The Alpha Rho chapter has taken many great strides this year. Our brotherhood is stronger, we have more community involvement, grades are improving, and we have made a greater effort in reaching out to our alumni. Additionally, we have enhanced our relationship with the Fraternity and Sorority Relations office. Of all the accomplishments we have achieved this year, our new found positive relationship with this office and the school as a whole is by far our greatest achievement.
As a chapter, we have built upon the academic achievements from the previous year. As many of our programs that push all brothers for academic excellence are reaching their second years, we can clearly see their effectiveness. We are currently ranked #3 for the highest GPA on the row. It is our goal to be continually ranked in the top 3 even though we will still be gunning for number one.
Chapter programming also reached new levels this year. We held the IFC Educational Program of the Winter Quarter where we brought in the entertainment agent and UCLA alumnus Steven Sauer. We additionally tried many new event ideas like trips to the filming of the Price is Right, courtside seats at the Los Angeles Defenders basketball game, and our first ever Chicken Nugget eating competition. These are just some of our many activities from this past year.
This year we placed more emphasis on community service than we have in the past. Philanthropy events are excellent as a means of raising money, but they do not provide the same experience and knowledge that could be gained from actual hands-on experience. Some ways in which brothers got involved were coaching youth basketball, regular trips to a local soup kitchen, and cooking and delivering boxed lunches to the homeless.
Rush was a great success for us. This year we have had 31 initiates in our Fall class as well as 21 initiates in our Spring class. Last year’s rush was also a success, as we had the privilege of hosting Ron Artest of the Los Angeles Lakers. He played the game H-O-R-S-E against everyone, signed autographs, and ate dinner with us. He has even offered to return in the future for our philanthropy events.