Fire Truck Videos

Below are videos of the Lambda Chi fire truck before it carried a group of Lambda Chi's and their mothers on a drive around Pullman during Mom's Weekend.

Impromptu Visit Spurs Reconnection

On Thursday afternoon, seven members of the Lambda Chi class of 1961 had an impromptu visit to the Tau Zeta house. These men were visiting WSU for the “Golden Grad” events which included tours of the university and luncheons with other individuals who graduated from WSU fifty years ago. Unfortunately they had been unaffiliated with the Lambda Chi house for a number of years.

During a luncheon, Tim Pavish who is also a Lambda Chi alum and works at WSU noticed that some of these visitors had their Tau’s written on their name tags. Pavish was delighted to meet these fellow Lambda Chi’s and told them they should stop by the house for a tour.

When the seven members showed up at the house, they were happy to find out that the membership is in a strong state. We shared stories and talked about how many Lambda Chi traditions still have remained intact for over fifty years.

As a Lambda Chi who will graduate in a week, I am always happy to find alumni who still value the fact that they are brothers of Tau Zeta. This common link is something that is so important because it enriches our lives and aids in making life-long friendships. I hope that I will have the same opportunity to visit the Tau Zeta house fifty years from now.

Dick, Jerry, Jim, Dave, John, David, Dennis and all other Tau Zeta alumni:

You are always welcome to our house. Please feel to stop in, share stories, and continue your commitment to Lambda Chi.

In ZAX,

Andrew Talevich

Alumni Correspondent

Tau 1731

A Pinning for the Ages

Congratulations to Brother Joey Pettersson and his girlfriend, Erin Stirling who is a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. Last week, the men from Lambda Chi and women from Kappa Alpha Theta aided in the pinning ceremony between this couple. For those who are unfamiliar with the pinning ceremony, it is a Greek tradition when a boyfriend shows his commitment to his girlfriend. The boyfriend gives his girlfriend his fraternity pin. It typically occurs when one, or both the individuals are a senior.

For Brother Pettersson who is set to graduate in a week, the time was right.

“I just thought it was the right thing to do. I’ve been going out with Erin for seventeen months and this is a way to show my faith to her,” he said.

During the ceremony, Lambda Chi’s sang three traditional songs for the Erin and the Thetas: “Hey Ho Is Anybody Home,” “Lambda Chi Alpha Darling,” and “Hip Hip Hooray for Lambda Chi.” The big brother and little brother of Brother Petterson and the little sister and big sister of Erin shared stories about their relationship. After the ceremony the Thetas and Lambda Chi’s socialized and enjoyed ice cream. 

Tau Zeta Awarded for Partnership with Humane Society

The men of Lambda Chi won a very special award yesterday.

The 2011 Excellence in Civic Engagement Award was given to Tau Zeta at the fourth annual Cougs Care Celebration Event for our participation with the Whitman County Humane Society. A large group of well-dressed Lambda Chi’s were very happy to accept this award at yesterday’s event.

During the event, John Fraire, Vice President of Enrollment and Student Involvement, spoke about how giving back to the community is a very important aspect of being a student at WSU. Furthermore, he spoke about how WSU sometimes struggles with a bad reputation compared to other universities he worked at, but that today’s award-winners showed that WSU was not worthy of this bad image. He also acknowledged that Greeks played a very important role in community outreach.

Here is what the Center of Civic Engagement said about Lambda Chi in winning this award:

“Lambda Chi Alpha Fraternity has ‘adopted’ the Whitman Country Humane Society for several years- taking the lead in organizing the main fundraising event for the WCHS, ‘The FurBall and Yappy Hour.’ The proceeds from the event go to the no-kill shelter, Animal Haven. The men of Lambda Chi Alpha make a significant difference through their enthusiastic participation and investment in this partnership”

Previous Lambda Chi’s who have held the position of philanthropy chair played a significant part of garnering year’s award. These members include:

Bryan Ernsdorff

Dave Simpson

Peter Kitzmiller

Ben Krein

Justin Scherting

The philanthropy chairs have sat on the board for the Humane Society’s FurBall each year, making Lambda Chi’s presence in the community that much greater. Furthermore, the philanthropy chairs are in charge of organizing all Lambda Chi’s in their assistance with the FurBall dinner and other volunteer services we provide for the Humane Society.

Brother Justin Scherting currently serves as Lambda Chi’s philanthropy chair. His efforts were instrumental in helping the Humane Society and Lambda Chi raise $42,000 in this year’s FurBall.

For four years, Lambda Chi has had a strong partnership with the Whitman County Humane Society. We would like to thank them for nominating us for this award. Lambda Chi’s look forward to many more years working side by side with Humane Society workers in helping homeless doggies and kitties.

Community Service is Key for Lambda Chi's

Lambda Chi’s are known for many things, but the one that gets the most overlooked is usually volunteer work.

This is not the case for Brother Dave Simpson, who takes many hours every week out of his senior year schedule to volunteer at the YMCA at WSU. While most seniors are worrying about their own immediate futures, Dave is busy worrying about the futures of the children he works with. 

He started volunteering his time over one and a half years ago, working at after school programs. He now is the student Vice-President to the YMCA, and coordinates many of its programs. Some of these programs include Healthy Kids Day, a day when YMCA volunteers encourage the community to get out of the house and play with their kids instead of  playing video games or watching television. This is a great step forward to shave off obesity for these kid’s futures. Other projects include the recently held YMCA event partnered with the WSU Art Club to host a silent art auction with all the proceeds going directly to the YMCA. 

Organizing is not the only thing Dave does when he volunteers; he also tutors and mentors weekly at local Sunnyside Elementary. Effecting the youth in a positive light is really what gives the meaningful work substance.

And the volunteer work is not going to slow down anytime soon for Dave, he will continue to be a valuable asset to the YMCA after he graduates. This is the true meaning of altruism, giving a whole lot of yourself, without expecting anything in return. We can all learn a lot from Dave’s example and take him as a role model. We all could be doing a little more to better our communities. It’s a cliché but its true: making a difference really does start with one person.

In ZAX,

Trevor Johnson

Tau 1734

Tolo Club News: Scholarships and Golf Tournament

A big shout goes out to the members of the Tolo Club and prominent alumni who have worked diligently to set up a Tau Zeta scholarship. Last Monday, Tolo Club President Jim King laid out the details of the scholarship to the current membership of Tau Zeta at chapter.

Next year, three seniors with the highest GPA’s and who still in the Tau Zeta house will be awarded $500 in scholarship funds. Also, three scholarships are set up for next year’s associate member class for the members that have the highest GPA’s in the fall semester. The scholarships consist of $500, $300, and $200 for the associate members with the first, second, and third best GPA’s.

These scholarships will provide an incentive for Lambda Chi’s to continue to work diligently in their studies and live in the Tau Zeta house for their entire college careers.   

In other Tolo Club news, the Golf Tournament and Tolo Club meeting is quickly approaching. This event is at Willows Run Golf Course in Redmond on Saturday, May 21^st. The Golf Tournament starts at 8:00 a.m. and the lunch and meeting will begin around 1:00 p.m. Golf and lunch costs $105.00. If you only want to attend the Tolo Club meeting and not play golf then it will cost $20.00. A paypal account is set up on the Tolo Club’s web site to pay for golf and/or lunch.

Any additional information about the Golf Tournament, Tolo Club meeting, or scholarship program can be found on the Tolo club’s web site: Toloclub.org.  

In ZAX,

Andrew Talevich

Alumni Correspondent

Tau 1731

Fire Truck Serves as Tau Zeta Trademark

Around this time last year, Tau Zeta was in the middle of a fund-raising campaign called, "Fire up the Engine." The goal of this campaign was to raise the necessary funding to repair the Tau Zeta fire truck that had been damaged from years of use. During the campaign, I met many awesome Tau Zeta alumni and parents from every generation who generously helped our house out.

Though our efforts, we were able to raise $6,000. With this money we could renovate the fire truck and give it a new paint job. We constantly take the fire truck out on rides around Pullman. The fire truck has helped us reconnect with our alumni, bolster recruitment numbers, and act as a trademark for house. It's truly something we can all take pride in.

Below are pictures of the fire truck and a plaque that is sealed to the fire truck with the names of the top donors who contributed to "Fire up the Engine" campaign.

Thank you again for all your help. Alumni are always welcome to stop by the Tau Zeta house and take a ride on the fire truck.

In ZAX,

Andrew Talevich
Tau 1731
Alumni Correspondent

Firemen Entertain Lambda Chi's

Members of the Pullman fire department stopped at the Lambda Chi house to share stories and enjoy dinner. This is the fourth dinner the men from Lambda Chi have hosted in the last two months. Previous guests were Athletic Director Bill Moos, Councilmen Barney Waldrop and Nathan Weller and Pullman Mayor Glenn Johnson.

We enjoyed learning about the in’s and out’s of the firemen’s job and the duties they perform on a daily basis. After dinner we were treated to a tour of their fire engine. It is truly amazing when you see all the life-saving tools that a fire engine holds. We also took a picture with the firemen on our newly renovated fire truck.

We were very happy the firemen could take a break from their busy schedules to meet the men of Lambda Chi Alpha. We hope to host another dinner with them soon.

Tau Zeta Competes in Philanthropies

Over the course of this semester, the men of Lambda Chi Alpha have reached out to the community and have supported many great causes.

Recently we participated in the Sigma Kappa Dodgeball Tournament and took first place. Alpha Omicron Pi hosted a bowling tournament where four of our brothers, Scott Knoben, Brad Lynch, Camden Nix, and William Sarbaugh showed off their skills. A couple of these pro bowlers even bowled in the two hundreds. Good job guys!

The month of March brought with it some killer snow showers. Reflecting the frosty weather of Pullman, Alpha Phi and Sigma Alpha Epsilon hosted Winter Olympic events that included, hurling and street hockey. We even ended up singing Olympic status serenades as we teamed up with the sorority, Pi Beta Phi.

The sorority Alpha Chi Omega enthusiastically hosted their annual dance off, appropriately named “Dancing with the Cougs,” where we were able to clinch third place in the ballroom. Delta Gammas hosted their annual auction where we supported their house by purchasing a carwash package and allowing some fun loving members of their sorority to wash our firetruck. Alpha Gamma Delta, Gamma Phi Beta, and Theta Xi hosted their annual March Madness 3v3 basketball tournament. Brothers Grayson Grant, Kennan Adams, Kyle Weber, and Justin Alexander battled hard in Smith Gym and took 2nd place in the tournament.

These are just some of the great things we have been up to these past few months and I guarantee there is much more to come. I’d like to also give a big shout out to Justin Scherting, our philanthropy chair, to thank him for keeping the house informed and on top of all these events.


In ZAX,

John Jamora

Tau 1768

Spring Means Intramural Season for Lambda Chi's

The Men of Lambda Chi love their intramural sports. 

We are currently participating in four sports: co-ed and men’s softball and soccer, as well as volleyball and badminton. Lambda Chi is paired with the lovely ladies of Delta Gamma for softball, and we are playing this Thursday to try and improve to 3-0.

Though our men’s soccer team didn’t fair too well, we had a great time.  The women of Kappa Alpha Theta are helping us out with our co-ed soccer team. Currently our team is still in the race competing in the playoffs. The next game will be the semifinals this coming Monday.    

This is the first year in recent history that Lambda Chi has had a badminton team. This team is headed by Justin Alexander (PC ’09) and Kennan Adams (PC ’10).  They are having a great season, and attracting more and more members to join next year. 

Connor McCormick

Tau 1756

Nearly $8,000 Raised During Mom's Weekend

Generous Lambda Chi moms, an over-achieving chef, and strong Lambda Chi leadership made this year’s Mom’s Weekend a huge success.

The main event for Mom’s Weekend, a brunch and auction held at the Tau Zeta house on Saturday, brought in close to $8,000. This was a significantly higher amount that last year’s auction that collected $4,500. Money that was raised from the auction will go toward new chairs and tables in the dining room and additional improvements to the house.

The moms were treated to an array of appetizers prepared by Chef Mike and a team of five other chefs. After the brunch and auction, the men rode their moms around Pullman on the fire truck.

We would like to thank all the Lambda Chi moms for their generosity and dedication to the fraternity.

Moos Talks Sports, Greek Experiences with Lambda Chi's

Last Thursday, WSU Athletic Director Bill Moos stopped by for dinner at the Lambda Chi house. Moos has been the athletic director for close to one year. Moos is an alumni of WSU and played on the football team. He was co-captain during the 1973 season. Moos went on to serve as the athletic director of Montana State and Oregon before returning to his alma-mater.

During dinner we soon found out that Moos had close ties to the Tau Zeta house. His dad had lived in the Tau Zeta house during the 1940’s before enlisting in the military during World War II. Moos recalls visiting the Tau Zeta house as a boy when his dad would take him along to alumni events. When Moos first entered WSU he joined the Pike fraternity but said he always had respect for Lambda Chi’s.

Moos had many rich (and very funny) stories about his experience of living in a fraternity. As he reflected on his college days, Moos reminded me of the Tau Zeta alumni I often speak to and their stories about being Lambda Chi’s. Moos also talked about the future of Cougar Athletics including his marketing plan, budget scenarios and revenue overview. One of his main goals is to build morale with Cougar fans and players. He spoke about his successes in previous jobs and how he hopes to translate those successes to WSU.

After hearing Moos's initiative for WSU athletics we are true believers that he is the right man for the job.

Go Cougs!