UCLA Band in Taiwan

Posted on September 13 2016 by ChristianYoungers

This year, the UCLA Bruin Marching Band was invited to represent Drum Corps International’s SoundSport international outreach program and perform at the Taoyuan International Band Festival in Taiwan! Over 50 members of the Solid Gold Sound performed for enthusiastic crowds and excited schoolchildren who were able to get up close and personal with the Band and their instruments. Featured below is the Band’s final performance in Taiwan. More information and pictures are available on the UCLA Bruin Marching Band Facebook page!

AEA,
Wyatt Watkins, ΒΣ
Alumni Relations Officer 2015-2016

2016-2017 ARO Introduction

Posted on September 13 2016 by ChristianYoungers

Greetings, Alumni! My name is Annie Cheng and I’m going to be your Alumni Relations Officer for the 2016-2017 year! Some things about me: I am a 3rd year, going on 4th year Psychology major, minoring in Education Studies and Environmental Systems & Society. Prior to being elected ARO, I was Treasurer for two years. I play the flute, my spirit animal is the turtle, my spirit vegetable is the potato, and I am very excited for this upcoming year! Events that are on the horizon:
– Band Alumni Reunion!!!!!!!!!!!!! (Consider this the first of many shameless plugs for BAR)
– Summer Social Events!
– Band/PsiEK Networking NightDon’t hesitate to contact me (alumni@themightypsi.org) if you have any ideas and/or things you would like to see happen. I look forward to meeting and working with you!

2016-2017 Officer Board

Posted on September 13 2016 by ChristianYoungers

President – Julia Karstens
Vice President – Joy McCreary
Sergeant-at-Arms – John Malchar
Director of Service – Christina Martin
Treasurer – Christine Hirata
Brotherhood Relations Officer – Tracy Lahey
Director of Brotherhood/Sisterhood Relations – Amanda Albini
Director of Band Activities – Lily Krol
Secretary – Jordan Tinker
Alumni Relations Officer – Annie Cheng
Historian – Sean Ezenwugo
Webmaster – Nishi Intwala
Music Chair – Jacob Hambalek

Beach House 2016

Posted on September 13 2016 by ChristianYoungers

1 house. 3 days. 62 brothers. That’s right, we’re talking about BEACH HOUSE 2016!

For starters, the weekend wouldn’t have been possible without our amazing Psi chapter alum Jason Barbato! It was a joy and a pleasure getting to know him, and we can’t thank him enough for taking the time to hang with a bunch of college kids for the weekend.

After months of planning and anticipation, we arrived at our house to find it… crawling with ants! Fortunately, it was nothing a little Raid couldn’t fix, and the rest of the weekend went off without a hitch.

Brothers signed up in advance for chores, volunteering to clean, do dishes, or most importantly…. cook the feasts. And yes, they were FEASTS. Breakfasts included scrambled eggs, pancakes, bacon, and cereals. For lunch, we made a variety of sandwiches, and dinner consisted of top-notch burritos, complete with Mexican rices, black beans, ground beef, chicken, veggies, cheese, and — wait for it — HOMEMADE GUAC. Ghirardelli brownies and chocolate chip cookies were the necessary cherries on top.

Sports and board games dominated the weekend. Brothers played volleyball and prison break at the volleyball nets, threw frisbees, footballs, and baseballs, and brought out every card game known to man. The result was a relaxing, fun filled weekend of bonding and brotherhood.

After the traditional, late-night question game on Saturday night, we ventured outside to sing the fraternity hymn by the ocean. This is always a special moment, as we sing it quietly enough to hear the sound of the waves in the background. Following this, a brave group of brothers ran out into the water for a short, cold swim.

Leaving the beach to go back to school was a downer, but the memories will be with us for much longer. Til next year, Oxnard! And thanks again to our brother and good friend Jason for “chaperoning” Beach House 2016.

AEA,
Christina Martin, ΒΣ
2015-2016 Brotherhood Relations Officer

Quadly Concert

Posted on September 13 2016 by ChristianYoungers

On Wednesday, May 18th, four UCLA musical organizations joined together for a quadly concert. Members of Kappa Kappa Psi, Tau Beta Sigma, Sigma Alpha Iota, and Phi Mu Alpha showcased their musical talents which varied from playing guitar to singing in harmony.The whole event was humble – it consisted of about 5 acts performed in front of a small, but respectfully engaged, audience sitting scattered across the Schoenberg Choir Room. I had the honor of opening the concert alongside a sister, Emily Tsai; we played a piccolo duet. Although I thoroughly enjoyed the process of rehearsing and performing our wild and adorable piece, I think the audience took more joy out of the fact that we used 4-5 stands to hold up our music and we had to move from one end to another when we had repeats. The concert continued with performances by the lovely Zack Jones and his soothing singing voice accompanied by guitar; Tony Rescigno presented an intricate piano piece; Chris Torres filled the room with a mellow melody on the baritone – accompanied by Zack Jones. The last bit of the concert was filled with a lot of singing… Mack Dimler and Patrick Chestnut graced the audience with a theatrical and comical performance of a duet, “Agony,” from Into the Woods. It was highly snapchat-worthy. Then, the brothers of Phi Mu Alpha sang a series of songs and hymns in beautiful harmony. The concert was something that truly reminded me how important music is in bringing people together, especially in a music fraternity like Kappa Kappa Psi.

AEA,
Sophia Inaba, BT

Joint Alumni BBQ

Posted on September 13 2016 by ChristianYoungers

In the final weeks of spring quarter, Psi and EK combined forces to help unite brothers and sisters of the past and the present with freshly grilled hamburgers and hot dogs. While many brosters were away in Taiwan with the band, those of us that remained managed to get a little bit more fun in before finals really kicked into gear.We all gathered at the Westwood Recreation Center, a nice park out on Sepulveda with grills, picnic tables, basketball courts, plenty of open grass, and a lot of adorable dogs being walked by their owners. Alumni trickled in through the beginning, including a return visit from Jason Barbato who accompanied the current Psi members to our Beach House trip this year. Alumni Relations Officer Wyatt Watkins masterfully started the grill, without setting the rest of the park on fire, and the grilling commenced. As the hamburger patties and hot dogs grilled, the attendees went about taking full advantage of the park. Board games began to line some of the picnic tables. Epic games of Jenga that were determined by the wind, and card games based on sushi were of particular note. However, it seems that many people were happy simply with conversation. The alumni had a great chance to connect with current brothers and catch up with other alumni, as well as meet some of the current sisters. As Wyatt and alumnus Cameron Lundy finished grilling enough food for everyone, we were all able to partake in the grilled meats, grilled vegetarian options, chips, sodas, and delicious home baked desserts.

The event was not only fun, but also had some great food! Here’s hoping that next year we can continue to have some great alumni events like this one.

AEA,
Jeremy Rotman, ΒΣ

PsiEK Date Night

Posted on September 13 2016 by ChristianYoungers

This past winter quarter, PsiEK had a date night! On February 6th, Brothers and sisters were paired up into “couples” to get to know each other better and have an excellent night out in fancy clothes. The date night started off wonderfully with a very nice Italian dinner at Sprazzo Cucina in Westwood. The group setting of the dinner was perfect for a date night because everyone could both get to know their partner specifically and strengthen the bond as a whole. After eating our fill, we walked over next-door to the Saffron and Rose for some incredible ice cream. There were so many good and unique flavors and between all the couples, we must have tried every single one. With our hunger taken care of, we all piled into cars and drove to the Getty. After a short tram ride up, we went into the main museum entrance and took a look at all the exhibits. One of the largest and most fascinating exhibits was a collection of tapestries from King Louis XIV. There were videos on what they depicted and how to make them, and everyone was amazed. Outside of the galleries, the Getty offered beautiful views of Los Angeles at night as well as plenty of gardens to wander around in and explore. From the main balcony there was a view that stretched from downtown Los Angeles to the ocean. It was the perfect site for photos, especially because everyone looked so great. PsiEK Date Night was a huge success and a night to remember!

Directors of Brotherhood/Sisterhood Relations Alberto Reyes, Ψ , and Satkartar Khalsa, EK.

AEA,
John Malchar, ΒΣ
Director of Service 2015-2016

Paul Revere Middle School Gig

Posted on September 13 2016 by ChristianYoungers

On February 26th, a few members of PsiEK took a field trip- to a middle school band class!We arrived at Paul Revere Middle School sporting our true blues with pride. The goal: encourage middle school band members to continue band through high school and college, and cultivate a love for the art. We first gave presentations to two classes and showed them videos of Pregame and the Muse show to introduce them to the concept of marching band, as many had no idea what we meant by “marching and playing”. Then, we took turns and talked about our personal experiences with band, telling stories about our high schools, band camp, football games, basketball season, traveling, and the friendships we’ve made through band, Kappa Kappa Psi, and Tau Beta Sigma. The students were eager to learn and jumped at the chance to ask questions, the best question being “How do they arrange you on the field during a marching show? Is it by height order?” We also answered questions about time commitments and difficulty, and we were happy to tell the kids that continuing with band was one of the best decisions we had made in school. It was priceless to see kids light up at the thought of marching in a parade or playing at the Rose Bowl, and I hope our discussion encouraged just one more student to give high school band a chance.

AEA,
Christina Martin, ΒΣ
Brotherhood Relations Officer 2015-2016

Calivada State Days 2016

Posted on September 13 2016 by ChristianYoungers

From January 29th through January 31st this year, PsiEK hosted the Western District’s first ever Calivada State Days (now including the University of Nevada, Reno)!

Friday, January 29th
We kicked off the weekend with Game Night in Schoenberg, followed by the PsiEK version of Carpe Noctem–six teams, six stations at various UCLA landmarks, and loads of fun pictures.

Saturday, January 30th
On Saturday morning, we filled hungry stomachs with pancakes at our Pancake Breakfast fundraiser, after which we took to the Sunset Recreation Center lawn to play a huge game of Oh Captain, My Captain. We spent the rest of the morning and some of the afternoon serving the band by tidying up the PsiEK closet, uniform closet, and equipment room, finding some PsiEK artifacts every now and then. Then it was off to the men’s basketball game against Washington State. But we weren’t done yet–still full of energy, we headed downtown to Night on Broadway 2016 for some live music and entertainment in Broadway’s historic theaters.

Sunday, January 31st
On Sunday morning, we closed with some arts and crafts. Every Calivada State Days attendee got to make and take home a DIY spray-painted KKΨ and TBΣ T-shirt! It was a fun-filled weekend of brotherhood and sisterhood, and we hope to see everyone again at WDC and future district events!

AEA,
Annie Cheng, ΒΡ
Treasurer 2014-2016

District Leadership Conference 2016

Posted on September 13 2016 by ChristianYoungers

This past January several brothers of the Psi chapter, along with our sisters in Epsilon Kappa, traveled up to San Luis Obispo for the District Leadership Convention hosted by Iota Pi. The trip started on Friday January 15, when several brothers and sisters drove up to the conference in the afternoon/evening. After arriving late on Friday, everyone was reunited with all of our friends from the district. After a brief period of catching up, our wonderful hosts took us to their houses and apartments for the night.

Saturday was the day where most of conference business took place, including workshops, service projects, and clinics. The theme for this year’s conference was superheroes. As such, many of the various workshops had a superhero theme to them. One notable workshop was “What’s Your Superpower?”, where attendees were led through a personality test and told how these personalities created different leadership styles. In addition to workshops, we were able to hear from alumni speaker Sarah Cox, who is an alumnus of Epsilon Kappa. During her presentation, she told us her various experiences at UCLA and how TBΣ helped turn her into who she is today. Finally, brothers and sisters participated in various service projects, including playing at a nursing home, doing maintenance around the music building, and teaching elementary school children about music.

Reunited: Jordan Tinker and his Big Brother Caitlyn Thompson (now at Theta in Oregon)!

Sunday kicked off with a separate ritual workshops, where each organization discussed various parts of the ritual to share thoughts on what the ritual means to us, and then a closing session. All of the attendees of the convention got together to sing both hymns, and everyone stayed for pictures and goodbyes before going their separate ways. Before leaving San Luis Obispo, all of the Psiek attendees went to get pizza at Woodstock’s Pizza. In addition, we all bonded over some very delicious ice cream from a place called Doc Bernstein’s. Finally, we all returned to UCLA, where we got our rest and prepared for the next week of class. Overall, DLC was an enriching experience. Each member of Psi and EK who went learned something valuable that we could take back to our chapters. We also got to hang out with a lot of cool brothers and sisters from around the district. We are currently looking forward to our next district event this year: WDC 2016 this April in Seattle!

AEA,
Jordan Tinker, BΣ
Secretary 2015-2016