For the second year in a row, the Beta Chi chapter has been named an International Top TKE Chapter. Judged by the International Fraternity as Excellent in Recruitment Results, Chapter Size, Community Service, Alumni Relations and Extracurricular Activities, we continue to add to the Avalanche of Awards we’ve accumulated during the 2007-2008 Academic Year. Tau Kappa Epsilon has over 250 Active Chapters around the world, and only 11 of them achieved this status this year.

If you are a part of this success … congratulations! If you want to be a part of this success … contact a frater and come to some recruitment events this Fall.

Frater Nik Wenzel will make his professional opera debut this summer in “The Barber of Seville” in this summer’s Southern Illinois Music Festival. The performances will be at Shryock Auditorium on Saturday, June 28 at 7:30pm.

Nikolas Wenzel is a first year Master of Music student at Northwestern University studying in the studio of Bruce Hall. A 2007 graduate of Southern Illinois University, where he was a student of Richard Best and Dr. David Dillard, he was the winner numerous accolades, including winning the SIU Solo Concerto Competition as an undergraduate.

Northwestern University Opera credits include Bottom in Benjamin Britten’s “Midsummer Night’s Dream,” and Dulcamara in Donizetti’s “L’Elisir d’amore.” Southern Illinois University Opera credits include the title role in “Don Pasquale” and Peter (The Father) in Humperdinck’s “Hansel and Gretel.” Solo concert appearances include “A Night at the Opera” with the Northwestern University Philharmonia, Antonio in Mozart’s “Le Nozze di Figaro” (Southern Illinois Music Festival), Bach’s “Magnificat” (Southern Illinois University and Northwestern University), and Southern Illinois Symphony’s “Halloween Pops.” Favorite professional theatre credits include “The Lost Colony” (Terrence Mann, director), George the Bartender in McLeod Summer Playhouse’s production of “My Fair Lady,” and Henry Kleber in “Stephen Foster - The Musical!”

- Nik’s bio above is taken from the Southern Illinois Music Festival website -

Frater Louis Kotvis (Histor) has been selected by TKE International to attend the Charles R. Walgreen Jr. TKE Leadership Academy, which will be held Friday, May 30 through Tuesday, June 3 at Trail’s End Conference Center in the Pocono Mountains of Pennsylvania. All expenses (including travel) are paid for those selected to attend.

This will be the 22nd Leadership Academy. Frater Kotvis will be the first Beta Chi to attend.

Each semester, the SIUC Chapter of the Order of Omega induct a select few Greeks from all fraternities and sororities into their ranks. They invite only the best of the best. This year, two Tekes have been selected:

• Kevin Alves & Dan Sepulveda, inducted Spring 2007

Kevin and Dan follow frater Zach Englum who was inducted in the fall of 2006.

From the Wikipedia entry about the Order of Omega:

The Order of Omega is an honor society recognizing particularly meritorious men and women in the undergraduate Greek community. As an honors society, it functions as an adjunct to traditional fraternal organizations, rather than a social or professional group.

As an honors society, the Order explicitly restricts its members to academically and socially outstanding undergraduates. It requires upperclassman status full-time attendance as a student, and a GPA higher than the all-Greek average at the campus in question as minimum standards 3.0 here at SIUC. The executive board of the individual chapter is empowered to make further decisions as to the merit of an applicant and initiate them into the Order, based on six criteria surveying character, service to the Greek community, and service to the university community as a whole. In any case, no more than 3% of all eligible Greeks - or fifteen persons if there are fewer than 500 Greeks at a particular institution - may be admitted in an academic year.

Colonel John, who is currently going off at 4-1 in the Kentucky Derby this weekend, has been given an early gift. Big Brown, the favorite (3-1) has chosen the #20 slot, which means he must break from the extreme outside of the track. Only one Kentucky Derby winner (Clyde Van Dusen in 1929) has come from there.

Colonel John is owned by WinStar Farms in Versailles, Kentucky, which is co-owned by Kenny Troutt (BX 491).

The Kentucky Derby is scheduled for Saturday, May 3, 2008 at 5:00 pm ET (4:00 pm CT).