Monday, March 29, 2010

Dress For Success Fashion Show

On Saturday, March 27, 2010 Alpha Kappa Psi Lambda Nu hosted its Dress for Success Fashion Show. Lambda Nu has hosted this event in the previous years and has been planning its return since this past fall semester. AKPSi brothers and pledges showed off their goods on the runway to benefit a great cause.

Dress for Success is a non-profit organization that works to promote economic independence for disadvantaged women all over the country. Volunteers all over the country donate clothing, their time, or their experience to help unemployed women enter the workforce. Jeff Mindell, a brother of Lambda Nu, invited his mother to come speak at the event, considering she has volunteered with Dress For Success for several years. Mrs. Mindell was able to share personal stories of how the organization is able to boost Women's self-confidence and encourage them to re-enter the workforce. Lambda Nu was extremely grateful to have Mrs. Mindell attend the event and share some of her personal experiences.

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The first portion of the event was the fashion show, which first consisted of a "Do's and Don'ts" collections.

Bright distracting socks? I don't think so.


Same goes for the ladies, leave the neon leg tights at home!

Next time keep it subtle, monochromatic suits, socks & tights will be sure to impress.

Same goes for heels!

They look great, but save them for the club.


And I know a backpack is comfortable and simple...


...but it just does NOT work in professional wear.








Those are just a few examples of the many Do's and Don'ts that Lambda Nu wanted to showcase at this year's Dress for Success Fashion Show. After our brothers and pledges were done struttin' their stuff on the runway, the brothers provided a silent auction for guests to bid on. In combination to the donations for the event with the proceeds from the auction, Lambda Nu was able to raise over $500 for Dress for Success! Thanks to everyone who participated in the show and donated to the great cause. Jeff Mindell, for MC-ing the event and for inviting his lovely mother to join; Liz Guez & her family for providing items for the silent auction, and the big thanks to Amanda Augustine, our Dress for Success Chair; without her hard work throughout the semester this event would not have been a success, wonderful job Amanda!




Sunday, March 28, 2010

Pledge Mission RUSH Commercials


A component of the pledge mission for the Beta Iota pledge class this year was to compile a RUSH video for Alpha Kappa Psi. A goal for AKPsi for this semester and for future ones is to expand outside of Kogod to attract students from CAS, SOC, SIS, & SPA. The pledges were instructed to use this commercial to attract these students outside of Kogod. They all did a wonderful job so please enjoy!!




Team B1





Business Intelligence Agency





Winners!: Phoenician Investments




Team Klaapendaaz





The Incredibles


Meltzer Speaker Series Presents Mike Rosenberg


On Thursday, March 25, 2010 Alpha Kappa Psi had the honor to co-sponsor the Alan Meltzer CEO Leadership Speaker Series. The highly anticipated guest speaker was Michael Rosenberg, American University and KSB graduate, and current president and CEO of Promotion in Motion Companies.


During the struggling economic times, it seems impossile to find a success story. However in Thursday's speaker, we learned that you don't have to look further than your campus dorm room. Michael Rosenberg attended American University with the initial intention to study music while mastering the violin. After a change of heart, in 1979 Rosenberg decided to switch into Kogod School of Business and put forth initiative and actually started his own business, right out of his dorm room in Anderson Hall. With only $150 in start-up capital, Rosenberg was able to create a national brand candy company that continues to grow today. Welch's Fruit Snacks, Sour Jacks, and Sun-Maid Milk Chocolate Raisins are just a few names that you might recognize as Rosenberg's products.

Rosenberg explained to the audience that it was not an easy ride to get to where he is today. Through multiple lawsuits, loss of licenses, and some failed product ideas, perseverance is key. So although the economic times seem disheartening, the next time you're bored in your dorm room, count up your loose change -- it could be the start of your own empire.


The Alan Melter CEO Leadership Speaker Series gives interested students the opportunity to hear from principled business leaders, and is something Alpha Kappa Psi has co-sponsored for the past few years. It is one of our most highly anticipated events and I would just like to thank the hard work from Kogod School of Business, Kogod Graduate Business Association, Kogod Marketing Asociation, and Kogod Undergraduate Business Association for their help in presenting the Speaker Series.


Friday, March 26, 2010

Mission Accomplished!


Last week was definitely a busy one for the Beta Iota pledge class. Their pledge mission kicked-off on Sunday, March 14th, where they were formed in teams and given task of assembling a hypothetical investment plan for the brotherhood. In addition to this task, each team received $50 in start-up cash to fundraise throughout the week. You might have seen the many facebook event invites for "Wawa Sales" or the familiar "Pizza and Cheesy Bread in Anderson" and one team even went to great lengths to offer washing students' dishes! All the brothers were extremely impressed with Beta Iota's creativity in fundraising, which proved to pay off -- the teams raised over $2,000 altogether!!




Sunday concluded the pledge mission week, where the teams in Beta Iota presented their investment proposals to Lambda Nu. It was obvious to everyone that the pledges put an enormous amount of time into their presentations, in addition to their RUSH video commercials.

Team "The Incredibles" were awarded with having the best presentation, while the "Phoenician Investments" won the entire week-long pledge mission. With extremely successful fundraising events, a thorough analysis of their investment portfolio, and hilarious rush video, Phoenician Investments earned their victory. However that does not slight any of the other teams. Pledge mission is huge time commitment and I want to thank all of the Beta Iota pledge class for their hard work and dedication, everyone did a phenomenal job!

Saturday, March 20, 2010

Alumni Return to AU & Lambda Nu!

I hope everyone survived midterms and had a wonderful, relaxing, and fun spring break! My apologies for the few weeks on hiatus, I'm finally back with some Lambda Nu updates!

Our Vice President of Alumni, Zach Siegel hosted Lambda Nu's alumni career day on Saturday, March 20th. The day first began with one-on-one mock interviews. Alumni guests met with undergraduate AKPsi brothers to practice the routines of a real life job interview along with resume critiques. After the alumni provided feedback for the brothers, and the interview jitters subsided, everyone was able to mix and mingle over a savory lunch catered by subway.


The event then moved into a discussion forum with the alumni panel. Panel guests attending were: Lisa Calandriello who previously worked at Deloitte and is currently working for the Public Company Accounting Oversight board; Adelia Curtis-Duarte who works for OPOWER as a recruiter and impressions manager; Peter Drummond who has worked at Deloitte for the past two and a half years and recently promoted to a senior accounting position; Frank Galasso is a corporate finance expert who works at Accenture; Paul Swoish who works in auditing at Caliber CPA firm; and finally Eileen Levitt who started up her own Human Resources firm.





Zach hosted the panel discussion, prompting questions with about mentorship, social responsibility in business, memorable classes at AU, valuable aspects of AKPsi, and how to create a balance between work and a personal life -- no matter the topic, each alumni provided valuable insight and advice for the brothers in the audience. A very big thanks to all of them for their words of wisdom and for spending a beautiful spring day with us! An even bigger thanks to Zach for planning and organizing the event. His efforts began early in the semester to make the day a great success, well done and kudos to Zach!


A quick congratulations to the pledges for a successful pledge mission week! Stay tuned for a post summing up the awesome work they did all week !!

Friday, February 19, 2010

I know who YOUR big is!....


...but really, I do.

No more guessing, the Beta Iota class finally knows who their bigs are! Big/Little week started last Sunday night when every little was given a gift from their secret big. Throughout the week bigs decorated their littles' rooms and left clues, gifts, food, and anticipation. Questions surrounding who their mystery mentor was consumed the Beta Iota pledge class until this past Thursday at Revelation.



Big/Little Revelation was this past Thursday, February 18 in Kogod School of Business. Clues left from the previous days were recounted for the littes to finally find out who their bigs are! Matches with new members and brothers were perfect this semester, and thanks to our VP of Membership Melissa Smith and the Beta Iota Pledgemaster, Jacque Martin for organizing the entire event!




Monday, February 8, 2010

Beta Iotas Kick-Off with Pledge Brunch!


This past Sunday the Beta Iota pledge class held their first event for the brotherhood - an amazing brunch with coffee & tea, donuts, bagels, oatmeal, fruit & sweets - and it was a huge success! Every brother was amazed at what the pledges were able to put together, especially due to the hindering snowstorm conditions. Every year it seems that the pledge brunch gets better and better, and this year was no disappointment!

In the spirit of Superbowl Sunday, the brunch had a football theme, with pledges and guests arriving in favorite sports team attire. In addition to the creative football decorations, the pledges wrote down every brothers name on a small football paper jersey, for a raffle contest held later in the afternoon -- congratulations to Shayna Frankel for taking home the gift certificate to Crepes A Go-Go!


With the excitement of Big/Little week in the future, brothers and pledges met with one another to see who would be potential new members to their families, it's only a matter of time to find out!


To conclude the brunch, the Beta Iota class formally introduced themselves to the brothers with a pledge slide show, showcasing their hometown, majors, favorite sports, and interesting facts. Our hosts Alex Bronnenkant, Matt Killip, and Alexander Robinson all provided entertaining commentary throughout the presentation. It was great getting to know all of the Beta Iota class better, and the entire brotherhood is excited for the events our pledge class has planned next! Great job again BI!!!