Having made its illustrious return to Penn State as an emerging chapter in Fall 2023, Pennsylvania Theta was in full force for the 2024-25 academic year. The chapter made its official return by inducting 66 new brothers as a part of our Bond in September 2024 and didn’t look back. Now with more than 100 active members, the chapter is thriving! The school year has officially ended and brothers have returned home to their families—some preparing for summer internships, others traveling abroad, and all thinking about how they’re going to top their efforts to date and build upon the great things they’ve already done.
building a community of respected leaders
Written by the Active Chapter Executive Board
The Pennsylvania Theta Chapter of Phi Delta Theta will be a community of respected leaders by having strong morals and establishing a successful culture that fosters professional development and public service.
This is the Emerging Chapter Vision Statement that our 50 Founders created in November 2023, shortly after their induction. Ten months later, in September 2024, we were initiated and officially became the Pennsylvania Theta Chapter. As our first year as a Chapter comes to a close, it is very empowering to see all that we have accomplished and how we have stuck to the mission we established almost two years ago.
We started off with 50 members and very quickly grew. By the time the founding class was initiated, we boasted a group of 66 members, and we haven’t slowed down. In Fall 2024, we bidded and initiated nine Phikeia. While it was below our recruitment goal number that was targeted by General Headquarters, our Chapter still viewed it as an accomplishment. The fall semester saw a very small recruitment class across all of Greek life, and our Chapter had the ninth-largest class out of the 35 Fraternities. We only improved from there, and in the spring, thanks to Recruitment Chairmen Vinny Cascone ’26, Nick Trojan ’26, and Max Kaye ’26, we exceeded our recruitment goal and initiated 30 more Phikeia! On our own, for the first time, we managed to grow our Chapter by 39 members, and we are looking forward to continuing this trend in the upcoming fall.
The most recent class put its heads and hands together to complete its semester-long project, which included building a poker room and a lifeguard stand. Jake Eubanks ’27 led the charge as the Spring Phikeia Educator, successfully initiating the new class.
Based on the success of both Fall and Spring semesters, the chapter has a bright future. We have continued to recruit like-minded individuals who have the desire to better the fraternity for years to come while also ensuring that those who wish to join share our same ideals, values, and principles.
marked success in thon, homecoming, and philanthropic endeavors
The members of our chapter are all extremely proud of our unified involvement in community service and philanthropy. One of the first additions to our bylaws was mandating at least six hours of community service for every member each semester. Our community service officer, Ryan Boozer ’26, has helped facilitate many events, which make us closer to both the Penn State and State College communities.
Our brothers would wake up early on Sunday mornings and clean up Beaver Stadium after football games, or go to the local homeless shelter, Out Of The Cold, and help clean up. We also have worked to put together and deliver Thanksgiving baskets for families in need in the Greater State College area. Our brothers have shown a great sense of empathy for the community and have continuously shown up and spent their personal time helping others.
Our brothers have also devoted a lot of time and effort to philanthropy. We have had multiple events for Live Like Lou (to support the fight against ALS), including our annual hot dog eating contest during Blue White Weekend every April, which is turning into an annual tradition, and a pumpkin carving contest in October. In total, we’ve raised $1,233 for Live Like Lou.
To perpetuate PA Theta’s strong tradition of athletic endeavors, in conjunction with raising money toward charity, we also started emphasizing Iron Phi. According to its website, “Iron Phi was developed as a way to strengthen both Phi Delta Theta and its impact on the fight against Lou Gehrig’s disease. Through the fundraising efforts of participants on the way to achieving personal athletic goals, Iron Phi is creating a community of philanthropists who hope to Leave ALS Better Than They Found It. To become an Iron Phi, participants must select an athletic endeavor of their choice, raise $1,000 through the Iron Phi website, and accomplish the athletic endeavor itself.”
With that said, we are hoping to become an Iron Phi Chapter next year.
In addition to all of our Live Like Lou and Iron Phi efforts, we have the privilege of participating in Penn State THON—the biggest student-run philanthropy in the world, which raises money for children and families impacted by childhood cancer.
In 2023-24, even though we were a very new chapter, with the help of our incredible THON Chair, Drew Lill ’25, we were able to participate in this amazing event, and raised roughly $5,000 for the cause.
“Through my love and passion for THON and all that it entails, I volunteered to be Phi Delta Theta’s first THON chair for the PA Theta chapter,” Lill said after THON 2024. “I had so much to learn in such little time, but the support of our liaison, Zoe Ike, and the participation from my fraternity brothers led us to having a once-in-a-lifetime experience THON Weekend 2024.”
Capitalizing on the momentum from last year, our Chapter attended THON 2025 en masse. We also used the opportunity to branch out and we partnered with Reve Dance Company to fundraise together, and also worked together with our Alumni Association to fundraise at The Bulldog Pub in Pittsburgh during winter break. Our Chapter was able to raise $34,257.64 for THON, and collectively with Reve, we fundraised over $40,000 dollars!
We also showed up to support two of our brothers, Drew Gochnauer ’25 and Drew Lill ’25, who danced for the entire 46 hours!
For Lill, this was also about being a part of a family legacy. Both of his parents, Dan and Leslie (Class of 1993), danced in THON during their own time at Penn State. For Lill, the experience was emotional from start to finish. From the surprise of being selected to the sensory room and support from brothers in the stands, Lill took in every moment with gratitude and grace.
“Phi Delta Theta is back, and we’re better than ever baby, roll Phi,” he said in an article published in The Daily Collegian. The crowd may have seen just one dancer on the floor, but anyone who knows Lill’s story saw generations of love, leadership, and service dancing right alongside him.
At THON, we were also able to meet PA Theta’s former THON child, Crystal Muñoz, and her family. She beat cancer back in 2000 and wanted to meet us upon learning that Phi Delt was coming back to campus. Crystal still remains very involved in THON and was very enthusiastic about wanting to potentially help us in the future. Through the conversations we had with her, our brothers were really able to see how much of an impact THON has on the lives of the children and the families who benefit from it.
“Seeing these letters in the stands from the floor made me the happiest this weekend!!” Crystal posted on Instagram during THON 2024. “I was paired with Phi Delt as their first ever THON child from 1995-2003! Some of my best memories of my treatment and beyond are with the former brothers and to this day those are some of my most cherished relationships!! Welcome Back!!!”
This has been a huge point of pride for our brothers, and it will continue to be one for many years to come.
support the chapter
our brand on campus
We also started branching out and had both new members and current members participate in many other educational opportunities on campus. The biggest opportunity that our members took part in was a program called Greeks CARE. This is a program that helps combat sexual assault in Greek life and Penn State’s campus as a whole. Two of our members who participated in the past led sessions, and we had numerous other members participate. Every person who participated walked away with a great experience, new connections with other Greek organizations, and a better understanding of how to prevent sexual assault on campus.
In addition to Greeks CARE, our President Alex Ciafone ’26, Formal/Homecoming Chairman Chase Tate ’26, and Recruitment Chairman Max Kaye ’26, all participated in the EMERGE Leadership Retreat in November. The retreat was hosted by Penn State’s Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life, and our guys were among the 47 Greek students who participated. Held at Krislund Camp and Conference Center, the immersive weekend focused on adaptive leadership, inter-organizational collaboration, and personal growth.
Through team-building exercises, leadership assessments, and candid discussions, our brothers not only honed their individual skills but also strengthened the bonds that tie the broader fraternity and sorority community together. Their participation underscores PA Theta’s commitment to cultivating leaders who are prepared to navigate challenges and foster unity both within our chapter and across campus.
Additionally, we continue to build our brand as the newest fraternity on campus. While we do not have the same name recognition as fraternities that have been established for over 100 continuous years, we have participated in as many events as possible to get our name out there.
One of our members, Will Schwab ’26, won the Mr. Alpha Phi pageant. The Alpha Phi sorority at Penn State University holds an annual fundraiser to raise money for heart disease, where members from any fraternity can compete to be Mr. Alpha Phi. Schwab decided to enter into the competition, and despite being a newly established fraternity on campus, we enthusiastically participated and ultimately Will was named Mr. Alpha Phi.
“I was really anxious running for Mr. Alpha Phi as this was something I really didn’t prepare for, but seeing my brothers in the crowd really helped me feel confident in my act,” Schwab said. “It also made me feel good that our name would be pushed out to people since I won this competition.”
Additionally, another member, Jimmy Burrows ’25, won the Mr. Alpha Xi Delta pageant. Both of these not only gave us publicity but also contributed to various philanthropic organizations.
Since then, we have participated in Greek or Treat with Delta Phi Epsilon, Greek Sing with Phi Sigma Sigma, and created a float for the Homecoming Parade with the Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority and a dance group called Penn State Lyrical Line. We won third place for Homecoming and received a special shout-out during Penn State Football’s Homecoming game!
We also elected two sweethearts, one of whom is a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha Sorority, and back in the Spring 2024, former Chapter President Braden Raymond ’25 received Penn State’s New Member Award.
Individual accomplishments and aspirations also build our brand. Andrew Ballarino ’26 is also a member of Penn State’s Army ROTC and plans to commission as an officer in the United States Army National Guard upon graduation.
“I hope to serve in the Medical Specialist branch as a research psychologist or in the Logistics branch as an Ordnance officer,” he said. “Phi Delta Theta has given me the opportunity to build strong relationships with those who will improve my overall wellbeing. I consider myself to be lucky as I am in two great organizations that allow me to have people that I can consider to not just be my friends, but my family.”
All of these experiences have helped us grow as a Chapter and receive more recognition from other organizations, and we are not slowing down any time soon.
a brotherhood united
Finally, our Chapter has also made tremendous strides in making deeper bonds with our brothers and with other organizations. Together, our members have begun to act more like brothers, and it has been incredible to see. This started way back at the beginning of the academic year when many members started living together. We had many projects that we did together, and the main one was painting a map of State College on one of the walls. Since then, our members have created a close-knit community, and it is extremely rare to see any brother by themselves. Whether it is the seniors going on bar crawls together, eating lunch in the student union, doing homework late at night in the library, or even taking trips to Montreal, our brothers have embodied the motto of “one man is no man.”
There have been many challenges we have overcome as we transitioned from an Emerging Chapter to an independent Chapter. One of the biggest has been helping members balance the stress of school and having fun. A large portion of our members are STEM majors, which is very unusual for Greek life at Penn State. This comes with the stress of balancing a heavy course load, and many members will not want to show up to brotherhood events due to the amount of homework they have. Our scholarship chair, Ethan Adler ’26, has implemented many things to combat this, including study hours, peer mentoring from older brothers, and publishing a list of who is taking which classes to help people form study groups. This has led to more participation and higher attendance in many events.
Throughout the past year, our Chapter was able to grow from just a group of students with a few shared interests into a brotherhood that is over 100 strong!
