TKE Beta-Pi Undergraduates Celebrate at The House of Blues in New Orleans during Conclave 2009

The Chapter was well-represented in New Orleans during Conclave 2009.   Trustees Michael A. Smith and John Reagan attended as did alumnus and former TKE Educational Foundation member Russ Heil and chapter adviser David Adcock.

John’s wife Clare came to keep John from getting out of line but also made sure he got out in town to sample some of the finer cuisine.

Smith was the voting delegate for our chartered alumni association.

Brendan Patterson, Nathan Raines, Matthew Biggers, and Jeremy Ku represented the undergraduate organization.

During the first session of the Grand Chapter, Steve Forbes was inducted as the 250,000th initiate of the Fraternity.   Frater Forbes also spoke at the Life Loyal Teke reception.

Beta-Pis at the End of Conclave 2009 in New Orleans (L-R) Dave Adcock, Matt Biggers, John Reagan, Michael Smith, Brendan Patterson, Nathan Raines, Jeremy Ku

Smith, who is also the GPA (Grand Province Advisor) for North Carolina, helped with the educational programming, meeting with delegates from his province to do goal setting for the coming year.

Adcock, Smith and the undergraduates participated in the Conclave Service Project Saturday morning at City Park, clearing brush along Bayou St. John and spreading mulch along paths in Couturie Forest.  The effort was covered in an article in The Times-Picayune.

Legislation that would have made it easier for chartered alumni associations to conduct honorary initiations and that would have increased the voting power of alumni associations at Conclave was defeated in the Grand Chapter.  However, these issues will be revisited in coming Conclaves.

One undergraduate was arrested for “petting a policeman’s horse” but we suspect there is more to the story than that and it wasn’t one of our undergraduates anyway.  Everyone made it safely back home, the alumni to our jobs and the undergrads to a fall workweek already in progress.

Next Conclave … San Antonio in 2011!