Our Most Worthy Phi Alpha,
M. David Hunter (left)
with the Dallas-area Zetes! Following a tailgate at Bennigans, Tickets the Texas Rangers v. San Diego Padre's game were provided compliments of our sponsors, and all attending enjoyed a great night of Baseball and fine Zete camaraderie!

Another big kick-off event for our growing Regional Alumni Clubs as over 20 Zete's in attendance at the Karl Struass brewery, including our Most Worthy Phi Alpha M. David Hunter, Iota Alpha / Texas '80, Alpha Phi Alpha Gregory McElroy, Phi / NYU '70, and Board Member Curt Worsey, Tau Gamma / Purdue '80...and many other Zete's & Dates!

The Zeta Psi Washington DC Elders Association recently held it's second Lawyers Luncheon (pictured above) and another successful Job Bank Panel.

The Lawyers Luncheon saw over 20 Zetes & dates coming together at Bobby Van's Steakhouse for a good lunch and a chance tom mingle & network for our local lawyers, law students, and others in the legal field.

The recent DC Eders Job Bank Forum saw professional DC Elders from Capitol Hill and the business community in Washington as panelists. This was another great event for those starting out in the job market to network and get advice on everything from resume writing to interviews.

More details to follow, but you can save the dates now for:

• Monday, July 24 - 3rd Annual DC Elders Summer reception
• Saturday, August 12 - Washington Nationals tailgate & game

I'd like to encourage all of you to attend the Zeta Psi Convention in Philadelphia August 23rd-27th. I first started going to conventions as a senior in 1980. New Orleans hosted Zeta Psi that year. The interaction with follow Zetes, the helpful ideas, and the entertainment were outstanding. I made friends that first convention that have remained friends for life. 22 conventions later I'm still looking forward to the next Zete Convention - it's an experience of a lifetime. I hope to see you in Philadelphia!

Always in Tau Kappa Phi
M. David Hunter
Iota Alpha/Texas '1980
Phi Alpha of Zeta Psi

Like many people my first Convention (Hartford 1978) remains the most memorable for me. I had just been initiated the following November and excited to go on my first "road trip". Brothers Cusimano, Lynch and myself went camping in Cape Cod before the Convention and as soon as we checked into the hotel we knew this was going to be an amazing experience. Brother Cusimano was the registered Active Delegate for Theta Xi and when we registered at the front desk we were informed that we already HAD checked in. Finding this amusing we ventured up to our room. As we got off the elevator we heard this loud din from down the hall (approx. 2:00 PM) and as we approached our room the din increased in volume. Anticipating our first Convention party we were flabbergasted to discover that the din was emanating from OUR room. Entering the room we saw over 30 brothers (maybe 3 from Toronto) were partying it up. One Calgary Zete was actually tossing toilet paper out the window!! Within minutes of entering our room we heard a loud pounding on the door, only to confront Brothers McElroy (Executive Director) and Donaldson (Convention Chairman) accompanied by hotel security. We were threatened by a visibly emotional Brother Donaldson with immediate expulsion, but fortunately saner heads prevailed and we ended up staying for the duration. The party broke up but many more would follow.

At its peak we had 11 Theta Xi's crashed into the room for two of the nights of this boozy Convention. All of us met several new and, as it turned out, life long friends from other chapters, especially from the Sigma Phi and Sigma Zeta chapters. Other conventions have always resulted in meeting new friends (I'll never forget meeting Brother Breeswine on opening afternoon at the hotel bar in Washington 1987) but my first convention still stands out to this day as the most memorable. Now Toronto 1993, that's another story for another time.....

TKPhi,
Bill McKnight
Theta Xi 1980

I’ve been to 36 Zete Conventions and Lynn, my bride of 32 years, has been to 33. We view the convention as an opportunity to meet interesting new people and reconnect with many long-time friends. All this plus a great excuse to go the greatest cities in Canada and the US. Finally, going to the conventions and volunteering for Zeta Psi keeps me young at heart as my hair falls out.

-Doug and Lynn Donaldson

With the success of the Washington Scholars Fellowship Program, we now have several Zetes working in Congressional Offices full time. One, Zach Cikanek from Columbia, has now been there almost a year and has developed a broad cross-section of contacts in other House Congressional Offices with the staff members that handle those intern programs. This has given us an excellent ability to place interns on House Congressional Staffs throughout the year.

For those of you that have an interest in working on a Congressional Staff, please send Zach an e- mail indicating when you could be available for this program, where you live AND where your parents live [most Members of Congress prefer constituents from their home district or state], your year of graduation, and attach a copy of your resume or bio, preferably in MS Word format.

Your stipends would be handled through the Washington Scholars Program and you would be a part of that term's WS Class, but since these placements are much more difficult and involved, we're asking that you work direct with Zach on them. Also, the standard housing restrictions apply, with only 4 bunks available at the Maryland Zete House, so those who apply that have relatives or friends they can bunk in with during their internship have one less hassle in that regard. Refer all questions to Brother Cikanek.

We're really excited with this "new Zete Program" as it adds one more benefit that being a Zete brings to you that other fraternities do not have available. Use it during rush.

Would you like to go to a Red Sox/Yankees game in August? If so please read on....

As many of you know, the Zete annual convention is a great time and an important event for Zete undergrads to attend. As many of you further know, it can be expensive for undergrads. To help send more Pi Tau undergraduates to this year's convention in Philly, Aug 23 - Aug 26, A Pi Tau chapter alumni has generously donated 2 INCREDIBLE tickets to an upcoming YANKEES/RED SOX to be raffled off by the chapter you can buy as many raffle tickets as you like, details:

THE GAME:
Boston Red Sox vs NY Yankees
Saturday, August 19, 2006, Game time TBD
Section 1, Row 11, Seats 1 and 2

THE RAFFLE:
$10 per raffle ticket, AND bonus tickets at:
$30 for 3, with ONE bonus ticket
$50 for 5, with TWO bonus tickets
$80 for 8, with FOUR bonus tickets
$100 for 10, with SIX bonus tickets

HOW TO BUY RAFFLE TICKETS:
1 - send a check made out to Zeta Psi Alumni to:
Bill Shaw (Pi Tau Board member), 129 Franklin St. #122, Cambridge, MA 02139

2 - buy via PayPal (for credit card use) by clicking here.

Tickets will be mailed upon receipt of payment. The deadline to buy tickets is August 1, 2006. This Raffle is open to anyone and feel free to offer this opportunity to co-workers and family as well!

This is a great cause and the Pi Tau alumni appreciate your participation!

The Zeta Psi International Convention is coming up quickly and as usual Zete Kids will hold a silent auction during the Grand Chapter Banquet on Saturday, August 26th. All money raised during the silent auction will go to the Zete Kids Foundation who in turn will donate proceeds to worthy children's causes and charities in the areas of education, medical needs and leadership development.

The silent auction committee is asking for your auction donations prior to the convention or by Thursday of the convention so that we can plan properly. Some past donations have included artwork, Zete badges, Zete memorabilia, University related items, golf weekend packages, plane tickets (using frequent flyer miles), vacation home weekends, various themed gift baskets, collectibles, sporting event tickets, chapter specific t-shirts, sportswear, corporate gift packages, exclusive club passes, VIP dinners, tour packages, etc.

If you plan to make a silent auction donation, please email Rich Breeswine or call him at 215-499-4321. Donations can also be sent to his home address:


Rich Breeswine
37 Old Mill Lane
Holland, PA 18966-2849

Zete Kids is a 501(c)(3) charitable foundation and all donations are tax-deductible within the regulations of federal tax law.

Thanks you for your support!!!

“It’s simple, really, all it takes is a bit of time. Time and dedication. There comes a point when you’ve got to tell yourself that you’re going to make changes, that you’re going to throw all you’ve got at a problem until it gives, and make sure that it gives before you do,” says Matthew Pirkowski. Matthew, the current Phi of the Eta chapter, is speaking of the recent changes taking place over in New Haven. With the help of elders such as Doug Donaldson and Greg McElroy, and under the guidance and support of a rejuvenated alumni board led by Clark Mercer, Matthew is helping the Eta back on it’s feet, and much more.

Aside from keeping the Eta’s rejuvenation on track, reading a few textbooks to prepare for the transition from majoring in Political Science to majoring in Cognitive Science, beginning a novel depicting the effects of rapid technological development on our society, and helping out at Zeta Psi’s IHQ in Pearl River, this aspiring Zete also currently participates in the inaugural year of the Tri- State Scholars program. The Tri-State program, for those who have not heard, is the brainchild of Doug Donaldson; the program seeks to create a network- oriented summer internship program, similar to that of the Washington Scholars, but focused on catalyzing the Zete presence in the tri-state area.

After a brief walk down one of Pearl River’s many rolling hills, Matthew hops on a train each morning, heading into Manhattan to spend the day gaining real-world experience at the Independent Film Channel. Once inside Rainbow Media’s offices at 11 Penn Plaza, he focuses on the day ahead. “Sitting in on conference calls with PR agency execs, intern seminars with the higher ups in sales, marketing, and management, participation and actual influence in decisions being made daily,” are only a few descriptions Matthew gives of his daily work environment. In fact, when discussing the opportunity with this convincingly mature 20 year old, it seems difficult for him to restrain the exuberance in his voice when describing his current internship: “This internship has given me everything I could have asked for in my first NYC experience. Officially I’m working PR, but the beautiful thing about a place like IFC is that everyone in the office is open to teaching his or her own particular expertise. Without borders and boundaries to the experience, I’m able to get a great conceptual hold on the dynamics of a large-scale business operation, and continue the learning experience I began in my fraternity executive role.” Maybe he’ll be ready to run the place by summer’s end.

In the future, Matthew wants to apply the tools learned in Cognitive Science and Political Science to the entrepreneurial force, and speaks at length about the ostensibly infinite (not to mention profitable) possibilities on the technological frontier. Whether it’s molecular-level assembly or biotechnological human-integration projects sponsored by DARPA, this member of the Yale Entrepreneurial Society seems as if he could go on indefinitely; and all this before mention of the oft- heated debates pertaining to the political, social, and religious implications of these technologies.

In any case, it seems as if Matthew has a clear, albeit broad, vision of his future in this world; in his words, a vision “to build and to create, as these far exceed the rewards in destruction”. With a dedicated adherence to his mantra, “balance, perspective, scale,” and an unabashed persistence towards accomplishing his goals, he seems on course to do just that, beginning by creating a name for himself and building upon the traditions of Zeta Psi.