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Creating A Legacy: Beta Pi Alumni Give Back
To Their Undergraduate Chapter

Last month, Andrew Ruben and a dozen of his brothers at Beta Pi Chapter traveled from their University of Pennsylvania campus to Hartford, Connecticut to attend a Pike University Leadership Summit. A significant part of their travel, registration and participation expenses were underwritten through the Beta Pi Chapter Endowment Fund at the Pi Kappa Alpha Educational Foundation, which has been funded through generous gifts from Beta Pi alumni.

"From the undergraduate perspective, Pike University is an incredibly positive experience. Without question, it is the best medium through which chapter brothers can learn more about the International Fraternity, and how to be better leaders in our chapters, on campus and in our respective communities." stated Ruben. "The events also provide our chapter with tremendous networking opportunities with other chapters, some of which are very different than Beta Pi."

Commenting on the chapter's alumni support, Ruben stated that "Our alumni provide crucial funding to allow us to participate in Pike University events. Without their guidance and especially their financial support, we would not be able to participate anywhere near the level that we currently do."

Alumnus Gregg Ormond (Beta Pi '74) remembers his undergraduate years at the University of Pennsylvania fondly. Brother Ormond knows he and other Beta Pi alumni are helping to pave the way for his chapter's future success. "During our days at Beta Pi, we enjoyed a great deal of success. We won four straight Smythe Awards, a rare event at the time, and four straight Madera Cups at Penn. I believe much of that success was directly attributable to the training our officers received at the SMC Conference (now called the Chapter Executives Conference)."

Ormond continued by saying "When the Pike University program was rolled out four years ago, our alumni quickly saw the important need to help our undergraduates attend all aspects of this valuable program. We feel like our members gain critically important leadership and personal development skills at Pike University programs, which in turn help to make our chapter stronger on our respective campus and within all of Pi Kappa Alpha."

This Pike University exposure is allowing the chapter to grow and prosper. "We have seen a great improvement in chapter engagement and have had many successes in rush. While Pike University is not the only driving force behind these successes, it has greatly helped our chapter move in a positive direction. Most members, after returning from an event, have a fresh excitement about Pike, and thus work harder to improve the chapter." To make this goal of supporting the chapter a reality, Ormond and other alumnus members of Beta Pi have established a program called the Beta Pi Legacy Fund. This program allows alumnus members to contribute tax deductible dollars to the Beta Pi Chapter Endowment at the Pi Kappa Alpha Educational Foundation. "Our goal is to create an endowment of $350,000" stated Ormond.

For more information on the Educational Foundation's Chapter Endowment Program and Chapter Legacy Funds, please contact Judy Bruno at pkaef@pikes.org or by calling 800-456-7452, ext. 102.

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What is Pike University?

Pike University is the fraternal world’s finest leadership training program and encompasses all of the Fraternity’s leadership building initiatives. Founded in 2003, Pike University is the most significant enhancement to Pi Kappa Alpha’s programs in nearly 30 years.