Phi Kappa Theta - Iowa State University

Fall 2024 Newsletter

Iowa Xi Chapter of Phi Kappa Theta at Iowa State University

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FKQ XICLONE PHI KAPPA THETA FRATERNITY n IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY n FALL 2024 T he past year saw many new changes to the chapter house and Annex. We installed new carpet on the second and third floors, the study room, CAD, and the President's room. We added new front and back doors with digital locks and insulation to the kitchen pantry's ceiling and walls to prevent pipes from bursting while undergraduates are gone on winter break. Thank goodness! Paul and Ann Gaffney and Bill Fleischacker '75 have also been instrumental in the daily maintenance and upkeep of the chapter house. The Foundation is generously donating $10,000 per year for upgrades to educational areas of the Chapter House. We've already started renovating the study room and hope to have it finished in 2025. We have also used some of this money to upgrade the Wi-Fi in both the Annex and chapter house. A special thanks to Paul Fisher '87 for spearheading this project. We all know the drainage of the back parking lot has been an issue for years. The Pikes recently made some site improvements to their lot and ours, paying for all construction and maintenance costs for this project. Everything that was disturbed has been replaced in kind and looks very nice. Thank you to Eric Van Gorp '01 for being our liaison! We are also upgrading the laundry facilities in the Annex. Lieb Chol '17 has been working with the undergraduates to install new washers and dryers. Speaking of the Annex, the members filled it for the first time in a long time, so kudos to them! At the Centennial Celebration in April we launched a fundraising event called the Men of Character fund. We aim to raise $45,000 that includes donations to two charities and installation of a new sign and landscaping. We are about halfway to our goal, so we really need your support! Going forward, all proceeds from the 2110 Club and annual appeal will go to this fund. Please consider making a donation by scanning the QR code or visiting pktalumni.com and clicking the "Donate" tab. Thanks to brothers Alex "Beans" Davis '13 and Chris Holmquist '16 for their commitment to this project. The Planning Committee continues to develop plans and strategies for renovating the Chapter House to accomodate 60 men. Special thanks to Ed Larson '84 and Ty Mueller '18 for their continued guidance and leadership. Also, I want to thank the undergraduates for their excellent work. They have done an exceptional job maintaining both the house and Annex. If you are ever in Ames, stop by and see how much pride these guys have in Phi Kappa Theta. Thanks to everyone for their gifts of time, talent, and treasure. Remember, "Give, expecting nothing thereof." Fraternally, Tom Mercer '89 Iowa Xi Building Corporation President Building for the Future Exciting Upgrades and New Initiatives from Iowa Xi Building Corporation SCAN TO DONATE! High-Speed Headway INTERNET UPGRADE W e have made a lot of IT progress by introducing a completely new system, including an IT cabinet, controller, router, switches, access points, and repeaters. We renegotiated the Mediacom internet (upgraded the service to 1GB) and cable (eliminated) contracts. This has saved about $20,000 in under three years. We also added a solar-powered security camera to the back parking lot. It was instrumental in reporting an illegal garbage dumper to the police when we were able to capture the license plate. We have remote access to the camera and the IT system, allowing troubleshooting and monitoring by the undergraduate tech chairman and president. We would like to acknowledge Matt Brammer '24 and Ryan Mamrot '26, who spent a lot of time assisting with making improvements to the IT network. We have spent approximately $2,500 of the $3,500 budget, so now we will focus our efforts on the apartments to improve their internet speed by installing repeaters from the Chapter House. Fraternally, Paul Fisher '87 Trenching the stormwater drain line from the Pike's backyard to Beach Avenue.

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