The Iowa State Delta Upsilon Chapter participated in the annual Leadership Institute in Kansas City, Missouri on July 28-30. Congratulations to the men for taking home their 9th consecutive Sweepstakes Finalist trophy Saturday night in Kansas City. Many factors went into this award including a Chapter GPA of 3.31, 25.3 service hours per man and over $7,000 raised for the Delta Upsilon philanthropy, Global Service Initiative.
The Chapter also won the Innovative Member Development Award. This award was created to recognize chapters that are educating, mentoring and developing members throughout their entire collegiate experience after the Associate Member Education Program.
The highlight of the weekend was spending time with Brother Doug Howell, ’83. Brother Howell was honored with the Sloan-Kettering Award of Merit in Business. He hosted a breakfast roundtable with the Iowa State Chapter and some of the top DU undergraduates on Saturday morning sharing his experiences that has led him to being CFO at Gallagher Insurance.
Over the past two semesters, a new member of Delta Upsilon has shown what it’s like to come in and automatically be both a leader and everyone’s friend all in one. Camden Troncin, a freshman from Urbandale, IA, joined in the fall of 2021 and has bled DU ever since.
He has been involved in both Homecoming and Greek Week events, served as our Community Service chair this past semester, created several new service opportunities for the entire chapter, and has put in countless hours for himself as well. For the upcoming semester, Camden has been appointed Kitchen manager for our house and plans on working with different exec positions to run for one of his own later this fall.
Part of his leadership skills came out when he attended the annual RLA conference in Kansas City. There our Chapter was able to see first hand the level of communication and responsibility that he is able to bring to this chapter. His unique freshman year has set him up to be a great leader within the chapter and we’re excited to see where he takes it.
Not only is Camden a great leader, but he’s also a great friend to everyone in the fraternity no matter their age. Being that he lived in the house this past spring, he is always in other people’s rooms hanging out, no matter if they’re a sophomore or a Junior. His contagious energy is something that has already benefited the fraternity and we look forward to having it for 3 more years. Congratulations to Camden Troncin on winning the 2022 Outstanding New Member Award!
Over this past year, Ben Breeding has committed as many leadership responsibilities as possible without being on exec. Although Ben joined as a Freshman in 2019, he was only able to be a part of the fraternity for a short 3 years, for he earned enough credits to graduate a year early. During his time in DU, unlike many, his involvement increased as the years went by.
In the fall of 2021, he served as our Professional Development Chair, going above and beyond what was expected of him. He conducted countless mock interviews with people, developed several resumes, and helped prepare our brothers for career fairs. In his final year, he participated in almost every Homecoming and Greek Week event, as well as serving as one of our Greek Week General Co Chairs’s for the semester. In that position, he coordinated almost every event that we did ranging from community service to sports events. Our third place finish in overall Greek Week wouldn’t have been possible without his extremely hard work and devotion. Following Greek Week, Ben also organized our Spring 2022 Philanthropy, a task that was far from easy. He spent the weeks leading up to it making countless phone calls, booking dates with people, making sure tickets were handed out, and organizing time slots.
Ben has left a forever lasting impact on the fraternity and set an amazing example of what it should look like being an upperclassman in DU. He is one of the nicest guys you’ll ever meet and will be incredibly missed around the house and in the fraternity as a whole. Congratulations to Ben Breeding on winning the 2022 Chev Adams Award!
For the first time in our chapter’s history, the Iowa State DU Chapter won Delta Upsilon’s Sweepstakes Award. This is the award presented to the top overall DU chapter at the annual Leadership Institute (LI). This year’s LI took place in New Orleans. Nine undergraduates and four alums were there to accept the award on the chapter’s behalf.
In addition to the Sweepstakes Award, the chapter came home with other significant honors and recognition, including:
Chapter President Nick Lee was elected as the Undergraduate Advisory Board Representative for DU’s Province 4
The Chapter was named a top CEP chapter in the following areas: Academic Excellence, Associate Member Education and Operational Excellence
The Chapter won the Innovative Member Development Award
Chapter President Nick Lee and Vice President of Member Education Ryan Poppert were each awarded a $1,000 McQuaid Scholarship
The Chapter was recognized as the second highest fundraising chapter for DU’s Global Service Initiative, raising nearly $3,700
Vice President Graham Owen was named a finalist for the Distinguished Undergraduate Award, which is given to DU’s top undergraduate member
The chapter was named a finalist for the Sweepstakes Award for the 7th straight year before winning the award
The 2020-2021 school year was very challenging for all fraternities due to COVID-19 and our chapter was no exception. Our undergraduate men did not use COVID-19 as an excuse and continued to improve the chapter in multiple areas. The chapter achieved a 3.31 chapter GPA, volunteered more than 25 hours per member and raised a significant amount of money for DU’s philanthropy, Global Service Initiative. This all led to the most successful year for our chapter since DU returned to Iowa State’s campus nearly 10 years ago. Please help us congratulate our undergraduate chapter for an extremely successful school year!
We are excited to announce that Noah Stenberg has won the 2021 Outstanding New Member Award. Noah was one of the first members of his spring class to sign his bid with Delta Upsilon and has fit naturally into the fraternity since then. Having signed with us before the start of the spring semester when he transferred to Iowa State, Noah moved directly into the chapter house and made himself at home.
In his first semester at Iowa State, Noah started off on the right foot by taking responsibility for his academics first and foremost. Noah was able to achieve a 3.27 GPA. He also did his part as an active member of our kitchen crew and has volunteered to lead our kitchen crew in the fall. Noah was not shy in building relationships with his new DU brothers. He could often be seen with the guys, starting a bonfire on the patio, or grilling out on a nice day. He also got involved in Greek Week and Lip Sync as a member of our team’s performance.
Noah has shown his interest and ability to be a leader in Delta Upsilon by building relationships with brothers beyond his pledge class. He has also shown an ability to adapt quickly to new surroundings during the challenging circumstances of COVID. Noah is a great example of an outstanding associate member. Please help us in congratulating Noah for his hard work and dedication.
Congratulations to Nate Nebel ’21 for winning the Chev Adams Award presented to the most outstanding senior of Iowa State’s Delta Upsilon Chapter. Nate has been an active DU member since his initiation and that did not change during his senior year. It is not often that we have a senior member as active as Nate.
During the fall semester, Nate served as DU’s Vice President of Compliance. In this role, Nate was in charge of ensuring our DU Chapter stayed compliant with Delta Upsilon International’s Men of Merit standards. These standards include items such as service hours, educational programming attendance and the Chapter Excellence Plan (CEP). CEP is a set of tasks that are to be completed by each chapter (organizational tasks, educational tasks, academic tasks, etc.).
Nate’s results speak for themselves. As the co-leader of our community service effort, he lead the effort to give community service opportunities to our Chapter. During the fall semester, our Chapter completed nearly 1,300 combined service hours, which resulted in more than 15 hours per member. This is well above DU International’s aspirational level of 10 hours per member. As part of our CEP completion, Nate led this effort to put the Iowa State Chapter in 4th place out of 67 chapters in the current DU International CEP standings.
During spring semester, Nate was the Chair of our Life Committee. This committee is dedicated to the mental health of our members. Nate has lead sessions in our Chapter Meetings and has given our members an opportunity to discuss this uncomfortable topic. He has excelled in this. Nate has also created a Brothers In Need Appendix which is a document that lists mental health resources available on campus and off campus.
Outside of DU, Nate has maintained a 3.64 cumulative GPA while majoring in Advertising. Nate has been a member of the Emerging Fraternal Leadership Council and Fraternal Values Society while at Iowa State. Congratulations to Nate on being awarded the 2021 Chev Adams Award and good luck to Nate in his next adventure!
Each year, Iowa State’s office of Sorority and Fraternity Engagement (SFE Office) hold an award ceremony for all chapters of all four councils on campus. This year, our Chapter and our members earned multiple awards for their hard work throughout a challenging 2020.
To start, our Chapter earned an Excellence in Academics award for our academic programming and resources. The DU Chapter is consistently one of the top academic chapters on campus. With our strong academic review board, academic programming and tutoring reimbursement, we have built a strong academic culture and are proud to receive this award.
Nate Nebel was honored as a Senior of the Year Finalist. Nate has been a passionate member of DU during his four years at Iowa State. He has served in multiple leadership positions in the Chapter and is currently the Chapter’s Life Committee Chair. Outside of DU, Nate has maintained a 3.64 cumulative GPA while majoring in Advertising and has been a member of the Emerging Fraternal Leadership Council and Fraternal Values Society.
McKinley Paratore, the current live-in Graduate Advisor was recognized for her work with the SFE Office. McKinley has been a valuable member of our team for the past two years. She has gone above and beyond to serve the men of DU in multiple capacities: advisor, house manager, counselor and friend. We wish McKinley nothing but the best as she moves on to her next adventure.
The Chapter was awarded with the Fraternal Award of Excellence Gold Circle Award. This is given to Chapters that achieve 80-89% of the criteria that the SFE Office sets each year. This criteria is based on the five values of the Iowa State Sorority and Fraternity community: Academics, Civic Engagement, Friendship, Leadership and Social Justice.
Finally, Graham Owen was recognized as one of three Sorority and Fraternity Members of the Year. This is a huge accomplishment for Graham and reflects very well on our Chapter. Graham has gone above and beyond during his time in DU and that is no exception for this school year. In the fall semester, Graham was the head of our Standards Board. This is a group of highly respected upperclassmen that work to ensure all DU brothers are upholding DU’s four founding principles of Character, Culture, Justice and Friendship. This semester, Graham is serving on the Executive Board as the Vice President of Compliance. In this position, Graham is in charge of leading the Chapter’s service efforts and ensures the Chapter is successfully completing the DU International Chapter Excellence Plan (a set of criteria used to measure the success of each chapter). Outside of DU, Graham has maintained a 3.23 cumulative GPA in Chemical Engineering. He has also participated in the Fraternal Values Society and Investment Group. He has volunteered as a Rho Guy which is a leadership position to assist incoming freshmen during formal recruitment. Finally, he was a part of the Interfraternity Council serving as VP Leadership Development.
Congratulations to our Chapter and all our Award Winners!
Brothers, another Fall semester is in full swing here at Iowa State! As you know all too well, this semester isn’t like any the men of Delta Upsilon have faced before. It’s hard to believe that just six months ago we weren’t sure what our time here would look like moving forward. While we are ecstatic to be back in Ames, we understand that things look different since the last time we called this place home. Even though COVID has limited our chances to gather as brothers, it hasn’t completely halted our ability to connect. We recently held a pinning ceremony (distanced and masked up, of course!) for our newest 20 associate members at a room in the Memorial Union. It was great to see some familiar faces, and some new ones, too! This weekend marks the beginning of a series of campus cleanup events which will help keep our community looking beautiful. As the semester continues, the men of Delta Upsilon are hopeful to have more brotherhood events to stay connected.
In terms of awards, the Iowa State chapter was quite successful! I’m proud to report that we are Sweepstakes finalists again for the 6th year in a row! It’s truly an honor to see our hard work pay off by being recognized as one of the top seven chapters of Delta Upsilon. As a part of this accomplishment, the Iowa State chapter was also top three in fundraising for our philanthropic partner, Global Service Initiative. Our chapter also received the McKeag award for greatest participation in the Oak Circle, the undergraduate giving network. A recent grad and now DU alum, Joe Stanton, was also named a finalist for undergraduate of the year.
Finally, there will soon be an opportunity to spice up the wardrobe, as an apparel fundraiser is in the works! Stay tuned for more updates to come and ways in which you can donate to our philanthropy. While this isn’t the school year any of us expected, we are certainly making the most of the time we have here in person. I know I speak on behalf of all the members when I wish you continued safety, good health, and prosperity as we navigate 2020.
Congratulations to Jack Belloli ’23 for being named the Outstanding New Member of the Iowa State DU Chapter. Jack just completed his freshman year in the College of Engineering. He plans on majoring in Civil Engineering. Although engineering students are presented with many academic challenges as first year students, Jack was able to achieve a 3.27 GPA. His work ethic and time management skills allowed him to excel in academics while also being involved in other activities throughout his freshman year.
Jack also showed a great understanding of Delta Upsilons Four Founding Principles: Development of Character, Diffusion of Liberal Culture, Advancement of Justice and Promotion of Friendship. His willingness to challenge all members to be better, his understanding toward many issues and his kindness to all have earned him great respect throughout the Chapter.
As a member of the Chapter, Jack showed a willingness to get involved right out of the gate. He participated in Homecoming, Yell Like Hell and Greek Week. Also, because of Jack’s trust within the Chapter, he was chosen as the only freshman to be on the summer recruitment team. He will spend much of the summer working hard to bring in the next pledge class to DU. Thank you to Jack for his contributions to the DU Chapter. We look forward to seeing what you can accomplish over the next few years as a DU brother!
Congratulations to Joe Stanton ’20 for being awarded the Chev Adams Award as the most outstanding senior member of the Iowa State DU Chapter. Joe has been an outstanding representative of DU throughout his time at Iowa State. He has been a member of the Exec Board as both VP of Recruitment and VP of Administration. Beyond his involvement in DU, Joe has interned at the Iowa State Research Park and Principal Financial Group. He has also started his own business, Ash Avenue Prints. His company creates customized posters for their clients. Academically, Joe graduated from the Iowa State Ivy College of Business with a Bachelor of Science in Marketing and Entrepreneurship. He excelled academically with a 3.70 cumulative GPA.
As a senior, many brothers choose to be less involved in the fraternity. This is not how Joe approached his senior year. He jumped at every opportunity presented to him and even requested additional responsibilities. In the fall semester he served as the Social Media Chair and was very involved in DU’s homecoming participation. In the spring semester, he served as the Greek Week Co-Chair. Outside of DU, Joe was named as 1 of 10 people on the Iowa State Homecoming Court, Cardinal Court. This is a tremendous honor for any Iowa State senior.
Through his accomplishments in academics, career advancement and brotherhood, Joe has become a model brother for Delta Upsilon. Joe doesn’t just give advice to the underclassmen, but he also leads by example. He has and will continue to be an excellent representation of what it means to be a member of Delta Upsilon even as he becomes an alumni. Thank you to Joe for his contributions to Iowa State Delta Upsilon!