Sigma Phi Epsilon - San Diego State University

Page 3 Sigma Phi Epsilon A s a freshman, Rob O'Keefe '12 walked inside Cal Delta's red doors and instantly knew he would be best friends with his SigEp brothers 20-30 years later, and that was all the convincing he needed to join. Since then, Rob has learned that what you put in you get out, and while he has given much, SigEp has returned the favor ten-fold. Brothers Sean Kashanchi '10 and Jeremy Katz '09 helped Rob get his start in SDSU student government by asking him to serve on the finance board. Rob served on the board for five semesters, and at the end of his junior year ran unopposed for the vice president of finance position. This turned out to be a great experience for Rob as he ran a $22 million non-profit corporation that operated eight on-campus and one off-campus facilities with over 1,000 part- time and 90 full-time employees. That year he led an effort to raise 50,000 pounds of food for the Jacobs & Cushman San Diego Food Bank and allocated $340,000 in student scholarships. The following year Rob ran for student body president and won. "I put together an all-star squad of presidents. SAE's former president, Afrikan Student Union former president, Fiji's founding president, ZBT and IFC former president, and I got quite a bit done as we transitioned into our $104 million student-funded Student Union." Some of Rob's proudest moments as a SigEp came from Conclave in Orlando in 2009. "I was the youngest member to go on the trip when we won the Manpower Award, the Man Mileage Award, the Buchanan Cup and the Honor of Philias. When they finally called our name for the Cup, our whole section went nuts. The moment that cemented that memory for me was looking to my left and seeing Skip Dalhkamp '64 with tears of joy and pride streaming down his face. That same year, Josh Roush '11 accepted the Honor of Philias on behalf of Eric Loya '11 and KJ Higgins '12 for showing supreme acts of brotherly love toward Brother Jeremy Poincenot '13 when he lost his eyesight due to a rare hereditary disease called Leber's Hereditary Optic Neuropathy. "After recounting Jeremy's tragic story, Grand Chapter President Brother Steve Shanklin summoned Josh to the podium; there wasn't a dry eye in that room. Fifteen hundred SigEps erupted with applause and gave Josh and the Cal Delta Chapter a grand ovation. That was the moment I knew joining SigEp was one of the best decisions of my life." Since graduation, Rob has been climbing the ladder as a business development associate at Premier Partnerships, a sports marketing and valuation agency, in Santa Monica, California. He maintains his activity with all things SigEp by participating in Cal Delta's mentor board and is working with National to develop Cal Psi's chapter mentor board. In his free time, Rob hosts a podcast, The Sports Biz Guy, where he interviews sports personalities with fascinating stories of achieving success in their field.You can find it on iTunes, Stitcher, and SoundCloud. Contact Rob via e-mail at rob.okeefe21@gmail.com. SIGEP'S SUPPORT VITAL TO SUCCESS OF ROB O'KEEFE '12 ACADEMIC SUPPORT PROGRAM SEES RESULTS In the last year, we implemented a new academic support tracker into our program. Designed to help members at academic risk, we utilized our faculty advisors, assistant dean of the College of Business and the academic advisor in the College of Business Administration, to raise our GPA from a collective 2.3 to a 2.9. We achieved a 3.055 GPA as a chapter, increasing our GPA from the previous semester, and placing us above the all-undergraduate men's average and on the campus organization honor roll. SUN CUP PHILANTHROPY SUPPORTS LHON RESEARCH This year we held our biennial philanthropy, SigEp Sun Cup, with proceeds going toward LHON research, a disease that afflicted Jeremy Poincenot '13. We collaborated with SigEp chapters from USD and UCSD to put on a beach soccer tournament, where sororities from our respective campuses pay an entry fee to compete against one another for the first place trophy. Cal Delta led the charge in terms of fundraising, raising just over $6,000 alone, and also coached the winning team, SDSU's Gamma Phi Beta. ON-CAMPUS LEADERSHIP CONTINUES Perhaps most notably, however, was our continued success of on-campus leadership positions. In the most recent Associated Students elections, Cal Delta was happy to have Austin Dean '16 elected to be the student representative for the College of Business, Jordan Mishlove '16 and Maxwell Louie '15 elected as representatives for the College of Arts & Letters, and Daniel Merrick '15 elected to the presidency of the Associated Student Business Council. We also had four outstanding seniors, Matthew Alegria '15, Maxwell Louie '15, Connor McCune '15, and Alexander Nelson '15, selected to join the exclusive SDSU Mortar Board. The Mortar Board is a senior honors society, which selects 40 outstanding students who excel in scholarship, leadership, and service from an applicant pool of roughly 2,500. Maxwell was also elected to the Mortar Board presidency for this academic year. We also had our very own Jonathan Cole '15 elected to the Associated Students presidency. This marks a presidency three-peat by SigEp, and puts Cal Deltas representing four of the last five presidents. This is a historic and unprecedented feat by any on-campus organization, let alone a fraternity. J. Cole will have his fair share of stress ahead of him this academic year, but he knows he has our backing in whatever challenges and endeavors he pursues. Fraternally, Sam Wolfsohn '16 Chapter President s.wolfsohn@yahoo.com Cal Delta Makes 180-Degree Turnaround Jonathan Cole '15 Elected Associated Students President A group of Cal Deltas visited Thailand.

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