Hello Tau Zeta Alumni! My name is Connor McCormick and I had the pleasure of getting elected to fill the shoes of our Rho position. I am no Andrew Talevich, but I can guarantee I will try my hardest to keep you updated with these Tau Talks and blogs. I am currently a sophomore and ran for this position because I love to write and really want to attempt to reach out to all the alumni because Tau Zeta is so blessed with our Older Brothers. I’m not only excited to meet Tau Zeta’s Alumni I have yet to meet, but also to be the liaison between our amazing alumni and the undergraduate brothers on the WSU campus.
On May 28th, over 25 Lambda Chi’s and potential new members went to Safeco Field to watch the Mariners play the Yankees. We sure got what we paid for, with the game going into extra innings with the M’s pulling it out in the bottom of the 12th winning 5-4 to beat the Yankees for the second night in a row. We had a great time out in those right field bleachers and would like to think that our yelling, screaming and a perfectly harmonized “Take Me Out to the Ballgame” during the seventh inning stretch, was all a part of that base knock by Adam Kennedy that drove the winning run in.
Also, we want to thank Brothers Justin Alexander and Kennan Adams for opening up their beautiful homes on Lake Sammamish and Lake Washington. They graciously hosted BBQs for our recruitment events and provided entertainment for our members such as wakeboarding, inter tubing, swimming and many other fun activities. It was a great way for our members and PNMS to get to know each other during the summer months. We are currently standing at 17 new incoming freshman that have signed with us, but recruitment is over in two weeks, so we are going to find some more fine gentlemen and try and reach our goal of 30 Associate Members for this fall class. Brother Blake Tamminen has done a great job in his High Delta position. It wouldn’t have been possible without the hard work he put into his position, along with all the Brothers who attended recruitment events
As many of you may have heard, Tau Zeta was featured in our National Magazine. --- we have been recognized for our great turn around in members and numbers we have had in the past couple of years. We were also recognized for our grades, our community service with the Whitman County Humane Society “Furball” auction, and our awesome Firetruck had a nice little spread in the article as well.
We also have been blessed with a grant from the Tolo Club to make some great improvements to the Chapter house. We have new carpet in the second deck hallways, and new front entry tile. We have also been working hard on the outside of our house, getting our brick pressure washed along with planting some trees and plants. We have also installed a trellis on the east side of the house. Soon a flagpole will be in the front yard of the house, and we will be dedicating it to Sean Ferguson, an undergraduate brother who passed away in 2008. We are very excited to fly our national flag along with the Lambda Chi Alpha Flag in front of our house. You can expect pictures on the blog of all of these improvements this coming Monday.
Brother Knoben was elected to High Sigma this past winter elections. He re-wrote our Scholarship Plan and boy did it work. Our incoming sophomores recorded the highest GPA for a class as a whole on Greek Row in the spring semester with a 3.67. Lambda Chi also was first in grades on Greek Row for Fraternities upholding a 3.27 GPA. We learned that 3.27 is the highest GPA ever recorded by a fraternity on the WSU campus.
This is greatly due to the hard work and effort of all of our Brothers to make grades, as well as Brother Knoben’s new Scholarship Plan. Lambda Chi’s all over the nation has been contacting Tau Zeta to obtain our Plan. We are so lucky to have determined brothers that want to work hard to achieve our study goals along with a scholarship plan that is second to none.
Brothers John McMullen, Blake Tamminen, Scott Knoben, and Justin Scherting all traveled to Ames, Iowa for the Stead Leadership Seminar. At this three day seminar, our Brothers learned a lot of very valuable things that will help our chapter out greatly, such as a creation of a year long recruitment strategy, ideas for new member education and a network of other Lambda Chi’s around the country. *We also won two awards in Iowa, the Phoenix award, which recognized us for being the most improved chapter in the past three years. Brother Knoben’s plan also won the Outstanding Scholarship Program Award, for our chapter having the best grades out of all the Lambda Chi chapters in the nation as well as the Plan he implemented into not only our house, but in many other chapters now as well.
I cannot wait to begin to meet many of you as you come over to Pullman for various . I am very excited about my new position. Check the blog on Monday for pictures of the house and a new update. Please contact me through the rho email tauzetarho@gmail.com if you have any questions or comments.
In Z.A.X.
Connor McCormick
Δ 1756π
