May15th, 2013

THE STATE OF THE FRATERNITY ADDRESS JAMES MADISON UNIVERSITY CAMPUS MU-TAU CHAPTER
Dear Friends and Fraters, Now, as the 2012-13 school year comes to a close, I would like to update everyone on the state of our Fraternity. As your Prytanis, it gives me great pleasure to share with you the reports that follow, which is of the exceptional work of your Fraternity during this academic year. Coming in as a pledge I had no idea we would be at the place we are at today. I know you are as proud as I am that our beloved Fraternity remains operationally sound and dedicated to our honorable Vision, Mission, and Purpose. Over this past year we have exponentially grown and strengthened our chapter, solidifying our presence both nationally and locally. I am also happy to boast generous improvements in the areas of recruitment, involvement, community service, philanthropy, and organization. Recruitment is an important element to our Fraternity. As brothers graduate and become alumni, recruitment is not only essential to grow and maintain numbers but to allow for greater resources to enhance our fraternal experience. Evidence of our growth can be seen as our chapter has doubled its size within the past year. We have grown our number from around twenty to fifty-two active brothers. We hope to continue our growth next semester as plans for fall rush are already in the works. Involvement both outside the chapter in the local community as well as within the chapter is extremely important to our development goals. Getting involved in various clubs or participating in campus activities bolsters ones resume to impress potential employers down the road. It is important to diversify ones portfolio of experiences on campus for the next step of life and shows off our Fraternity in the community. Nationals set a goal for us to have half of our Fraternity involved in other organizations. We greatly surpassed this goal by achieving over 83% of active brothers being involved in other organizations. Internal involvement is also very important to this chapter, as if everyone is apathetic nothing gets done and the chapter deteriorates. I am glad to say that we had 85% involvement at most of our events this year; we are working on making this number even higher next year. Community Service is important for self-growth, developing ones character, understanding others, and for many other reasons that help make one a better human being. This past year the Mu-Tau chapter has participated in multiple community service events, doing 1,748 hours of community service in total. Some of the events we were involved in include TKEs giving, a chapter led food drive around the local community for those in need, as well as campus events such as The Big Event where we teamed up with Delta Delta Delta to paint railings and clean out flowerbeds at a local nonprofit Christian Retreat. We have also proceeded in adopting part of Port Republic Road in Harrisonburg and pledged a minimum amount of hours to spend cleaning our section every year. 1

Philanthropy is significant as it teaches the big impact one can have on the college and community through gifts. This year we raised almost five thousand dollars for different organizations. We raised over one and a half thousand dollars for both Relay for Life and St. Jude this semester. The money raised for St. Jude was earned at our first annual TKEs Cookout for the Kids. At this event we had a moon bounce, barbecue, snow cones, and a DJ, for people to come out and have a good time while supporting a great cause. We hope to surpass all these benchmarks with new ideas as we continue to grow our philanthropy efforts in the future. Organization is imperative as it helps gets things done. I have seen monumental changes in the Fraternity structure which has led to greater fluidity in operations as a whole. In this past semester we have seen a new and improved Alumni association that has been much better at communicating with the undergrads, the creation of new and more substantial bylaws which will be voted upon in the fall, and new TKE houses, all creating a more structured organization to facilitate events. We have acquired a new chapter house which is being built as we speak and many new satellite houses for next semester. These places are on South Mason, South Main, Mountain View, and Aspen Heights. These TKE houses will make it easier to have events and take the burden off of only having one location. All these items have factored into TKE nationals scorecard which ranks each of the chapters based on many elements. As of April 22nd we raised many ranks from last year to 81st in the nation of 272 chapters. We achieved this with a score of 66.05% and have since raised our score to 75.03% bringing us into the top 50 chapters in 42nd place when comparing to the same list (Reference: TKE Nation Scorecard)! Overall, we made great progress toward our goals of strengthening and growing our chapter. This progress was made possible by the visionary leadership and hard work of our volunteer leaders, the dedication and elbow grease of our collegiate members, the generosity of our donors, and the daily dedication and skill of Advisors and Alumni. To every single one of you, thank you, you are making a positive difference! We have accomplished a great deal this year strengthening and growing our chapter into a positive position for next year. Because our Mission is continuous, there is always more work to be done and important milestones to be met. We need the involvement and support of every one of our brothers if we are to realize our full potential and expand our legacy. If you are not currently involved, I urge you to consider how you can become involved once again. For those already engaged, I urge you to maintain your commitment to our great Fraternity and its purpose. As we move forward into the next year I look forward to updating you on our future achievements. Please direct any questions or queries to the undersigned. Fraternally and Sincerely YITB,

Sheldon Gagn
Sheldon Gagn Prytanis Mu-Tau Chapter gagnesr@dukes.jmu.edu -----------------------------------------------------------------------------2

A Quick Look At some of our achievements this year: Our Histor and Grammateus are working hard on getting everyone a summer newsletter to keep all more informed and go in depth on our achievements and events but here are a few statistics for now (For the entire academic year).
Area of Interest: Chapter Achievement: Graduating Seniors 9 New Membership 17 Academics 2.837 Alumni True Involvement 83.72% Service 1748 Hours Philanthropy $4714.00 Philanthropy-St Jude $1550.00 Risk Management 0 major incidents Nationals Goal for Us: n/a 18 2.75 True 51% 1380 Hours $4600 $1150 0 major incidents

Vision Tau Kappa Epsilon creates lifelong relationships that enhance educational, interpersonal, community and professional success. Mission Our mission is to aid men in their mental, moral, and social development for life. Purpose TKE contributes to the advancement of society through the personal growth of our members, and service to others.