Whistler Olympics

During the Olympics, Chris Furrer and I were lucky enough to go to Whistler for the opening weekend. It was a complete whim of a trip, but in the late afternoon on Sunday, Chris and I headed north. Fresh off a plane from San Francisco that morning, I knew it was going to be an epic weekend.
Where were we going to stay you ask? Well we could not have answered that ourselves as we drove along the interstate. But upon arriving at the border, my girlfriend, Tracy, gave us a ring and told us to head her way and we could sleep on the floor. I don’t think we could have lucked out more.
But we did. To drive the Sea to Sky highway up to the mountain, a permit was required due to the heavy traffic. Our luck came when we discovered that after 6pm, the permit was not required.
Anyway, long story short, we got up to Whistler and passed out for the night. The following day, Chris and I roamed around the village to see all the sights. It was a grand time. That night we were also able to go up to watch the women’s luge event. It was pretty sweet and I snapped some good picks.
That night we just went bar hopping (since it is legal up in Canuck land) and then called it a night. After a short jaunt home on Tuesday, we were back in the great US of A and back to the boring lives until two weeks later when we were able to go back up.
But that story is for another time.

IFC Delegate Duties

Over the last two quarters I have been the IFC delegate for the Sigma Phi Epsilon fraternity. What this means is that I am required to attend biweekly meetings in which a representative from each Fraternity meets with the IFC Exec board to vote and discuss both current issues and community events taking place on campus. It has been a great experience for me and through it, I feel more connected to not only our chapter, but the entire Greek Community here at the University of Washington. It has been a great way for me to get involved and I thoroughly enjoy being a part of the bigger Greek Community and relaying information between our chapter and the IFC.

HFF,
Neil Sharma

SPE Karts

This week we have been working on our annual philanthropy SPE Karts. Its been alot of fun for both us and the participating sororities. Charlie Miesner has done a great job organizing everything and making it the best SPE Kart yet. The philanthropy benefits animals in need through PAWS. Activities this year included an exotic car show, sumo wrestling, kart painting and kart races. So far 2200 dollars has been raised for the cause. Makes me proud to be a Sigep.

-Johnny Mo

Maslenitsa

This year the University of Washington held it's annual Maslenitsa celebration. On February 14th, the Slavic department followed all of the traditions of this old holiday to celebrate the last week before the great lent.

Maslenitsa (Russian: Ма́сленица, Ukrainian: Ма́сляниця, Belarusian: Ма́сьленіца), also known as Butter Week, Pancake week, or Cheesefare Week, is a Russian religious and folk holiday. It is celebrated during the last week before Great Lent—that is, the seventh week before Pascha (Easter). Maslenitsa corresponds to the Western Christian Carnival, except that Orthodox Lent begins on a Monday instead of a Wednesday. The Orthodox date of Easter can differ greatly from the Western Christian date.

The most characteristic food of Maslenitsa is bliny (Russian pancakes), popularly taken to symbolize the sun. Round and golden, they are made from the rich foods still allowed by the Orthodox tradition: butter, eggs, and milk.

Maslenitsa also includes masquerades, snowball fights, sledding, riding on swings and plenty of sleigh rides. In some regions, each day of Maslenitsa had its traditional activity: one day for sleigh-riding, another for the sons-in-law to visit their parents-in-law, another day for visiting the godparents, etc. The mascot of the celebration is usually a brightly dressed straw effigy of Lady Maslenitsa, formerly known as Kostroma. But due to the Seattle weather the above activities could not be performed.

As the culmination of the celebration, on Sunday evening, Lady Maslenitsa is stripped of her finery and put to the flames of a bonfire. Any remaining blintzes are also thrown on the fire, and Lady Maslenitsa's ashes are buried in the snow.

This holiday is greatly wealcomed in Russia, due to all the festivities and great food. Of coerce the same can be said for the recreation here in the US.

Axe Undie Run

I was recently chosen by GMR marketing to be the campus ambassador for the University of Washington for the Undie Run which will be sponsored by Axe. The event will consist of members of the community around the University of Washington showing up at a starting point and donating the clothes they are wearing to charity. From here, all the participants in their underwear will run a set path around the campus of University of Washington to show their dedication to the community. The run will be no longer than one mile. This will be a very fun event and will mostly consist of the students of the University of Washington. My job in this internship is to instigate, promote, and run the event when the time comes. The current planned date for the event is May 11th, 2010. It will be starting around 8 P.M.

Nolan Heintz

Phi Gift

The twenty of gentleman of the phi class have made a generous decision. Each phi member will be making a considerable donation to the house for a specific project, that project has been decided, finally. A new basketball hoop is on it's way. To complement the new hoop, privacy hedges will be planted around the front exterior of the property. The new beautiful hedges will not only reduce our "fish bowl" appearance but will add to the immediate beauty of the house.
Immediately to the left as you enter the SigEp property from 21st is a sad excuse for a basketball court. The basketball hoop being the center piece, having an outrageously old backboard and broken rim. This all will soon be replaced. The common game of SigEp tips will change, but for the better(joe cant dunk). Another common problem with the 'basketball court' was that the bushes surrounding it are in a very poor condition and allow the ball to escape. The new hedges will provide a backstop to an escaping basketball.
It is commonly thought that we live in a "fish bowl" because of our large amounts of windows, but with the new inclusion of our hedges we will have a small sense of privacy near our front door. Along with the much needed aesthetic appeal that the hedges offer. So thank you to the generous donations being made by the graduating phi class in a much needed way!

Yesterday in Red Square, the brothers of Sigma Phi Epsilon joined forces with Northwest Auto Salon to present the third annual Red Square Charity Car Show. Three years ago the event was founded as the kick-off to the weeklong philanthropy event, SPE Karts. Each year we hold the event, it is an improvement on the last. As philanthropy chair, I am proud to announce that at this year’s car show, we were able to raise $2,250 for the Progressive Animal Welfare Society through car registrations and spectator donations. That effectively doubles the amount we raised last year and I hope that in future years, the trend continues.

The week’s events are far from over! Tomorrow evening, sorority participants will decorate a soapbox derby kart each chapter was given. On Wednesday, sororities will participate in a field day that will include a relay race and sumo suit wrestle. Finally, the week will culminate in a soapbox derby race held on the University of Washington campus where the sorority with the most points will win the title as “SPE Karts 2010 Champions”. For more information on the week’s events check out the Facebook group: “SPE Karts 2010”.

To make a donation, mail a check payable to PAWS to:

Sigma Phi Epsilon
ATTN: Charlie Meissner
4637 21st Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98105

Vancouver Winter Olympics

This past February, a small group of SigEps went on a trip to Vancouver BC to see the sites of the 2010 Olympic games. The Phis who attended were Sam Dowdle, Grady McGuire, Zack McMacken, and myself. Our Phi leader, Corey Krzan and my brother Scott Uhrich also joined us. When we first arrived, we took the Olympic Line streetcar to Granville Island to see a few of the shops. We then took the Olympic Line to downtown Vancouver to see the main area of the games. We immediately saw gatherings of diverse people from around the world. Everywhere we looked we saw hundreds of people and there was a line for nearly every store and restaurant. The longest line we saw was for the Olympic Superstore. Since we wanted the full Olympic experience, we decided to wait in it. The line moved quickly, winding around two sides of a block. Later that day we walked down Granville Street in downtown Vancouver. We saw things ranging from zip lines from buildings, to stations set up to celebrate nearly every country. We even saw Canada Hockey Place (where the hockey games were played) and BC Place (where the opening and closing ceremonies were held). We eventually stopped to eat at Red Robin and soon after we made or way to the see the Olympic torch. The area was filled with people and flags of every country. Nearly everyone had a camera out and was taking pictures. The atmosphere was exciting and everyone was extremely nice. I frequently saw people politely asking strangers to take pictures of them so they could remember this experience forever. As night drew near we headed to a restaurant to watch the exceedingly popular men's curling final, of which Canada won, and the third place hockey game. With Canada's victory in curling, the streets filled with chants of Go Canada! It was an incredible experience to be at the Olympics, and I am happy I was able to share it with my close fraternity friends.

-Ryan Uhrich

A visit to the Church of Scientology

A few weeks ago Sam Dowdle, Alex Suryan, Ben Melton, Jason Covert, Ryan Uhrich and I went to the Seattle Church of Scientology. We took a personality test called the "Oxford Capacity Analysis"... no word on whether anyone with any connection to the University of Oxford was consulted to create the test. The test was over 200 questions long and asked questions like, "do you often make thoughtless remarks or accusations which you later regret?" and "do you sleep well?". My results seemed contradictory to me because it said I am both nervous and determined. We also were the only people who didn't work at the church to attend the Sunday service. We saw many signs and symbols similar to christianity including crosses, the pastor's collar, and his title, "pastor". However, he claimed scientology is not based on traditional religion. Before we went to the church, I did some research of my own. I found some clips of writing from founder L. Ron Hubbard quoting famous psychologists, however I also found writings by him rebuking modern psychology. While we all found the experience interesting, I think it raised far more questions than it answered.

Curtis Knapp

Epsilon Pre-Ritual Study

Our Epsilon Ritual is the second to last stage of our membership development. This is the stage members must reach in order to be alumni of the fraternity. This is where the secrets and meanings of our fraternity are revealed.
Our chapter room is technically a public room. All of our ritual equipment is left out at all times and it is public. The secret comes from the meaning of all the equipment. This meaning is learned during the Epsilon Rite of Passage. These secrets are what connect brothers around the nation to each other. We all share the same secrets and ritual.
As the Chaplain, I decided it would be a good activity to use the SigEp mural which has all of our ritual equipment on it in a pre-ritual study. All of the Phis would sit together and try to figure out the meaning of all of the ritual equipment the day before the ritual. They would make their decision based upon what we have learned in the Sigma and Phi rituals. I believe this will reinforce the meaning and significance once we truly learn what it means during the ritual.

Alex Shuler

Membership Record Book

For the past month or so I have been going around to all the members of the house asking for the dates of when they signed their bid cards and officially joined Sigma Phi Epsilon. I want to collect all of these dates because as of a few months ago our house purchased a membership record book. Now this book contains pretty much every bit of information that a person would legally want to write down for other people to see. It shows the names of members past and current, some of their interests, why they wanted to be a SigEp and many more other interesting bits of information. Once this book is finished it will be a cool thing that any SigEp can go look at years down the road and reminisce on the glory days.
Sam

Dance Grab a date

Last Friday on the 5th we had a grab a date. This is where we each find a date and bring them to the house to partake in some kind of social activity. This week we had a dance grab a date where we learned how to Waltz. Guys lead and girls follow. Girls had to perform twirls and spins. We learned the waltz square step, the balanced step and the progressive square step. The waltz was in 3/4 time (123,223,323...). It was a great educational experience and we had a lot of fun.

Shunta

RETRO Open Mic Night

RETRO, open mic night was pretty tight. It was at the ethnic cultural center the EEC on the south side of campus. I and four other brothers attended to support one of our newest brothers, Ryan Trinidad. The event last about two hours and was composed of a medley of spoken word poetry, live musical performances, beat boxing, and a group known as "Swag Crew" who performed a series of party dances to a song not appropriate for this blog. Ryan's performance was towards the end of the event. He and his friend Drey wrote a comedic poem defining and elaborating on several slang terms and colloquials associated with their home city, Tacoma. Needless to say, they were hilarious. For me, RETRO was a unique experience. I'd loved the energy in the venue and the sense of community and fellowship that embodied the event as a whole. I saw a lot of the comradery on that stage that I see everyday in the house. I felt like I knew the EEC and the people there very well. They reminded me how lucky we are to all be brothers.
A-Fang

Hot Yoga

On February 20th, we gathered a group of about 30-35 guys to go to hot yoga. It was mainly a sound body event but fulfilled the challenge requirement for many freshmen. As we got to the building, our instructors were extremely friendly and quelled most of our fears. Many guys were scared because of their lack of experience and the level of difficulty. But at the same time, many were excited to try something new. As the class before us got out, we headed in one by one, taking a deep breath of the sweaty, hot air. Merely standing in the room made us drip with sweat. As we were just getting used to the environment, we started off with a couple stretches and breathing exercises. This was followed by many other poses which many struggled to do while some were quite successful. After the hour and a half session of pain, sweat, lying down, and fun, we were all glad to be done. Grabbing our soaked undergarments and clothes, we headed to the showers. As we were heading out towards our vehicles, the instructors reminded us that we have two more weeks to go to nine more sessions. In the two following weeks, some took advantage of their offer, while some did not. Overall, the event was great because it allowed us to try something new while getting an awesome work out.






HFF
Joe Lee

Community Service

For our community service project, we decided to help out a dairy farmer with some basic yard work that he needed done. Six of us sophomores drove out to Sultan, Washington at 10 A.M. to see what we could do to help out. When we got there, Chris, the owner of the farm, showed us around and gave us our tasks. We were assigned to take down 200 yards of barbed wire fence. The job took us a total of 7 hours to complete because of the tedious process of taking out staples and rolling the barbed wire. We also had to use a tractor to take out the estimated 30 wood posts that were buried two feet into the ground. After a long day of work, it felt good to give back, even if it was just several hours of taking down a fence. We know we did some good for someone in need.

Taking care of business,
Justin Chavez

Digital Ethnography

So eight of us in the house are taking an Anthropology of Rock n Roll class where we were assigned to create a digital ethnography on a musical or cultural event. I spent this last three day weekend working on my video to get it finished and crossed off my things to do. With that said I thought I would share this with everyone.



HFF
Suryan

9-ball Tournament

On Friday the 5th of February, I, along with a handful of fellow students, represented the UW and other schools in a regional 9-ball pool tournament held on campus.

The tournament began Friday morning, and due to the small number of participants, we all had the chance to play each other in a best of 7 games match. At the end of Friday's games I had won 23 and lost 12. This put me into the bracket which was to be played out on Saturday. I occupied third place, 3 games behind the leader, one game behind the runner-up.

Tournament matches were set up as a race to 5, meaning the first competitor to win 5 games advanced in the winner's bracket. Saturday morning, I arrived feeling fantastic, and it showed. I won my first three matches 5-1,5-2, and 5-2. This automatically qualified me for the final match.

I was lucky enough to have two of my brothers, Alex Keller and Leon Hardman, there to keep me company in my waiting and to cheer me on. Unfortunately, I conceded twice in the final to the opponent I had beaten 5-2 in the morning.

I was very disappointed to lose. However, not only did I beat the competitor who had demolished me all week in our practices, but I played with a research professor from the atmospheric sciences department at UW for hours after each day of the tournament. What a great shooter! Though second place wasn't exactly where I wanted to come out, it was for the best. I have met quality pool players who I will continue to practice with while I am here, and a second place finish is just the right amount of encouragement and disappointment that I need to bring my game to the next level.

It's great to be a SigEp, and here's to the next tournament,
Mike Davis

Leadership Speaker

Last Monday, our Membership Development team brought in a leadership speaker named John Norlin. His overall message encouraged us to be servant leaders. When he explained the servant leadership triangle that you see here, he explained it from top to bottom.

Our goal at the beginning of this meeting was to learn how to be better leaders. He explained that in order to earn leadership, we must build influence. This influence allows us to earn leadership in others' eyes. To build influence, we need to partake in service and sacrifice (sacrificing our time to serve others in everyday situations). For anyone to want to partake in this, they must have love for others on some level. John told us about 'agape' which is the Greek name for 'love by choice.' He explained that we have to choose to love others and serve them even in the face of difficulty or opposition. Finally, we need a will to make these choices on a daily basis. Otherwise, we wouldn't be able to stick to them when faced with challenges. He explained that this will is gained when we have intentions followed by actions; intentions without actions mean nothing in the end. Through these steps John showed us how we can earn leadership by putting others before ourselves.

HFF,
Blake

Welcome to the Phi Challenge blog

Hey everyone,

I would like to officially introduce you all to the WA Beta chapter's Phi challenge blog. The members of the Phi classes will update this blog weekly, posting articles about life here at SigEp. This is a perfect way to see what events have been happening and what guys are up to here at the University of Washington. Feel free to subscribe or leave comments and know that whether you are a parent, friend, or member, this page is for you. We hope you enjoy our blog and what we have to say and, as always, feel free to email me at jtcovert@u.washington.edu if you have any questions, comments, or concerns.
Thank you and HFF.


Jason Covert
VP of Communications

We're Live!

The official blog of the Phi Challege @SigEp UW is good to go.