1977-1978 School Year

 

The 1977-1978 year began as many other years -- brothers returning early sharing stories of summer escapades, anticipating great times and great parties, girls, girls, girls, back to the Rose Grind. The highlight of the return was the realization that Rho Phi had captured the Brightman award for Graduate relations at the last Academy, and an honorable mention in the Cheny Cup.

 

In the next several weeks, brothers rushed hard, played hard, and of course made plans for a super Homecoming. Purple Passion helped everybody through the bad weather of the day, and everyone was glad to see so many graduates return. Two important grads were Dave Myers and Tom Hendrickson, with Narc replacing Stogie as Purple Legionnaire.

On the Intramural field, our teams found tough going, but carried on the strong Fiji tradition. Our football team did well, but lost the game of the year in over-time to LXA. However, our Purple Power showed itself on the Cross-country circuit as we took first place, with 6 runners in the top 13-- impressive indeed. 

It was also during this busy time that we got involved in the quarter's social service project. In conjunction with the Terre Haute Jaycees, we helped build and run a Haunted House for the Halloween weekend. Brothers spent many hard hours working on the rooms in hopes of scaring youngsters for fun and profit. The project was a huge success, with $700 being raised for charity. Before the quarter ended, the chapter took time to say goodbye to two very super seniors -- John Schlott and Tom McGuire.  

After returning from the holiday break, Bid Monday found the chapter overjoyed with the 17 new faces. During the winter months, Don Mighell spoke on pledgeship at Retreat, a great Purple Garter at the K of C provided needed relief, and we elected a new cabinet for the coming year:

 

Spring '78 proved to be better than anyone had hoped. Brothers committed themselves to working harder than ever for Greek Weekend this year. The first event of the quarter was the Annual Camp Goulik work session. After working hard all day, the brothers came back and relaxed at a great party. The next week was Road Rallye. The Disciples of Ed (Newlin, Froetscher, and East) won the event, but everyone came out winners at the party that night. The next weekend was to be the beginning of a tradition at Rho Phi. Fiji Disco was born under the direction of many people, especially Andy Gavrilos, Mark Longrie, Jeff Werth, and graduate brother Steve Smith, who designed our light show. 

Greek Weekend came next and it was evident that everyone had worked very hard for that day. Things got started off right when the cart team took first place, followed by a second in the canoe race. But a judges decision eliminated Fiji from the competition and gave LXA first place points. Next, our pyramid team took a first, the tug-o-war team a third, and our bike team managed a third place finish after a bad exchange dropped us from the lead. But after all the events were completed it was learned that a mix-up had occurred on the canoe decision and that Fiji had indeed gotten second place, thus giving us the overall trophy for the first time in history. It was a great day for all of us at Rho Phi.

Fiji Island was the very next week; Graduate brother Dave Myer's band, "Rage", provided the music, and Social Committee provided the refreshments so that everybody had a great time. Softball, track, and the excellent weather provided many opportunities for relaxing, but before leaving for summer jobs and the real world, we all took time out to spend a little extra time with some of our seniors who had done so much.  Everyone was anxious for the coming year. 1977-1978 was a turning point year at Rho Phi in many ways. Increased participation in school activities, a more scholastic attitude among brothers, and many other small things too numerous to mention here added up to a great year.