Spring Semester Update
Dear Brothers,
With the spring semester behind us, we want to catch you up on news from Upsilon Alpha.
Chapter Updates
Recruitment went well and we initiated a New Member class of 10 outstanding men. Congratulations to the Pi class! As we welcome a new pledge class, we recognize and congratulate our Kappa and Iota classes for their graduation this past week.
As far as Scholarship is concerned, we beat the All-Men's Average and All-Men's Fraternity Average last semester for the 10th year in a row. The chapter had a 3.28 GPA (All-Men's Avg. = 3.12). 26 brothers had perfect 4.0 GPAs! Our goal is to be the #1 fraternity on campus again.
Our Philanthropy for the Arizona Cancer Foundation for Children raised $14,000 through events like a sorority banner competition, percentage night at a local pizza parlor, dodgeball & volleyball tournaments, and donations from parents and grads. A Wild West Night held at the Fiji house included a mechanical bull riding contest and a ‘Pie-A-Fiji’ fundraiser.
Individual Highlights
Eight brothers, including PL Trevor Hensen, attended the 2025 FIJI Academy in St. Louis. This annual leadership training aims to prepare our brothers to "lead with courage" and make a positive impact on their campus and community.
Outside of these events, our brothers have continued to enhance our chapter’s reputation across campus. Every member is actively involved in at least one club or program, with many holding leadership positions. To name a few, Fiji’s hold active leadership positions in the Bobcats Honorary, Commercial Real Estate, Investments, and Speech and Debate clubs, Wall Street Scholars, IFC, as well as the University’s endowment fund committee.
It's worth restating that our chapter was recognized at the recent Order of Omega Annual Greek Awards held February 26, 2025. Upsilon Alpha won the fraternity award for Outstanding Programming, Excellence in Diversity Awareness & Programming, as well as Outstanding Philanthropic Program. Brother Callan Taylor won the Outstanding Campus Involvement Award, Brogan Kelly won Outstanding New Member, and William Bastman won Outstanding Volunteer.
Our West Regional Field Secretary, Ben Cunningham, visited the chapter in February and reported that we achieved all the Chapter Minimum Standards. Our strengths: brotherhood, recruitment, member education, finances, advisor engagement, graduate relations, and housing. In his summary he said "The Arizona chapter has continued to impress and be the gold standard for all other chapters. They are focused on obtaining huge goals and are creating specific plans on how to achieve them. Ultimately the new cabinet is starting off strong and continuing to propel the chapter to new levels. I know they will be successful and continue to learn from everything they do, and I have high hopes for them as well and can’t wait to see what they’ll accomplish."
The Evening of Excellence was held this past week and Upsilon Alpha was recognized bigtime. Three of our brothers were selected to the prestigious Bobcats Senior Honorary. They are Srikar Mandava, Yazin Hindosh, and Bardia Mostafizi. Only 13 seniors (male & female) are selected for this honor. Bardia was elected as the 3rd consecutive Bobcat president from our brotherhood (Tobi Adigun, Alec Vendetti, Bardia Mostafizi).
As you can tell, the quest for excellence continues at Upsilon Alpha. Chapter tone is tremendous, and we are striving to win the Cheney Cup once again. Phi Gamma Delta has a great reputation on campus and continues to be a shining star in the Greek community at the University of Arizona.
Upsilon Alpha - New Facebook Group
Our brother Dan Kates has started a Facebook group with 125 members that we are excited to keep growing! Please refer to this link to join.
With that, I hope you and yours have a wonderful summer. Mighty proud to be a Fiji!