Pikes. The Next Generation
Provisional Chapter Elects Jonah Hillman President
Hello all! My name is Jonah Hillmann, and I just recently began my term as Pi Kappa Alpha’s newest president. First, I will just say how excited to begin this journey. I can tell you that we will not be skipping a beat in terms of growing this fraternity and impacting the Iowa State campus in a positive way. All of the men in PIKE are very excited for what this year holds as we continue along our journey to charter. We are gaining new members every week and continuing our outreach to the rest of the greek community.
We have quite a few things going on in the next month. The PIKE University Event in Kansas City will be happening November 4-5, 10 of our men will be attending that and learning a lot from it. On October 15th we will be going paint balling as a fraternity at Seven Oaks in Boone which should be a lot of fun. We have a social planned with the women of Alpha Chi Omega the first week of November, as well as a philanthropic event in the works with the men of Tau Kappa Epsilon. I believe that positive relations with well-established and respected fraternities and sororities will play a large role in the growth and prominence of this chapter.
My goal for this term is to truly make this the best fraternity it can possibly be. I want to enable our men to succeed not just in the classroom, but socially as well. I can say with full certainty that the men of PIKE have a common vision. We are not here to chase mediocrity. There is an understanding in the chapter that rechartering a fraternity is no easy task, and hours of time, energy, and pure resiliency is the only path to success.
I am extraordinarily excited to see what is in store for PIKE in the future and to keep moving forward.
- Jonah H
Pike returns to Iowa State in full force.
Pi Kappa Alpha was reestablished as a Provisional Chapter in the fall of 2021. Expansion consultants Colton Steele (University of Oklahoma) and George Hoye (Indiana University) were on campus for eight weeks to establish our new group. They met with sorority leaders, student organization leaders, coaches, and professors seeking referrals for the top men on campus. This resulted in 50 men committing to form a Provisional Chapter. Colton remained on campus for the remainder of the fall semester to work with Alpha Phi leadership.
Chapter Goals
We launched out on our own in the spring of 2022, executing goals we set with the International Fraternity to officially recharter Alpha Phi. Our areas of focus include:
· Growing the Chapter to 80 men.
· Having a Chapter GPA above the all-men’s and all-Greek averages.
· Getting all members involved in clubs on campus.
· Winning intramural championships.
· Getting involved in the Ames community through philanthropy and service.
· Proving that we can operate in a stable manner.
Our Progress
We are happy to share that we are making progress on our goals already. We began hosting weekly Chapter meetings on campus, recruited five new members during spring informal recruitment, hosted sorority events with Alpha Gamma Delta, Chi Omega, and Alpha Chi Omega, won the men’s basketball intramural championship, and have roughly half our membership involved in other groups on campus.
We also sent 12 members to Kansas City to attend our regional PIKE University event; sent our president, treasurer, and recruitment chairman to Memphis, Tennessee, in January for the Chapter Executives Conference; and sent a delegate to the International Convention in Louisville, Kentucky, in July.
Growing Membership
Summer is historically a time where most chapters on campus do most of their recruitment. We worked to establish a summer recruitment program and received permission from the House Corporation to host a recruitment event at 2112 Lincoln Way in July.
We hosted a barbecue in the backyard, played basketball and sand volleyball, and watched a movie in the TV room; plus, a group of us spent the night in the cold air! This was the first time we as the Provisional Chapter have spent time at 2112. The event was a success, as we signed six new members that afternoon.
We have a full pipeline of potential new members and are planning a series of events to extend bids and let the men meet other members of the Chapter as we all get back to campus. We recently pinned 10 new members!
A Bright Future
We have planned to complete our chartering goals in the early part of the spring 2023 semester and to officially recharter the Alpha Phi Chapter on March 1, 2023. The fall semester will be big for us, as we are hoping to kick off the training wheels. The International Fraternity tells us that our goal to charter in spring 2023 is in line with the normal 18-month expansion and Provisional Chapter process.
We look forward to getting to know the alumni this fall at football games.
Jonah Hillman
Recruitment Chairman and new Chapter President