Kenneth Cheung's Alpha Phi Omega Universe

The Return of the Alumni

By Kenneth Cheung
            The entire chapter prepared for the most historic event of the semester on the night of March 13, 2004. There they held the Seventh Semi-Annual Alpha Phi Omega Alumni Night. It was in the University Room in campus, sponsored by the Mosaic and catered by Spartan Shops.                   
            The Alumni Night Committee prepared the past month and more to organize this event, and their hard work manifested into success. A large volume of the active and pledges arrived to show their support for the alumni of Gamma Beta. The alumni who came on that night were; Oscar Battle, Neil Erhenberg, Robert Peeks, Cathy Catalon, Gerald Pabalan, Karl Sprick, Lazaro Garza, Dwayne Hearn, Ed Orjalo, and Lisa Butts. The service organization was highly honored to have the presence these guests. Many members were enthusiastic to see their past brothers and gathered around them. The more recent alumni reacquainted themselves with their active friends and the more senior ones made new friends.
            The Gamma Betan’s photographer, Andrew Phan, was vigorously recording the event with a camcorder. The master of ceremony, Michael Huen, captivated the crowd with his all-too-familiar eloquence. He was not very confident, but that did not matter, for everyone was in the nostalgic mood. Each of the alumni introduced themselves. Some were concise, some were shy, but all were glad to be here. Afterwards, President Theo spoke on the progress of the fraternity. His presentation was formal as usual. Then Vashti and Andrea brought their smiles to light up the night and inform us about Gamma Beta’s service projects.
            The slideshow was very entertaining and impressive, considering that Richwood spent 2 hours on it recently before the event. Only half of the Ray Hancock DVD was shown due to time constraints. Two Michelles of the Hancock class were of great service in the private screening of the DVD: Hale for lending it and Hernandez for producing it. Then came the climax of the event: the Gamma Beta Roll call as performed in Sectionals. The select 10 people excited the crowd with their cleverly provocative moves. The co-choreographer, Yman tragically broke his leg recently and could not perform, but he diligently sat near the front to see the fruits of Malinda’s and his labor, and he could never have been more proud.
            Three important announcements were made towards the end of the event. The first, the 65^th Anniversary of the Gamma Beta Chapter, was the key note which the Alumni Secretaries had to instill to all the alumni. The 65^th Anniversary will be the one of the largest events of Fall 2004. The alumni were very generous in their contributions, as Phi later found out. The second announcement was Robert Peeks database project. His goal is to obtain and store personal information of all the alumni of the Gamma Beta Chapter. He requested help from the members to continuously build on to this long term project (contact Ernie Manfredini for details). The Scholarship Committee also presented their agenda to reward academic excellence in the membership and requested donations to support them.
            When all the business was done, people took many pictures. The scene was comparable to a Hollywood movie premiere in the number of flashes that lighted the room. There were family pictures, friendly pictures, class pictures, alumni pictures, and the entire attendance pictures. It was quite a photogenic experience. The Historians would be very pleased. Finally, it was time for the toast song. It was an emotional time for many as the senior alumni revisited their tradition and the recent membership joining them by singing the original song as it was meant to be.
            Special thanks go to the Alumni Night Committee for creating such a wondrous event, the Mosaic and the fraternity for their sponsorship, the alumni for coming, and the members for supporting them.

09.23.2004