Past News Briefs

Beta Pi has been busy for the past couple of months with numerous social events, an initiation, and officer transition. Old South was a great time as usual, and thankfully nothing was damaged on our behalf. The pledges won the 7th annual KA vs. Sigma Nu pledge football game handily, 26-0, redeeming us from our previous defeat, by a large margin. Mysteriously, the Sigma Nus seem to have misplaced the trophy.

The 2nd annual All Day Party with Pike was again a hit, although the night-time band this year was not. While listening to live acoustic music, oysters, beer, and beautiful ladies were plentiful throughout the day. The Mallard Ball with the camouflaged Alpha Delta Pi was a success; the band Almost Steve was again.. excellent.

The pledges have survived pledgeship and were initiated today--Hunt Huntley was named Best Pledge. Beta Pi welcomes our 10 newly initiated brothers: Charles Morris Biber, David Matthew Brearley, Charles Tryon Fournier, Harry Arthur Huntley, Jr, Ryan DeMontmollin Jennings, Brent Cappelmann Kaneft, John Bernard Lovell III, Clary Edward Rawl, Jr, Ryan Williams Trail, and James Dorman Turner III.

New officers have been named, and can be viewed along with the rest of the brotherhood here. Congratulations to all of the new officers and chairmen, and thanks to the old ones for their outstanding job.

Happy New Year from the Beta Pi Chapter. We are currently undertaking a conversion from a snail-mail alumni mailing list to a state of the art electronic newsletter. We hope that alumni will continue to email betapika@hotmail.com with updated email addresses of any known alumni. We have recently held a number of MDA service projects which have helped to raise over $600 as we hope to double or triple that amount in the months to come. In old news which was inadvertently left out, we welcome Mike Ivey ('93) as our new alumni advisor, and thank Sonny King for his contributions.

In the Social area, Convivium was held January 20 at the Darlington House with the 80's band Pseudo following the banquet. We would like to recognize and congratulate Robbie Timms as he has recently been elected as Presbyterian's IFC President. Graves Province Old South, the largest and most prestigious fraternity party in the nation, is arriving in the upcoming weeks. Will Gravely will be our Old South Alumni Representative, Beau Luckie is our Secession speaker, TJ Ackerly will be our Old South Pageant Rep., and brother Cam Warren's band Milhouse will be performing at the Ball along with Jupiter Coyote and Gran Torino. For more details on our Social Calander, click here.

New Pictures are finally scanned and uploaded in the Photos section of the site. Brothers/Alumni, if you wish to add other pictures to the site, do not hesitate to mail or email pictures to the chapter's addresses to be added to the site. Thanks to the Camp family and Camp Tonawonda staff for letting us use their facilities, as Mountain Weekend took place the weekend of the 11th/12th and was a blast as usual. Alumni, please continue to email betapika@hotmail.com to add your contact information to the database.

Rush was successful as KA unanimously welcomes 14 of the best freshmen on campus.

Charles Morris Biber
David Matthew Brearley
John Leonard Bugay
Brent Harris Dohn
Charles Tryon Fournier
Harry Arthur Huntley, Jr.
Ryan deMontmollin Jennings
Brent Cappelmann Kaneft
John Bernard Lovell III
John Jefferson Manning
Clary Edward Rawl, Jr.
Ryan Williams Trail
James Dorman Turner III
Jonathan Skye Wellesley

Special thanks to Seaton Womble who did an outstanding job as Rush Chair. For information on the pledges hometowns and phone numbers, go to the Brothers section of the site.

Homecoming was a success! The new back deck was rededicated in the name of Beta Pi Alumni--whom we are extremely thankful, for the donations made to the deck fund. Special thanks to Clay Parker, Lawton Greenwood, and the brothers who came out early Saturday in order to prepare for a smoothly ran Homecoming; and Beau Luckie, Cotton Clarke, and Jesse Bowen for helping with lunch. Congrats to Heather Combs, as she was selected as the 2000-2001 Rose. Be sure to check out the Social section of the site in order to view the future social calander for Beta Pi.

Beta Pis listed in the Kappa Alpha Journal:

Robert Glenn Bartholomew III (Order of Omega)
Joseph Moore Biber (Golf/Legacy/Order of Omega)
Ryan Joseph Case (Tennis)
Arnold Harvey Clarke III (Legacy)
Robert Sumter Culler (Order of Omega)
William David Gravely (Legacy)
Hamilton Craig Howard (Legacy)
Donald Bruce Thoresen, Jr. (Tennis/Order of Omega)

- 9/21/00 -

The Beta Pi brothers have been working day and night to get the house ready for homecoming. The brothers will hope to have new couches and binding for the rug in a few days. Furthermore, the house now has a brand new refridgerator and new letters for the outside of the house (sorry Cannon). Also, brothers Ryan Case and John French donated a lovely charcoal Kappa Alpha print that hangs beside the new refridgerator. New KA and South Carolina flags have been purchased and will be hanging outside of the house shortly. The shrubbery and lawn outside of the house is in such great condition it would even make Albert James proud. Moreover, the new back deck will be re-dedicated on homecoming. Additionally, the Beta Pi brothers are searching to find new music to play at the house; we will be buying new cd's by artists other than the Embers and Chairmen of the Board.

Beta Pi Athletics: Brothers Biber, Case, and Thoresen honored

Brothers Donny Thoresen and Ryan Case will be stepping on court again to begin their fall tennis season. Last year Thoresen and Case had success both individually and as a team. Brother Thoresen ended the year as #10 in the region and Case as #24. As a team, the duo posted a #10 ranking in the region. Both Thoresen and Case received first team All Conference honors and Thoresen also received All Tournament honors. Furthermore, Thoresen and Case helped lead PC to a 2nd Conference Title in 3 years. An extra congratulations to brother Thoresen for receiving South Atlantic Conference Scholar Athlete of the Year, the Al Parker Georgia Scholar Athlete of the year, Intercollegiate Tennis Association Academic All American, and the GTE All-Academic first team..

Brother Jay Biber, standing at a towering 6'6", will also be stepping onto the golf course to begin his fall season. Biber was honored with the South Atlantic Conference Scholar Athlete of the year for golf and the GTE All Academic first team.

Beta Pi has had a very productive summer. The brothers, having raised enough money by the end of last year, began work on the new back deck in July. Using the technical expertise of Jeff Pafford and Clay Parker, we dismantled the old deck and finished completion on our brand new deck before the first weekend of school. The new back deck gives the brothers of Beta Pi a sense of great pride. First, being able to raise enough funds (through alumni contributions) to finance the project; and secondly, all of the brothers working together to actually build it and see it into completion. Beta Pi would like to thank once again, all the brothers, alumni, and parents who donated their time, money, and efforts into seeing this project into completion. Pictures of the newly completed back deck will be posted in the coming weeks.

In other news, sophomores Ryan Case and John French attended NLI in Richmond, Va. this August. Beta Pi won the Scholarship Award for academics. This award is presented to only the top twenty chapters every year. This award, along with winning Presbyterian Colleges coveted President's Cup last year (best all around fraternity), helps wrap up another succesful year of leadership on campus. This is award stands as a testament to the quality of our chapter and the strength of our brotherhood.

Beta Pi would also like to congratulate our new brothers initiated on April 16, 2000:

Robert Lee Buchanan III	Aiken, South Carolina
Ryan Joseph Case	Cumming, Georgia
John Wesley French	Easley, South Carolina
Julian Howard Hinesley III	St. Petersburg, Florida
William Gregg Marshall	Atlanta, Georgia
Thomas Elliott Volz	Irmo, South Carolina

It has been a busy two months for the brothers of Beta Pi. New officer transition took place last week, and the new officers are as follows:

The fifth annual Sigma Nu / Kappa Alpha pledge football game took place on Friday, 3/24/00 at the Presbyterian College intramural field. Unfortunately, Sigma Nu dealt Kappa Alpha its very first loss (12-6) in a last second touchdown that clinched the game. Despite the loss, it was a hard fought battle and our pledges showed a valiant effort in this years Battle of Lexington.

Beta Pi also held its first phone-a-thon on 2/29/00 to raise money for a new back deck and other house improvements. The phone-a-thon was very successful with approximately 2,500 dollars raised. We would like to thank all alumni and parents who contributed to our house improvement fund. We would love to have a new back deck in time for next year's homecoming.Beta Pi has also been busy raising money for The Muscular Dystrophy Association by selling MDA shamrocks on campus last week and a planned Krispy Kream doughnut sale in April.

Also, congratulations to two former Beta Pi #1's, Beau Cannington and Tom Swift. Beau was accepted into Mercer Medical School, and Tom was just recently accepted into Mercer Law School. We wish our alumni the very best in the coming year. The email addresses for the new officers have recently been updated; if you have any questions, comments, or news please do not hesitate to call or email Andrew Ellett (864-833-8970) or Lawton Greenwood (864-833-8955).

Welcome alumni, parents, and other interested parties. Convivium went swimmingly and was a success on all counts, thanks to the hard work of many brothers, especially Will Gravely and Albert James. Instead of a Keynote speaker at the Convivium ceremony, Beta Pi's seniors each spoke about how Kappa Alpha has impacted his college experience. SUDO played a full show and the house was packed with brothers, dates, and guests.

The brothers continue to look forward to this year's Graves Province Old South, which will held February 11-13 in Tallahassee, Florida. Beau Cannington has accepted the role of alumni speaker and brother Cam Warren is organizing Beta Pi's involvement in the event. Cam may be reached at 864-833-8563 if you wish to participate in Old South this year.

In previous news segments, the names of Beta Pi's pledges have inadvertently been omitted. Here is a list of our pledges this semester:

Initiation took place on Sunday, January 16th, in the First Presbyterian Church of Laurens, SC. Special thanks to brother Clay Parker for securing a sanctuary for initiation.

One large house improvement project looms in the near future for the brothers of Beta Pi. Success in completing this important undertaking hinges on cooperation among brothers, parents, and alumni. For many months now, the condition of the Beta Pi back deck has been deteriorating. Although still in use, the deck is in poor condition and must soon be replaced. In response, the brothers have decided to undergo a campaign to first raise the money to build the deck and to then construct the deck. Although we are yet unsure of the date of the ribbon-cutting, the deck will be finished by the completion of this semester (before the end of April), barring any unforeseen fundraising difficulties. In order to raise the funds necessary to contract a deck of the size and stability worthy of the Kappa Alpha house, the brothers will conduct a phone-a-thon. All Beta Pi alumni on the national register will be called on an upcoming Saturday afternoon. The details of this fundraising project will soon be mailed to chapter alumni in the Beta Pi newsletter. A self-addressed envelope will be enclosed with the newsletter in the hopes of gaining your financial support for the house restoration project. The brothers would appreciate anything you can give to help in the completion of this endeavor. A ribbon-cutting ceremony will be held in coordination with a re-dedication of the Putsy Silas Bailey room. Details will soon be available, first on-line and then through subsequent mailings. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions regarding Kappa Alpha's handling of the fundraising efforts, please do not hesitate to call or email Adam Carter (864-833-8970) or Lawton Greenwood (864-833-8955). Thank you for your continued support.

PC is back in session and the brothers of Beta Pi are looking forward to beginning another successful semester. Currently, KA is leading the fraternities on campus in GPA. This coming Saturday, 1/15/00, is Beta Pi's Convivium, the celebration of the life of Robert Edward Lee, Kappa Alpha's spiritual founder. Mountain Weekend and the Graves Province Old South are slated for February. Last year's Graves Province Old South was the largest gathering of Kappa Alphas ever, and this year's celebration is no less eagerly anticipated.

The brothers of Beta Pi would like to thank Ben and the entire Haynes family for the use of Camp Tonawanda, located near Hendersonville, NC, for Mountain Weekend. If you have any questions or comments about the upcoming events planned by Beta Pi, please do not hesitate to call, write, or email us. All contact information may be found by clicking here.

Special thanks to Brother Cotton Clarke for organizing the Thornwell Orphanage Christmas Party; the party went very well and over 30 children came to the KA house for our annual late December party.

Beta Pi is looking forward to another excellent rush this year, with freshman rush beginning on Monday, November 1, 1999. The KA smoker will take place on Wednesday, November 3rd, the keynote speaker being Mr. Richard Shirley, mayor of Anderson, S.C. and Beta Pi alumnus. Accept Day is on Friday, November 12th, and all alumni and parents are invited to take part in the festivities.

The brothers have been busy with community service over the past two weeks. Each week, brothers volunteer time to the Thornwell Orphanage for Children, and over the past two weeks, each brother has visited the home. To view pictures from the most recent visit, you may click here. Kappa Alpha brothers also volunteer at the Presbyterian Home for the Elderly once per week. On Saturday, October 23, one-third of the chapter aided in a community service project in Anderson, S.C., erecting a playground for children. Muscular Dystrophy Association projects are in the works. To find out more about Beta Pi's commitment to service, click here.

Beta Pi will conduct a Halloween Party on Saturday, October 30th. The band featured will be Woodstick, always a hit on fraternity court.

Congratulations on finding the Beta Pi website. The site will soon be linked to the national KA site, the Presbyterian College homepage, and through the search engines Yahoo.com, Excite.com, and Lycos.com.

Homecoming is later this week, September 17th and 18th. T-Shirts may be ordered for $15 each, sizes large and extra large only. Food costs are $10 per person and may be paid at the door. Preparations are being made to construct a new deck on the house and refurbish or replace the couches in the Putzy Silas Bailey room. Any suggestions, comments, or questions may be addressed to BetaPiKA@hotmail.com.

Alumni, parents, brothers, and friends of Beta Pi, thank you for visiting the chapter's home on the internet. With the summer coming to an end, Kappa Alpha will soon be kicking off yet another school year. It will be a beginning for some and an end for others, and all hope that this year will be a successful one for Beta Pi and Kappa Alpha.

As part of our new expansion onto the internet, all parents and alumni who wish to remain active and up to date on Beta Pi's happenings are asked to click on the below button, which will take you to a secure page. On this page we ask that you give some information that will help us keep in touch with you. Our mailing list will be periodically updated, and all online entries will be automatically added. With this feature, along with Beta Pi's web site, you can follow the chapter as closely as you want.