Gamma Gamma Chapter History
On July 17, 2007 the University of Appalachia College of Pharmacy started the first fraternal colony of Phi Delta Chi. Aaron Burnette, Steven Finkenbinder, Shannon Haynes, Kim-Tu Ho, Kynsi Kline, Anita Koshy, Michael Logsdon, Lara May, Abdolali Moradimehr, Zankhana Patel, Mohamad Salem, David Steinberg, and Adam Stitt were pinned by Executive Director, Tony Chaffee and alumni Dr. Breese from Chi.
The first meeting saw the nomination and election of our first chapter officers. Those included WCC David Steinberg, WVC Mohamad Salem, WC Lara May, WKRS Anita Koshy, WKF Shannon Haynes, WP Adam Stitt, WAL Kim-Tu Ho, WMA Michael Logsdon, and WIG Abdolali Moradimehr.
The College’s first exposure to Phi Delta Chi came when the founding pledges hosted a social event at school featuring a movie played on the big screen in the lecture hall on September 27th, 2007. The faculty and the Dean of the University were invited and attended as well as the rest of the students.
The first professional pharmacy event conducted by our chapter was undertaken by the pledges on October 1st, 2007. Our colony conducted a Food City Diabetes Counseling Workshop. This included taking blood pressures and diabetes education as well as diet planning. This was a landmark event for our pledges in that it was also the first time that we were able to impact the town of Grundy by showcasing Phi Delta Chi and the University of Appalachia College of Pharmacy. This made a large impression on the town by showing them what we were about, our commitment to the community and professionalism. Phi Delta Chi became known in the area for the first time to the general population. This was definitely a milestone for our colony.
November 8th through the 11th was the chartering and initiation of the Gamma Gamma Chapter as the 75th chapter of PDC. All founding Brothers pledges completed the journey to becoming Full Brothers on November 11th with the guidance of alumni from across the southeast region and our chapter Advisor, Dr Breese.
Pinning of the Beta class occurred on January 22nd, 2008. It included nine bids given out to prospectives. Prospectives included Ravi Shah, Mounish Patel, Danh Phan, Nick George, Michelle Tada, Jenny Choi, Jessica Lee, Ai Li, and Andrew Schneider. Officers were also chosen for the beta class pledges.
As the Beta Class worked through pledging, the process was fine tuned. The beta Class completed the three required pledging projects by first completing a fundraiser for St Jude Children’s Research Hospital. They hand made and sold candy roses for Valentine’s Day and made over $300 for charity.
The pledges next completed their professional project by performing a presentation on common Over-the-Counter Medications in conjunction with O.U.R. House and the Cumberland Mountain Community Services Board. This established ties with an important advocacy group in Buchanan, Tazewell and Russell counties.
The Beta Class was initiated in April of 2008 and began to assume the roles of officers in the fraternity.
As the Alpha Class began to transition out of Grundy for rotations, preparations were made to welcome the class of 2011 to UACP.
The fall of 2008 saw the beginning of the second annual fraternity rush. Gamma Gamma hosted a cookout at school, a day of sports and competition at a local park and Formal Rush was held at a local restaurant.
Pinning of the Gamma Class took place on September 19th, 2008. Pledges pinned included Susan Na, Leah Leslie, Magaly Wong, Trina Nguyen, NgocThuy Nguyen, Jessica Garrett, Laurie Peery, Natasha Mullens, Taylor Giese, Jung Chun, Leslie Li, Randi Hartzog, Kyla Holmes, Jim Mao, Craig Landry, Nicholas Howard, Jesse Tang, Rual Fuller, Adam Sanders, and Summer Lanning.
Over the last year, the chapter began hitting its stride. The Gamma Class completed their pledge projects with ease and continued the tradition of engaging the community.
This last year also saw a marked outreach of the Gamma Gamma chapter to the rest of Phi Delta Chi. We visited several regional and national functions including regional Founder’s Day in Atlanta, the annual PDC retreat in Gatlinburg and the 67th Grand Council in Phoenix.
This year we plan to welcome our 4th Pledge class, continue reaching out to our community, continue developing ourselves as THE BEST PDC chapter, and continue having some fun!