The skills I gained as a leader in Delta Pi easily transferred to other areas of my life. In my third year, I leveraged my experiences in the fraternity and became the President of the Psychology Students’ Association. The following year, I ran as President of the student federation and came in close second (losing by less than 0.1% of votes). After my university years, my leadership journey continued with an internship in Cameroon in West Africa, the creation of a small business and my job at one of the world’s top leadership development companies.

I credit my time in the fraternity as the main driver behind my development as a leader and, consequently, the key to my professional success.

JP Michel – Sigma Alpha Class

Movember (a portmanteau of the slang word “mo” for moustache and “November”) is an annual, month-long event involving the growing of imaginative moustaches during November. The event was conceived in 1999 by a group of Australian men from Adelaide, a city in the southern region of Australia. In 2004, the Movember foundation charity was formed to tackle men’s issues in this wild way. By 2007, the Mo-phenomenon caught on in countries like Ireland, Canada, Cyprus, Czech Republic, Denmark, Greece, Spain, the United Kingdom, Israel, South Africa, and the United States.

The brothers of Delta Pi were involved in the charity auction, allowing others to decide how exactly their faces would look all month. They coined the event “Adopt-a-Mo” where all proceeds went towards the Movember foundation charity. At the end of the month, they held a pub night allowing auction winners to shave their Mo’s. There were handlebars, a few Sanchez’ and even our president tried bleaching his Mo blonde! By the end Delta Pi raised over $5700 the second highest total at the University of Ottawa

Our Vice Prior, Justin Mackay getting shaved off!

The entire month was a fun experience and we are all looking forward to doing it again next year, hopefully by then I’ll be able to grow one. A special thanks to Xi Delta Theta, Sigma Psi Alpha, Nu Sigma Pi, Tri Delta, Kappa Zeta Psi and Zeta Theta Xi for supporting Delta Pi throughout the month!

By: Jevon James

The pledges took to the streets of Ottawa, selling tickets and raising community awareness about the event. The guys could be found throughout downtown, at all hours of the day for over a week, giving it their all to make sure the Babes had a full house come the night of their performance.

The fruits of their labour were readily apparent by the time the big night rolled around, with Saint Brigid’s Center packed and bristling with activity. The girls put on an incredible show, playing their hearts out to a delighted crowd of over 350. The evening also featured several touching speeches by local breast cancer survivors. Overall, the event raised more than $3000 for the Ottawa Regional Cancer Foundation, and generated invaluable breast cancer awareness throughout the Ottawa community.

By: Jevon James

The largest post-secondary fundraiser in Canada, Shinerama involves students at almost 60 university and college campuses across Canada, raising money for the Canadian Cystic Fibrosis Foundation. This event allows over 2000 new and returning students, starting at 6 a.m., to unite though original activities such as shining shoes and cars as well as selling raffle tickets, hot dogs and burgers, encouraging Ottawa citizens to give generously to the cause. Delta Pi donated $200+ of our own money, filling our aptly named Pat LeBlanc Memorial Trophy.

"Pat LeBlanc memorial trophy aptly filled with donations."

"Ian Thompson, active brother donating over $100 to the cause."

In the words of our esteemed alumni Derek Wilson, “Pat was an amazing man, extremely active and proud… [He was] integral in founding Sigma Alpha Mu, our founding fraternity. He also helped establish the 1st Greek council at Ottawa U allowing Greek Olympics to be possible today. He wasn’t able to lead directly because of Cystic Fibrosis, but his support for me made my accomplishments possible. He lived life to the max, he never let people know he had CF, and he never let it know it had him. For more on Pat LeBlanc and the Pat LeBlanc Memorial Trophy, refer to his article on the site.

Being only the first philanthropy event of the year, we plan on using the momentum from this fundraiser to kick-start even more successful than our previous years combined. Monthly events will shift our focus from only raging hard to raging hard and positively contributing to our society. If the year progresses into the one we expect it too, Delta Pi will be not only be following our mantra but exceeding it in building better and stronger men.

By: Jevon James, Philanthropy Chair

Originally, I had three reasons for joining:

1) They seemed like a cool bunch of guys.

2) I had a good time during RUSH.

3) I could see it leading to many alumni connection possibilities.

Soon after becoming a member, I realized the fraternity offered much more than I expected. It was more than just having some good times. It was about leadership, growth, and opportunity.

During my time as an active undergraduate member of Delta Pi I had the opportunity to be Pledge Master, Treasurer, and President of the Fraternity. It was an incredible learning experience.

Two weeks prior to graduating from university, I received a full time job offer as a direct result of being a member of the Fraternity. I’m proud to say that since graduating, I have assisted numerous brothers in starting and advancing their own careers.

Today, almost 18 years after I joined, I am a member of the Delta Pi Alumni Advisory Council and Chairman of the annual Delta Pi Leadership Conference.

Most importantly, I remain in contact with hundreds of my fraternity brothers. I help them and they help me – that’s the way we roll – and it will be that way for the rest of our lives. My affiliation with the fraternity continues offer me life opportunities on a regular basis.

My four years in the classrooms of the University of Ottawa taught me about academic principles. My four years as a member of Delta Pi Fraternity taught me how to be a great leader, how to succeed, and how to have a great time in the process!

Lots of people go to university and receive a degree. Only a select few get to become members of Delta Pi and differentiate themselves in today’s competitive world.

Being an active member of Delta Pi Fraternity was an unforgettable positive experience for me and hundreds of my brothers. If I had to do it all over again, I would do it the exact same way!

Anil Dilawri – Zeta Class – Class of 97’

We call it RUSH and it’s a perfect opportunity to learn, meet new people and see if our fraternity is what your looking for. We invite you to come out, meet the brothers and experience Delta Pi!

If you’re interested in rushing, want more information or have any questions don’t hesitate to contact us at rush@deltapi.ca .

[audio:http://www.deltapi.ca/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/WhitePurple.mp3|titles=White&Purple|autostart=yes]

Yet how we see fraternities and sororities may say more about us than about the actual Greek system. In truth, the college Greek system may be one of the healthiest forms of community in our nation, and any student who refuses to consider entering the community may be doing himself or herself a disservice.

“For all the negative press about fraternities and sororities, no one else does as much as they do to raise awareness about issues that matter,” says T.J. Sullivan, a nationally prominent campus speaker. “No other community on a campus comes close in learning about issues.”

As a developer of innovative educational programs for college audiences, Sullivan has studied college life up close for the past two decades. A number of his observations are quite instructive. For instance, Sullivan noticed years ago that if a college women’s center organizes a progressive program addressing sexual health, they may draw 20 people and the sounds of chirping crickets on a typical evening; yet that same college’s fraternity and sorority system can gather 2,000 actively engaged attendees if the program is well-designed.

A college programming board can draw such a crowd only if it drops $40,000 on a national celebrity promoting a new book. But Greeks “know how to get butts in the seats,” Sullivan says. Indeed, this is the case on a weekly basis, as fraternity brothers and sorority sisters are brought regularly into compelling discussions about community service, women’s safety, career planning and the whole host of college concerns.

Sullivan is passionate about the ability of college Greeks to build better college communities and a better society. As the co-founder and CEO of CAMPUSPEAK, he oversees a stable of some 50 speakers and a small army of interactive workshop leaders. The college Greek system provides the most enthusiastic demand for the educational programming, and results have been profound.

Stacy Nadeau, one of Sullivan’s colleagues, is a former star of Dove’s “real women with real curves” advertising campaigns, who has opened up discussions at sororities around America regarding body image and “embracing real beauty.” Nadeau helped Delta Delta Delta, a large national sorority, develop a “Fat-Talk”-Free Week, for which she has served as a national spokesperson.

While skeptics see the college Greek system as a few magnitudes short of enlightenment, Sullivan has seen far more positive trends. After entering Indiana University at the age of 16 and becoming active in the Pi Kappa Phi fraternity, he graduated and moved on to work with the Bacchus Network, focusing on alcohol awareness and responsible decision-making.

In the early 1990s, Sullivan teamed with a friend, Joel Goldman, to develop an educational program titled “Friendship in the Age of AIDS.” Goldman discussed his experiences with HIV, while Sullivan discussed oral sex and orgasms.

The program became a national sensation, and Sullivan attributes the success to the Greek system. “Who’d have thought that fraternity students would embrace it the way we did? We ended up speaking to a million students nationally, because fraternities took the lead.”

More recently, Shane Windmeyer, the founder of Campus Pride and a member of Phi Delta Theta Fraternity, has been a champion of LGBT issues within the college Greek system, developing programs such as “Out and Greek” to transform the tone of Greek community.

Yet what about that common complaint about the American fraternity and sorority system — that it is troublingly segregated, and mostly rich and white?

Here we need some context: All close communities, from every era and every nation, have tended to self-segregate. As Bill Bishop observed in his landmark book, “The Big Sort: Why the Clustering of Like-Minded America Is Tearing Us Apart,” the modern Christian church growth movement took off when missionaries realized that humans have a deep proclivity for homogeneous community.

In that light, the college Greeks have actually been heroic in their attempts to move beyond conformity in order to achieve diversity. Brian Johnson, an African-American professor at Bloomsburg University and Director of the Frederick Douglass Institute for Academic Excellence, is a sought-after speaker and consultant on multicultural issues among Greeks and other college audiences.

Johnson views diversity not as a bitter medicine to be forced upon others but as an opportunity to be harnessed. And he exposes the untruths about racial stereotypes as readily as he exposes untruths about college Greek stereotypes.

“As I travel the country speaking to student leaders about stereotypes,” he says, “I find a great number of students who, with their national organizations, are pressing for a return to the true mission of fraternal organizations — those being service and philanthropy, academic excellence and being good stewards to the campus community.”

Like it or not, the college Greek system is not going away. But there is far more there to like than some may want to admit. A student affairs administrator told me recently that for all the growing pains that he associated with Greek life, members tend to have higher grade point averages, higher graduation rates, higher starting salaries than their less-connected counterparts, more enduring college friendships and a higher rate of giving to their alma maters.

And it goes even beyond that. When not discussing body image, Delta Delta Delta was busy raising $3.4 million dollars in the past year alone for a children’s hospital in Memphis. I recently met a recent USC graduate, a Delta Gamma member, who stood every Greek stereotype on its ear, as a magna cum laude student who served blind children in her free time and who now works at the brainy Googleplex in Silicon Valley.

The stereotypes about Greeks are wrongheaded in spirit and wrong in fact, says Johnson. “They have cleaned up highways, cooked meals for the homeless, raised countless charitable dollars, and so much more.” An ordained minister, he adds proudly, “Now that is what true brotherhood and sisterhood looks like!”

The genuine challenges that fraternities and sororities face are hardly unique to their communities. What may be unique is their collective commitment to addressing their challenges head on.

Can you build a better world by going Greek? There’s no reason to think otherwise.

Author: Rob Asghar
Source: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/rob-asghar/want-to-build-a-better-wo_b_918291.html

“WHAT KIND OF first-year boy doesn’t like beer?”

When I moved to Ottawa I didn’t know a single person. I didn’t have a job, I’d missed most of frosh week, and I needed to meet some like-minded people. This was my situation when a member of Delta Pi fraternity asked me this ludicrous question while I was checking out some of the U of O’s club selections. And so, for the next few weeks my social itch was scratched on Somerset Street with the dudes of Delta Pi.

As soon as I walked in to the house, frat brothers were introducing themselves left and right. If I didn’t have a drink, there was beer in the fridge. If I thought a girl across the room was cute, I had a wingman. Every brother that I met made it his mission for me to have a good time. Pretty nice for a bunch of complete strangers, don’t you think?

I had never thought about being a frat guy because of the stigma that’s attached to it. But these guys were incredibly nice to a dude that they had never met, and that’s exactly what I needed. It took the edge off of being in a new town.

People like to rag on frats and sororities because of—what? They drink too much? It’s a social club and, honestly, every age group drinks. Joining a frat or sorority is just a great way to meet new people and make connections. For me, I found one that interested me right from the beginning, but there are all sorts out there that cater to exactly what you might be looking for.

by Ivan Frisken

Published: Jan 26

Source: http://thefulcrum.ca/articles/41049

This was one of the more enjoyable philanthropic initiatives considering we get to reap the benefits of our labour. To keep the rust off our wheels, most nights we would lace up and get some practice in for the Fraternity hockey league where bragging rights are everything. This initiative was a truly behind the scenes type thankless job, however we all have many friends that are frequent users of the rink. Being able to tell them that we are the ones responsible for the existence and quality of the rink they are enjoying is an extremely rewarding feeling. Many organizations do fundraisers for charities which is great, however it is rare that one would directly see the benefits of such initiatives. Being able to walk by the cause that you have served for on a daily basis and see the amount of people benefitted is a feeling that is not easily duplicated.