Xi-Beta Places In Homecoming Events

As Homecoming week comes to an end Xi-Beta walks away with three honors due to the hard work of all the brothers. They placed 2^nd for float building, 3^rd for their homecoming banner, and Brother Ranley was named Homecoming King. Brothers Dan Ratzenberger and Frank Delledera took charge with homecoming, organizing events and planning meetings. Throughout the week these two brothers made sure attendance was up at events such as Meet the Court, The Mayor of Huntington Avenue Debate, A Pep Rally, and Sporting Events.

Homecoming week at Northeastern University brings all student groups together and invites friendly competition between them. “Midnight madness was my highlight of homecoming week. At midnight madness the whole fraternity, as well as other student groups came together on Friday night to complete their floats. It was great to see that many people show up.” Brother Delledera stated.

At the end of the week, Homecoming King and Queen are announced; this year Xi-Beta sponsored Brother Robert Ranley to run for King. After a full week of promoting and hard work, Brother Ranley took the title of Homecoming King 2008. Brother Ranley has held numerous positions in Xi-Beta in the past such as Grand Master and Grand Master of Ceremonies as well as being a leader in Student Government Association as its President this year. “Being in two large organizations gives you the resources to really get your name around campus. Members of the groups helped design flyers, chalk, and spread the words to their friends.

Kappa Sigma Helps Fight Breast Cancer

On Sunday October 5^th, the Xi-Beta Chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity helped clean up at the Making Strides Against Breast Cancer Walk. Brothers and a group of 25 pledges helped to take down signs, put tables away, and cleaned up the esplanade. Not only were there brothers and pledges, but the Delta Zeta Sorority teamed up with Kappa Sigma to make this another successful community service event.

On the website for Making Strides Against Breast Cancer it reads, “This year’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer was a huge success, raising more than $3.3 million in Boston for the fight against breast cancer. Thanks to Making Strides participants, we are making a real difference for the millions of people facing this disease and sharing hope that one day, we will see a world without breast cancer. The walk may be over but the website will still be up and running through April.”

Breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer and the fifth most common cause of cancer death with an estimated 40,000 deaths this year. By assisting with events like this, the Kappa Sigma Fraternity hopes to aid in the progress of finding a cure for this horrible disease.

Xi-Beta Hosts 6th Successful Comedy Night

Xi-Beta now has under its belt six successful comedy nights in Blackman Auditorium. Opener Jordan Rubin and Norm Macdonald entertained a near capacity crowd Sunday night, September 28^th at Northeastern University hosted by The Kappa Sigma Fraternity and The Delta Zeta Sorority.

Jordan Rubin, writer for the MTV Movie Awards, put on a short opening act that warmed the crowd up for main comedian Norm Macdonald. Macdonald, an experienced stand-up comedian and actor, has been involved with “Roseanne”, “The Drew Carey Show”, “Billy Madison”, and “Dirty Work”. Best known for his role in the “Weekend Update” on Saturday Night Live, Norm amused the Northeastern crowd with his wit and diverse themes. “The dry, raw humor of Norm had me on the edge of my seat!” Brother Van Doren exclaimed.

The show not only provided entertainment, but an escape from the everyday hassles of student life at college. Many that came just enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and a break from studies and stress.

Xi-Beta: Leaders at Northeastern

The Xi-Beta Chapter of the Kappa Sigma Fraternity has shown us again that they are leaders at Northeastern University. Brother Rob Ranley has been elected as student body president and hopes to work with all students to make Northeastern University better than it has ever been. Also, Brothers Bill Palmer and Matt Viccaro have been elected to the executive board of the Inter-Fraternity Council, Bill as Secretary and Matt as Treasurer. IFC provides a forum for the discussion of issues that affect fraternities and their members, including all recognized men’s fraternities at Northeastern University. This council sets the rules and standards to which the individual fraternities must adhere. By being elected to its executive board Brothers Palmer and Viccaro will have a voice in the decisions being made.

Rob Ranley has established himself as a true leader at Northeastern University, holding leadership positions in and out of the fraternity. In the chapter Rob has held the positions of Vice President of Membership and Recruitment and chapter President. Because of his contributions to the fraternity he has been given many awards such as Scholarship Leadership Awards in 2006 as well as 2007 and was named Master of the Ritual. He was named Greek Man of the Year 07-08 because of his dedicated time and service to the Greek Community and Northeastern. Rob has also been highly involved in Student Government Association being a Senator, Assistant Vice President for Financial Affairs, and Vice President for Financial Affairs. He has worked with over 70 student groups under this position to grant more than $2.5 million in funding for programming and making needed improvements. Because of his commitment to make Northeastern the best it can be, Rob was elected to be Student Body President for the 08-09 school year. As President, Rob hopes to ensure that every student has the opportunity to experience the Northeastern they deserve.

Bill Palmer pledged in 2005 and was awarded Fraternity New Member of the Year in 2006. He jumped in establishing himself as a leader in the chapter by holding numerous positions including Rush Chair and Pledge Educator before being elected to the executive board as Grand Scribe. Bill has been involved in IFC helping to make all of Greek life at Northeastern better and has since been elected Secretary for this coming year. Not only does he participate in fraternity related activities, but also is a participant in club baseball, a number of intramural sports, and co-hosts a radio show every week on WRBB 104.9.

Matt Viccaro pledged in 2006 and quickly became a leader in the chapter diving head first into many leadership positions. He was Assistant Pledge Educator in the spring of 2007 only a semester after being initiated and then went on to be Greater Cause Chair (Community Service) planning many successful events that helped Northeastern and the Boston community. Because of his great contributions to the chapter he was named Brother of the Year 2007-2008. Matt recently was elected Vice President of the chapter as well as IFC treasurer. Matt is also highly involved in Psych club, Intramural Basketball and Football and hopes to add more to his list of activities. He is planning on becoming a senator in SGA this coming year and to start a Northeastern Consulting Club in the fall.

Kappa Sigma Busts Theirs to Save Yours, Donates $947 Dollars

Recently, The Kappa Sigma Fraternity held their fourth annual “Busting Ours to Save Yours” fundraiser to help raise money and promote awareness of Testicular Cancer. For a week long period the fraternity had tables in the library quad and sold a variety of nuts including peanuts, cashews, and pecans as well as candy from 8 am to 5 pm. 100% of the proceeds were donated to the Lance Armstrong foundation to support testicular cancer research.

This year $947.91 dollars were donated and 350 hours of community service were put into this great event. “By doing events like this we get to help the community on a much larger scale while also showing the university what we are all about.  I am glad we were able to donate so much money to help support cancer research” said Brother Slavin. This year’s event was even more successful than in the past bringing in more money to be donated to cancer research and more awareness around campus.

Testicular cancer is most common in men between the ages of 15-40.  Nearly 1 in every 250 men will suffer from this type of cancer; however most men, especially college students, don’t even think about it.  When detected early it can be cured almost 100% of the time. Kappa Sigma provided information to college students and increased awareness around Northeastern’s campus so that those who are most susceptible to this form of cancer will be more prepared to detect and go through treatment.