Gamma Mu Alumni Association

04/27/2022

We hope to celebrate with you this weekend!

*All events outside of the Celebration Banquet are free to attend!
*All events outside of the Ritual Meeting are family friendly!
*While it is not too late to pay for the banquet, we need to know if you plan on attending ASAP.

YITB

08/06/2021

August 6, 2021

Dear Brothers,

Throughout our history, the Gamma Mu Alumni Association (GMAA) has focused substantial attention on the celebration of anniversaries. Whether it be our annual softball game around May 2nd, or our five year anniversary reunions, we dedicate our energy and resources to planning opportunities to spend time together as brothers, remembering the things we have accomplished and giving back to our younger brothers through alumni guidance.

As the board is diligently preparing for our 30th Anniversary Reunion Weekend in the spring of 2022, we are approaching a sad anniversary along the way. Saturday, August 7, 2021 will mark one year since the passing of our dear brother, John Cvelic, Gamma Mu 33.

During the Zoom memorial last year, many brothers remarked that John was a model Theta Xi in the way he conducted himself, whether as a Brother, Fraternity Treasurer and Vice President, SGA Legislator and Treasurer, and Director of Greek Life and Greek Council President.

I am therefore humbled to announce that in consultation with John's family, the GMAA Board of Directors unanimously voted this week to memorialize the new Gamma Mu 30-for-30 Leadership Endowment in John's name as part of the 30th Anniversary weekend.

The “Gamma Mu 30-for-30 Leadership Endowment” campaign was adopted at our May 2, 2021 annual meeting, and is the GMAA's three-year plan to fund an endowment account that will produce annual revenue for scholarships to send active Gamma Mu undergraduates to Theta Xi's Vrendenberg President's Academy, Rising Stars Academy, and Newell District Leadership Academy.

In light of John's extraordinary record of service to Theta Xi, the Greek community, and Montclair State University, it is fitting that all future leadership scholarships awarded to undergraduate members of the Gamma Mu Chapter from this endowment should bear his name.

Please take a moment this Saturday, August 7th, to remember what John meant to you as a brother, and to make your plans to join us for the April 30-May 2, 2022 anniversary weekend, where we will continue to celebrate and honor what he means to us as a brotherhood.

Yours In The Bonds,

Matthew Lerman, Gamma Mu 272
Gamma Mu Alumni Association President

11/17/2020

Brothers,

ΓΜ 92 Neil Michael’s father recently passed away. On behalf of an alumni, we would like to pass this information along. There is a GoFundMe account that was created in hopes of helping to offset some of the costs.

YITB

On November 14, at 12:48 pm, Oscar Michael passed away. While he endured through a number of heal… Neil Michael needs your support for Oscar Michael's funeral

10/16/2020

This Sunday, the active chapter will be hosting a virtual Pinning Ceremony for the Beta Theta Associate Member class. Please see below for more details on how to access the Zoom meeting.

YITB

—————-

Topic: Pinning Fall Class - Beta Theta
Time: Oct 18, 2020 04:45 PM Eastern Time (US and Canada)

Join Zoom Meeting
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Meeting ID: 889 1477 5566
Passcode: 829184
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09/12/2020

Dear Brothers,

Please find below the logistical details for the Memorial Service for Brother John Cvelic, Gamma Mu 33, which will be held this Sunday, September 13, 2020. There is still room for brothers wishing to attend in person, and definitely for all brothers wishing to participate on Zoom.

The in person portion of the service (RM) will be held in the Student Center Ballrooms, located on the first floor of the Montclair State University Student Center promptly at 5:00pm. We will gather in the Student Center lobby starting at 4:30. If you are attending in person, please plan to arrive early, as it is essential that we begin the service sharply at 5:00pm so we can perform the service and depart in time to log in for the virtual portion. The active members will stay behind to break down the equipment. The required attire for an RM is shirt and tie. Masks and gloves will be required for all entering the room. We will have extra disposable masks and gloves available.

The virtual portion of the meeting may be accessed using a smartphone, tablet or computer and will begin at 6:00pm. The Zoom link and password are:
(from PC, Mac, Linux, iOS or Android) https://montclair.zoom.us/s/95155963947?pwd=M1RmRmUzbHdLaE9CcmVScEdjWnhJZz09
Passcode: 419248

When you join the Zoom Meeting, please change your name to the following format: Number First Last (i.e. 272 Matthew Lerman) By using this naming convention, all of our names will appear in chronological order by Roll Number, which will make the reverse calling of the roll and remarks so much easier. We will provide instructions at the beginning of the service for how to rename yourself in the Zoom Software. Please mute yourself when you are not speaking to avoid distracting background noise.

If you have not already done so, and wish to pre-register for the Zoom Meeting with the Montclair State Office of Alumni Engagement, you may do so by clicking this registration link. https://montclair.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJEscuyhqDgjHtMdhzE2P02BWqb5xfXVyJWw Pre-registering will allow you to accept electronic calendar alerts and receive reminders, however it is not required to attend. The link and password in this email is the same as the information provided when you pre-register, and we will also post the information contained in this email on both the Alumni and Active Facebook groups.

Sunday evening will be all about our dear brother, so I would like to take this opportunity to give special thanks to the many alumni and active members who have dedicated hundreds of hours organizing this service together under extraordinary circumstances. I also wish to thank the Theta Xi Headquarters Staff and Grand Lodge, and Montclair State University Center for Student Involvement and Office of Alumni Relations, who provided logistical guidance, a physical meeting place and unrestricted Zoom meeting access for the service.

If you have any questions, you may email [email protected], post to the Gamma Mu Alumni Association page at https://www.facebook.com/GammaMuAlumniAssociation, or text or call me at (973) 525-8923.

Yours In the Bonds,

Matthew Lerman
Gamma Mu 272
Gamma Mu Alumni Association President

A page for all news and information regarding the Alumni Association of the Gamma Mu chapter of Theta Xi Fraternity. All are welcome to join.

09/11/2020

A message from Brother David Cohen:

Felt by many I’m sure, yours truly included, these are very difficult times we’re living in. I hope you and yours are healthy and safe. While we mourn our own brother John, and I hope to see many of you via vid call on Sunday, now I - again with a heavy heart - share the news of our first alumni advisor's (Gamma 1086, Alex Ricardo) fathers passing. (Alex’s mother just passed away 2 summers ago if you recall).
I hope among others we can keep Alex, Alex’s family, and Mr. Jose Joao Ricardo in our prayers especially tonight, this weekend and the days to come.
https://freemanfuneralhomes.com/tribute/details/7979/Jose-Ricardo/service-information.html?fbclid=IwAR20dQXbzBpL1taXN9kvUG2btBUEnnnt8CEHbXDY64NfJ6myK2cSbk3Z384 -start

Please share and reach out as appropriate.

José “Joe” Ricardo, 84 passed away suddenly at his brother-in-law’s funeral on Wednesday in Lehighton, PA but thankfully was surrounded by his loving family. José was born June 9, 1936 in Barriero, Portugal. He worked for the telephone company in Lisbon, Portugal before marrying his late wif...

09/08/2020

Brothers! Do not forget to support our brothers tonight!

Tune Thieves LIVE!!!!

Starting at 6:30pm at the Taphouse Grill in Wayne!

Make sure to call and make a reservation!

‭+1 (973) 832-4141‬

08/31/2020

Congratulations to the Active Chapter on earning the National Benchmark Award at this year’s Convention!

08/08/2020

To the Brothers of Gamma Mu,
It is with a heavy heart I must inform you that today,
Brother John Cvelic Gamma Mu 33 passed away. John was initiated in 1992 and he was the chapters Treasurer and the Treasurer for the SGA. He is survived by his brother Allen Cvelic, Gamma Mu 51, his wife and 2 step children and both parents . Once we can hold a Ritual Memorial Service it also will be post. I was given this quote tonight "Carpe Diem, quam minimum credula postero" it translates to "Sieze the day, put very little trust in tomorrow".
YITB,
Frank Marino Gamma Mu 82

08/03/2020

GAMMA MU ALUMNI ASSOCIATION UPDATE:

Brothers,

I am writing to you all to provide you with a few updates in regard to the Gamma Mu Alumni Association.

First and Foremost, for those of you who are unaware, we recently held two alumni meetings to discuss the Alumni Association and to elect 6 members to the Board of Directors (the general management of the Association). The following brothers were elected to serve on the BOD: Ron Botelho, Dezmond Dixon, George Koutsouradis, Anthony Ramon, Anthony Fastiggi, and Matt Lerman. Along with that, Christian Penney and Taelor Myrie will serve on the BOD as active chapter representatives.

The BOD met for the first time this past Tuesday and elected 4 executive officers for the BOD, who will serve in these roles until the next anniversary gathering of the fraternity (April 29, 2021):
President: Matt Lerman
Vice President: Dezmond Dixon
Secretary: Anthony Ramon
Treasurer: Ron Botelho

While I am aware that not all brothers are active on Facebook and this group, I hope and encourage all brothers that see this post to share it with brothers who you may be in contact with on a regular basis. The Board of Directors will be working over the course of the next few months to address the concerns brought up by alumni in regard to the way we communicate as an association. Furthermore, the BOD will be spending the next few months creating a survey to gauge alumni involvement. We want to find out what levels of involvement brothers would like to have with the Association (i.e. how often they receive communication, what events they want to be involved with, ways in which they can support the active chapter, etc.). We will also be working on updating the current spreadsheet we have of the contact information of every brother. We hope to have the support of active alumni in reaching out to brothers who may not be as active or may not be receiving correspondence, in hopes of building a stronger network for our brothers.

While we are working on these initiatives, we will also be working on creating new ways to involve alumni and bridge the gap between the active chapter and our roughly 300 alumni. In the meantime, if anyone has any ideas or suggestions they would like to bring to the attention of the BOD, please feel free to bring it up to any of the members who are serving on the Board.

Lastly, I want to take the time to say thank you to Luke Weisenbach, Ian Honauer, Jon Preciado, Frank Marino, Nick Di Domenico, and Chris Goscinski for serving as Directors of the association for the past several years. Everything that was accomplished as an Association over the past few years would not have been possible without you. On behalf of the current board, thank you.

Yours In The Bonds,

Matt

07/23/2020

ATTENTION BROTHERS!!!!!

Come support our brothers

Where?

Taphouse Grille in Wayne

Business is owned and operated by our chapter brothers.

Who’s Performing?

Chris Kinney- Gamma Mu 53
duo- Tune Thieves-

When?

September 8th at 6:30.

Please come out and support!

07/17/2020

Alumni Association Meeting: July 16, 2020
Meeting format via Zoom
Meeting called to order at 8:10 pm
Meeting adjourned at 9 pm
Next Meeting: TBD

Recap of last meeting:
A. Organizational Objectives
B. Executive Board
C. Anniversary (5 yr)
D. Feedback from actives about how we can help.

Meeting summary:

Clarification of Association Executive Board
The positions are President, Vice President, Treasurer, Secretary and 2 general members and 2 members from the active chapter one being the chapter President and an alternat. To keep in line with the bylaws the 6 positions, 3 will be 2 years and 3 will be 1 year.

Clarification on a question:
“Does the Association have a written statement of Purpose”
Yes, there is a written statement of the Purpose it will be converted into a PDF file and posted on a later date.

Election of Association Executive Board:
The following members have been elected by acclamation:
1. Matt Lerman
2. Ron Botelho
3. Desmond Dixon
4. Anthony Ramon
5. Georg Koutsouradis
6. Anthony Fastiggi

Added 2 point to the list from last meeting:
1. Raising money for an endowment fund to pay for active travel costs to national leadership academies (National Foundation will manage conservative investment, interest used to pay for travel costs, donations tax deductible)
2. Planning the 30th anniversary
3. Developing better logistics for communications (alumni to association and alumni to chapter)
4. Helping update contact info
5. Helping organize or facilitate the round tables
6. Create generation captains to assist in contacting other alumni
7. Meet with the Actives to see what assistance is needed for the coming year
8. Create a survey for alumni on how they would like to be contacted