Pi Kappa Phi, Kappa Sigma set to become full chapters Nov. 17

Fraternity brothers of Kappa Sigma stand on the porch outside with their banner pinned to the front of their house on Main St. Kappa Sigma has been on campus as a colony and will be chartering, becoming a full chapter of their national organization this semester. Pi Kappa Phi fraternity will also be chartering along with Kappa Sigma.   (Chuck Miller/Staff Photographer)

It took hard work and dedication for Pi Kappa Phi and Kappa Sigma to be scheduled to become full chapters on Nov. 17.

In order for any colony to become a chapter, there is a list of requirements.

For Pi Kappa Phi, a few of the necessities included raising $1,000 for their national philanthropy, Push America, having a minimum of 35 members, pay a chartering fee of $2,000 and writing several programs for the fraternity.

Consisting of scholarship programs, alumni relations programs, and fundraising programs which junior and president of Pi Kappa Phi, Matt Berlin calls “one of the more difficult” requirements to fulfill.

“It is a good feeling,” the Millington native said of finally being granted the right to become a chapter this semester. “We have been working toward this for probably a year and a half now and it’s been an extreme amount of work. So I think finally once we do charter, it will be not only a great feeling of success but kind of a weight off our shoulders because it has been so much work.”

For Kappa Sigma, some of the requirements were getting $150 dollars from each member and recruitment. Also, since the colony wasn’t on CMU’s campus at the time, they had to find a house.

“I think the most difficult thing was getting on campus,” Bay City senior and Kappa Sigma member Trent Grzegorczyk said. “That was our first big challenge. Without getting on campus, we wouldn’t be in the position we are now because we had to get to 50 guys and it was really hard to recruit when you’re not recognized by a university.”

Nov. 17 will not only symbolize the official entrance into Greek Life by becoming a chapter, but more of hard work finally paying off for Grzegorczyk.

“We’ve been trying to do this for five years and most colonies don’t take that long to become a chapter,” Grzegorczyk said. “So I feel like we really paid our dues because it took so long to do it. It’s really rewarding for everyone.”

For over a year and a half, the men of Pi Kappa Phi have been striving for this moment to come. Jeremy Osborne, a Rockwood junior and Pi Kappa Phi treasurer, has been there from the beginning as one of the students in the very first recruitment class.

“I am very ecstatic to see all the hard work pay off,” Osborne said. “This has been my life for almost two years now and I will never look back at the achievement we are about to obtain … we aimed high at our tasks and succeeded. This has not been a single effort by one person in our chapter. It has been a group of men that I call my brothers who helped build this fraternity from the roots up.”

Rather than being competitors on campus, both colonies are happy for one another’s success in chartering.

“It’s great,” Stockbridge senior and Kappa Sigma President C.J. Lewis said. “I’m very happy for them as well because it shows that Central Michigan’s Greek life is growing. Every year it’s growing larger and larger, and obviously, we’re here to support other fraternities but we’re really, really excited that guys that have the same struggle we had are getting to their goals as well.”

Transforming from a colony to a chapter will result in several changes for both colonies. For Pi Kappa Phi, besides having new goals to focus on such as expansion and growth, there will also be the change of electing council officials.

“One of the big changes is right now we are all on the same level because we are all associate members,” Berlin said. “Once we charter, we will all be initiated members of Pi Kappa Phi and then our new members coming in, in the following semester will be associate members … it will kind of make more things interesting when elections are coming up for our executive council or voting.”

As both colonies prepare for chartering, they are striving to make a difference at CMU overall.

“(We want) to improve Greek Life at (CMU) and bring what Kappa Sigma does nationally to Central and push Greek Life even more,” Lewis said.