Spring 2009 Newsletter (Page 1)

Membership

This year was the largest recruitment group that went through PCC Recruitment in recent years.  Eighty four men came through to tour the houses.  Gemini had a total of 25 come back for interviews.  Of those 25 interviewed, bids were sent to 21 qualified men.  As of now, 13 bids have been accepted.  We are excited for this new class and are still actively looking for more new members.  Our goal is to reach 20 pledges for the fall pledge class of 2009.  We plan on having 21 current members return to Gemini in the fall as well.  With our current pledge numbers, we’ll have at least 34 members in the house this fall.  If we reach our pledge goal of 20, we’ll be looking at 41 members.  With some more work, we believe we will be able to find another 5-7 pledges for this fall.

 

With the assistance of the alumni, we will be giving two scholarships to incoming freshman.  We mailed the application as well as information about Gemini to every high school in the state of Indiana and have received over 40 applications so far.  We will be awarding the two most qualified applicants, as well as getting in contact will all of the applicants to develop an interest in Gemini.  We have high hopes that this program will increase the awareness and interest in the cooperative program; specifically the BFHOC!  As always, if you know any incoming students or current Purdue students please recommend Gemini Cooperative!

 

 

Congratulations to Gemini’s May 2009 Graduates

Keith Owens                 Mechanical Engineering Technology

Noah Chasteen                          Mechanical Engineering Technology

Ben St John                   Agricultural Economics & OLS

Carl Huizenga                Health Promotion

 

 

 

 

                                  Grand Prix          

                                        Race Day – April 25

 

Grand Prix season is right around the corner, and Gemini Racing is preparing in hopes of another successful season.  Austin Deardorff will be driving for the second year in a row, and hopes to build on his experience last year.  Keith Owens will be our crew chief for another year.  During Grand Prix 2008, we qualified really well at 10th position and finished 15th.  This was accomplished with a rookie driver in Austin Deardorff.  We were doing really well, and approaching the top 5.  Around lap 80, Austin came in to fill-up.  The pit stop was quick, but when the kart started to pull out of the pits, the clutch overheated and the engine stalled.  The kart had to be pushed all the way around the track back into the pits.  The pit crew started the kart again, but there was still a problem with the clutch. We decided to just run the kart and get as many laps as possible.  We finished the race, but only completed 140 out of 160 laps. We were pretty satisfied with our results because of a rookie driver and the potential going into next year.  Besides rebuilding the clutch, nothing on the kart is broken and Austin will be driving again this year.  This was the last race held at the track located at the northeast corner of Ross-Ade Stadium’s parking lot.  The new track is being built on the northwest side of campus at the intersection of Cherry Lane and McCormick Road by the new tennis center, soccer field, and future site of the baseball and softball stadiums.  It will be completed by April 1^st, and there are pictures on the Grand Prix’s website (www.purduegrandprix.org) if you are interested.  The old track has been torn down for the renovation of Mackey Arena.  We received multiple sponsorships from businesses that the Grand Prix team either worked for, family members owned, or by connections members had.  If any Alumni are interested in a sponsorship for their place of business, or a donation to Gemini Racing please get in contact with Keith Owens by email at jkowens@purdue.edu.

 

This year’s crew includes:  Keith Owens (Crew Chief), Austin Deardorff (Driver), Noah Chasteen, Dan Warner, Jeff Will, Rhen Schmitt, and Mitch Melton (Trackworker)

 

 

 

Alumni Golf Outing

The annual golf outing is June 27^th 2009.

Check out the Upcoming Events Page for more information.

 

 

House Social Events

Gemini just had its annual Spring Formal event.  This year it was located in Crawfordsville, Indiana.  It was a success in that the hotel was pretty lax in our good time and late hours.  We were hosted next door to a fraternity alumni reunion and the parties blended well together.

 

Gemini hosted an All-Cooperative function already this semester, and will host a few more in the upcoming weeks.  As well, we will be setting up the slip-and-slide in the backyard.  We have already been paired with Devonshire Cooperative, and are looking forward to hanging out with them during Grand Prix week.  For race day, we will be tailgating at the new track and, as always, we would love to have alumni support for the race if you are in town for the weekend.

Gemini Cooperative