A few short weeks ago, Brothers from BMAAC, Capital, DVAC, and NYMAAC all gathered in historical Philadelphia, PA for a weekend full of tripod events: NEATO. The event grew out of an annual alumni weekend trip to Atlantic City, and has grown to include 4 alumni Chapters planning and hosting the trip in each of our great cities. 2016 proved to be no different, and it was a fantastic (dare we say “neat”) weekend!

The weekend kicked off  with our social event at Good Dog Bar in downtown Philly on Friday night. Brothers began trickling in around 6:30pm, and continued to arrive throughout the evening. It was great to meet up with everyone, and connect after most Brothers hadn’t seen each other for at least a couple of months.

Alumni and undergraduate Brothers at our duffel bag service event!

Saturday morning started bright and early, where Gamma Xi Chapter was kind enough to host us on campus for our service event, decorating and stuffing duffel bags. After an earlier fundraising event, NEATO raised over $500 and received supplies to create and deliver 21 duffel bags! Most foster children receive garbage bag to hold their belongings when they enter foster care, and it was great to know that all 21 duffel bags stayed local to Philadelphia area children in need – one of DVAC’s own were able to take the bags and utilize in the Delaware County foster care system!

Once the bags were complete, everyone trekked back to start the afternoon by kicking off at the famous Reading Terminal Market for lunch. Many cheesesteaks and other delicious foods were consumed, and several groups set out on some self-guided scholarship sight seeing for the afternoon – seeing Benjamin Franklin’s grave, Independence Hall, and the Liberty Bell!

NEATO at the Robot Revolution exhibit at the Franklin Institute.

Saturday evening brought even more events, starting with another scholarship event – this time at the Franklin Institute for their Robot Revolution event. We got to learn about – and even build! – robots and all the great innovations we have seen with them so far. Afterwards, the group gathered for the traditional Saturday evening social event of dinner. This year we headed out to Con Murphy’s Irish Pub, and even more Brothers coming in for the festivities!

Finally, all good things have to come to an end. Sunday morning saw the final social event of the weekend, with brunch at Devil’s Alley downtown. The morning was complete with a fantastic turnout (resulting in a “sweetheart table” being added next to the larger table set for the group). We ended out with a group hug, to save time on goodbyes of course, and headed home.

NEATO’s sarcastic, sassy, and slightly strange brunch photo. We wouldn’t have it any other way!

DVAC was so excited to host this weekend, and happy to see just how many Brothers (new and familiar faces alike!) came out to attend NEATO 2016. We can’t wait to start planning the next iteration of NEATO, and make even more great memories! In the meantime, don’t forget to check out our upcoming events on the Google calendar or Facebook page!

It’s been a few weeks since the 2016 National Convention wrapped up, but with the school year just starting up for our collegiate Chapters and the alumni Chapters in full swing for fall events, the energy from PSPNC16 lives on!

This year, Phi Sigma Pi celebrated our first 100 fantastic years as a fraternity. The theme was predominant throughout Convention, with the most obvious tie-in being that the convention itself happened in Kansas City, Missouri – the same state we started our journey over 100 years ago. We had a packed 2 days (half Wednesday, all Thursday, and half Friday) of Grand Chapter Business, followed by an additional 2 days of Convention: full of activities and events for all Members.

Grand Chapter business sessions found us represented by DVAC President Beth Walsh and Philadelphia area Brother Chris Costantino as the DVAC Delegate and Alternate Delegate, respectively. However, the draw of our 100th birthday as a fraternity also saw DVAC VP John Finnegan, past DVAC EBoard representative and current member David DeFina, and DVAC member Matt Martello in attendance as well. For a full run down of how the votes on amendments came through, check out the Convention highlights at the national Phi Sigma Pi website: http://phisigmapi.org/nationalconvention

Part of Phi Sigma Pi’s 100 year history

Grand Chapter this year also brought our bi-annual Council elections, where positions ran uncontested from the previous term and remain the same for the 2016-2018 term (President, SVP, Secretary, VPF, and VPPD). Newly elected positions include VPMD (Matt Peachey), VPCD (Brian Christiansen), and VPAD (Kate McConnell). We’re wishing everyone a great term these next two years!

Following business is always the “fun” part, packed with events for collegiate and alumni members alike. The main events, however, were the day trip to University of Central Missouri, and the Awards Banquet – both on Saturday. The trip to UCM was full of great memories, a lovely greeting from our Alpha Chapter members, and the first time the newly passed Funeral Rite Ritual was conducted, while graveside where our Founders lay. The evening events saw a plethora of awards given out, and plenty of celebration for the Philly Metro region as well (long live the regions!). PMRC, held earlier this year at West Chester University (Alpha Epsilon Chapter), won the 5-Star Regional Conference award, and PMRC’s own Luigi Nunez of St Joseph’s University (Zeta Iota Chapter) won the coveted Todd Tripod Scholarship.

DVAC is part of the 5-Star winning Philadelphia Metro Region Conference!

It was a busy week for everyone, and a lot as accomplished! There’s also a lot to look forward to. As Phi Sigma Pi looks to the next 100 years, we start with a continued partnership with Hugh O’Brian Youth (HOBY) Leadership, we have over 130 undergraduate Chapters, over 10 alumni Chapters and Associations, and the organization continues to grow and become more outstanding every day. We can’t wait to see what the next year will bring us before we are at the 2017 National Convention!