From Left: Membership Vice President Matt Liffmann (’11), IFC President Patrick Schnettler (’10), Internal Vice President Vivan Som (’10), President John Cowgill (’11), Internal Rush Czar Dave Richards (’11), Treasurer Will Stark (’11), Vice President of Risk Management Luke Moderhack (’11)

Gamma  Rho  was  awarded  its  3rd   consecutive  Robert  Adger  Smythe  Award  this  past   weekend  at the  68th  Pi Kappa Alpha International   Convention  held  in  Denver,  Colorado.  The  Smythe   Award  is  given  annually  to  the  top  eight  percent  of   Pike  Chapters  in  the  nation  and  recognizes   excellence  in  all  aspects  of  chapter  programming.

Gamma  Rho  won  its  first  Smythe  Award  two   years  ago.  Since  that  win,  Gamma  Rho  has  continued   to  advance  itself  as  one of the  preeminent  fraternities  at   Northwestern.  This  year,  Gamma  Rho  maintained  a   3.31  GPA,  initiated  32  men,  raised  over  $50,000  for   philanthropy,  and  ranked  1st  on  campus  in  athletics.  Gamma  Rho  was  also  one  of  the  few   fraternities  on  campus  with  no  discipline  violations.

“Thanks  to  the  hard  work  of  many  brothers   and  alumni  over  the  past  decade,  Gamma  Rho  is  now one of the top Pike Chapters in the nation,” said  president John Cowgill (’11).

Gamma  Rho  won  a  number  of  other  awards   at  the  convention,  including  the  Raymond  L.  Orions   Excellence  Award,  the  scholarship  award  (top  GPA),   and  the  Athletics  Division  I  award.  The  chapter  also   placed  as  finalists  in  Alumni  Relations  and  New   Member  Education.

Gamma Rho held a special election for interim President of Gamma Rho
last night. Sophomore John Cowgill (’11) was elected by a majority
vote and will be formally installed next week. John holds multiple
leadership positions on campus with the consulting and business
organizations, CASE and ISBE. He will serve as President until the
start of spring quarter with the potential to run for a full term in
the annual general elections in February.

Former President, Patrick Schnettler (’10), will be taking his
leadership experience to the entire Greek community as President of
the Interfraternity Council which currently includes seventeen
fraternities. Pat has served since March 2011. Under his presidency
the chapter earned its second Smythe Award, top public relations
chapter in the nation, and had record number of new members and
initiates. Pat will begin his role tomorrow evening at the annual
installation ceremony. Junior Nathan Jimenez will also be installed as
the VP of Programming for Order of Omega, a national Greek honor
society.

The Gamma Rho chapter started off the new year with a bang, adding 26 great pledges to the fraternity’s ranks during Northwestern University’s winter recruitment.

The pledges are an eclectic group of men, hailing from all over the country and studying in five of the six undergraduate schools at Northwestern.

Pledge Educator Mike Sharifi (’09), assisted by a small group of brothers, will help the pledge class learn about the fraternity’s history and values.

For more information on Pi Kappa Alpha recruitment, contact Nathan Jimenez at nathanjimenez2013@u.northwestern.edu.

Check out the schedule below for Pi Kappa Alpha’s 2012 recruitment week events. Events are open to all non-affiliated men at Northwestern Wednesday through Friday. An invite only event will be held on Saturday. Go Greek!

The brothers of Gamma Rho would like to extend our loyal readers and everyone associated with the chapter a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

If you haven’t checked out the website in a while we have made some updates including some recent posts seen below as well as updating links under the “Alumni” and “Useful Links” tab. Thanks again for keeping up with Gamma Rho’s news!!

Happy Holidays from Gamma Rho!!