Throughout the past year serving as chapter president, I have had the privilege of leading our young group of men to achieving the goals I had when taking the position last year. I have learned a lot and grown tremendously since running for, and accepting, the position. It’s an everyday challenge running a fraternity and like most things in life I learned by trial and error. The help of all the active members, my executive board, and our alumni advisor, Brad Aafedt, helped me manage it all. The help I received during my time as President allowed me to manage my already-busy schedule as an undergraduate student.
We had a cumulative chapter GPA of 3.16 for the Spring 2023 semester and, as it stands, currently we have a GPA of 3.15 for the Fall 2023 semester. I am very proud of the work everyone has put into earning a better chapter GPA this fall, our active members and newly initiated combined.
As I did in the last President’s Message, I cannot overstate the effort our Vice President of Recruitment and Rush Board put into making this recruitment as successful as it was. We did not reach our overall goal of new members, but I am more than happy with the eight great members we initiated in November. They showed great involvement with the chapter as associate members and I cannot wait to see what they bring us in the future.
With the help of members in off-campus housing, the University’s Memorial Union, and the flexibility of our chapter members, we were able to maintain our sense of brotherhood without a chapter house. We held brotherhood events at member’s houses, utilized the Memorial Union for meeting and initiation. With the help of the Alpha Chi Omega Sorority we were also able to host our annual Quesadilla Feed at their chapter house. While we will not be able to move into 421 Princeton Street to initially start the Spring 2024 semester, I believe we are more than capable of handling every bump in the road until the
house is complete.
A cumulation of the work all of us have put into the chapter appeared over the summer when we attended the Leadership Institute in Kansas City. Five undergraduates attended and we took home a Sweepstakes Finalist Trophy. This trophy recognizes the North Dakota Chapter as a Top 7 Delta Upsilon Chapter nationwide. The last time we took this award home was in 2013. It felt awesome to bring it back to the guys and reward the work all of them put in during the past year.
Taylor Flaata ‘24
Chapter President 2023-2024