Oshawa Colony

[ZetaPsiOshawa]

Hello everyone,

I just stumbled upon this site when searching the web for Zeta Psi stuff. I would just like to introduce myself. My name is Nick Cholodny and I am the Phi of the Oshawa Colony. We have just updated our website although not 100% complete I would love you all the check it out.

www.zetapsioshawa.com

also my msn is nickcholodny@hotmail.com if anyone would like to add me to your lists.

I look forward to chatting with all of you in the future.

Cheers!

Nick Cholodny

[TKPhi]

Welcome, Nick! Good to hear from you.

I look forward to meeting you at the Boston Convention. Details are avalable through the links at www.zetapsi.org.

I'm officed in the Alpha Beta house in Minneapolis, and invite any passing Zetes to email me if they want to stop by. At least for now, we have rooms open. You can see what the MN Associatin of ZP is up to at www.mazp.org.

I'm in NY right now getting the Circle ready to mail.

Tim Kennedy, Foundation ED
tkennedy@(removethis)zetapsi.org

[TKPhi]

Nice websites, both chapters. Find more at http://www.columbia.edu/cu/zetapsi/linx/linx-col2.htm but there are a few bad links (like UDal) and nobody seems to be monitoring the webmaster email.

How did the Business party go, Nick?

[ZetaPsiOshawa]

Thanks for asking...It went very well. We didn't have any problems throughout the night all the guys worked their stations and ensured it was a smooth night. We also picked up 4 rushes from the party who we are currently looking into pledging. So the party was a big success for our Colony. It has also heightened our reputation on campus even more.

We are going to be hosting a 50 person No Limit Texas Hold'em tournement in about 3-4 weeks. If anyone lives in the area and is interested in coming please feel free to e-mail me.

Nicholas Cholodny
Phi - Oshawa Colony
www.zetapsioshawa.com

[TKPhi]

I see that you have the Car Push again in 2005. The IHQ tracks dollars raised by each chapter for ZeteKids, and we're moving toward establishing a minimum number. You can direct the donation to go anywhere you want, but if you do it under the ZeteKids banner, you get IHQ credit.

Are any of you going to the Lafayette LTI on April 1-3? IHQ reimburses for travel costs.

TKPhi,

[ZetaPsiOshawa]

We are actually creating a recognized student group called "ZeteKidz" so we can run all our philanthropy events through ZeteKidz.

In terms of the LTI at Tau, we will have about 10 guys going down to it. Last year 8 of us attended, and we are going to make LTI's mandatory for each new member of our Colony because we felt we gained a lot of information from last years session.

We are not 100% sure on our Car Push date but it is looking like it will be the weekend after the LTI at Tau. Once we confirm our date I will post it for everyone.

Cheers,

Nicholas Cholodny
Phi - Oshawa Colony
www.zetapsioshawa.com

[CanadianZete]

Almost all of our fundraising goes towards paying IHQ's fees. With only about 10-12 active guys the bills add up way too fast not to be trying to get money from somewhere other then our pockets We do of course do alot of fundraising for community groups, but have yet to have any Zete Kidz events. What kind of minimum would be required??? With a small chapter in a non Greek area, it can be hard to meet these quotas.

As for the LTI none of us from the Alpha Mu chapter will be able to make it. It is just to far away from Halifax for any of to make it without interfereing with our school schedules. But we should be sending a few to convention. I hope to make it up, I had a blast in Toronto last year.

Could you email me with some details about the organization of your car push??? We are considering doing something similar here in Halifax. It seems like it would be fun, and we are always up for teying new ideas.

[TKPhi]

You should call on Rick Gateman for help with the Zete Kids events; Rick was the Phi Alpha at the time Zete Kids was launched at the Calgary 2002 convention.

I'm just getting into changes in the LTI with the LI committee; I posted elsewhere on this site asking for suggestions. So far the new course format seems to be viewed as an improvement bty the attendees.

If the LTIs are too far away to get to, I would think that's not very useful. Do you have a suggestion for solving that?

Why so few actives? How many undergraduate men are at UC? Which elders are involved in the active chapter?

TKPhi, TK

[CanadianZete]

There are about 16,000 total students at Dalhousie, meaning approximately 8,000 men at the school. There are only 5 fraternities on campus, and none of them are very large. We have no house and about 5 elders whom we ever see, not including 1-5 from the previous few graduating classes. Which means little to no alumni support, but we manage. We would love more rush, and hope to have a more fruitful year in the fall. The average siaze for our chapter is around 17-20 men, our goal has always been 40, but 10-12 is a far cry from that amount. Most Canadian chapters are not as large as the American ones, but ours is smaller then in recent years.

As for distance, we are a bit different then most chapters being on a peninsula 4 hours from the closest chapter, and about 8-10 hours from the next closest chapters after that. (these distances are in driving hours of course.)
Has anybody ever suggested virtual LTI's??? Where chapters or members who could not physically attend could see the LTI's via webcam or something of that nature..... Just a sugestion. Would be harder to actively participate, but we would at least be able to hear the valuable information. Not sure if this might just discourage some from attending, but a different idea.

[TKPhi]

Oops. I read "jonnycalgary" and thought "Chi Gamma"
Rick is a little far away to help. Never mind about all that.

The elder problem is a real one, and one of the reasons I took on this job is to improve elder involvement, both with the chapters and among themselves.

I have yet to talk to Jeff Price, who I am told is the elder Phi. What sort of elder activities do AM elders do? Do they have elder-only activities, or only with the actives?

The US Midwest and US Southern chapters have the same problem with geography. From MN, it's 4 hours to WI, 6 to UIC, 9 to IL and NB. But some do well despite it, so we know it can be done.

I really think it has more to do with how we present ourselves than anything else. In the LTIs now, we're trying to teach proven sales techniques. They not only give the actives a big leg up in their first jobs, but they cam be used right now in our rush activities.

I'll pass along the distance-learning idea. We may be able to come up with something.

TKPhi, TK

[citizensunshine]

I'm still, I think, technically the webmaster for the Alpha Chapter link referenced above (http://www.columbia.edu/cu/zetapsi/linx/linx-col2.htm); sorry if I haven't been monitoring the emails to zetapsi@columbia.edu, but an active was supposed to take that over once I graduated. I'll see if I can track down whomever they've assigned to do it.

Meanwhile, I'm working on updating the chapter database in a more extensible format for IHQ... hopefully, I'll be done soon.

[TKPhi]

Brother Sunshine:

I hope the Alpha initiation on the 29th went well; I was unable to stay another 2 days in NYC to attend.

As the Director of the Foundation, I am responsible for the database. Anything you are doing with your list will eventually end up on my plate. The database is much improved in the last 4 months, and I don't remember running a list for the Alpha. So, I may be able to get you some new info and save you some work. Email me at tkennedy at the zetapsi.org domain and I will send you a list in the format you want.

We also will do a Harris Directory in the next 12 months, which will help immensely.

The IHQ used to have direct links to the actives' websites, but our legal counsel has pointed out since we can't control the content of the pages directly, a direct link would be a liability risk.

So the Alpha web page is one I direct many people to , including those contemplating starting a new chapter. I would very much like to see it complete, and will provide any info needed to do that.

And to Nick:
I am late in saying that although I had hoped to meet you at Lafayette LTI, the men that attended represented your chapter well. I hear you are now at 31 men; I hope that the prospect of a charter at Boston will help you reach 40!

[CanadianZete]

Congrats on the Charter. It was a good time in Boston!!!!!

[TKPhi]

Bros, I just got back this AM. That was the smoothest convention I've ever seen out of the 15 or 16 I've been to.

Look for all the photos you saw at GCB and more to hit the website soon.

Can't wait for the Tau Theta installation!

TKPhi,
TK