’s all for this month’s update. Pictures are down below. Have a great holiday and New Years!




  • Monthly Update – October

    By Chapter News

    With Homecoming, Fall Fest, and Midterms, it’s an all out scramble to ensure that everything is done on-time and done well. With this in mind, the month of October was big in terms of ensuring that we had maximum campus involvement. With Homecoming, the brothers came together and had much fun across campus playing various games, eating pies, and painting the sidewalk. Brother Joel Huck managed to win the pie eating contest handily and walked away with a $50 gift card. Brothers Zach Brown, Travis Riddle, and James Gamage also went out and painted and designed our sidewalk art this year. There was also much other fun to be had with events that week. To top it off, we had our annual Homecoming tailgate. Always a blast, actives get to meet alumni, and alumni get to meet actives. Trine even managed to beat Alma for a Homecoming victory.

    As for the more internal operations of the chapter, we finally made the transition to Friday Night Cider & S’mores to accommodate for the colder weather. This was met with moderate success, but with several ideas and lessons learned, we plan on improving the event further to increase attendance. We are also continuing to host weekly events like Smash Night, Movie Night, and others. These events are still met with good success. Midterms, however, are fantastic with our average being around a 3.3. We’ve worked with problem individuals personally to improve their problem classes as well as taking measures to encourage seeing help sessions, a tutor, or the professor.

    Brotherhood is at an all-time high this semester as well with a handful of brotherhood events being well-received. Brother Austin Nault planned a new and improved lock-in with fun events and prizes. Generous donations from Alumni Vince Arizzi helped fund this event. Brother Nault also planned an Acacia Olympics with goofy prizes. All around the brothers loved the event and gave some tips on how to improve it in the future. However, we still strive to improve our brotherhood and be the best we can be, internally and externally.

    Last, but not least, brothers finally received their individual composites as well as the chapter large composite. Brothers are encouraged to get their composites and proudly display them on their walls. Alumni that are included in the composite from last year are welcome to get them with their payment.

    That’s all for this months update! Pictures are down below.




  • Monthly Update – September

    By Chapter News

    These last two months have been incredibly active for Acacia. On our first week, we met at Applebee’s and decided to have a brotherhood retreat and go over: strategic goals, planned events, and our recruitment plan. Needless to say, we’ve been having an absolute blast at hosting events, meeting new people, and working with the school. The chapter is on track to having every member be part of another organization, our GPA is on the rise, a growing biweekly food event, and a stronger campus presence.

    A big focus this year aside from recruitment is professional development. Last year, we passed a requirement that all members be part of another organization on campus. This served two main purposes: getting to know other people on campus, as well as establishing us as the leaders around Trine University. So far, we are slowly meeting this goal from last year. It is already serving us well as more people begin to recognize our name around the university. The previous year, our GPA was lower than what we were happy with, so we took dramatic steps to improve it. More strict study hours, as well as more flexible opportunities to acquire them has proven beneficial as we’ve turned our GPA around. Brother David Richards and Zachary Brown have also taken steps to begin our first official Acacia professional development plan. This is intended to provide associate members and active members opportunities to grow and develop past the pledging period. We’re excited to see where we can take the program!

    Along with Friday Night Floats N Fries, we’ve had a handful of successful events around campus that have secured us more notoriety. We’ve begun heavily advertising Floats N Fries more and with great success. Having a higher turnout than ever before the previous Friday, we are excited to see how it can grow. The chapter has also decided to begin hosting cookouts at the Chapter House to secure more names and establish a higher presence. We’ve also begun going to various sports events around campus to show our support to Trine University and support our athletic teams. We believe this is critical for our success at the school.

    Overall this semester looks very promising for priming us for the Spring Semester going forward.




  • Conclave 2018 – New Orleans (update)

    By Chapter News

    After a long and arduous journey, Brothers Jarod Davis and Zach Brown went to Conclave 2018 in New Orleans. Trying the local nightlife and cuisine, it was a wonderful time. Not only did they experience the culture and food that New Orleans has to offer, they learned many new things about how run the Trine Chapter.

    Armed with new strategies and goals going into Fall 2018, Brothers Zach and Jarod are confident that they will be able to make a big splash into this new semester and make changes that will benefit the chapter at large. Deciding new business, attending seminars and presentations, it was a great learning experience for both.

    Not only was it a great experience, it was a time to learn about the accomplishments of the Trine Chapter. The Chapter was only 1 of 3 chapters total that completed both 7 Days of Service and Acacia Claus every academic year for the biennium. Brother Zach Brown received the Senior Brother of the Year award. Brother CJ Van Antwerp received the Order of Pythagoras for his hard work and dedication to the Chapter long after graduation. Finally, late Brother Paul Belpasso also received the Order of Pythagoras posthumously for his unwavering commitment to Acacia and his community until his passing. We have never been more proud of these brothers and their accomplishments.

    Below is a short gallery of photos taken at Conclave 2018.




  • Conclave 2018 – New Orleans

    By Chapter News

    Brothers Jarod Davis (Treasurer) and Zachary Brown (Venerable Dean) will be attending the 60th biennial Conclave in New Orleans at the Loews Hotel, New Orleans. Conclave is where the International Fraternity votes on business, discusses business, and sets the goals for the fraternity for the next 2 years. This is an excellent learning experience for all members.

    Conclave provides valuable leadership experience, advice, and resources. It is a major opportunity to meet many new people and share your Acacia experience with others. It provides a chance to have fun with many friends you did not even know you had. It is a once-in-a-lifetime experience that every Acacian should have the opportunity of attending.

    All Acacians are welcome to attend and are also welcome to bring a significant other with them for the various banquets offered. Please register on the new myAcacia portal if you are interested in attending! More information on the official Acacia website here.