Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity's Epsilon Gamma chapter held its first annual Pike Alumni Dinner Nov. 14 at Spirit Ranch in Lubbock to foster relations between active members and alumni.   

Eric Scharf, the fraternity’s alumni relations chairman, said the event was a success. 

“We haven’t really had a strong relationship with our alumni,” Scharf, a junior advertising major from Austin, Texas, said, “so I figured this would be a good stepping stone to begin that.” 

Scharf said the event’s theme was casino night, and the dress was semiformal with food and cocktails provided. 

Taylor Shackelford, the fraternity’s treasurer, said the men look to improve the event next year. 

“We weren’t sure what to expect with it being our first time,” Shackelford, a junior agricultural communications major from Prosper, Texas, said, “but next time we will also have a bigger space for everyone.” 

Scharf said there were two guest speakers, a representative from Llano Estacado Winery and Dr. Ted Mitchell, a Pi Kappa Alpha, also known as Pike, alumnus. 

Scharf said there was a raffle for attendees to participate in; “We had some footballs that were signed by old football players,” Scharf said, “and lots of gift cards.”

Luke Cotton, a Pike alumnus from League City, Texas, said he enjoyed catching up with active members and seeing where the chapter was going. 

“The alumni that attended got to see that the chapter is indeed alive and very well,” Cotton said, “and that with their help we can be back to number one on campus.” 

According to the chapter’s website, the chapter at Texas Tech has an alumni advisory board and an active alumni association.

Shackelford said his favorite part of the event was networking with alumni. 

“There were several guys that got job opportunities after having dinner with alumni,” Shackelford said, “or made connections with people for future endeavors that they would have never had without them coming into town.”

Scharf said it took a semester to plan the event, and now the fraternity will host it annually. 

Shackelford said alumni were invited via email and newsletter, and the event helped find alumni that were hard to contact. 

Cotton said he hopes the men will connect older alumni with the chapter and improve fundraising in the future.

“This is the first time the chapter has done something like this since refounding,” Cotton said, “so of course there are inefficiencies that can be corrected.” 

“In the end,” Scharf said, “the alumni just want us to talk to them, and this is a good way to get them to meet the members and have a fun time while doing it.”