OUTSTANDING GPA AT THE CHAPTER HOUSE 

The men have made great strides this year towards becoming a Top Teke Chapter.  With a successful rush, the house is nearing capacity with nearly 50 men living in the Chapter House.  The VEISHEA barn will stand at the corner of Ash and Sunset for the first time in some years as TKE is returning to the VEISHEA float building arena.  But what we are most proud of today is that our men have shown significant improvement in the classroom.

The chapter ended up with a 2.94 GPA for all the men in the house! This put us in 8th in standings among all the fraternities. We have been recognized for the greatest improvement in GPA over the last year. Also, our freshmen had the second highest GPA out of all the freshmen classes with a 3.05! Everybody has been working really hard and deserve a lot of credit for their time management and having their priorities in the right place. We are looking forward to another great semester and hope to do even better!

CHUCK KOLBE DISTINGUISHED LEADERSHIP AWARD ENDOWMENT CAMPAIGN

Frater Chuck Kolbe, E-691, passed on to Chapter Eternal April 25, 2009 after a long and courageous struggle with health complications following a spinal cord injury in 1997.  To honor the memory and to preserve and perpetuate the legacy of this beloved and accomplished Frater, Epsilon Chapter of Tau Kappa Epsilon has established the Chuck Kolbe Distinguished Leadership Award in agreement with the Iowa State University Foundation.  We seek your support and participation in establishing and perpetuating this most important award.  Even if you did not know Chuck, your gift to this endowment will be a boost for our scholarship program. 

Please visit http://224ash.com/home/kolbe_award.php  for the details describing the scholarship and the simple procedures for making a tax-deductible  gift to the Iowa State University Foundation. 

We also have included commentary on Chuck’s extraordinary life, which we believe will recapture many fond memories of our times together.

Please give your serious consideration to joining us and others in perpetuating the memory and legacy of Frater Chuck Kolbe.  Also, please share this info with your fellow Fraters.

Yours In The Bond,

Ed Schram E-693 805-963-5423

Bill Roe E-702  530-219-0845

Dave Prince E-753  651-351-7741

Gary Mulhall E-802  360-357-5227

Roger Underwood E-1239 515-231-0151

ANNUAL SCHOLARSHIP SELECTION AND DINNER APPROACHING
Please take time to review the impressive listing of scholarships available to our undergraduate membership at http://www.epsilon-tke.org/tke.php?p=292  

The undergraduate residents must submit their applications to our scholarship selection committee by March 12.  That committee will be making selections March 28 with a scholarship awards dinner at the House in late April.  Alumni will be encouraged to attend this celebration of our undergraduate academic achievements.  Please stay tuned for more details on the scholarship dinner.

TKE GOES BACK INTO THE VEISHEA BARN – AND YOU CAN HELP!
The VEISHEA barn is going up again this spring at 224 Ash.  ITt’s been a few years since we hosted the float construction at the TKE House.  But the guys are excited to get after it this year and you can help!  The men have set up a PayPal page for alumni to make donations to the float building fund online.  Just go to:   http://www.epsilon-tke.org/tke.php?p=311    

The Ames community really gets tapped out for float fundraising.  The men hope even a small amount from several alumni will help close the gap. 

You can also follow along as the float proesses online.  The men have set up a  blog at http://tke-epsilon.blogspot.com/   They’ll be updating it throughout the float building season.  So watch the float come together!

02/01/10:
CHAPTER ETERNAL: MERLE D. CHALOUPKA , E-315

Merle D. Chaloupka, 87, was born at Yale, Iowa, September 8, 1922 to Rosa (Cabelka) and Joseph Chaloupka, Jr. He passed away Friday, January 29, 2010 at the Guthrie County Hospital, Guthrie Center, Iowa. He grew up on the family farm and graduated from Yale High School in 1940. He then attended Iowa State College, affiliating with TKE Fraternity, until enlisting in the C.A. A. In 1942. Trained as a pilot on several aircraft around the country, he was most proud of flying B-25, after transferring to the Air Force Reserves in 1944. Post war, he was active in the Air Force Reserves for 25 years, retiring at the rank of Major.

October 23, 2009

Landscape architect implements his next design retirement

DAVID ELBERT
delbert@dmreg.com

When Jon Crose graduated from Iowa State College in 1956, there was only one other landscape architect working in Des Moines.

The preferred career path back then, Crose said, was to work in a big city, such as Chicago, designing lawns and gardens for the super rich.

But Crose had grown up in Scranton, the son of a rural mail carrier. He didn't want to leave Iowa. And except for two years in the Army, he never did.

Today, at age 75, he retires from RDG Planning & Design, ending a career that spans six decades, during which he "influenced nearly 75 percent of the 375 licensed landscape architects in Iowa," according to a 2006 citation from the American Society of Landscape Architects.

Crose has had a hand in nearly every significant landscaping project in recent decades in central Iowa, from Jester Park northwest of Des Moines to Gray's Lake in the heart of the city to Central College in Pella.

He's worked on suburban housing, commercial campuses, city, county, school and state projects.

He designed projects that were never built, such as a 1970 proposal for a fountain in Gray's Lake that would have shot water 100 feet into the air and a plan to create underground parking east of the Iowa Capitol. He's done projects, such as the original landscaping at Bob Brown Chevrolet, that won awards, but which have long since been bulldozed.

He's participated in a technological revolution that replaced pencil and paper with computer-assisted design and an environmental revolution that greatly increased demand for landscape architects.

His career was not at all what Crose expected when he arrived in Ames in 1952 as a college freshman. Like a lot of students, he wanted to be an engineer but switched majors when he "got into the math part," he said.

His first professional job was with Phillips Petroleum, helping "clean up and green up" service stations. After two months, he was drafted.

When he returned in 1958 from the Army, he went to work for the Iowa Conservation Commission, creating master plans for state parks. In 1965, he started a business in his basement, continuing to do planning for state and county parks, but now he was his own boss.

Richard Gardner joined Crose after graduating from Iowa State in 1969, creating a formidable team that has lasted 40 years. Since 1995, they have been the landscape design component of RDG.

Unlike Gardner, Crose said: "I didn't have any great talent for drawing. I was an implementer, getting projects built, (handling) contract relationships."

Des Moines Parks and Recreation Director Don Tripp said, "Jon under-sells his design creativity," although he agreed that Crose's real strength is "as a facilitator, bringing different groups of people together."

Tripp cited two cases.

One was Des Moines' mid-1990s effort to build a softball/soccer complex.

"We were trying to put it all in one location," but two council members - Archie Brooks and Mike McPherson - both wanted it in their part of town. "Plus, you had the entire greater Des Moines soccer community and the softball people, tens of thousands of families with an opinion on where to built it," Tripp said.

"Jon helped us through a process where we ended up building in two locations. He helped us find two really great sites" with the soccer fields in Brooks' south-side ward and softball fields in McPherson's east side.

A few years later, Gray's Lake was an even bigger challenge, Tripp said.

Today, the former gravel pit just south of downtown is considered one of the city's most successful projects. The density of use and mix of users is unparalleled, said architect Cal Lewis, who designed Gray's Lake's pedestrian bridge.

"At Gray's Lake, you see all colors, shapes and sizes, people from all economic levels," Lewis said.

The park would not be the melting pot that it is without Crose, Tripp said.

A list of powerful people were involved in the project. In addition to city officials, there were private donors, including the late David Kruidenier, and contractors who volunteered services. All had ideas. Some favored a heavily recreational and amusement orientation. Others wanted a natural setting.

Getting all the egos to agree was not easy, but the plan that emerged under Crose's guidance had something for everyone, Tripp said.

"Jon is a smart, articulate, unassuming and nonthreatening individual," Tripp said. "He's one of these people who can sit in the corner of the room and move pieces around, and you don't really know he's doing it."

One of the pieces that got moved, a piece that could have been a deal-breaker, involved the bridge that Lewis designed.

The plan was to wrap a trail around the lake, but a railroad that owned land on the south shore would not cooperate. Tripp said he and others came back discouraged after a meeting with railroad officials, but Crose had a solution.

"I give Jon credit, although there may have been others in the room at the time that said: 'Let's just go across the corner of the lake' " with a bridge, Tripp said.

The original plan was for a trestle bridge lit by lamp posts.

Kruidenier, who paid for the million-dollar bridge, objected to the design and brought in Lewis, who designed a curving bridge with light coming through waist-high panels of multicolored dichroic glass.

Crose, who had created a master plan for Gray's Lake as far back as 1970, was able to bury his own ideas and let the best suggestions of others surface, Tripp said.

In fact, he was so successful that the in-lake fountain that was the signature piece of Crose's 1970 Gray's Lake plan was never considered.

That's too bad, Lewis said, because the fountain "would have been fantastic."

10/27/09:
HOMECOMING 2009

Thanks to everyone who stopped by the homecoming tailgate party! It was good to see familiar faces. Despite the weather, it was a fun weekend topped off by an exciting Cyclone win. It was a busy week for the undergrads who were paired with Alpha Chi Omega, Beta Theta Pi, Theta Xi, and Triangle for Homecoming activities this year. The team place 3rd in Yell Like Hell, 1st in Window Display and 4th in Lawn Display. These placings led us to a 4th place overall finish.

NEW ISU BASKETBALL FACILITY NAMED FOR EPSILON FRATER'S FAMILY

ISU recently unveiled a new $8 million basketball practice facility for both the men s and women s programs. At halftime of the ISU Homecoming game, a familiar face to Epsilon was honored for his support of the project. Frater Steve Sukup (E-1194), his brother Charles and his parents Eugene and Mary were honored for their $2 million contribution to the project. It was announced at the game that pending Board of Regents approval, the new practice facility will be named the Sukup Basketball Complex. The Sukup family is well known for their successful grain storage company Sukup Manufacturing in Sheffield, IA.

CHIMES NEWSLETTER

The undergraduates put together a short newsletter to share with alumni. Click here to read the newsletter.

TKE'S PARTICIPATE IN REGGIE'S SLEEPOUT

From the IOWA STATE DAILY:
http://www.iowastatedaily.com/articles/2009/10/22/news/local_news/doc4ae11fb49fa81300094995.txt

ISU groups sleepout to raise money for homeless youth

By Erin Oftelie Daily Staff Writer

Seven groups from Iowa State will participate in the annual Reggie s Sleepout on Saturday at Drake Stadium.

The event is designed to raise money and awareness for homeless youth in central Iowa. The Des Moines Area Religious Council Emergency Food Pantry will be collecting non-perishable food donations.

The participating groups from Iowa State are: Theta Chi fraternity, Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity, the Master of Fine Arts program, ISU One, the Atheist and Agnostic Society, the Black Student Alliance and Campus Christian Fellowship. The event will raise funds by registrants who find sponsors, and participants sleep out at Drake stadium for a night.

Reggie Kelsey, the namesake of the event, died in the Des Moines River three months after aging out of the foster care system in 2001. He suffered from hallucinations and depression, and functioned at a third-grade cognitive level.

Prior to his death, Kelsey bounced from shelter to shelter while working with the Iowa Homeless Youth Center s street outreach staff in an attempt to qualify for federal disability payments, according to the Reggie s Sleepout Web site.

As a result of his death, Youth and Shelter Services led an effort to develop the Iowa After Care Services Network, which is now referred to as the Preparation for Adult Living program.

The groups registered to participate in the sleepout each have their own reasons for getting involved.

Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity is one of the groups participating in the event. The fraternity s service chair, Joe Nobile, freshman in speech communication, said the opportunity was suggested by a member of the fraternity who went through the foster care system for several years.

I was already considering it, but when he suggested it, I thought it would be a good way to get a lot of guys involved, Nobile said.

The Tau Kappa Epsilon fraternity requires each of its members to participate in a minimum of 10 hours of public service per semester, and Nobile said there are about 20 members from that fraternity who are signed up for the event.

A lot of people are pretty excited about it. They re getting ready for the cold, Nobile said.

Nobile said the event will be more than just fun and games for his group.

I think it will really open their eyes to how many homeless people are out there [and] what they re going through every day, he said.

Kelsie Pinegar, junior in child, adult and family services, is the compassion and outreach pilot for the Campus Christian Fellowship group on campus. She decided to get her group involved with the sleepout because it appealed to her and what she has learned about homeless youth through her studies.

Pinegar said the sleepout will give people the impression of what it is like to be homeless.

I just hope it opens their eyes to the problems we have with homeless youth in Iowa, she said. There are around 6,000 homeless people in Polk County, and about half of them are under the age of 18.

The Atheist and Agnostic Society is another group that will participate in the event. This will be the first year the organization has been involved with the sleepout.

During the sleepout, there will be a boxed in contest, in which groups will compete to build the most creative box house.

Andrew Severin, post-doctorate research assistant in agronomy and the Atheist and Agnostic Society s coordinator for the event, said he participated in the sleepout last year with the Unitarian Universalist Fellowship of Ames, and there were many outrageous entries in the contest.

He said one group even made a box house in the shape of the statue of liberty.

Anastasia Bodnar, president of the society and graduate student in agronomy, said Kelsey s story inspired her to get her group involved with the effort.

The story is what made me want to participate, she said. The people who we are helping are the same age as freshmen, so it s tangible. These are college-age kids. If circumstances were different, we could be in their place.

The sleepout event will involve nearly 100 groups, but there won t be much actual sleeping, Severin said.

It s gonna be a lot of fun, he said. There will be live music and entertainers all night long.

Among the festivities, there will be performances by DJ Wicked Sounds and Shy of a Dozen, a local a capella group, a talent show, bingo, Texas Hold Em poker games and movies. There are no fees to register, and all are encouraged to join the event. As of Wednesday evening, the event had raised $60,170.

9/9/09:
RUSH SUCCESS
Summer rush chairmen Mike Beals and Joe Nobile did a fabulous job this summer. We will be adding 20 new names to the Epsilon scroll.

The Men are:

Aaron McMinn - Chicago, IL (Carthage University, TKE Transfer)
Jeb Gent - Gilbert, IA
Shawn Miller - West Des Moines, IA
Josh Otten - Waukee, IA
Will Underwood - Gilbert, IA
Brian Dilling - Rochester, MN
Frank Morosky - Cedar Rapids, IA
Zach Sunderland - Cedar Rapids, IA
Andy Rondon - Kansas City, KS
Alex Furleigh - Clear Lake, IA
Alex Thacker - Milwaukee, WI
Isaiah Villalobos - Sioux City, IA
Gustavo Chamusca - Brazil (University of Houston, TKE Transfer)
Mike Ehm - Plymouth, MN
Matt DeBoer - LeMars, IA
Eric Anderson - Gilbert, IA
Eric Grinde - Maple Grove, MN
Bart Clubine - Hudson, IA
Dan Martin - Rochester, MN
Ross Westerkamp - Cedar Rapids, IA

The breakdown includes 16 Freshman, 2 Sophomores, and 2 Transfer Students. 17 out of our 20 are living in the Chapter House. We hope to add many more this fall and spring. Currently the house has 48 members living in (10 from capacity). So we still have some work to do.