Hello brothers,
My name is Clay Hardy, and I am deeply honored and grateful to say that I am the newly elected undergraduate President of the Xi Chapter. I hope all of you are enjoying a wonderful start to your first summer following the hectic year that all of us have seen. Although the past semester was unique in many ways due to the pandemic, we have a great deal of things to look forward to.
Every year on grounds is unique in and of itself, but this year especially was different than any other that came before it, due to COVID-19 restrictions, social gatherings were limited. This made many aspects of fraternity life difficult since our chapter as a whole was not allowed to gather together, but we still managed to have a successful semester in many ways.
Rush this year was very successful, despite the restrictions in place, and our rush chairs, Michael Liberopoulos ’22 and Carlos Godoy ’23, managed to organize and execute amazing rush events. In a typical year, the rush chairs put a substantial amount of time and effort into planning the events, but this year in particular our rush chairs managed to pull off an exceptional rush, despite the COVID-19 restrictions that were in place, for our chapter. Our newly initiated pledge class this year amounts to 19 astounding young men that embody the values and ideals that our fraternity holds dear. A special thanks to our rush chairs and pledge marshals, Will Neal ’22 and Clay Hardy ’23, for their efforts in recruiting and educating the new pledge class.
Our philanthropy chairs this past semester also had their work cut out for them, due to the pandemic. Without being able to throw an event to help in the efforts of fundraising, Ryan Fruewirth ’22 and Niketas Koussis ’22 managed to coordinate Theta Chi Brackets for Relief, a March Madness inspired drive that involved Theta Chi custom t-shirt sales and brackets. In total, we managed to raise 2,100 dollars that went to the Charlottesville Area Community Foundation for economic COVID-19 relief. As a chapter, we are all very proud of this accomplishment and we have the philanthropy chairs to thank for their efforts in achieving this accomplishment.
Although we had a very successful semester, our chapter did not manage to come out without blundering. The events that transpired at Camp Albemarle have stained the legacy and disrespected the traditions of our chapter, but we do not plan on allowing this to tarnish what so many brothers have worked hard to build over many years. In the coming semester, we plan to perform over 200 hours of community service, and our hope is to reestablish the trust and bond that our chapter has held with the Charlottesville community moving forward.
I would also like to give a special thank you to Timothy Gallo ’21, who served as the undergraduate president of our chapter during the spring semester this year. He managed to lead our fraternity through an unprecedented semester and he embodies all that our fraternity stands for.
Undoubtedly, this semester was different than any other, but we have once again managed to fill our chapter with resolute young men that look forward to what awaits us in the future. Recently, our chapter has endured a great deal, and I am very glad to have the brothers of this fraternity help me through not only this year, but the near future as well.
Best,
Clay Hardy ’23