Ramapo’s chapter of Alpha Kappa Psi (ΑKΨ), a professional co-ed business fraternity, made Chi Upsilon history with their largest-ever recruitment event. Students were invited to form teams of six for a massive recreational volleyball tournament.
The goal was more than recruitment for ΑKΨ, as it was also a charity event. Each player donated five dollars to compete. Donations were not mandatory for spectators, but most opted to in spirit of the good cause. The proceeds were split between ΑKΨ and an organization of the winning team’s choice.
Matthew Balkunas has been a member of ΑKΨ since his sophomore year and continues to stay involved as a graduate student. He described how the fraternity had wanted to host an event of this size for some time, and he was excited to see the idea come to fruition.
“We really wanted to bring the whole Ramapo community together and have a great time while also supporting a good cause,” he said.
Krysta Fletcher serves as the co-chair of ΑKΨ’s Social Committee alongside Brandon Hemmer. She informed The Ramapo News of the long hours put in by members of the Social, Service, Fundraising and Philanthropy Committees to make the tournament happen.
“Ever since last semester we had this idea, and originally we were going to do it as a smaller event, and then we decided we could use it as a way to network new members and also a fundraising event… We’ve been working all day and pretty much all week tirelessly on doing this,” Fletcher said.
Fletcher is proud of her fraternity and quick to praise its mission. “We focus on building professional skills and integrating them into our everyday life. We are a brotherhood, so we also focus on building interpersonal relationships within the community.”
Several courts were set up in the Bradley Center’s Auxiliary Gym. On the dot at 10 p.m. last Wednesday, teams began to compete in the first round. Those who won the best of three matches moved on and left their competitors in the dust.
Everyone came to have fun, but some players were more serious about winning than others. Freshman Victor Kellet and his teammates ate well at late-night, drank lots of Gatorade and applied face paint in preparation.
“We’re locked in, we’re ready to compete. It’s a chip or a bust, we’re not looking for anything else. We’re looking for the championship, we’re gonna bring it home for the boys,” Kellet said in advance of competing.
At the end of the night, one team sporting iconic face paint remained. Their dedication had paid off. Their reward was the privilege to ensure a little over $300 raised went to their selected cause, St. Jude’s Children’s Hospital.
Perhaps the real secret to their victory was the reason Kellet competed in the first place. He was inspired when he learned his resident advisor (RA) intended to compete. “You can’t pass that opportunity up. You gotta go against the RA,” he said.
dbongiov@ramapo.edu
Featured photo by Danielle Bongiovanni
