PKT25: Spring 2001
Entering my last semester of college, I needed exactly eight credits to graduate. 4 were in a required Computer Science class, ECES 338. The other four ended up being my second Spanish class in as many semesters. The two combined would get me to exactly the number of credits needed to graduate. Because of this, I opted to be a part-time student my final semester to save some money. Given the number of classes I tanked during my sophomore year, graduating after 8 full-time semesters and 1 part-time semester (and 1 co-op semester) felt like an accomplishment.
Of course, I still actually had to pass those classes. Spanish was a piece of cake. ECES 338 was quite a bit more challenging, but fortunately my fraternity brother Joe was taking the class at the same time and pretty literally carried me across the line with what he called "Operation get Nate to graduate." I've bought him a great many beers in the years since then. On the night that final grades were posted at something like 2am, I called my parents in North Dakota to announce that I had, in fact, graduated. My father said that was great and it could have waited until the morning!
Beyond class, I was working as many hours at CWRUPhone as I possibly could. I needed the money. I had lost my scholarship after two years, and between the money I'd made on co-op and the money my parents had saved for me to attend college, this super senior year was the first time I had to get outside loans. It wasn't very much in loans even by the standard of the day, but I was very motivated to make as much money as I possibly could. Student jobs were capped at 20 hours, so I tried to hit that every week. I even skipped the Senior Week festivities at the end of the semester to get in one more hour of work before I lost my student status. Of course "work" is a bit of a misnomer as I was still mostly doing very little actual work at that job. I'd even gotten a raise after being there a year. What a great job that was. I need to remember to buy Dolan a few more beers for hooking me up with that job.
In radio world, I did my last semester of The Body Electric. I didn't have much else in the way of extracurricular activities. Somewhere along the way I briefly attended some practices of an improv group, so I'm going to say it was this semester, but I didn't go long enough to have an actual performance, or really to actually learn much.
Otherwise, I continued living in the Oval Office. I was the Associate Member Educator in the Spring 2001 semester, so I was able to rattle off the names of the this final group of pledges, all freshman, without any problem. I don't remember most of the other details about them though.
Tom - BB: Hank.
BenB - BB: I do not remember.
Kevin - From the Niagra/Buffalo area. Music Education major. BB: Steve
TJ - Computer science major. BB: Bybluk.
Hiroshi - BB: Josh
BenB left CWRU shortly after initiation, so the effective number of newly initiated brothers was four. There was also one pledge, Kurt, who dropped out early enough that he wasn't in the pledge composite (a spoof of The Usual Suspects poster). This happened twice that I can recall, although there were a few others we had to talk into staying. My general recollection is that if you had to talk them into staying it usually turned out not to be worth it though.
We graduated 8 brothers at the end of the semester. Besides myself, the graduates were:
Hsia - Worked in Cleveland for a few years, ended up being a physician's assistant and moving to NYC.
Frank - Worked for a few years in Cleveland as a programmer, married a girl he met playing ultimate, moved to Seattle to work for Amazon.
Rowan - Stayed in Cleveland. Worked as a consultant for a few years, was engaged to his college girlfriend but it didn't work out, worked with me for a few years, then went into business for himself as a consultant.
Neal - He and his family moved to southern Ohio to work for a major manufacturing company as an electrical engineer.
Mike - Worked for a few years in Cleveland as a programmer, married a girl he met here in 2005, then moved back to the Philadelphia area.
Jackal - Returned to his native Long Island and has worked as a music teacher since. Married his college girlfriend (not from CWRU), who is also a music teacher.
Ken - Stayed in Cleveland. Ended up marrying a girl he knew (but did not date) in college, actually working with me now.
We also threw one heck of a graduation party, which may not merit its own entry but is going to get one anyway!
My parents came up for commencement. My grandfather and his wife also attended. I hadn't actually planned attend the ceremony, but my mother indicated that as one of the primary financiers of my education she'd like to see me walk, which is hard logic to argue against. I bought a yearbook (mostly to prove I was Homecoming King) and got a diploma. I know where the yearbook is.
The Ohio Alpha Beta chapter started the semester with 37 actives, initiated 5 but lost 1 immediately, and graduated 8, leaving the house at 33 actives on the day I graduated. That almost doubled the 17 brothers who were around when I went to a rush party that changed my life. In those five years we made a ton of improvements to the house, including notably a brand new kitchen and a completely renovated apartment. We also won both the President's Cup and the Founder's Cup along the way. It was a great run, and it wasn't quite over yet.
The Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Theta
The House Tour
Outside,
Main Floor Bedrooms,
Main Floor Public Rooms,
Basement Public Areas,
Basement Private Areas,
2nd Floor Big Bedrooms,
2nd Floor Small Bedrooms,
3rd Floor First Hallway,
3rd Floor Second Hallway,
Attic & Errata,
House Tour Commentary: Joe & Laura & Astrid,
House Tour Commentary: Jackal,
House Tour Commentary: Susan,
House Tour Commentary: Assorted
The Pledge Program
Bid Night, Schedule, Curriculum & Black Books, Big Brothers & Pledge Pins, Paddling, Initiation
Semesters
Fall 1996, Spring 1997, Fall 1997, Spring 1998, Fall 1998, Spring 1999, Summer 1999, Fall 1999, Spring 2000, Summer 2000, Fall 2000, Spring 2001
Events
Detour, Blackout, Boo at the Zoo, Chapter Meetings, Serenading, Greek Week, Rush Events, Formal, Retreat
Other
Full Series, My Rush Experience, Chapter History, Family Trees, National, Greek Life at CWRU, Fraternity Offices, Part 1, Fraternity Offices, Part 2, Fraternity Offices, Part 3, Demographics, Seniority, Bars, Ponding, Video Games, Restaurants
Additional Commentary
Black Books, Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, More Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, Chapter Meetings
Of course, I still actually had to pass those classes. Spanish was a piece of cake. ECES 338 was quite a bit more challenging, but fortunately my fraternity brother Joe was taking the class at the same time and pretty literally carried me across the line with what he called "Operation get Nate to graduate." I've bought him a great many beers in the years since then. On the night that final grades were posted at something like 2am, I called my parents in North Dakota to announce that I had, in fact, graduated. My father said that was great and it could have waited until the morning!
Beyond class, I was working as many hours at CWRUPhone as I possibly could. I needed the money. I had lost my scholarship after two years, and between the money I'd made on co-op and the money my parents had saved for me to attend college, this super senior year was the first time I had to get outside loans. It wasn't very much in loans even by the standard of the day, but I was very motivated to make as much money as I possibly could. Student jobs were capped at 20 hours, so I tried to hit that every week. I even skipped the Senior Week festivities at the end of the semester to get in one more hour of work before I lost my student status. Of course "work" is a bit of a misnomer as I was still mostly doing very little actual work at that job. I'd even gotten a raise after being there a year. What a great job that was. I need to remember to buy Dolan a few more beers for hooking me up with that job.
In radio world, I did my last semester of The Body Electric. I didn't have much else in the way of extracurricular activities. Somewhere along the way I briefly attended some practices of an improv group, so I'm going to say it was this semester, but I didn't go long enough to have an actual performance, or really to actually learn much.
Otherwise, I continued living in the Oval Office. I was the Associate Member Educator in the Spring 2001 semester, so I was able to rattle off the names of the this final group of pledges, all freshman, without any problem. I don't remember most of the other details about them though.
Tom - BB: Hank.
BenB - BB: I do not remember.
Kevin - From the Niagra/Buffalo area. Music Education major. BB: Steve
TJ - Computer science major. BB: Bybluk.
Hiroshi - BB: Josh
BenB left CWRU shortly after initiation, so the effective number of newly initiated brothers was four. There was also one pledge, Kurt, who dropped out early enough that he wasn't in the pledge composite (a spoof of The Usual Suspects poster). This happened twice that I can recall, although there were a few others we had to talk into staying. My general recollection is that if you had to talk them into staying it usually turned out not to be worth it though.
We graduated 8 brothers at the end of the semester. Besides myself, the graduates were:
Hsia - Worked in Cleveland for a few years, ended up being a physician's assistant and moving to NYC.
Frank - Worked for a few years in Cleveland as a programmer, married a girl he met playing ultimate, moved to Seattle to work for Amazon.
Rowan - Stayed in Cleveland. Worked as a consultant for a few years, was engaged to his college girlfriend but it didn't work out, worked with me for a few years, then went into business for himself as a consultant.
Neal - He and his family moved to southern Ohio to work for a major manufacturing company as an electrical engineer.
Mike - Worked for a few years in Cleveland as a programmer, married a girl he met here in 2005, then moved back to the Philadelphia area.
Jackal - Returned to his native Long Island and has worked as a music teacher since. Married his college girlfriend (not from CWRU), who is also a music teacher.
Ken - Stayed in Cleveland. Ended up marrying a girl he knew (but did not date) in college, actually working with me now.
We also threw one heck of a graduation party, which may not merit its own entry but is going to get one anyway!
My parents came up for commencement. My grandfather and his wife also attended. I hadn't actually planned attend the ceremony, but my mother indicated that as one of the primary financiers of my education she'd like to see me walk, which is hard logic to argue against. I bought a yearbook (mostly to prove I was Homecoming King) and got a diploma. I know where the yearbook is.
The Ohio Alpha Beta chapter started the semester with 37 actives, initiated 5 but lost 1 immediately, and graduated 8, leaving the house at 33 actives on the day I graduated. That almost doubled the 17 brothers who were around when I went to a rush party that changed my life. In those five years we made a ton of improvements to the house, including notably a brand new kitchen and a completely renovated apartment. We also won both the President's Cup and the Founder's Cup along the way. It was a great run, and it wasn't quite over yet.
The Ohio Alpha Beta Chapter of Phi Kappa Theta
The House Tour
Outside,
Main Floor Bedrooms,
Main Floor Public Rooms,
Basement Public Areas,
Basement Private Areas,
2nd Floor Big Bedrooms,
2nd Floor Small Bedrooms,
3rd Floor First Hallway,
3rd Floor Second Hallway,
Attic & Errata,
House Tour Commentary: Joe & Laura & Astrid,
House Tour Commentary: Jackal,
House Tour Commentary: Susan,
House Tour Commentary: Assorted
The Pledge Program
Bid Night, Schedule, Curriculum & Black Books, Big Brothers & Pledge Pins, Paddling, Initiation
Semesters
Fall 1996, Spring 1997, Fall 1997, Spring 1998, Fall 1998, Spring 1999, Summer 1999, Fall 1999, Spring 2000, Summer 2000, Fall 2000, Spring 2001
Events
Detour, Blackout, Boo at the Zoo, Chapter Meetings, Serenading, Greek Week, Rush Events, Formal, Retreat
Other
Full Series, My Rush Experience, Chapter History, Family Trees, National, Greek Life at CWRU, Fraternity Offices, Part 1, Fraternity Offices, Part 2, Fraternity Offices, Part 3, Demographics, Seniority, Bars, Ponding, Video Games, Restaurants
Additional Commentary
Black Books, Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, More Boo at the Zoo & Blackout, Chapter Meetings