UP Northern California Revs Up Preparations for Fratball this May
by Willie Vergara '67

Save the date, Brods and Sisters! The traditional biennial Grand Fraternity Ball of UP North will be held this coming Memorial Day weekend -- from Saturday, May 28, 2011 to Monday, May 30, 2011. UP North will follow the usual rhythm of the festivities that will start with a Welcome Night, followed by a series of sports tourneys on the next day and a Grand Fraternity Ball in the evening, and will end with a Send-off picnic.
 

With current Grand Princep Gerry Abenes '66 as the Over-all Coordinator of the festivities, the membership approved the GP's proposal during the general meeting held at Richmond, California on January 15, 2010, as follows:

1. Four Coordinators as main support to the Over-all Coordinator, namely: Hospitality Suite (Bobby and Harlean Pascual), Welcome Night (Ike Araneta), Frat Ball (Gene Samson) and Send-off Picnic (Eric Punzalan).
2. Twelve Working Committees to back-stop the different areas of the three-day festivities. These committees are: Souvenir Program and Ad, Programs, Music and Entertainment, Publicity and Documentation, Transportation, Awards and Prizes, Welcome /Reception/ Venue Prep, Souvenirs, Utility and Tournaments, Finance, and Food and Beverages. Together with the GP, the body suggested specific names who will head these committees. Announcements of thel list of committee chairs and members will be finalized before the next scheduled meeting.

The meeting started off with a formal welcome of UP North's youngest member, Brod Luigi Topacio (Batch 2010, Diliman). Luigi, a graduating BS Biology student at the University of San Francisco and cross-enrolled at UP Diliman during the past semester, and passed the initiation at mid-year. He reported the following highlights with regards to his brief six-months experience as a resident in UP Diliman:

1. Having been assigned as one of the officers, he took active part in the renewed relationship between the Diliman Brods and the Ladies Corps and the Sigma Betans as well.
2. The Brotherhood of Scholars Program is one of the most powerful tools in improving our image as a fraternity in the midst of the declining reputation of frats in general, courtesy of other frats.
3. The Diliman residents will be putting up candidates to the Student Council as a matter of reviving our participation in campus affairs. (On this account, the UP North voted to share with UP Southern California some help to the candidacy of resident brods.)
4. High participation by the resident and alumni Brods during the recent Lantern Parade had a positive impact among the UP community. The snake dance performed by Brods at four different points was highly applauded by the crowd.
5. Inspite of the adherence by both residents and alumni to the Anti-Hazing Law, "quit rate" remains to be very high. He reported that initations remain to be difficult, coupled with the gaining popularity of 'orgs' vis-a-vis the declining image of the fraternity system that continues to unfairly affect our very own.

For a beginning of the year "kick-off" gathering, the meeting was well-attended (20 Brods and 6 spouses in attendance) inspite of the absence of many regular attendees.
 

San Francisco, here we come!!!
 

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