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Chapter News
Chapter takes a retreat to Lyrecrest
By Andrew Owen
 Over
the weekend of April 3-5, the chapter visited Lyrecrest, the fraternity's
national headquarters in Evansville, Indiana, for a weekend retreat.
The caravan of about 23 people left Cleveland at about 4:00 p.m.
and arrived in Evansville after midnight. Once arrived, the
chapter proceeded to sleep in the cottage, with some spillover in
the main building. The next morning, the chapter ate breakfast
and, with the assistance of the fraternity retreat coordinator,
Will Lambert, did some brotherhood-building exercises, along with
some leadership development exercises. As the day progressed,
the chapter ate lunch and continued some activities. Throughout
the retreat, the chapter made copies of all old archived chapter
files, from the petition to become a chapter in 1960 to the chapter
reports of the current millennium, filling out years of formerly
lost chapter information. After a while, the chapter went
to Gerst Bavarian Haus, a German restaurant in Evansville, to eat
a meal together. After eating, the chapter serenaded the waitresses.
When the chapter arrived back at Lyrecrest, National Vice President
John A. Mongiovi spoke for about four hours about the message of
the ritual and the philosophy of the fraternity.
 After
the talk that the chapter consistently described as "mind-blowing,"
the chapter went to the cottage to sleep. Waking up Sunday
morning, the chapter ate breakfast, shopped in the Sinfonia Store,
and took a group picture by the National Headquarters sign, pictured
above. The chapter continued doing leadership and brotherhood
activities, tied up some loose ends, and began preparing to leave.
The caravan left at about 3:00 p.m. and similarly got into Cleveland
around midnight.
The chapter very much enjoyed the retreat, getting to know each
other even better, speaking with the foremost authority on the ritual,
eating together, and visiting each other, miles away from the responsibilities
of their lives.
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