General Description

• • Each semester, a chapter banquet is hosted after our initiation ceremony. The purpose of our chapter banquets is to gather the chapter together to socialize, celebrate our collective achievements, welcome new members into the society, and introduce future plans. An added purpose of this banquet was to commemorate Kansas Gamma’s history since this semester marks the 50th anniversary its installation. The banquet started out with some introductory remarks by President Divilbiss after everyone had filled their plates with catering from Olive Garden. Divilbiss thanked everyone for coming and acknowledged the distinguished members and guests present which included Dean Matt O’Keefe (MO B ’85), Sen. Assoc. Dean Gary Clark (KS G ’24), former head K-State football coach Bill Snyder, namesake benefactor of the Carl R Ice College of Engineering and former CEO of BNSF Railway Carl Ice (KS G ’79), and President of Orazem & Scalora Engineerin Coach Snyder then gave a 20-minute speech on life lessons learned during his career and how they relate to all our lives. He spoke about the importance of surrounding oneself with people who care about you and want to see you succeed. His speech discussed leadership, setting and accomplishing goals, and doing what it takes to succeed. He discussed how he came to Manhattan, and why he never accepted any offers to relocate to bigger, better programs at other universities. He said it’s always been about the people. He loves the people of K-State. Following Snyder’s speech, Divilbiss gave a short presentation on the origin of Kansas Gamma going all the way back to 1909, which was based on information retrieved from the stacks at HQ during his time there in December 2023. Chapter awards were then announced by Awards Director Henry Bash. Divilbiss presented certificates to 19 new members and 6 award winners. Divilbiss finished the evening off with the State of the Chapter presentation which ends with the TBP Yell. 

Purpose and Relationship to Objectives of Tau Beta Pi

• • "To mark in a fitting manner" The awards portion of the banquet was all about marking people in a fitting manner. With a room full of distinguished guests, deans, new members, parents, existing members, and officers, each new member was called up to the awards table one at a time to receive their membership certificates and have their photo taken with President Divilbiss. A slide was made for each new undergraduate member which listed their name, favorite state, and the three things that they would bring to an island. The purpose of the slides was to help keep the mood light and to let the audience get to know the new members. Slides were also prepared for new eminent engineers. Those slides listed their names and titles along with their nominator’s name and their reasons for being nominated. The purpose of those slides was to let the audience know how each of those new members were selected and to show how impactful their contributions are. Award recipients were also marked in a fitting manner. Five were chapter members and one was not. Of the five who were, one was marked as the "Eddie R. Fowler (KS G ’54) Most Outstanding Member" of spring 2024, and four received "Frank A. Tillman (MO A ’60) Special Service Awards." Finally, the non-member was marked as the "Donald E. Rathbone (IN A ’51) Underclassman of the Year." Please see our project report on the Kansas Gamma Awards Program to learn more about each of these awards. The State of the Chapter presentation was first developed in fall 2023, and it summarizes membership data, achievements, goals, and future plans of the chapter. During that presentation, Divilbiss announced the Chapter’s biggest achievement of the spring semester, which was the codification of its new mission statement. He discussed other achievements like the majorly successful Engineering Formal, and ’Pi Day Across the USA.’ He repeatedly preached the Bent-O-Rama gospel and also made sure to promote the fast-approaching Convention 

Organization and Administration

• • Our President and Events Director made sure that this banquet would be the most memorable banquet that any of our members had ever experienced. Our President reached out to the beloved former head football coach of the K-State Wildcats to ask if he would speak at the banquet. Divilbiss simply went to Snyder’s home, knocked on his door, told him about Tau Beta Pi and the Kansas Gamma Chapter’s golden anniversary, and asked if he would enjoy the opportunity to speak at the banquet to which Snyder replied that he would be honored. Events Director Rizzo tirelessly worked behind the scenes leveraging his connections with the Student Union managers, made during the Engineering Formal, to reserve the use of china, silverware, carafes, and beverage dispensers for the banquet. None of these items are available to student organizations, but Rizzo did such a professional job with execution of the Formal, that the Union now trusts him to facilitate major events using their catering equipment and kitchens. Rizzo coordinated catering for the banquet and made certain that the event went smoothly. Much difficulty came with the secrecy of banquet programming. Divilbiss and Rizzo were the only two people who knew that Snyder would attend as the keynote speaker, and Divilbiss and Bash were the only ones who knew that Rizzo, Culbertson, Velasquez, and Pine would receive the new Tillman Awards. Divilbiss included this information in the programs, which meant he was the only one who could see the program before the event. He spent about 12 hours using Microsoft Publisher to perfect the design of the programs so they would be a superb keepsake for all who attended. The secrecy paid off though, because Coach Snyder’s appearance made the night special for everyone. Member Brandon Thimmesch helped Divilbiss and Rizzo stage the needed items in the Union the night before the banquet. Together, the three spent many hours polishing all the China and rolling silverware 

Total Cost

• • $1422.00 

Cost Breakdown

• • $94 for the Flint Hills Room in the Student Union (includes linens); $18 plus shipping for the six blank award certificates from HQ; $60 for printing banquet programs and awards; $50 to our photographer; $1,200 for Olive Garden catering 

Special Problems

• • Encountered Surprisingly enough, the banquet went without any major problems at all due to Rizzo’s and Divilbiss’s many hours of planning and organizing. The only minor problem was the underestimation of how long it takes 75 people to file through one food line. This caused the scheduled programming to start about 30 minutes late. This was actually a very good thing, because it allowed the guests that much more time to visit amongst themselves, contributing to their enjoyment of the evening’s festivities. 

Overall Evaluation

• • The event was overwhelmingly successful, and it was the perfect way to cap off such a transformational year for a rejuvenated chapter. Both of our deans and their wives commented on how they were most impressed with the successful planning and execution of the program. Parents were happy to celebrate their children’s achievements in joining Tau Beta Pi. New members were thrilled to join such an impactful chapter and learn about all the opportunities for leadership and community it offers. Tillman Award recipients were surprised when their names we called in recognition of their service and dedication to the chapter. New and existing members were forced to participate in the Tau Beta Pi Yell, which has become a staple of Kansas Gamma banquets. During the State of the Chapter portion of the presentation, members were introduced to the new chapter leadership structure being implemented over the coming months. They were briefly introduced to the Bentspedition, and given advance notice that they need to be reading their Bent magazines next month when Kansas Gamma will have a feature article. Parents were thrilled to see their children join such an active and impactful organization. One of the best parts of the State of the Chapter presentation was when we got to announce that the chapter had just passed a major milestone: As of April 14, Kansas Gamma became the most followed chapter on Instagram in Kansas. Kansas Alpha is not aware of this yet, and it was pointed out that our chapter has only had Instagram for 10 months, whereas theirs has had one for 73 months. The excitement raised during this portion of the banquet gained our chapter about 15 more followers as we encouraged those in attendance to help us fulfill our mission of service by increasing our visibility. There were several individuals with the potential to become major donors, so we are thrilled with how well everything went. They were most impressed to with this student-orchestrated event