The Golden Heart
Building Balanced Men Since 1910
Spring 2015 Issue
Sigma Phi Epsilon Fraternity
University of California, Berkeley
SigEp
THE SIGMA PHI EPSILON FRATERNITY
Virtue. Diligence. Brotherly Love
For Alumni and Friends of the California Alpha Chapter
Chapter President’s Report
Dear Alumni!
My name is Aidan Clark, and I am the current undergraduate president. This
semester continued the trend of growth and success our chapter has seen
over the last year, and I would like to tell you some of our recent successes!
This Spring we recruited 11 new brothers, a great achievement for Spring
Rush, which brought our total chapter size up to 64 members! In order to
give to all our brothers the best possible SigEp experience, we debuted a completely revamped Phi program and restructured our Sigma program to be as
beneficial and fun as possible to new members. In addition, this Spring our
Development Curriculum included a Brother Mentor program for the first
time in California Alpha’s history, and I am very proud of the seven members of our chapter who
stepped into the new roles of Brother Mentor.
As a result of the tremendous recruitment our chapter has had, there will be almost twice the
number of brothers living in the chapter house next year than what we’ve had in past years (reaching our capacity!), and to accommodate this increase in size, this semester we completely re-designed our first floor to accommodate more study tables, more seating for brothers, a new ping
pong table and a refurnished pool table (alumni, you’re welcome to come and play!). To build on
the work that has already been done, we plan on implementing a number of changes this summer,
including re-starting a meal plan!
While our new size comes with many roadbumps (HOPR won’t let us make a reservation anymore!), our growth has brought wonderful improvements to our brotherhood, and has put us in
a tremendous position to go forth stronger than ever. I am incredibly grateful for the opportunity
I have been given to help this fraternity, and I look forward to what is seeming to be a great Fall
Semester!
-Aidan Clark, ‘17
In this
Issue
Newsletter designed by: Ekkalux Nguyen
Austin Ibrahim
2
Message from the AVC President
Kyle Kizu
3
Cal SigEp Laying their Claim at Lake Tahoe
Kashawn Campbell4
Spring Rush 2015: Sigma Assemble
Adrian Davoodian5
How Cal SigEp Defines Intramural Sports
Justin Johnson SigEp Takes Sound Body to the Next Level
6
Sean Luna7EDGE
Kadhir Manickam8
Development Program
Alumni9Alumni Spotlight
Patrick Thompson10
Pedal For Life: Another Year in Support of Crohn’s Disease
1
Message from the AVC
President
The academic year has come to an end, and the state of SigEp Cal Alpha is one characterized by growth for our
brotherhood. We’ve continued to increase our manpower to its highest levels in years, coming in at 64 strong. This is
thanks to successful recruiting efforts by the entire chapter, as managed by VP of Recruitment Jason Allenstein and
AVC member Ryan Dressler.
Our financial position continues to grow, with our assets now over $210,000. This capital helps create stability and
enables more strategic decision making, with an eye toward longer-term opportunities including increased manpower and permanent housing.
Regarding housing, we have extended our lease on the current KDR house at Channing and Piedmont for another
year (through May 2017). This has been an excellent facility, supporting the chapter’s growth and development. We
owe Steve Young our gratitude for his relationship management and negotiating skills in maintaining this opportunity and extending our lease yet another year.
On the alumni relations front, Cal Alpha is leading the creation of a Bay Area 1901 club for local alumni gatherings.
This effort is being led by bothers Matt Fay and Luke Madera, so keep an eye out for invitations to local happy hours
and networking events.
Thanks to everyone who has attended an event and maintained their connection to our brotherhood and local chapter. It’s been fun catching-up and hearing about the events shaping your professional and personal lives. I look forward to connecting with even more brothers in the coming year!
-Austin Ibrahim
Meet the AVC Board Members
President: Austin Ibrahim, UC Berkeley 2008
Secretary: Mike Ellis, Purdue 1984
Director: Ryan Dressler, Ohio State University 2008
Director: Steve Young, Kansas 1980
Chapter Counselor: Luke Madera, UC Berkeley 2009
Reach us at:
AVC@CalAlphaSigEps.com
Cal Alpha SigEp AVC, Inc.
P.O. Box 40044
Berkeley, CA 94704
“SigEp taught me the importance of VDBL and how
to be proper fraternity men and not stereotypical
frat boys.”
Allen Chen, ‘18
2
Cal SigEp Laying Their Claim
at
Lake Tahoe
By: Kyle Kizu, Film Studies ‘18
A brotherhood retreat two weekends after
accepting a bid is a scary concept.
But, over the course of rush, I’d learned that
SigEp takes the word brotherhood very
seriously, so I knew that a trip up to Lake
Tahoe would be more than what it seemed
like on the surface. The memories and bonding started before we even got there. I was
placed in a car with brothers that I had never
talked to before and feeling uncomfortable,
I was quiet for the start of the car ride. But
what I encountered over the next eight to
nine hours made it a ride that I wouldn’t
forget. The driver made sure that we had
some fun singing along to classics like Life is
a Highway or Bohemian Rhapsody. As time
went on, my singing and dancing got progressively louder. And as time went on, the
storm in the mountains got worse and worse.
Calls were made between various brothers.
A phrase I kept hearing over and over again
was: “Make sure you have chains.” At an In N
Out stop a few hours in, I thought I was cold.
But it only got colder, more rainy, and more
icy. Traffic was bumper to bumper, roads
were closed, visibility was next to nothing.
Everyone’s shoes and socks got soaked while
standing out of the car when the time came
for chains. And after 15 minutes of manual
failure, we paid $20 to have a road worker
put them on. Once back in the car, the heater
was turned to full. We trecked on. Despite
getting in around 1 AM, the car ride was
something that will never be
replicated. The memories made were worth
the awful weather.
Once in the house, the brothers that left
before my car were in the midst of
enjoying themselves. Music was playing,
food was passed around, and sodas and
drinks were given to everyone. And with so
many people in such a small space, there
was an immediate sense of intimacy, one that
pushed the Sigmas to hang out with
guys they hadn’t met yet. The bonding grew
to a point where many of the brothers
began singing SigEp songs, which made me
realize that this is a brotherhood in the
most essential meaning of the word. After a
few hours, the night came to a close and
even though I was a new guy, I was allowed
to have one of the
couches. Nobody
competed for spots,
but rather enjoyed
seeing how we could
fit everybody.
The next morning
came with a surprise.
Older brothers were [Top] Brothers unfurled their flags to gather outside for a group picture
cooking breakfast for
the phrase ‘everyone has his/her own story’
one another, which was a sign of generosity
before, but I never quite understood it until
that I did not expect at the time. For the
then. Older brothers weren’t afraid to speak
next few hours, many people sat around and
their minds and say all of their fears, which
relaxed, watching what may be the perfect
gave courage to the younger guys.
fraternity movie: ‘300’. After the laziness subsided, everyone went out to the lake, which
“The intimacy and openness ensured that
was right across the street. Many people con- all were welcome and all were safe.”
tinued to bond over the coldness, skipped
rocks, and even did some dares involving the Tears shed and at one point early in the
freezing water. We ended up taking our
night, after some very tough, personal stories
group picture in front of the lake, one that
were told, everyone started a routine where
turned out particularly good. Then, older
all the brothers would get up to hug the perguys went off to Reno while the younger
son who shared. I was thoroughly moved by
guys went out for lunch where some saw
the entire thing and realized that I had made
snow for the first time.
the right choice in joining such an incredible
A few hours later, we all reconvened at the
cabin. It was mostly homework for
the rest of the day until dinner. While doing
math, the president of our chapter gave
out a riddle that stumped everyone for hours
and, with close interaction, relieved
some intimidation of him felt by the new
guys. For the latter half of working, the Phi’s
started on dinner. This sort of task introduced me to the development philosophy of
SigEp and excited me for what was to come
in my year as a Sigma. Plus, dinner was
delicious.
Spaghetti was slurped. Red sauce was spilled.
It was finally time for the brotherhood
discussion. I had heard about it for days
leading up to the trip. The main idea I got
was that it was a ‘big talk where everyone
could say whatever they wanted’. After a
small introduction from the president, the
floor was open. It started with a long silence
until an older brother spared us of further
awkwardness. That’s when my perception of
the kind of brotherhood within SigEp started
to shift to something amazing. I had heard
group of genuine people. It was a
perfect cap to an incredible introduction to a
brilliant semester with the brothers of
the California Alpha chapter of Sigma Phi
Epsilon.
[Top] Ezzy Sriram chilling by the dock after a long
night of drving through harsh storms
3
The Self-Titled Sigma Squad:
From Spring Rush to Discovering Brotherhood
By: Kashawn Campbell, Theatre ‘16
Cal SigEp had quite the Fall class last
semester of 20 amazing and talented
individuals who are continuing to
thrive at making SigEp special with
their high levels of involvement. This
year’s rush brought in 11 new brothers,
double the amount from last Spring!
Our newest events include Derby Day
out in the horsetrack and a BBQ Car
Smash. Of course as a tradition, we
ended rush week with a formal invite
dinner. Every semester brings forth the
dawn of a new era of brothers. Spring
2015 also did not disappoint with an
enthusiastic, ethnically diverse, and
community-driven super powered
Squad. Don’t let the small size fool
you! We may not have the largest class,
but our 11 members hold undeniable
glory. What abilities do each member
hold? I am glad you asked—let me
(Kashawn) take you on a tour of our
version of the Justice League and let
the countdown begin…
Scott Wun – Quiet, composed, and
smart as hell! This guy is the epitome of
engineering as a recruiter and leader of
his engineering fraternity called “Theta
Tau.”
Allen Chen – All I have to say is this
is a true BAR BROTHER! He has the
physique of a Greek god (Hercules has
nothing on CHEN-cules). His beat-boxing skills will blow your mind. I thought
he was a brother already with his comfortable social vibes he rubs off on you.
Chandrabh (Chan) Akireddy – In
high school, he did speech and debate
his senior year and was one of the top
competitive orators in the nation. He is
also intending to major in Economics
& Business Administration. Outside of
that, wooing people with his guitar is a
pleasurable hobby.
Raniz Bordoloi – He studies economics, but I think he also studies theater
because this guy is quite the character
and does not hesitate to
give his honest opinion
about something. You
might say, “he’s shy!”
Nope! You don’t know
the real Raniz, the disguise is oh so powerful.
His favorite quote when
he dances, “Shake that
biscuit baby!”
Samridh Saluja –
Extremely passionate
about a variety of orgs/
roles. He’s on the Cal
Men’s Squash team,
working as a design
consultant for a startup,
a project lead at Berkeley innovation, teacher
and executive for a
3D printing student
org and a member of
Berkeley’s design coun[Top Picture] The Sigma Squad - Front row: Theo Joseph, Jerome Andres, Calvin
cil. Wow! I am out of
Lui, Chan Akireddy, Scott Wun, Cody Zhang. Back row: Raniz Bordoloi, Kyle Kizu,
breath.
Allen Chen, Kashawn Campbell, Sam Salujah
Theo Joseph – The voice [Bottom Picture] Taiki Nishihara readying to smash the car at BBQ Car Smash
of an angel and look of a
the school. Well, that’s not all! He
talk show host. I am not surprised that
worked at an Elite Educational Institute
he has a beautiful sorority lady. He’s a
and might as well be a model. His profile
musician at heart (ranging from the
picture does not disappoint, I promise!
guitar & Saxophone). He loves math that Cody Zhang – Very caring brother! I
isn’t just 2+2=4, and is half Brazilian half have been bought food by him on multiIndian and a first generation immigrant. ple occasions and his plant biology skills
Jerome Andres – He is firm with words
are on point. He balances out academics
and is a comedian when he wants to be.
and partying greatly! He is an intended
Theater for Charity is his other home
statistics major.
away from home. He acted as a mean
Kyle Kizu – He could probably be a
tree, but he knows Stanfurd sucks! He
military soldier with no problem. He
has aspirations to run for ASUC Senator is not easily distracted and keeps focus
next year.
when some of us may go off on a tangent
Kashawn Campbell – I am a dancer
during Sigma Squad activity. A very
and actor at heart. I hope Beyonce gets
noteworthy power. His hometown of Los
to read my message because she is my
Angeles must be proud! A batman fan
inspiration and celebrity crush. I am also as well. Outside of that, he wants to be a
a WWE fanatic and created a wrestling
well-renown screenwriter and has startclub where my ring name is SKINNY
ed planning for 2 film clubs. #That’sMyPEAT who suffers no defeat. Go bears!
Roomie
Calvin Lui – His name goes well with
4
How Cal SigEp Defines
Intramural Sports
By: Adrian Davoodian, Psychology ‘15
IM Frisbee
In the fall of 2013, Intramural sports were in a
dismal state. The football and basketball teams
had trouble getting enough people to play each
week, and they had more forfeits than games
played that season. Our one bright spot that
semester was our softball team, which made it
to the playoff semi-finals. Because of the sad
state of our teams, we did not form a basketball
or football team the subsequent semester, and
softball was no longer offered.
Beings SigEps and never accepting defeat, one
year later we completely turned around our
IM sports participation. This semester, we had
teams in basketball, ultimate frisbee, dodgeball,
and two soccer teams. Not only did we have
more teams than ever, we played in all over 90%
of all games (the fraternity retreat one weekend
hurt that figure). Furthermore, IM sports were
not just an outlet for brothers; we used it to enhance relationships within the Greek community. Two of our teams, dodgeball and soccer, were
co-rec with the Alpha Omicron Pi sorority.
While our teams have yet to make it to the
finals, the greatest achievement thus far has been
seeing the immense contrast in just one year. In
2014, we were lucky to have three brothers show
up to play in a basketball game. This semester,
we had all twelve guys on the roster, the maximum allowed, play in a game. It is upon this
foundation that brothers present and future will
use to bring home a trophy. As a graduating
senior, I look forward to this newsletter in a couple of years and reading that we brought back a
championship…I am looking at you dodgeball
team. Good luck and best wishes.
[Top] From left to right: Taiki
Nishihara, Matthew Ramirez,
Franklin Rice, Sean Luna,
Matthew Symonds, Cole
Satterfield, Kadhir Manckam,
Adrian Davoodian, Trevor
Biddle
IM Dodgeball
[From left to right] Adrian Davoodian, Samantha Stegman, Byron Guo, Laura Hickey,
Franklin Rice, Ayesha Zarah, Matthew Ramirez, , Jason Allenstein, Sophie Spiegel, Fatima
Toksanbaeva, Janie Macy
5
SigEp Takes Sound Body
to the Next Level
A short anecdote from our very own Chaplain
By: Justin Johnson, Political Economy, ‘16
My introduction to this fraternity began with an invite to
a rush event from a fellow member of the triathlon team I
had recently joined in the second semester of my Freshman year. I went with the age old response of “I don’t
know what my parents will think”, and I believed that was
that. Not two weeks later I began playing Ultimate Frisbee with the brothers of this organization every Friday,
until the end of the semester. SigEp seemed like an active
group of guys, smart and involved in campus, so I inevitably pursued membership and by the beginning of my
sophomore year, I was a bona fide brother. The fraternity’s tenets of Sound Body and Sound Mind seemed to fit
into the Berkeley binary all too well – Sound Mind was
an expectation for most anyone attending Berkeley and
I interpreted Sound body of a fraternity as seasoning my
meals protein powder. To my pleasant surprise I found
that the president at the time of my joining President Nolan Mcpeek-Betchtold was a marathon runner with a 6.42
mile. Further sleuthing revealed that Fridays were not
just a recruitment event, but a weekly event that brothers
would participate in on a regular basis. Touching bases
with my original recruiter Spencer Pace resulted in him
and I becoming great friends and eventually helping
to recruit more members from the Triathlon team. We
called ourselves Sigma ‘Tri’ Epsilon for the longest time
and still have a noticeable presence on the team. Sound
body, however, was never relegated to one form of athletic involvement, as you’d find Ekkalux Nguyen up at 6
am for ROTC, or find Daren Lui pumping iron and soon
myself swimming in preparation for my next triathlon.
Keeping fit also depended just as much on what you
put in and not just how much you work out. With the
amount of time they spent in the kitchen, the cooking
duo Kadhir Manickam and Luke Walquist would let you
know exactly what they put in their meals if you were
lucky enough to catch them cooking. Granted, they
cooked most of the day, so about every brother knew of
their healthy cooking. Our leadership at the time wanted
to do food orders to the house to promote healthy eating
via Amazon Fresh. Initiated by our former president,
Matthew Symonds, the weekly food orders have grown
Max Fenton, who is on the Cal Frisbee team, candidly
catching the flying disc
even after through the election of the new executive
board, thus under the Aidan Clark’s presidency to a full
fledged meal plan to be available to brothers beginning in
Fall 2015.
Should you rewind to the Spring 2015 semester and you
would see I decided to cut out daily workouts to give
more time to relax and dedicate to my work, but SigEp
wouldn’t let me off that easy. I ended up leading Monday’s weekly cardio and abdominals workout, playing on
our Ultimate Frisbee team, and riding 500 miles to Santa
Monica on the Pedal For Life charity ride. As a rising
senior, the only thing more fulfilling than having received
such a well rounded experience from SigEp, is knowing
that that legacy not only lives on through newer brothers
such as Franklin Rice in Triathlon, Sean Luna and Max
Fenton on the ultimate frisbee team and Allen Chen ensuring the dumbbells in the gym stay warm.
Sam Saluja (Top second left) representing the Cal
Men’s Squash team.
6
EDGE:
Reshaping New Members’ Experience
By: Sean Luna, Mechanical Engineering, ‘18
This semester, some of the SigEp brothers had the opportunity to attend EDGE, a leadership program for new
members. Held in Marin County, north of San Francisco,
the program allowed new Cal SigEp brothers to meet other brothers from the University of Nevada at Reno and
Sacramento State. The activities also gave our brothers
the chance to meet and interact with brothers from other
chapters. The program was run by Brandon Tsubaki, a
SigEp from Cal Poly who also works in the LEAD Center
at UC Berkeley in advising fraternities and sororities.
This was of special significance because he had been able
to see how our chapter had evolved over the years. After
the first night, a few others from our chapter and I discussed the development of our chapter over the past few
years and explored ways to make it even better.
The program began with a series of exercises meant to
make everyone more comfortable with each other, requiring teamwork and allowing brothers to get to know
each other more. Afterwards, the program shifted to
more individual activities, involving reflections on the
nature of leadership and how best to apply it. This part
gave brothers the chance to engage in reflection that
they would not usually have to time or motivation for in
everyday life. EDGE provided a special environment for
brothers to develop ideas about leadership. The groups
reconvened for the evening for an activity where brothers
explored the similarities and differences between themselves which allowed for greater unity. Kashawn Campbell (Spring ’15) found the chance “to build leadership,
while sharing our personal stories with Sigmas from
other campuses” to be impactful.
volved much of the same, wrapping up what we had built
on the day before and preparing us to implement these
values in the future.
[Top] On their way to EDGE, brothers stopped by the coast for a
quick break to get a group picture.
Afterwards, we had a campfire and then returned to the
dorms in which we were staying. The second day in“EDGE was an invaluable experience that was both
thought-provoking and fun.”
Franklin Rice, ‘18
[Top] The overly prideful Sigmas representing their squad. (Left to
right) Raniz Bordoloi, Jerome Andres, Scott Wun, Allen Chen, Cody
Zhang, Chandrabh Akireddy, Kashawn Campbell
7
Development Program
By: Kadhir Manickam, Synthetic Biology, ‘17
We focused on brotherhood
the past semester, developing
our program around our interactions with each other. The
Sigma challenge specifically
had more structure to it than
semesters before, with a set
syllabus before the semester
started, more dinners, consistent biweekly meetings, Sigma
Serenades practices starting the
second week of the semester,
and overall more interactions
with the rest of the brotherhood through events put on by
me. These events specifically
encompassed a murder mystery party, SigEp family feud,
scavenger hunt, the great Cal
SigEp challenge, tastes around
the world, and our traditional
spring olympics.
“The SigEp community extends beyond the confines
of my own university.”
Patrick Thompson, ‘18
Carlson Leadership Academy 2015
Vice President of Member Development, Kadhir Manickam holds the Excelsior Cup,
given to our chapter for Most Improved Recruitment. (Left to Right) Marcus Lee, Jason Allenstein, Matthew Ramirez, Kadhir Manicakm, Aidan Clark, Ekkalux Nguyen,
Justin Johnson
Countless hours went into making
each event unique in its own right.
Out of all the events, the great Cal
SigEp challenge and the murder mystery party were received most positively. Consequently, our chapter will
be hosting the events next semester,
hopefully integrating them into regularly into our semesterly calendars.
The premise of the great Cal SigEp
challenge was simple: whichever
team could complete the challenges
the fastest, reigned victor. By the end
of the challenge, our brothers, in
teams of about ten, had to complete
five different (not to mention pretty
difficult) puzzles, do two hundred
pushups (as a team), two hundred
situps, ten pyramid pushups, fifty pull ups, run to the Campinile,
Energy Biosciences Building, and the
Clark Kerr Track and back, eat two
large costco pizzas, drink twenty cans
of sugar-free soda, devour a box of
salad, scarf down a fruit plate, and
just when things could not get any
worse, out came a costco sized box of
cookies and a gallon of milk to wrap
up the challenge.
“It was a legendary and extremely
fun night that ended up with zero
victors, a bunch of losers, and a
chapter that was quite “angry” with
me for making such an event.”
The murder mystery party, the
second positively received event had
brothers take on new identities. Our
house became an eclectic mix of
personalities, ranging from dukes on
diplomatic missions to shahs preaching communism to jesters proclaiming the end of mankind to mayors of
towns struggling with scientology.
The house turned into a game of who
could be the most politically correct.
Once all the guests had arrived, it
came to our attention that one of our
esteemed guests did not arrive; he
had been murdered, and it was up to
the guests to figure out the mystery.
At the end, there were two men who
faked their identities who had plotted the murder, introducing themselves as Mr. O and Mr. Y. One was a
member of the Yakuza, and the other
a member of the Italian Mafia. They
ended up running away and hiding
in the basement to escape the clutches of the party goers, turning the end
of the Murder Mystery party into
a game of hide and seek - one with
“deadly” consequences.
Heading into the following semester,
I will continue to focus on fostering
brotherhood through new, creative
events that run in conjunction with
the development program. My fingers are crossed that we can get a new
set of chapter traditions, specifically
making the murder mystery party
and the great Cal SigEp challenge
events that brothers can look forward
to every semester.
8
Alumni Spotlight
Since graduating last May, Jas has divided his time equally between the East and West
Coast. During the fall, he went to Washington, DC to complete an internship at the White
House, where he served as the Chief of Staff ’s intern and assisted with environmental
and immigration policy research. Following this experience, he came to the Bay Area and
now works as a fundraiser for FWD.us, an immigration advocacy group based out of San
Francisco. When he isn’t working, Jas can be found at the nearest Philz catching up on
some reading or on a run at the Berkeley hills. He also enjoys spending time with his SigEp
brothers that are still in the area, and is always up to go do photography or grab a meal in
SF or Berkeley. Go Bears!
- Jas Hora, Political Economy ‘14
I’m a Peace Corp volunteer working in Botswana to prevent new HIV infections and provide support to those that have it. I live in a 700 person village. The entire village doesn’t
have electricity and I don’t have running water in my house or yard. There’s no public
transport to and from my village and it’s about 15 km from the tar road. But I love it. The
people in my village are welcoming and I’ve really started to think of this as home. I’ve had
a number of successful projects. In my first couple months, when I shouldn’t have done
any work, I organized a self esteem football tournament with 2 guest speakers, children
singing and doing traditional dances, and even prizes. I’ve helped secure funding for a
prize giving rewarding high academic and athletic achievers. The school hasn’t had one for
7 years. It’s a remarkable, challenging, and awe inspiring journey. I wake up every day not
knowing what to expect.
- Charlie Gebhardt, History/Political Science ‘14
Brothers ended the Spring semester with a banquet at San Francisco d’Italia
Italian Resturant. We changed our venue this semester because of the large
size of our chapter: the reason why HOPR won’t let us make any reservations. Alumni who came to the banquet were: Miles Popplewell, Jas Hora,
Steven Cipriano, and Ethan Yung
After an afternoon of SigEp Olympics,
alumni Luke Madera, James Mastandrea, Chris Guinasso, and Neel Rane
joined the brothers with some food and
drinks
9
“PFL is an adventurous tradition for post-finals de-stressing, a 500 mile testosterone fueled hammerfest/race, and a charitable cause that directly impacts one of my closest friends at Berkeley”
-Owen Chen, ‘16
Pedal For Life: Another Year in
Support of
[From left to right] At Santa Monica Pier! Patrick Thompson, Jason Allenstein, Calvin
Lui, Taiki Nishihara, Spencer Pace, Jerome Andres, Justin Johnson, Allen Chen, Kashawn
Campbell, Owen Chen, Vincent Bartle, Franklin Rice, Sean Luna
Crohn’s Disease
By: Patrick Thompson, Political Economy ‘18
Philanthropy is a key component to the Greek life experience, but is much more fulfilling when done for a cause
that directly affects one’s own brotherhood. Such is the
case for Pedal for Life, a yearly bike ride done to raise
funds for the Crohn’s and Colitis foundation of America.
This is particularly significant to the California Alpha
chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon, where two of our own
brothers live with this illness. The ride itself spans 5 days
and 500 miles, beginning at the UC Berkeley Campus
and ending at the Santa Monica Pier. Moreover, setting
aside a week to ride down the coast of California with the
fraternity after a stress-filled finals season was an excellent environment to foster the strengthening of brotherhood between all who participated.
As a first-time PFL-er, I had no idea at the beginning of
the week just how much of a mentally and physically taxing process the week would be. The first day begins with a
6am wake-up call, a frantic breakfast of bagels and peanut
butter (two foods that I would become great friends with
over the next five days), an even more frantic load up
of supplies into the cars that accompanied us, and then
a mass exodus from Sather Gate of Cal SigEps on bicycles. After a hectic first day of navigating through the
city and dealing with one less-than-pleasant driver, we
were ready to begin what, for the next four days, would
be a picturesque ride along the coastal cliffs that would
take us through Big Sur, Morro Bay, Santa Barbara, and
ultimately Santa Monica. Just as nothing prepared me for
the physical toll of riding 100 mile days, I found also that
nothing could prepare me for the sense of absolute freedom I felt biking through California, smelling the ocean
water and hearing waves crash only a few yards away.
Better than the ride itself was the company I surrounded
myself with.
“Pushing through the ride alongside some of my closest
friends and spending each night in the presence of my
fellow brothers served to reinforce the bonds I had built
throughout the school year.”
Daily, we suffered and thrived together on the bikes.
Nightly, we ate together, sharing with each other parts of
our lives that would not have been introduced as topics
of conversation in any other environment. Being part of
a brotherhood such as this one is amazing, a sentiment
which is emphasized when its members set out upon an
adventure together to aid a cause that hits us so close to
home as a community. Though it was only five days, Sigma Phi Epsilon Pedal for Life imparted me with memories and friendships that will remain lifelong.
10
Graduating Seniors
Dearest Alumni,
SigEp congratulates these
brothers for finishing their
academia here at Berkeley
and becoming our newest
Alumni.
Matthew Symonds
Kyle Shackleford
Christian Hunter
Matthew Funsten
Seth Anderson
Kevin Dales
Cole Satterfield
Eric Liu
Redha Qabazard
Adrian Davoodian
Byron Guo
First and foremost, the brothers of Cal SigEp greatly appreciate the support of our alumni. The Spring semester of 2015
has been an incredible event for the California Alpha chapter and through this newsletter we hope you enjoy reading
the experiences we shared.
My vision for this newsletter is to employ a story-telling
premise to our readers, you the alumni. None of this would
have been possible, however, without the help of the brothers
who wrote columns for our newsletter and the chapter as a whole for accomplishing feats worth writing about.
More importantly, should you have any alumni-related news that you would like
to see in the upcoming newsletter, please do not hesiste to submit any articles
and/or pictures to my email and I’ll make sure to accomodate your request!
It has been honor finishing up my first half as VP of Communications. I am extremely passionate about this position and encourage you to come and see all the
exciting events going on at our chapter. Again, thank you for taking the time to
read our chapter’s semester newsletter. I look forward to seeing more alumni in
the Fall as well as finishing another newsletter before my term ends.
Fraternally,
Ekkalux Nguyen
ekkalux_414@berkeley.edu
Executive Board
President
Aidan Clark, ‘17
V.P Recruitment
Jason Allenstein, ‘16 V.P Member Development
Kadhir Manickam, ‘17
V.P Communications
Ekkalux Nguyen, ‘17
Justin Johnson, ‘16
Chaplain
V.P Finance
Matthew Ramirez, ‘16
V.P Residential Learning
Community
Marcus Lee, ‘17
V.P Programming
Luke Walquist, ‘17
Connect With Us!
Facebook: www.facebook.com/calsigep
Alumni FB Group: www.facebook.com/
groups/335015859925006/
Instagram: www.instagram.com/sigepcalalpha/
Twitter: www.twitter.com/sigepucberkeley
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/grp/
home?gid=1348607
Website: www.berkeleysigep.com