Alpha Tau Omega - Iowa State University

TAU TALK ALPHA TAU OMEGA AT IOWA STATE UNIVERSITY FALL 2014 B rothers, it is time to reflect upon what we have gained and what we value. You remember your days in the house, the lessons learned, new found responsibility, the leadership and confidence gained, pursuing education, the comfortable college home you enjoyed, and your great friends and brothers—not to mention all the fun we had while attending Iowa State. The Gamma Upsilon brothers of today enjoy those same things. However, our house needs a serious renovation to make it competitive on campus, and we need to increase our scholarship fund to ensure we attract and reward the highest quality Gamma Upsilon scholars, leaders, and brothers. It is time that you open up your hearts and wallets to allow for the renovation of our ATW chapter house and Gamma Upsilon home. Along with my existing $50,000 pledge, I will match any new contributions or pledges received by December 31, 2014, from my pledge class of 1952, up to $50,000. Additionally, I challenge all Gamma Upsilon brothers to join in this challenge. If you and your peers, along with the 1952 pledge class, can collectively pledge $50,000 by December 31, I will match you, dollar for dollar. We need to reach the $1 million mark this year in order to accomplish our necessary renovation in the summer of 2015. To date, we are at $763,414. Our total campaign goal is $1.25 million; however, we hope to stretch this to $1.5 million to accommodate extra interior features and scholarship funds. Please join me today to finish this project. Fraternally, Bill Gardiner '52 billg3400@aol.com $50,000 Challenge to 1952 Pledge Class and all gamma UPsilon Brothers "I could give a couple hundred bucks, but it'll just get lost in the mix and there are places that would better benefit from that money." I'm sure you've read an e-mail or mailing from Gamma Upsilon and thought the same thing. College seems like it was ages ago, and really, what difference will a few hundred bucks make anyway? When I went off to college, I chose Iowa State because it's an excellent school, despite the fact that I lived in Nebraska and would have to pay out-of-state tuition. I joined ATW, held nearly every executive board position—including president—and benefitted from my time more than I ever imagined, graduating in 2006. The crazy thing is, it may have never happened. Paying out-of-state tuition entirely by myself was an incredible challenge. From my sophomore year on, I worked almost full-time alongside a full class load, combined with student loans to pay my tuition and house dues. I didn't drive a car, didn't spend extravagantly, and nearly every penny I made went toward tuition or my house dues. It was late in my college career when I found myself in a tough position. I had just gone to the financial aid building with a stack of cash for my tuition, leaving me completely broke with my house dues for the semester still outstanding. I was facing the very real prospect of having to drop out of school to work until I paid off that loan, a prospect that kept me up at night. This wasn't how it was supposed to be—I got decent grades, I worked my tail off, and yet at the end of the semester, I had no way of paying my bill. I approached our chapter advisor, Gene Ehlert '59, and reluctantly told him my position. I wanted to know if there was a way I could let it ride and pay it off in chunks moving forward. Gene told me he'd talk to the board and let me know. The next day, Gene called with an answer: A Life-Changing Scholarship from Gamma Upsilon Greg Eckstrom '02 Tells His Story (Continued on page 3) Match Bill's Challenge Now— http://ato. kintera.org/ gammaupsilon ATTENTION: Please update your contact infor- mation today! We have three (3) very easy ways for you to do it. We espe- cially need your e-mail address, otherwise, you are missing out on valuable Gamma Upsilon information. ATW National: http://www.ato.org/ AlumniVolunteers/ updateyouraddress.aspx E-mail the Communications Coordinator: hollyn@penningtonco.com E-mail the Campaign Chairman: doug1kirk@aol.com 1 2 3

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