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Brother <<Last Name>>,
Happy Holidays
I would like to wish you all a wonderful end to 2022 and hope that you and your famiy enjoy the holiday season. I’ve been reflecting on my personal 2022 journey, and I must say that one of the highlights of my year has been watching our undergraduate brothers really come into their own and shine as leaders at Cornell. Whether it's stacking multiple successful rushes back-to-back to continue growing the brotherhood, achieving a combined house GPA of 3.51, or building strong and enduring relationships with our Cornell and DKE International partners, these young men continue to impress me each and every day.
Perhaps my favorite story of 2022 was their last second heroics in getting 24kGoldn (a young R&B star that you and I have never heard of, but your kids/ grandkids certainly have) to come play a show at the house following an appearance at the NY state fair in Syracuse. The brothers negotiated with his managers to secure his appearance, arranged for the necessary equipment and security to be on hand, and worked with the various powers that be at Cornell to make sure that it was all done within the established rules for social events. Within 48 hours they pulled off an amazing event that has significantly increased the social credibility of our chapter on campus. It was, in a single word,
impressive.
For the record, it’s not just me that the undergraduates are impressing. As post-COVID travel has picked up, I have been contacted by numerous brothers including Jay Grzyb ’81, Michael Perlmutter ’88, Rob Young ’93, and Ryan Zimmerman ’97 to tell me about their experiences stopping by the house while in town for business or in checking out the campus with their college bound children. To a man they report a (mostly) clean and orderly house and thoroughly enjoyable interactions with the present undergraduate brothers, swapping stories about DKE hijinks, past and present.
As the undergraduates have established a strong and enduring culture of leadership over the past couple of years, our alumni association members have been able to step back from supporting the day-to-day management of the active chapter and focus on those things necessary for the long-term viability of our brotherhood on and off campus. In that regard, my primary focus for 2023 will be increasing dissemination of DKE stories past and present across our generations of alumni and with our active brothers. It’s amazing to me how much changes over the years, and yet how much more stays the same.
We have already started a form of this conversation. Over the last two years, numerous Cornell DKE alumni have volunteered to join “DKE Story Hour” via Zoom where they share their DKE memories, events, and experiences with the active brothers and pledges as part of our current pledging process. If any of you would like to join us for an hour to share your memories and meet the active brothers, we would love to have you. Please respond to this email and let me know if you are interested.
I also want to better wrap my head around how you as alums continue to stay in touch with your friends from the heart forever. Fantasy leagues? Ball games? Group texts? Joint vacations? I’d love to hear about what you’re doing with your brothers and who you’re doing it with. I’ll certainly share some of my experiences in the months to come. Hearing about these lifelong friendships make me so proud to be a Cornell DKE and continues to reinforce my passion for bringing this opportunity to future generations of Cornellians. I hope to hear from you soon.
Wishing you all the very happiest of holidays,
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