After starting their journey in September of 2016, the colony at the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) installed as the Chi Zeta Chapter and welcomed 44 members into the fraternity.
On April 8, Heritage Center staff, Fraternity Ritual Team members, advisors, as well as student members from Chi Omicron (William Paterson University), Psi Eta (Temple University), and Gamma Pi (Seton Hall) gathered in Newark, New Jersey to guide the colony during their installation.
The chapter put on various philanthropic, professional and social events throughout their colonization period that incorporated the campus, colony and community. For one of their community service events, a group of nearly 40 students and other volunteers worked together to make a large number of sandwiches and other small and healthy meals with Newman Extra Mile. They then walked to the nearby Newark Penn Station, where the sandwiches and other meals were donated to anybody who was in need of one, homeless or not. “Newark is currently struggling with a poverty problem,” said the chapter, “so we knew that our actions were really making a difference and serving the community well.”
In a letter of support for the colony’s chartering, Reggie Caudill, Dean of the Martin Tuchman School of Management at NJIT, said, “The colony has done a great job at bringing excitement to the Martin Tuchman School of Management. The colony has created an experience both within the School of Management as well as on campus that is complimentary to their classroom education – making for well-rounded professionals of the future.” He then added, “The colony initiates of Alpha Kappa Psi at the New Jersey Institute of Technology are eager to add their names to the members initiated worldwide and the hundreds of collegiate chapters that are already chartered.”
This ceremony was special for all in attendance and also brought one of the installing officers back to their alma mater. Graduating from NJIT, Vadim Schleyfman, Towson ’09-Honorary is currently vice president of Bank of America and husband of Foundation Board member Andrea Nemeth, Montclair State ’91-Life. During his time at the university, Alpha Kappa Psi unfortunately did not have a presence on campus. However, he was later initiated as an honorary member at Towson University in 2009, which allowed him to attended the installation ceremony of the Chi Zeta Chapter.