Zeta Phi on the yard
 

I had a doctor's appointment this morning far enough east of my house that going into work today I went past Howard U. Now it appears that Howard isn't back in Session yet, but I did walk onto campus to see what Alpha Phi Omega's place on the yard looks like.

I am most impressed. Its a rectangle of bricks about 2.5 foot by 3.5 foot with a rectangle of painted tiles in the middle with the crest beautifully painted on it. I saw the bricks for the most recent trefoil club (unfortunately only 11 bricks for a 12 person line, guess one didn't cross. :( ).

It's relatively close to DST & IPT, who would definately be among those I would want as neighbors right now.

Unfortunately, "The Guild" wasn't open (the just off campus greek store) although the hours on the door said it opened at 10:00 and I was there at 10:30.

Hopefully, I can convince my wife for the family to come to the Probate Show this spring.

Randy

We are trying to work on putting our place/plot together at Johnson C. Smith. Any ideas or concepts as far as what would be nice to see represented by the Delta Phi Chapter.

Well, from looking at your school website, it doesn't look like the Fraternities at JCSU have trees of their own as opposed to most of the NPHC who do at Howard. (Trying to figure out what is shown at http://www.jcsu.edu/current/studenta...anhellenic.htm)

Wish I could get pictures of what Zeta Phi does. Maybe after they come back to school on Wednesday.

I don't have any current pictures of our new plot, but myself along with the other bruhs of z phi will do out best to explain it to you....

Oh, and the DST was just recently painted about two months ago, and sad to say this but the Iotas painted their tree last year because they thought the school was going to allow us to have it because at the time we were being okay'ed for the yard, they only had a board sitting next to the tree with their greek letters on it...lol

http://oldgoldsoul.com/ZPplot01.JPG
http://oldgoldsoul.com/ZPplot02.JPG
http://oldgoldsoul.com/ZPplot03.JPG
http://oldgoldsoul.com/ZPplot04.JPG
http://oldgoldsoul.com/ZPplot05.JPG

These pictures of Zeta Phi's plot were taken LAST year.

Courtesy www.oldgoldsoul.com

We changed the plot in October....and the pictures aren't coming up...or maybe it just my computer

Can we get an Encore!
 

Several Brothers of the Mighty Zeta Phi Chapter worked on the new plot... The school only gave us a 30min grace period to lay it down but guess what, it was done.......and I must say it was well. Good Job to those who came before the 27 and 16, who gave us insight.

Re: Can we get an Encore!
 

#28, what do you mean by a 30 minute grace period? The school wouldn't let you work on it for more than half an hour?

No NO NO NO
 

We put the plot down during Yard Fest Time........The pathways are blocked for set hours in the early early morning when no one is on the yard.

Re: No NO NO NO
 

Thanks for the clarification.

Dom,

Here are a couple of pointers to help y'all out with your plot...

1. PLEASE CHECK WITH YOUR SCHOOL ON PLACING PLOTS!!!Technically at Howard, there is a moratorium on placing new plots but we are allowed to refurbish the old one, and that is why we were able to do ours! Maybe you can talk to administration, dean of students, groundskeeping or whomever to see the proper procedure and what they will allow. Plus GET IT IN WRITING, but since you went to JCSU, I am sure that you know the importance of getting things in writing. ;)

2. Plan Thouroughly! Building a plot is expensive (we were fortunate enough to have an alum pay for it all) and requires a lot of man hours, believe me I know! Make sure that you plan well and itemize so that you won't run into problems later. Also look at other schools to see what they have done to get some ideas!
Remember, PISS POOR PERFORMANCE RESULTS FROM IMPROPER PLANNING!

3. Get the Chapter involved! It is a great fellowship and I know when we did ours, we had a ball, right before, during and after Hurricane Isabel!!!:D :p

I wish Delta Phi all the luck!

Re: Zeta Phi on the yard
 

Yeah, The Guild sucks, they are the most unprofessional business, I have ever encountered. The owner always has an attitude, he is constantly late on 'naila orders and is quite expensive, you didn't miss anything and as a matter of fact, I choose to shop at UMCP's greek store!

I hope you both come too! How is your son? Everytime I think about sectionals at American, I remember him...he was soooo cute!!!

Not trying to misquote, but rather to bring out what I comment on...

1) The old one equals from when?
a) Prior to the chapter going inactive in 1986?
b) From the effort in the 1994 timeframe?
c) From last year/last semester?

2) Other schools should include not just the co-ed HBCUs but the single gender ones as well. I don't remember anything about ZPhi's plot (either last year or this) that would have been significantly different if ZPhi were single-gender.

Randy

Re: Re: Zeta Phi on the yard
 

I remember not liking them, but did find something that I haven't ever found anywhere else. It was a plastic representation of the key, made out of stacked levels of plastic and about 3 inches across. (So the area around the sun was thicker than the rest) Sort of tough to describe and I think he had had it for a decade or so. My wife's word to describe it was "Hideous" and was glad when it broke. I would still like to stop by at some point because he probably does have some sort of unique stuff, but I'm only going to get what he actually has there.

All three sons are doing well, David was the one walking around, Joshua was the one in the stroller who needed to have Frank the Friendship frog and Nathan was the one in arms (I think he was there, don't remember).

Joshua is now a Kindergardner!

In regards to probate, you said "Both of you", I was sort of thinking the entire family, would you advise against bringing children under 10 to Probate?


Randy

Well, Zeta Phi along with most of the other groups back in the sixties used to have trees. Ours was where the Plot is currently. During some mysterious storm, the majority of trees were wiped out on campus. In the early eighties right before our chapter went inactive, the brothers decided to place a stone marker in honor of the frat/chapter. Over time, the beautiful stone marker was reduced to a piece of unrecognizable stone. When we rechartered, we wanted to place a new one, but due to the moratorium (some inappropriate things happened to some plots), we were only allowed to refurbish. Actually since the rechartering, we are on our fourth plot and it is constantly changing!!!

Yes it should, At Z-Phi, we have the plot in addition to a wall over by the female dorms. At Kappa Delta (FAMU) they had a tree and a wall (i believe). I think at Psi Phi, they have a bench check with Attractive with that. But that is just to get some ideas. You might can put down the shield, service key, whatever!!!

As far as the probate goes, I wouldn't recommend children 1. because most times it starts at midnight and 2. Sometimes it can get a little rowdy with brothers and friends of trefoils being excited for the trefoils and you might hear some swear words of encouragement coming from both! But if you don't mind it then feel free to bring them!

That is great about your sons, the one I remember was a baby at the American sectionals. He was just sooooo sweet and adorable.

Not sure how much advantage it would be to the chapter to get a new plot rather than a new one. Not that many trees of significant size on the yard. Any pictures from the yearbooks of what the stone marker looked like? All ideas are useful here, even from the alumni of the inactive chapters!


BTW, what's with the tipped over trunk of wood with Eta Omega on it at the north end of the yard?

I thought the probate event that Jamie C attended occured at 7:25 PM ? (and surrounding time) (and I work with the military so the time instantly made sense. :)

Randy

The Eta Omega trunk belongs to Kappa Kappa Psi Band Fraternity and the probate time changes so if we have a line when the probate date is finalized I will be sure to invite you and the family.

:)

Why wouldn't you have a line?

We vote on it...and the vote may be to not have one...

agreeing with my ace
 

Now as to whether we are having one, I do not know cause i am an alum! Since intake is not mandatory some chapters may choose to not have a line for a semester or a year. sometimes chapters need the semester to focus on other things or to control having too many people in an organization (quantity is cool but quality is always better){Plus at HBCU's you have to control intake because at some schools, the administration may place a cap if your org is too large and if your org is too large, people will feel like anyone can join and it may turn some people off}. taking a pledge class is a lot of work, that is why the vote is necessary to see the necessity in having a line.

skipping lines
 

What is the current size of the chapter and how many seniors?

I have seen chapters skip semesters, but generally this occurs in cases where the chapter is growing quickly with the most recent pledge class/line is at least 80% of the size of the brotherhood when it pledged (or to put it another way, 4 out of 9 of the brothers when you vote are from the most recent pledge class/line).

I think one limitation I did see on this was a chapter that did not allow a vote on skipping a pledge class if they had just skipped one.

Randy

KKPsi's tree was takendown by the school because the tree was dead...the trunk and tump are now removed and they are now in the process of reestablishing their plot.

Teh AKA tree withthe Ivy on it was also taken down...and the Phi Beta Sigma tree is slated for the next upheaval...

WOW! I need to visit the yard again ASAP!

Well I guess the advantage of not having a tree is that it can't be cut down... :(

Are all of those trees dead or are they doing campus remodeling and the trees needed to be removed? Will they put new trees in their place? I am trying to picture the yard without those trees and it just seems funny!

P.S. Congrats Terri!

I don't know if they will replace them....but the KKPsi and Sigma trees hadnt produced more than a few leaves since I came to HU...the AKA Ivy tree (not the one where they have a pink marble plaque imbedded in the ground) was still "alive" just overrun with ivy, so they took it down before it fell i guess.