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Newsletter of the Philon Chapter of Alpha Rho Chi at Washington University in St. Louis.

vol 01

Hello Philon and friends,

Now that we have a full year as an official chapter under our belt, it is a very exciting time for us. While we have spent much of our efforts until now learning the intricacies of what it means to be a part of a national organization, it is now our turn to establish a distinct Philonian identity.

First and foremost, I would like to welcome our twelve new pledges, who have already proven themselves up to the task of embracing our new pledge program. This semester we hope to bring both the incoming pledges and current brothers closer through fun events and interviews. The chapter can also look forward to a number of events. On the professional front, we hope to continue to offer a Revit workshop as well as Rhino, Illustrator, and Photoshop help sessions for freshmen. We are also looking into possible locations for firm visits and portfolio reviews. As the career center offers many opportunities, we are always looking for creative ways to expand our professional events beyond what the school already offers.

Work with Gateway Greening on the community garden starts in the Spring. Socially, we can expect a very fun semester including a highly-anticipated semi-formal. Successful greek letter, Chi Cafe, and John Doughnut fundraisers have brought in revenue that will be used to support the semi-formal, dues scholarships, and convention attendance. 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of Alpha Rho Chi and we are excited to have four Philon brothers attending the Centennial Convention in Chicago where we can learn from other chapters, alumni, and professionals. Make sure to check out our newly designed website alpharhochi.wustl.edu in April for more updates and information about the Philon chapter.

Fidelitas, Amor, et Artes,

Cristina Clow, WA

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TABLE OF CONTENTS

A Word from Committee HeadsArchi Week RetrospectivePhilon Chapter: Where Are We From?Union Community GardenMember SpotlightWelcome the Gamma Pledge ClassPhilon Brotherly LovePhilon Goes Digital

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A Word from Committee Heads

Committee Heads give a short summary about what they have done or plan to do during the Spring 2014 Semester.

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This semester our committee is dedicated to planning the APX semi-formal in April. Additionally we are planning a variety of social soirées and parties to further em-phasize brotherhood and fraternity.

This semester our committee is dedicated to relaunching the chap-ter website and creating an annual newsletter.

This semester, After a very suc-cessful recruitment, we’re working towards making the pledge process as fun and interesting for the pledg-es as possible. We have tons of fun activities planned, and although we’re still perfecting how we run the pledge education process, all the brothers have been incredibly involved. We’re all excited to keep getting to know our amazing gam-ma class!

The Professional Committee is hoping to visit a design firm in the St. Louis area. We also hope to col-laborate with the Social Committee to plan an art show featuring the work of current brothers.

We are continuing with the fund-raisers we have done in the past (John Donuts sales and Chi Cafe) as well as expanding those fund-raisers. We are hoping to work with the Community Committee to raise money for Relay For Life as well.

Dante Migone-Ojeda Social

Maya Theus History

DeeDee Pierce Pledge Education & Ritual

Naomi GiddingsProfessional

Alex DeRosa Fundraising

We are working to create a greater presence on campus.

Haley Moore Campus Outreach

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In addition to the quizzes and gen-eral chapter education of the past and new brother interviews, we have created a full slate of events for the semester, culminating with initiation. These events range from fun and lighthearted to serious and deeply meaningful, enabling the pledge class to bond both among themselves and with the brother-hood. Get pumped Philon!

Mark Hartenstein

Brothers Abroad What are the brothers abroad up to? Read on and find out about Allie Zarazua and Lizzy Chalsen expereiences abroad.

Favorite experience so far?

Allie: My best experience so far has been the kindness and generosity of my host parents. They are genuinely interested in our day to day as well as helping us explore the city as a local. They delight in our ex-ploits and how much we love the food they make for us. Also I love my roommate Gabi as my partner in crime.

Lizzy: On one of the first really nice days, in between classes I sat on the arno and drew the city and then watched the sunset on the ponte vecchio with some gelato.

What do you miss most about APX?

Allie: The people,and getting to know the Gammas. Lizzy: I miss all of my friends!

Best food?

Allie: Venison pappardelle and pumpkin ricotta and pecorino ravioli in an osteria thats been around since the 1860.

Lizzy: Fried brie, gnochi with gorgonzola and truffle sauce, flourless chocolate cake, and a glass of red wine.

We will be continuing to work in teh community garden and hopeful-ly branch out to serve other parts of the St. Louis community.

Haley Elliott Community

During Archi Week buttons with famous works of art where passed out.

Greek letters where sold throughout Archi Week.The underpass was painted to advertise Archi Week events.

Buttons created for the Philon Chapter to give out in a Button Blast.

Archi Week Retrospective

Allison Seigel, former Community Outreach Committee Head, tells us what Archi Week is and where she sees it going in the future.

Archi-Day 2012

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Archi Week is a week long series of events intended to engage with all WUSTL students and to foster a familiarity with and interest in APX.What is Archi Week?

Archi Week started as Archi Day, an event held in the Spring of 2013. Our goal as a new student group with recognition isolated within the Art & Architecture schools was to get our name out on campus. We set up a bounce house outside of the DUC and invited students to bounce, enjoy a freeze pop, get a free APX button and learn about our chapter. The first Archi Week debuted in Fall 2013, and will take place every Fall semester. When did it start?

Being a new chapter, nobody on campus really knew that we existed. It was important to improve campus awareness and in order to do so, we had to reach beyond the “Sam Fox Bubble”. There are many groups on campus I am familiar with only because of yearly week-long events. Archi Week was created to get the attention of the student body and to then hold it by putting on events for 5 straight days.

How did you think of the idea?

Two important goals of Archi Week are to host events that are relevant to what we do as a fraternity and to reach out both within and beyond the Sam Fox Community. In Fall 2013, Archi Week included an Information Session targeted at PNMs, a Study Break movie night for Sam Fox students, a Greek Letter Sale geared towards the WU Greek community, an Art Button Blast for all students, and a John Donut sale.

What events does Archi Week include?

The Greek Letter Sale this year was incredible. Sorority members were excited about the opportunity to buy letters so easily and affordably. They also enjoyed the handmade aspect. The Button Blast was also extremely successful largely because it provides the opportunity to speak with Philon brothers. The Study Break was a great way to reach out within the Sam Fox community. We were able to connect with students from all studios—not just architecture.

How have WashU students responded?

I hope that we continue to challenge ourselves as a chapter to create events that reflect who we are and what we do. I am confident that Archi Week will continue to find new ways to reach out to the many different student spheres on campus. How will it evolve?

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FIDELITAS AMOR ET ARTES

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FIDELITAS AMOR ET ARTES

Philon Chapter: Where Are We From?Where do we all come from? A look at where brothers live, and what they like to eat.

What would you eat?

Hometown

Breakfast for dinner

Dinner for breakfast

Whichever is in studio

63%

24%

13%

Midwest

South

Northeast

West

Canada

32%

30%

27%

7%

4%

Philon Chapter MajorsArchitecture

Art History

Photography

Communication Design

Math

Fashion Design

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Union Community GardenAllison Balogh details the Philon Chapter’s Involvement in the community garden.

The Philon Chapter has started working with Union Community Garden at 5201 Cates in St. Louis.

When looking for community gardens to work with, our goal was to set up a long-term partnership that provides Alpha Rho Chi with an ongoing outlet for community service. With the help of Gateway Greening, we learned about Union Avenue Community Garden, which has needed volunteers during the school year for some time. UACG contributes its crops to the Memorial Boulevard Food Pantry, so we are excited to help them do so consistently for the future.

Another goal moving forward is to work with Union Avenue Christian Church, which manages UACG, to find more residents in the garden’s immediate surroundings that would want to work with us.

“THE BEST WAY TO FIND YOURSELF IS TO LOSE YOURSELF IN THE SERVICE OF OTHERS.”-MAHATMA GANDHI

Brothers work on weeding the garden in Fall 2013

Brother, Haley Moore, and pledges, Ciara Hackman, work together to clear away branckes in the garden.

Brother, Haley Elloit and Mrs. Moore, mother to Brother Haley Moore work together in the garden.

63%

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Where are you from?Kensington, MA

Why WashU?I knew I always wanted to go to architecture school so that helped the search and then I liked the size and the atmosphere of it. I wasn’t dying to go to Sri Lanka to get away from my parents, but it’s a nice distance from home. WashU was my top choice and I’m lucky to be here—I actually didn’t think I’d get in.

Why architecture?A lot of people said “you should be an architect”, and I brushed it off a lot because I didn’t want to be type-cast into something because I would change my mind about what I wanted to do every couple of weeks but here I am.

Favorite WashU class?The one I always end up being most dedicated to is studio. Every semester, there’s a class that stands out but at the end of the day, I’m in studio. I remember taking a film class freshman year—it was completely random and it didn’t help me but it was worth it.

Favorite project?Last semester we designed two homes. That might have been my favorite semester because there is something very quintessential about the home as far as the typologies of architecture and it’s easy to get lost in giant programs. You know what a home is. Right now we’re doing a film school in Los Angeles, in Beverly Hills, which is going to be awesome and is a chance to do some crazy architecture but at the same time you lose the ability to concentrate on details and I’m pretty detail-oriented.

What’s your favorite part of the design process?I love having a model and looking into a model and trying to put your eye in there, trying to pretend you’re in there. It’s a huge site, but it’s almost completely flat. So the hard part about site is that it’s on the water. You’ve got 40 foot pine trees, how do you maintain a view of the water? The main concept here is that you take the places people will congregate and put them on the second floor.

“I’ve had a lot of good times with APX. It’s like you get a free group of friends who love what you do. People are so supportive. Even with betterment at the end of chapter, everyone is genuinely happy for one another.”

Meet Theodore BazilA member spotlight on Ted Bazil

Dream Job?A rockstar. I think it would be amazing to get on a stage, play the first chord of a song you wrote and you don’t have to even sing it because everyone is singing it back to you. Playing live is a lot of fun.

What do you like to do in your free time?One thing I’ve done for a long time is record music. The best present I ever got from my parents was a tape recorder. I made so many tapes and they’re all terrible—you don’t want to hear them. I filled the entire role. My dad’s keyboard ended up in my room as a little kid. I would use the auto function to start a beat. You could hit a note and it would add the baseline in one of 50 styles like Twist or Salsa, it was so silly. So that tape has that one beat for hours. Around 8th grade I picked up recording for real and got better throughout high school. I never did it with any gear—I would record full songs through the laptop speakers. The quality isn’t good but you learn quickly about audio production. People tend to really get caught up in gear. Now, free time is harder to come by. I’ve been trying to finish up a collection of recordings since freshman year.

Tell me about this debut album!I have two songs left that need the lyrics finished and vocals recorded and one acoustic song that needs to be retracked with some harmonies. And then one song that I want to redo vocals for. Then I’ll have to master it all.

Favorite architect(s)?There’s a movement that Kenneth Frampton articulated as Critical Regionalism which is one of the many strands of reactionary movements to modernism and its shortcomings. Their solution being: the answer is not a universal solution to architecture but instead it’s based on a site and involves actually going to a place and making architecture that responds to that place that couldn’t be anywhere else. I always appreciate people that do that.

What do you think about St. Louis’ architecture?What’s awesome about St. Louis is that it wears its place on its sleeve. You see the French detailing in Soulard, you see some Italian detailing when you go to The Hill and it’s all subtle. I think what St. Louis does best is historical preservation. I could talk about buildings like The Pulitzer as a beautiful place because it really is, but I think what makes St. Louis architecture cool is taking the abundance of originally very robust structures and updating it, maybe repur-posing it for a different purpose.

Why did you join APX?Being there when it started was really exciting to me. I also got to know a lot of people in Sam Fox that I wouldn’t know otherwise. What have you gained from APX?Community. I became good friends with a lot of people in APX that I might not have even met otherwise. APX broadens my horizons also, I have a better sense of what Communication Design is and what everyone does day-to-day. Which is good, the more you know about what other people are doing, the more respect and appreciation you have. Sam Fox is trying to integrate art and architecture through curriculum changes which is such a top-down way to do it. And I think more effective change can happen from the bottom-up which is what APX is doing.

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Janine Lang has kissed a stingray.

Emily Mark was chased by a monkey when she was 6 years old.

Armaan Shah is from Tokyo and on the Washu Crew Team.

Welcome the Gamma Pledge Class!

Learn some fun facts about the Gamma Class

ALEXIS GIGERFreshmanCharolette, NCFashion Design

ARMAAN SHAHFreshmanTokyo, JapanArchitecture

JOSHUA STEVENSFreshmanJacksonville, FLArchitecture

CIARA HACKMANFreshmanDeSoto, TXArchitecture

JANINE LANGFreshmanSaint Louis, MOArchitecture

EMILY MARKFreshmanLake Bluff, ILArchitecture

Joshua Stevens threw a spoon at Eeyore in Disneyland when he was 4 years old.

Ciara Hackman loves to sing all the time.

Alexis Gigerloves cats.

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Madeline McGraw was convinced by her older sister that she was part of the Truman Show.

Melina Goldman got kicked off of a movie set by Matt Damon’s bodyguards.

Aria Griffin was a back up dancer for Macklemore.

Sonya Feinstein’s favorite shoes are Converse.

Koby Moreno modeled as a toddler.

ARIA GRIFFINFreshmanPasadena, CAArchitecture

SONYA FEINSTEINFreshmanScarsdale, NYArchitecture

MADELINE McGRAWFreshmanVienna, WVArchitecture

MELINA GOLDMANFreshmanSunnydale, CAArchitecture

KOBY MORENOFreshmanScottsdale, AZArchitecture

OUR 2014 PLEDGE CLASS!

PHILON BROTHERLY LOVE Who do you admire most in APX?

Rachel HrobonMy role model in APX is Laura because she is such a friendly and positive person and she always makes me smile.

Laura RoettgesI’m going to say I love my Brandon Progrobs though he is so far away. He makes wonderful random drawings that I find very entertaining and just really true to himself and his style which I respect. He is always willing to just talk and hang out and is super accepting of people’s quirks. He has great taste in videos, and is always generous and willing to share food and headphones and whatnot.

Brandon PogrobI’m touched someone mentioned me. I don’t know I love everyone. Allison Siegel is so on top of everything it’s insane. any kind of stress that she may and likely is under, she doesn’t let it impact her work and she also doesn’t let it affect how she interacts with people. She’s basically my studio mom. I’m constantly inspired by how dedicated she is to her work, to APX, to her friends, etc. in short, she rules.

Allison SiegelMark Hartenstein is a great role model. He is passionate about developing our fraternity and setting us up to have a strong future. I admire the initiative he is taking with the pledge program!

SEE HOW THIS CONTINUES IN THE NEXT NEWSLETTER

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Alumni Update Where are they now? A quick check-in with some of Philon’s alumni.

What is the most exiciting thing you have done since graudating?

I got a french bulldog puppy! She’s one of the best decisions I’ve ever made.—Erin McLear

Deciding to go to architecture grad school and being reunited with fellow Philonians in NYC! —Lauren Miyata

I will be going to the World Cup in Brazil this summer!—Kalina Kheirolomoom

Philon Goes Digital

The Philon Chapter is entering the digital age. We have a website on the way but we also have other social media sites up and running. We now have a facebook page and a twitter! Brothers be sure to like and follow us across all social media platforms to stay up to date on what is happening in the Philon Chapter.

APX Philon @APXPhilon-March 29Our carnaval brothers! #brazil2014

APX Philon @APXPhilon-March 29 APX goes to @COiN_music and @WALKTHEMOONband at #wus-tock2014 and they were AWESOME!!!

APX Philon @APXPhilon-March 29Wishing our brothers in the WUSTL carnaval good luck today!!! #brazil2014 #danceyourheartout #carnaval #bellydancing

Some of Philon’s most recent tweets

APX Philon @APXPhilon-March 30Our chapter made sure to sing a lovely happy birthday tune to Van Gogh today #VANGOGH

APX Philon @APXPhilon-March 31Some of our brothers’ work in the Sophomore Art+Design Exhibition #samfox

facebook.com/apxPhilon @APXPhilon

Designed by the History Committee of Alpha Rho Chi Philon Chapter.