Summer 2014 Volume 5 Issue 2 What’s Biking for...

Summer 2014

Volume 5 Issue 2

What’s Inside

Housing Authority Project P. 5-6

Change in Purple LegionnaireP. 6

“NU” Pledge BrothersP. 7-12

Chi Etas Abroad P. 13

Graduate Spotlight: Jason WhiteP. 16

Friendship. Knowledge. Service. Morality. Excellence.

Mark your Calendars!

November 3rd-8thWKU Homecoming, New Tops on the Block

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Biking for Alzheimer’s

3,000 miles, 56 days, $85,000 and 12 Chi Eta Phi Gams. All the necessary components for the third edition of Bike4Alz.

Bike4Alz, originally named Fiji’s Across America, was created by graduate brother Ty-ler Jury (2012) in honor of his late grandfather who passed away from Alzheimer’s.

In the summer of 2010, Jury along with five other Chi Eta brothers and a close friend at UK, rode from California to Virginia, rais-ing over $56,000 for the Alzheimer’s Associa-tion. In 2012, nine Chi Eta brothers pedaled from International Falls, MN to Key West, FL, raising over $65,000 along the way.

Just months after that ride concluded, preparation began for the next ride set to take place in the summer of 2014. 16 months of weekly meetings and deliberations, countless hours of reaching out for sponsorships and donations by phone and in-person, and a lot of hard work from 12 Chi Eta brothers was done to ensure that this would be the most success-

ful Bike4Alz trip to date. The 2014 Bike4Alz participants were:

Robert Lucas (2014), Ryne McMullen (2015), Luke Sparks (2015), Wade Weatherholt (2015), Seth Bland (2016), Seth Haga (2016), Parker Kuhn (2016), Drake Riley (2016), Taylor Ruby (2016) and Drew Tingle (2016) as bikers, and Nate Blankenship (2015) and Brent Stephens (2016) as the support drivers.

On Monday, May 19, after a delicious homemade breakfast from Rick and Lori Tin-gle, parents of rider Drew Tingle, the group departed on a 40 hour trek from Bowling Green to the sunny shores of San Diego. Driv-ing through six states all the way to CA, it was over 40 hours of non-stop singing, sleeping and sweating (as is any Chi Eta car ride).

Late that Tuesday night, Bike4Alz arrived in San Diego at the home of support driver Brent Stephens’ (2016) cousins. There the group was spoiled by the indescribable views ...continued on p.2

By BRENT STEPHENS

Friendship. Knowledge. Service. Morality. Excellence.2

of the Pacific Ocean, Mexico and San Diego.

Over the course of the week the riders went on training rides together, learning how to bike in formation and how to ride together with traffic. The group also had a great surprise that week, receiving an anonymous $20,000 donation on their website.

“The surprise of the $20,000 do-nation, the multiple days in San Diego learning how to ride as a group and the hospitality of Stephen and Stuart, was the exact encouraging beginning we needed,” said rider Ryne McMul-len (2015).

The first day of the ride, May 24, started with a daily dedication to the late grandmother of 2012 Bike4Alz support driver Austin Lanter. His grandmother, Marjorie Gibson, suf-fered from Alzheimer’s for 5 years before passing away just two days prior to the start of the ride, on May 22.

Each day of the ride was dedi-cated to individuals like Marjorie Gibson, and the goal of each daily dedication was to not only honor that person’s life through that day’s efforts, but to spread their life stories and show that even though Alzheim-er’s disease may strip someone of their memories or personality, it can’t take away their legacy and the impact they had on so many people’s life.

“We realized real early how im-portant daily dedications were by do-ing Austin’s grandmother on the first day,” said McMullen. “When the ride got tough going up that mountain on the first day it helped us keep pushing on knowing that we were doing it in memory of her.”

From San Diego, the group ped-aled into the barren deserts of south-

ern California into the northern parts of Arizona. Biking into Arizona the group climbed into southeast Utah, where they stayed for one night be-fore heading into southern Colorado.

In Colorado they tackled the highest mountains they would face the entire ride. From Colorado they then descended into Kansas where an-other new challenge presented itself, the wind. From the plains of Kansas into Missouri, Bike4Alz went through its most traumatic and hardest day of the ride.

While leaving Joplin, MO, the riders stopped off at a creek to cool down from the scorching heat. The riders found a rope swing and ev-eryone preceded to jump from the rope into the cool waters. But when biker Taylor Ruby went on his second swing, he fell into the shallow waters

and suffered a gruesome foot injury. Ruby’s heel struck a rock perfect-

ly and gashed open his heel, cutting so far deep that it severed his Achil-les tendon. Ruby was taken to a local hospital’s emergency room, where we was stitched up and was then flown to the University of Kentucky hospital the next day where he had his first of seven surgeries to repair his Achilles and fight off a persistent infection.

Ruby was on crutches for 10 weeks, but is now off and was recent-ly cleared to partially bear weight on his foot while in walking boot. He is expected to be back at 100% around the Spring of 2015.

After Missouri, the group rode into Kentucky where they held sever-al fundraisers and were able to spend quality time with family and friends. ...continued on p.3

Chi Eta graduate brothers in at-tendance were Brian Campbell, Josh Wiseman, Bryan Hartzell, Brandon Bowman, and Bob Anderegg.

Brothers Clay Simpson and Tyler Jury also were in attendance as vendors of their business, Clayton & Crume.

After leaving the Bluegrass state, Bike4Alz rode into West Virginia and rode over the Appalachians before finishing off the ride in Virginia and riding into Washington D.C.

Rider Seth Bland perfectly sum-marized each state :“In California we didn’t know how to ride bikes very well, in Arizona it was so hot, and the reservations we stayed at were awful. The cacti in Utah gave us so many tire issues, Colorado was our first long series of mountains, and it felt like you were climbing uphill all day to get to the peak. Kansas was windy and you would have to push down on your handlebars to keep your bike stable which wore your arms out after a while.”


By ANDREW BOYLES (2016)This summer, the international

fraternity of Phi Gamma Delta held its biennial conference, Ekklesia, in Indianapolis, IN. Ekklesia, a three day conference, is the governing body of Phi Gamma Delta fraternity which each chapter provides up to three voting delegates. The purpose of Ekkelsia is to approve the budget for the next two years, amend the Bylaws and Constitution, and elect new archons. Archons are elected of-ficials that sit as the Archonate (Board of Directors) which consists of seven graduate brothers and two undergrad-uate brothers.

The Chi Eta chapter sent five un-dergraduate brothers: President Kyle Stewart, Treasurer Ryne McMullen, Recording Secretary Seth Bland, An-drew Boyles, and Taylor Leigh.

Brother Kyle Stewart sat on the

nominations committee to interview candidates and nominate eight men to be voted for to serve on the Archonate for the 2014-2016 term.

Brothers Taylor Leigh and Andrew Boyles participated in “Project PhiGam”, which calls for a time for the brothers of Phi Gamma Delta to give back to the Indianapolis commu-nity through service.

Brother Seth Bland was elected to the Archonate as one of the un-dergraduate representatives. Seth is the first Chi Eta brother to hold this prestigious postion. The ninth archon, Bill Downing (Wittenberg 2015) is currently in the middle of a two-year term on the Archonate from 2013-2015.

EKKLESIA: 166th Annual Gathering

“Missouri was Taylor, and then the Ozarks were very hilly. For Kentucky the hardest part was leaving, we were spoiled by family and friends. West Virginia was so gorgeous, but they were a lot steeper hills than the Rockies. They were higher grades but shorter distances. Virginia was the state for me where I did not want to stop, I hated it the most because it meant that it was over. I just didn’t want it to end.”

Overall through the 56 days on the ride, Bike4Alz was able to raise just over $85,000, the most Chi Eta has ever raised for a philanthropy event or trip. Right around $50,000 of that amount is being donated to the BrightFocus Foundation, a non-profit

foundation that supports research and public funding to help eradicate eye and brain diseases, including Al-zheimer’s disease.

While the ride is over, the fight against Alzheimer’s is not. “Alzheim-er’s never quits” was the motto this group lived by this past summer, and as their support driver I can say that these young men worked harder than anyone I’ve ever seen in my entire life. They pressed on in the face of adversity and pedaled every mile to beat Alzheimer’s. It was the best sum-mer of my entire life, and I am very, very proud to be a Fiji.


Chi Eta’s New Graduate Brothers

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Pictured from Left to Right, Top to Bottom (Austin Lanter, Ben Harris, Bryan Hartzell, Blake Neumann, Ty-ler Lockhart, Jacob Hood, Trip Carpenter, Jason White, Matthew Purdom, Griffin Fruge, Jeff Creech, Jona-than Caron, Jordan Kassel, Kaleb Moore, Nick Bratcher, Spencer Wright, Cody Hutchins, Kent Jones, Sam

Knott, Will Owens, Sam Wells, Will Garcia, Dallas Wilson)


Chi Eta pairs with Independence Bank, Bowling Green Housing Authority


By TAYLOR BOWLING (2016) In the fall of 2013, the Fiji

house was faced with a few appliance difficulties that needed fixing. Bob Fitch, CEO of Independence Bank, was contacted about going to fix these things and at first he was very reluc-tant to work on a fraternity house. He decided to anyways and happened to come the same weekend as Parent’s Weekend and marveled at the kind-ness of everyone he met. His initial thoughts were that this couldn’t be a fraternity. He came the following week and noticed the same character and politeness by the guys he met.

Fiji at the time had been search-ing for a way to take service to the next level. They were seeking a con-nection in the community to partner with and make an even bigger differ-ence than otherwise independently. One of the unique characteristics about Independence Bank is that they are very active in the community by contributing to service and encourag-ing their employees to contribute as well. It seemed to be fate that Mr. Fitch came to make a few appliances better when really he came and unex-pectedly provided an enormous way for the brothers of Fiji to be better.

Mr. Fitch saw the potential and genuineness of the guys and asked if they would be interested in partner-ing together to make an impact in the Bowling Green community. Dylan Ward and Kyle Stewart agreed and announced at a meeting that the op-portunity Fiji has been searching for had appeared and that they accepted the proposal.

Following this, an-other door opened as the Bowling Green Housing Authority provided an avenue for Independence Bank and Fiji to help a family in need by provid-ing free labor to work on a house and renovate it for a low-income family.

Fiji then estab-lished a committee lead by Taylor Bowling as the Committee Chair to serve as a liaison between the Hous-ing Authority, Independence Bank and Fiji. Taylor would also organize the guys along with the dates and times to work.

With everything seeming to come together, everything was ready for the kick off date. On March 21, 2014, almost 40 guys showed up to help with demolition of the house. They removed drywall, wiring, and cleaned up the backyard and worked so hard that in 8 hours they accom-plished what was originally planned to take two days. News coverage from around the area came and interviewed the guys and Fiji was featured on the front page for the Bowling Green Daily News for their efforts.

Fiji then worked on the house April 11 and May 2. The same work ethic was exemplified as each time, Fiji finished what was scheduled for two days in one day and twice the number of guys showed up to help each time than what was requested by the Housing Authority. The goal of having the house finished by June was

a real possibility by how well every-thing was being accomplished.

Fiji then invited Bob Fitch along with Richard Reker and Abraham Williams from the Housing Authority to the annual Frank Norris Pig Din-ner. President Stewart’s presentation included their impact on Chi Eta and the opportunity they have given Fiji to serve the community in a massive way.

Fiji served their last day for the semester on May 9. The Housing Authority requested 5, but 9 showed up and completed double the amount of tasks planned for in less than three hours. A new fence was installed, the old flooring was removed, windows fixed, and debris was cleaned. It finished off a great semester work-ing with Independence Bank and the Housing Authority and made one step closer to being able to provide an underprivileged family a home, some-thing we all take for granted.

With the house almost complete, ...continued on p.6

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ing section chief. As Section Chief Bob advises in the development of relations with graduate brothers and volunteers.

“I am excited about the oppor-tunity to encourage my three groups to become resources for each other,” Anderegg said.

“I am especially eager for our two Chapters to assist our Colony at Austin Peay as they enter their stretch drive to obtain a charter.”

The next few years look bright for the future of this chapter under the leadership of these two men. We ap-preciate their support and advice thus far and for many years to come.


another opportunity fell into place for Fiji to help the Housing Author-ity. Following budget cuts, Delafield Community Center became a location that Bowling Green could no longer afford to keep and maintain so the Housing Authority offered to buy it and renovate it. A church interested in moving into it contacted the Housing Authority and it will be leased out to

them once renovation was complete.Fiji agreed to help the Housing

Authority with renovation. This in-cluded painting the interior and exte-rior, clearing out walls for new rooms, replacing ceiling tiles, renovating the bathrooms, and replacing floor tile.

On September 26, Fiji had 15 guys show up to help. Kappa Delta sorority was also invited to serve and

10 girls showed up to help paint the inside walls.

Fiji was recognized for their ser-vice on October 1 at Warren County’s fiscal court meeting where they an-nounced the Housing Authority’s pur-chase of Delafield Community Center.

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By MATT LAWSON (2015)Chi Eta has experienced many

changes in graduate leadership over the past few months. Bob Anderegg, the former Purple Legionnaire of Chi Eta, recently accepted the position of section chief of the fraternity. Brian Campbell, a recent Chi Eta gradu-ate, was voted in as the new Purple Legionnaire of WKU FIJI. Chi Eta is proud of the role of our graduates in this fraternity.

“It’s a sign of a healthy chapter when we’re able to advance people into higher positions, and fill leader-ship positions from within,” Kyle Stewart, chapter president, said.

“The chapter and its leadership are excited to have our first full-time Purple Legionnaire that is a prod-uct from our chapter here at WKU. Brian’s connections to Chi Eta as well as WKU will lead to a successful advisor under which the chapter will thrive.”

Brian Campbell, who graduated in 2012 with a major in secondary education, was named interim Purple Legionnaire in the summer of 2014. He was voted by the chapter into the position in September. As an under-graduate Brian was a very active

member, playing a large role in Cups and Awards, living in the house, and play-ing a part in the ser-vice trip to Haiti. He is currently working as the new Admissions Counselor for the Honors College at WKU where he recruits new students for the uni-versity.

“I look forward to working with the undergraduate brothers as they continue to bring other amazing men into the chapter and continue all of the things that make Chi Eta excel-lent,” Campbell said.

Bob Anderegg, an undergraduate the University of Southern Califor-nia and graduate initiate of Chi Eta, is now the section chief of the Phi Gam chapters at WKU, Vanderbilt, and Austin Peay. Bob held the Purple Legionnaire position before becom-

Change in Purple Legionnaire

Jonathan BlairYear: FreshmanMajor: Healthcare AdministrationHigh School: South OldhamHigh School Activities: Varsity Basketball & Golf, FCA, Lawn Mowing.Big Brother: Grant RohlederWhy did you join FIJI: “I noticed how it changed my brother into a better man & I wanted the same.” Favorite Dessert: Snow-coneFavorite Color: Blue & White

Carson BallYear: FreshmanMajor: BusinessHigh School: West Jessamine High SchoolHigh School Activities: Football, Basketball, FCA, Pokémon.Big Brother: Drew TingleWhy did you join FIJI: “Eternal brotherhood, to get involved, and to make new friends.”Favorite Dessert: Protein ShakeFavorite Color: Navy Blue


The New “Nu” Pledge Class


Daniel ArohYear: FreshmanMajor: UndeclaredHigh School: Christian Academy of LouisvilleCollege Activities: FIJI, Intramurals, and Living Hope.High School Activities: Soccer, Lacrosse, NHS, Beta Club, Sewing Club.Big Brother: Connor SladeWhy did you join FIJI: “It’s a brotherhood of awesome guys that share similar morals and values. I’ve known about it for 5 years because of my older broth-ers.”Favorite Dessert: Apricot PuddingFavorite Color: Anything but green.


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McGavinn BrownYear: SophomoreMajor: History and Political ScienceHigh School: Franklin Simpson High SchoolCollege Activities: Spirit Masters, History Club, and History Department Student Aid.Big Brother: Taylor BowlingWhy did you join FIJI: “To be closer with the guys that I was already close with in the fraternity; furthermore, to grow that number significantly.”Favorite Dessert: Derby PieFavorite Color: Green

Ben BrooksYear: SophomoreMajor: ManagementHigh School: Jasper High SchoolCollege Activities: 2 years College Football, College Mentor for National Foot-ball Academies.High School Activities: Football, Track & Field, YoungLife, Boy Scouts (Eagl

Scout).Big Brother: Brandon ErnstesWhy did you join FIJI: “I saw the good values and character with which FIJI members lived their lives & wanted to be apart of something like that.”Favorite Dessert: BrowniesFavorite Color: Black

Alec BrownYear: SophmoreMajor: Mathematics, Secondary EducationHigh School: Brownsburg High SchoolCollege Activities: Honors Toppers, Share-a-Swipe, and CRU Bridges Interna-tional.High School Activities: Golf, Basketball, NHS, FCA, International Club, History Club, and Student Government.Big Brother: Seth BlandWhy did you join FIJI: “ I joined FIJI to get out of my comfort zone and create lifelong relationships with mentors and younger brothers.”Favorite Dessert: CheesecakeFavorite Color: Purple

Friendship. Knowledge. Service. Morality. Excellence. Friendship. Knowledge. Service. Morality. Excellence.9

Elijah Essa Year: SophomoreMajor: Financial PlanningCollege Activities: Worship Leader at CRU, Bridges International Ministry, Hon-ors Toppers.High School Activities: Worship Southeast Christian Church and NHS.Big Brother: Jay Todd RicheyWhy did you join FIJI: “During my freshman year at WKU I met a lot of guys in the fraternity. After meeting them I began to see what the fraternity stood for and Iwas thoroughly impressed and very interested. I am so pumped for the next three years in this awesome brotherhood!”Favorite Dessert: Anything with association to birthday cake.Favorite Color: Blue

Toryn CornellYear: SophomoreMajor: Biology, Pre-Physical TherapyHigh School: South Warren High SchoolCollege Activities: Student Athletic TrainerHigh School Activites: Football & BasketballBig Brother: Ryne McMullenWhy did you join FIJI: “I wanted to join a group of guys with the same stan-dards and morals.”Favorite Dessert: My Grandmas chocolate cake.Favorite Color: WKU Red

Brandon CareyYear: FreshmanMajor: Math EconomicsHigh School: Greenwood High SchoolCollege Activities: Share-a-Swipe, Living Hope College MinistryHigh School Activities: Soccer, Track and Field, Cross Country, FCA, NHS,

BETA, and FBLA.Big Brother: Hayden HickeyWhy did joined FIJI: “Brotherhood and to become a better man.”Favorite Dessert: White CakeFavorite Color: Orange


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James (Jamie) HarvenerYear: JuniorMajor: DanceHigh School: Lafayette High SchoolCollege Activities: CRU, Alpha Psi Omega (Theatre and Dance Honor Society), National Dance Education Organization (NDEO) National Society of College Scholars (NSCS).High School Activities: Leadership Lexington, Beta Club, French Honor Soci-ety, Key Club.Big Brother: Will LinderWhy did you join FIJI: “To join an association of like minded men who will make me a better man.”Favorite Dessert: Ice CreamFavorite Color: Blue-grey (storm cloud style)

Travis HardcastleYear: SophomoreMajor: Business AdministrationHigh School: SWHSCollege Activities: Living Hope, Guitar, and Intramurals.High School Activities: Bball, Baseball, and Guitar.Big Brother: Jonathan BrennanWhy did you join FIJI: “The brotherhood and support that is second to none anywhere else. Opportunity to grow in ways that I will soon find out.”Favorite Dessert: Ice Cream CakeFavorite Color: Red

Ian GreerYear: JuniorMajor: BiologyHigh School: Franklin-Simpson High SchoolCollege Activities: Spirit Masters, Alpha Epsilon Delta, Pre-PT Club, Camp Loucon, Golden Key Honors Society, and Intramurals.Big Brother: Charlie RheaWhy did you join FIJI: “I joined FIJI to grow as a man of God with an awe-some group of guys and to provide accountability and growth for others.”Favorite Dessert: BrowniesFavorite Color: Red


Peyton RheaYear: FreshmanMajor: Sports ManagementHigh School: Louisville Male High SchoolHigh School Activities: Class President, Student Senate Officer, and Football.Big Brother: Chris MckennaWhy did you join FIJI: “To surround myself with an ambitious group of guys striving to be the best while finding a sense of community and making great last-ing relationships.”Favorite Dessert: ChurrosFavorite Color: Red

Drew MorganYear: SeniorMajor: PsychologyHigh School: Elizabethtown High SchoolCollege Activities: Three years of baseball at University of Cumberlands.High School Activities: Baseball, FCA, and KYA. Big Brother: Kyle StewartWhy did you join FIJII: “I joined FIJI because all of the guys in FIJI are guys I want to surround myself with. They are so awesome that they make FIJI very attractive. Also, to have a common bond that allows me to see my friends later in life.”Dessert: Chocolate Cake

Favorite Color: Kentucky Blue

Justin HobbsYear: FreshmanMajor: MeteorologyHigh School: Breckingridge County High SchoolHigh School Activities: FFA, Archery, NHS, and Chorale.Big Brother: Taylor LeighWhy did you join FIJI: “ I joined FIJI because the guys were so welcoming and they made me feel at home. In addition, I found that we all share a common interest. We are determined to succeed and grow as individuals in order to help our home and community.”Favorite Dessert: Coconut Cream PieFavorite Color: Yellow


Caleb SloanYear: JuniorMajor: Architectural ScienceHigh School: South Haven Christian SchoolCollege Activities: ROTC, RUFHigh School Activities: Football, Drama, Service Club, and Church Big Brother: Levi McQuearyWhy did you join FIJI: “Awesome group of guys with great goals and aspira-tions.”Favorite Dessert: Cookies and Milk (Whole)Favorite Color: Green

Favorite Color: Kentucky Blue

Hunter SewellYear: FreshmanHigh School: Greenwood High SchoolCollege Activities: Living Hope College Ministry, Honors College, Intramurals, and Campus Ministry.High School Activities: Soccer, Basketball, Student Council, FBLA, NHS VP, and BETA.Big Brother: Andrew BoylesWhy did you join FIJI: “To assist myself in my growth into being the man I’m created to be.”Favorite Dessert: Cherry PieFavorite Color: Orange/Black



Chi Etas Abroad

Left: Sophomore Jacob Hodges and Freshman-Brandon Carey spent the summer traveling the northern atlantic with Toppers at Sea.

Right: Junior Zach Miller trav-eled through the Czech

Republic for a WKU Political Science Program.


Right: Junior Chris McKenna in Amman, Jordan. Chris worked as an intern at Jordan River Foun-dation, a non-profit organization that teaches english to kids ages

6-8 and professional skills to teens ages 15-17.

Left: Junior Colton Hounshell spent this

summer traveling around Japan and Tai-wan where he studied mandarin at the Na-

tional Taiwan Normal University in Taibei.



Right: Sophomore Brandon Pruitt

spent the summer traveling through

Brazil and studying Spanish in Buenos Aires, Argentina. While in Brazil,

Brandon had the op-portunity to explore many cities and at-tend several World

Cup games.

Left: Senior Matt Lawson traveled to Costa Rica to continue studying Spanish.

Dustin and Brittany Clevidence (‘09) welcomed a new baby girl Ella on June 2nd.Jeff Baynham (‘10) accepted a Promotion to Assistant Vice President at WKU.Luke and Katie Gilliam (‘12) moved to Henderson, Kentucky in June. Luke transferred from the Utilities Department to a construction office in his work at the Transportation Cabinet. Tyler Jury (‘12) was selected as WKU’s Young Alumni of the Year in October.Malcom Lunceford (‘12) accepted a position at University of Alabama at Birmingham as the Marketing and Special Events Coordinator for their Campus Recreation Department in September.Jake Ryle (‘12) accepted a position as a News Reporter for WDTN in Dayton, Ohio in July. 16


Graduate News

Graduate Spotlight : Jason WhiteBy TONY PIEDMONTE (2017)

This summer’s Graduate Brother Spotlight, Jason White, graduated from WKU this May (2014) with a Broadcast Operations Major and is currently working with “Pro-nounce, Broadcasting and Media Production” in Nashville, Tennessee. White has also connected with the Music City FIJI Graduate Chapter.

As a recent graduate, Jason’s character and leadership while transi-tioning from WKU to the “real world” has been both motivational and educational. Jason has proven to be a great example to the Chi Eta chapter and has effectively carried the FIJI spirit of excellence into his career and community.

While keeping up with stud-ies and grades are important, Jason proves that completing hands on work while going through undergraduate is equally important to landing a job. Communication between Jason and “Pro-nounce” originally started when White was looking to purchase a camera from his current employer in his freshman year. Through undergrad Jason worked on freelance projects for “Pro-nounce” by shooting wed-dings and sporting events, and later moved into a full-time position after graduating in May.

“It truly is about who you know not what you know,” said White. “You’ll be behind without any outside work.”

Considering White’s career was put in motion in the early years of his studies at WKU, its not surprising that another equally important opportu-nity has paralleled his pursuit into the working world.

As a freshman White, and the Chi Eta FIJI chapter, was approached with an opportunity to sign up as bone marrow donors in a WKU Greek Week competition with the program S.A.M. (Sharing America’s Marrow). White’s sister, Hailey White, had had Hodgkin’s lymphoma and he felt driven to provide aid to those in need of donations, so he signed up to be put on a donor list. However, because of detailed DNA matching, some-times bone marrow donors are never called to donate. This summer, four years later, White received a phone call telling him he matched a woman in Canada, and if he was willing to donate, he could save her life. Despite the years that had passed and his fear of needles, Jason said the choice to donate was easy.

“The first thing I thought of was my sister. If Hailey ever had to have a bone marrow donation, I’d want

somebody to do it for her,” said White in an interview with S.A.M.

White received injections five days prior to the donation to pull the required stem cells into his blood stream. This keeps the donors from having to endure a much more painful harvesting procedure from the pelvis, however the injections still cause discomfort and body aches.

Along with Jason, graduate brother Nick Burnett also made a do-nation this summer as well as several friends and family members of men in this chapter. It is amazing to think about all the lives that could be saved if all of the brothers of Chi Eta, grad-uate and undergraduate, signed up to be donors. If you are interested in donating go you can go on Facebook, to the “Sharing America’s Marrow – S.A.M” page and find a link to regis-ter and like their page.

Jason is a wonderful example of how explor-ing oppor-tunities can result in amazing suc-cesses.


Learn about the WKU Excellence Fund and how you can support Chi Eta at www.wkufiji.com/donate

Current SupportersBob Anderegg (USC `71, WKU GA `10)Jeff Baynham (WKU `10)Ray Blankenship (Kentucky `84, WKU GA `10)Brandon Bowman (WKU `10)Dr. Craig Cobane (WKU Faculty `10)George and Jane Pennington (Parents)Blaine Routt (WKU `11)Josh Wiseman (WKU `12)Brad Stephens (WKU’13)

Chi Eta By the Numbers

58 Initiated Brothers

17 Pledge Brothers83 Graduate Brothers

2008 Chi Eta founded at WKU

Have any graduate news? Send an email to [email protected]!

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1 Brother Abroad


Zack Ryle (‘12) married Mary Katherine on August 2nd, 2014.Bo Armstrong (‘13) accepted a position as Faculty Advi-sor for the FIJI Omega Deuteron Colony at Old Dominion University. Nick Burnett (‘13) is moving to Lima, Peru.Brian Campbell (‘13) accepted a job as the Honors College Admissions Counselor in August.Ryan Demuth (‘13) moved to Lexington, Kentucky and accepted a job for Apex Realty Inc., Managing and Leasing Commercial Office and Retail properties in May.Corey Johnson (‘13) got engaged to Faith Edwards on September 20th.Chris Kinney (‘13) accepted a new job in Nashville with TEKsystems in July.Dylan Ward (‘13) married Hannah Blair on July 5th, 2014.Tyler Wittmer (‘13) got engaged to Alicia Beach on April 30th and will be married in December. Tyler will also be licensed as a minister by the end of October and is attending Southern Seminary for his Masters of Divinity.Nick Bratcher (‘14) became an intern with Reformed Uni-versity Fellowship at Indiana University in August.Jonathan Caron (‘14) accepted a position in June as a pro-ducer for WYMT-TV in Hazard, KY.Jeff Creech (‘14) accepted a staff accountant position start-ing in the fall of 2015 with Baker Tilly in Washington DC.Ben Harris (‘14) got engaged to Logan Thompson on May 3rd and has started Law School at University of Kentucky this fall.Bryan Hartzell (‘14) accepted a position in June as a FIJI Field Secretary.Jordan Kassel (‘14) accepted a promotion to Creative Alli-ance’s Marketing Communications Manager.Tyler Lockhart (‘14) moved to Texas in June and accepted a position as an Account Executive at CBS Radio.Matthew Purdom (‘14) got engaged to Merritt Swisher on July 19th and accepted a position as Judicial and Circuit Court intern in Shelbyville.Will Owens (‘14) accepted a position in July in the Athletic Department at Georgia State University.Sam Wells (‘14) moved to Tacoma, Washington in June and is completing a service year with AmeriCorps and the Pierce Conservation District.Spencer Wright (‘14) got engaged to Kelsey Kaetzel on August 29th and started Dental School at the University of Kentucky this fall.

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