He likes to move it, move it; former EA Dan Shrock talks the talk and walks the walk
This is the first of a two-part series in at attempt to catch up with the ever-mobile Dan Schrock. Part I primarily looks at his entry into SAE and the relationships he built.
By Greg Miller
Iowa Beta Alumni Association Director and Communications Chair
e was a leader and an Eminent Archon. He was fun-loving and you could argue, a bit mischievous. He had no problem being the center of attention and acting - even organizing - from his wild imagination. But one thing is abundantly clear; Dan Schrock (IABE '89) loved his time in Iowa City and living his SAE life to the fullest.
When Schrock ran for EA, his mantra was to "Put SAE on the Map." Of course, SAE was already on the map since its re-founding as a fledgling fraternity in 1982 to one that had grown to well over 100 members strong. In 1985, by any measure, Iowa Beta had become one of the top three fraternities on campus. But the re-founders had all graduated and Schrock was ready to help take SAE to the next level.
“You can tell going to the house in 1985 and 86 that it was a unique structural situation,” Schrock said. “The Lodge that we all love and remember was an enigma relative to all the other houses on campus. I remember a small speech when I was new to SAE. They talked about The Lodge and said it was a temporary place but it was our place and we love it. Some of its history was shared. The message was that this was a place on the move and this was a place where we could grow. When you went around and met the guys, you could definitely tell there was an air of transition.”
In 1983, the men of Iowa Beta moved into a temporary structure where they lived for more than 10 years. Nicknamed "The Lodge" for its unconventional appearance, it was beloved by the brothers at the time because it was the first house that could be called home. Located at 603 S. Dubuque Street, it has since been demolished. In 1996, Iowa Beta moved into the historic Chapter House at 303 N. Riverside (now called 302 Ridgeland Avenue.)
Schrock had had his eye on Iowa City and the Greek system long before he rushed in the fall of 1985.
Dan has a sister, Kelly, who also went to Iowa. She is two years older than Dan. As kids, they moved 11 times. Ultimately, they wound up in Barrington, IL, a suburb of Chicago. Dan graduated from Barrington High School in 1985.
“My sister was already going to Iowa and I had visited her a handful of times during my junior and senior years,” Schrock said. “She was an Alpha Chi Omega so she introduced me to a bunch of her friends across different sororities. I could get to Iowa City in three and a half hours so whenever I could pop over there I did.”
And Schrock fell in love with Iowa City at first sight.
“The first time I went to the University of Iowa, it was an eye-opening experience,” he said. “I mean the Pentacrest, the downtown area… it's not flat like you might think Iowa would be. It was this very hip little Cosmopolitan town and I felt there was a lot going on there. It was a cool city with opportunity and lot more than I expected. I think that's what influenced a lot of people's decision to go there."
Schrock comes from a family that has a Greek system heritage. His mother was as he puts it, “Chief Executive Officer of the House” and he said she definitely had the harder job. His father was an executive and consultant. He was in business development for various companies. His parents, aunts and uncles all were in fraternities and sororities. He said it was assumed that he would join the Greek system.
“There were a handful of houses that drew lot of people from Chicago,” Schrock said. “Beta Theta Pi, Fijis and SAEs were houses that had a lot of Chicago people. I bid these three and SAE was the absolute first choice.
“Rush was pretty structured and I distinctly remember guys like Kurt Arbeen (IABE '86), Mike Keough (IABE '86), Marc Rosenow (IABE '86), Chris Karras (IABE '86) and Tom Karras (IABE '87), Joe Fajdich (IABE '86), Joe Dauskurdas (IABE '86) and Dave Holdsworth (IABE '85),” he said. “I noticed a concerted effort in guys who would huddle up in certain rooms but there would be a respectful conversation where they would ask you to come back. They were putting a sale on you but they were telling a story about a message of growth and that we need this to be a really strong class. They told me that there has been a lot of work done to get us into this position and that we’re one or two pledge classes from really being the undisputed leaders on campus and that we’d love you to be a part of it.”
Schrock said SAE was strategic about who you talked to during the Rush process and the fraternity did its best to align personalities to make all of the rushees feel comfortable. The trick was to find a guy you could identify with.
“Even 26 years removed from this I still remember the process,” he said. “The conversations got a little bit more personal as I went through and by the end it was unsaid but understood that I was committed. Arbeen closed me at the end and said, ‘Look we like you, we want you, and we expect you to join. And we have several others that we have been talking to you and they're all committed as well. You are going to make a great choice and it's going to be a great ride.’ "
Schrock moved into The Lodge a little faster than he expected. Like many freshmen, he started in Burge Hall. During the first parent's weekend his parents visited Iowa City.
"They met me at my dorm room,” Schrock said. “It was a Friday afternoon and the festivities were rolling pretty well. About 30 seconds after they got onto the floor, there was this dude who was all liquored up at the end of the hall and he had accidentally started a fire in the hallway. My parents saw that and said, ‘You're outta here.’ ”
"And I was like, 'No, no, no... this happens all the time at Burge….it’s Friday.”
"My parents were so upset and so scared that there was a fire in my hallway. (Laugh) Nobody got hurt or anything. It was just a guy doing something stupid."
Schrock said he didn't want to live in an apartment so he spoke with someone at the house and told them that he was in a bit of a bind. He explained that his parents wanted him to leave Burge. Arrangements were made and he ended up on the first floor with his roommate, Dave "Dream" Weaver.
“Thank God for that little fire because it allowed me to live in a fraternity house as a freshman and I thought I was living the life!”
Shrock said he recalls about 32 brothers in his pledge class.
“I remember guys like Rosenow, the late Tom Critelli(IABE '86) and Fajdich saying we needed this big pledge class. It gave us a population where the rest of the campus thought we were a force to be reckoned with.”
Schrock said Weaver, Rob Risser (IABE '89) and Eddie Green (IABE '88) were close friends in his pledge class. All of his corporate relocations have created challenges to stay in touch with brothers that stayed in the Midwest, and Schrock hopes his recent move to Michigan will allow him to reconnect with some of the fellas.
Academically, Schrock said his college track was pretty consistent. He spent a lot of time in the Tippie business school where he focused his studies on economics.
“The first two years I was very scholastically focused despite the fraternity's distractions,” he said. “I had a feeling of intimidation, self-consciousness and pressure not to let myself down or my parents down. But by the middle-to-latter part of my second year I really started to get into the house and I got drawn into being more than just a social member.”
Schrock was initiated into the fraternity on February 6, 1986 and received SAE badge number 203795.
The SAE brotherhood saw that Schrock was very connected to men and women in other fraternities and sororities.
“Guys like Charlie Winternitz (IABE '87) and Rosenow asked me if I would consider running for rush chairman and I was like ‘sure.’ I wasn’t really thinking about running for office at that point, but as I learned more about it I became more interested. In hindsight, I am pleased I did – I liked the process and learned a lot.”
Schrock helped grow the fraternity and it grew to more than 125 members strong.
“Guys in the house started seeing themselves as being a main fraternity on campus because of our numbers and we were doing well in grades and intermural sports. All this put a lot of pressure on me because I started becoming more involved with the IFC with its business and elections as well as those of other houses. I didn't always do a great job of balancing scholastics with fraternity. It’s weird to look back now that I'm 50 but I was just a college kid. I was doing plenty of socializing and I was probably going out more than a serious student should. But all of this molded me into who I am today and it taught me a lot of lessons.”
He said he was part of a group of guys that possibly made some of other guys nervous at times.
“We did things in the spirit of loving the group of guys and cherishing these special times together even though it may have come off as sophomoric at times,” Schrock said. “The desire was always to make the house better and a rewarding place to be. We were a strong collection of great Midwestern guys who would do anything for each other.”
“But I'm glad I had fun while I was there because I got all that partying out of my system. When it was time to get serious and face the business world I was ready. Sure, I might have had more fun that was supposed to but there are so many experiences that I would never change.
Schrock finished classes in August of 1989.
“I had a bit of a surprise my senior year that I still have nightmares about,” he said. “I had already registered for classes and a letter from Iowa had been sent home. Remember there was no internet and email. This was still the times of snail mail. The letter said that I was about to graduate however I was one PE class shy of my requirements. So I stayed in Iowa City that summer and took the gym class - and by the way- it was the best summer ever!”
Schrock started his career with Farmers’ Insurance shortly before he graduated in 1990.
Like most people, he said he did not know what he wanted to do. He had an uncle who as a Farmers agent.
“I always saw from afar he had a pretty good life so it appealed to me. I got in on the corporate side, rather than the agency side. I ended up staying with them 26 years. I thought I would never leave.”
In next month's newsletter, the second half of this two-part series will look at Dan's personal and professional life and he'll talk about how SAE transformed him.
The men of the Iowa Beta Phoenix colony will soon be a full active chapter of SAE and regain its rightful place as the very best fraternity.
EDA Evan Anderson says Iowa Beta is a brand new ballgame
By Greg Miller
Communications Chair and Director, Iowa Beta Alumni Association
Though they have a long road to travel, the men of the Iowa Beta Colony have already come a long way. They are organizing, growing and making preparations to become a fully vibrant chapter. And, they are ready to reclaim the chapter house built by SAE in 1925.
One of the key leaders is junior Evan Anderson, who is the Eminent Deputy Archon. He is an Ethics and Public Policy major, which is the undergraduate study for law school. It is a mixture of sociology, economics, political science and philosophy.
Anderson hails from Indianola, IA ,which is near Des Moines. An SAE recommended Anderson join the fraternal brotherhood.
“I have had a friend, Nate Sams, whom I've known since I was in kindergarten and now he is the current Eminent Archon at Iowa Sigma, which is Simpson College,” Anderson said. “Nate referred me to (Iowa Beta Alumni Association President) Marc Rosenow (IABE '86)and he gave me a call. We talked for a long time and I got on board. And Nate didn't even tell me that he referred me!”
The colony started out with about 20 men in the summer and friends have been recruiting friends.
“There are a lot of sophomores and freshmen that we know from our home towns and we all talked to them at recruitment events. For instance, we had an event at Buffalo Wild Wings and a lot people showed up. We sat down and talked with those guys and other kept coming and we did really well at rushing great men."
By late February, the membership grew to 69 SAE colony brothers, with good academic standing and who are leaders on campus. This is an important milestone as it means we have more than enough men to fill the SAE house once we reclaim it from the current tenants, Tau Kappa Epsilon. It also gives us more than enough men to charter.
"As a colony we're still trying to learn and grow organizationally and there are things we don't know about the ritual yet since we are not a full chapter at this time. Right now I think we're all confident that we will get to that point soon when we are full active members of Sigma Alpha Epsilon.
"When we were initiated as a colony we learned the handshake and was some kind of a formal process and the alumni sang friends to us. We got pins but they're their colony pins. We've been made very aware that there are a lot of things that we don't know yet. When I was at the EA Institute they had to hold back on telling you some information if you were a colony member.
"We're not really sure when we're going to go through the full initiation process Jeremy, our EA, is working on this. But we have surpassed everyone's expectations up to this point and have achieved most of the key milestones.
"Right now the national SAE people are very involved in the day-to-day activities of the colony. Regional Director for the Foster Region Everett Thompson has been in touch with us the most as has as expansion coordinator Adam Beckerleg. Bobby Thompson (IABE '07), who owns a salon in downtown Iowa City, had 25 of us come over and he gave us to talk about the importance of being an SAE and how he was always going to be there for us. It was really actually great! This semester, were trying to get Bobby involved in recruitment because our recruitment chair, Michael Cooper, has been getting his haircut by Bobby for years now and they are good friends.
"We had our election of officers the day after our Colony installation ceremony. We've had a whole semester of officers now but it was a little rough at first because we didn't really have a clear model to follow. We had to improvise at first which was fun, but soon we reached out to other chapters and received copies of their By-Laws, etc.
"Now the people know what the time commitments are to serve in various roles, we've been able to elect a really good group of guys," Anderson said. "These officers really want the roles that they have. We had those elections last semester about two weeks before finals."
The Eminent Archon is Jeremy Williams (IABE '17). He is an active SAE member and transfer from the University of Northern Iowa and was the first person to join the Iowa Beta Phoenix colony. He recently got back from studying in India when the second semester commenced.
“We are so lucky to have Jeremy because he was EDA at Simpson, so he has been able to help me conduct my role as EDA here. I don’t know what would have happened if we did not have his experience,” said Anderson.
Others officers include treasurer Dan Cummings, Recorder Josh Levinson, Warden Calogeno Principato, Recruiters Michael Cooper and Ryan Hand and Member Educator Charles Ankenbauer. The Health and Safety chair is Nicholas Ziniel, the Social Chairs are Steve Paoletti and Johnny Golec. The Scholarship chair is Nico Bibergall and the alumni relations chair is Patrick Stephenson.
The Colony has a chapter meeting every week. There was a hiccup at first registering as a student organization so booking a room was a challenge. The men worked around it by going into the Papajohn Business Building where they utilize an open room. The facility has four to five big rooms that can hold 50 or so people. The chapter meets on Sundays and the Exec Board meets on Tuesdays in the Iowa Memorial Union.
"We have internal goals and we have charter goals," said Anderson. "The number one charter goal is recruiting. The tricky part of that is we have to find the right people. You want to get a lot of guys but you want to make sure everyone is on board and is worthy of being an SAE."
Internally, the colony is trying to figure out the best ways to get people educated about Sigma Alpha Epsilon and it's history.
"A lot of people don't know it yet because no one in the chapter knows a whole lot about it," Anderson said. "So the exec board has to learn it first and then figure out how to educate the rest of the membership. And we need to work with our Alumni advisors to accomplish our goals."
Another priority is brotherhood in general.
"We are working to find ways for us all to bond in some kind of capacity," Anderson explained. "In our first semester the only event was when we rented out the top of the airliner bar we just went up there and hung out. This semester I'd like to do something a little more removed from campus. I want something that isolates us and gets us more involved with each other.
"This colony wants to make the alumni proud and we're glad that you're here to help us. You have all this experience. If more alumni wanted to come to campus and meet us, we'd welcome that."
Anderson said the colony was not allowed to schedule social events until tney were a registered student organization and it took several weeks for this to occur.
"In the first semester we had a social with the Tri Delta and Alpha Chi Omega sororities," Anderson said. "One of our members has a house on College Street that he let us use. For the first half hour, brothers show up and visit with one another. After that, the sorority ladies arrived. We visit for a while and then later on, some people venture downtown."
Anderson said the colony also had an unofficial get together with Alpha Delta Pi.
For scholarship, Anderson said the plan is to cluster in small groups and study together. As the colony matures it will start separating into divisions by majors as well as father-son groups.
"We need to work our camaraderie," he said. "We have a lot of clicks right now and sometimes it's good.The freshman are getting along really well right nowbut we need to work so brothers develop friendships outside of these subgroups. I also think once we get everybody on a committee people will start forming new bonds and interactions."
Because everyone started at the same time, the Executive Board has had to be very diplomatic giving instructions to its fellow members.
Housing in Iowa City is very challenging. Anderson said students have a negative demeanor toward apartment landlords because they feel they're being taken advantage of.
“My rent is $550 a month plus utilities and I have to walk 15 minutes to get to class," he said. "Another negative is that landlords are not responding when tenants report problems with the units. and when landlords make a correction they end up charging the students. For instance there was a person in my apartment complex who had a door missing from one of his closets and the landlord replaced the door but then charged my friend at the end of his lease. Incidents like these have led to a lot of mistrust between student tenants and apartment owners.
Because housing is so scarce landlords are not concerned with their reputation. They know they can quickly fill any opening."
The school is building a large dormitory near Burge and Currier Halls.
Beckerleg told the colony members that in most cases living in a fraternity house will be cheaper then renting an apartment.
One of the tasks of the Iowa Beta Housing Corporation is to determine the rent in fees that will be associated with living in the SAE house this fall.
Even though the price has not been officially set, indications are that the finances of living in the SAE house will be competitive.
"Being Eminent Deputy Archon has given me a whole new pallet of skills that I didn't even know I had in terms of delegation and figuring out and where certain people fit into certain projects," said Anderson. "I love being a leader now. I'm learning more about being a leader and different types of leaders.
"The fraternity is also allowing me to get to know people that I never would have spoken to and I am learning from them I am learning how to talk to people and get them interested in either joining SAE or interested in working on a committee or project.
"SAE also is letting me feel more connected to the rest of the country. I grew up in Iowa and I go to this university in Iowa and it's easy to feel like your whole life is in Iowa. But when I went to the EA Institute, there was 150 leaders and the each represented at least 50 people. There was this whole network of people that I never would have been able to access.
"Now I feel part of something bigger then myself, bigger than the university and bigger than Iowa."
QUIZ Answers: SAE history multiple choice
Ayers will resign from ESR post
EVANSTON, IL – After more than a decade of professional service to Sigma Alpha Epsilon in a number of key capacities, Eminent Supreme Recorder Blaine Ayers has informed the Supreme Council that he and his family will relocate to Nashville, in the coming months. As a result, he will complete his tenure as Chief Executive Officer once a new candidate has been identified and retained.
“On behalf of the Supreme Council, our staff and volunteers and all of our members worldwide, we thank Brother Ayers for his tireless loyalty, dedication and service to Sigma Alpha Epsilon,” said Eminent Supreme Archon Steven W. Churchill.
“During his five-year tenure as our CEO, Boomer nurtured high morale among our staff, ensured the financial integrity of our organization and launched a comprehensive strategic plan that has set the course for our organization for the next several years. A true gentleman, he served as a strong role model for our undergraduate and alumni members alike. We wish him well in this new chapter of his life as he, Brooke and their four daughters move to be closer to friends and family.”
“I want to thank all levels of SAE for the opportunity to serve as Eminent Supreme Recorder,” said Ayers. “Working for our organization has really been one of my highest honors. I also want to let the many staff members who I have been privileged to serve alongside know that I appreciate their dedication and hard work. I will miss our daily interactions.”
“My wife has done a wonderful job raising our four girls, many times due to my extensive travel, by herself. We felt it was time for us to move closer to be with family and raise our daughters with the help of the grandparents. While I will miss my regular interactions with our great members and volunteers, Brooke and I are excited for our next steps.”
To fill the Eminent Supreme Recorder position once Ayers leaves SAE, a search committee has been formed.
If you are interested in applying for the ESR role, please visit: www.sae.net
IABE receives
high accolades
In terms of accounts payable,
Other than that, the group seems to be
- Adam Beckerleg
Is this 6 degree of Oscar separation?
Brother Joe Souhrada shared this this Oscar tidbit:
Lucas Hedges, actor nominated for Manchester By The Sea, is son of the screenwriter Peter Hedges, alumnus of West Des Moines Valley High School and grandson of the late Father Bob Hedges, who served as Chaplain for Sigma Alpha Epsilon (Iowa Delta -Drake) participant at many leadership schools - both Province and National as well as many conventions.
Is this six degrees of separation?
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