Alumni of our beloved Xi Chapter of Alpha Tau Omega, my name
is Kent Hjelm and I am honored to serve as our chapter’s Alumni
Chair for the coming year. I hope to better connect our current
members with the brothers that came before us. We have a lot to
share about the state of our brotherhood, and a lot to be proud of. It
is with great pride that I can say that our chapter completed a year
of continued academic success, holding a spring semester Grade
Point Average of 3.618 to finish the year with a cumulative 3.505
average, which was the highest GPA of any Alpha Tau Omega
chapter. Additionally, we are excited to have welcomed 26 new
brothers into our chapter. Our new brothers come from Santa
Barbara, California to Snellville, Georgia and are of very diverse
backgrounds and identities. Each new member embodies all the
amazing qualities our fraternity strives to instill. We enjoyed the
several opportunities to meet and host our alumni, whether that
was during Homecoming weekend or the Notre Dame game, and
look forward to having that privilege again in the spring. Hearing
about the amazing things that our Alumni have done, and the
bonds that they have made and the traditions that they have set for
us are great examples for our active members to follow in order to
continue improving our chapter. This semester has seen Taus all
over the world, with 23 of the 29 members of 2018 pledge class
studying abroad. Each brother is experiencing the unique
opportunity to study in a foreign land and experience many
different and diverse cultures. However, we look forward to all of
them returning in the spring. Please enjoy seeing and reading about
the activity of the active brothers this semester in the rest of this
issue.

Fall, 2019 | ATO Xi Chapter
November
Semester in Review
In This Issue:
1. Saying Goodbye
to the Graduating
Class
2. Taus Abroad
3. Academic
Success and other
Highlights
Pictured here is our graduating class of 2019. This picture is truly
special, seeing all of these brothers taking the step from college to the
real world, where they will continue to accomplish impressive feats.
What makes this picture particularly special is that they are standing in
front of the bench that is dedicated to brother Michael Doherty, a
member of this class who passed away in May of 2017. Michael made a
lasting impression on each and every person that had the opportunity to
meet him. This bench does a wonderful job of honoring him and his
peaceful, welcoming nature. Each and every member of his pledge class
wished that he could’ve been there with them as they walked across the
stage on graduation day, but they know he is in a better place now. This
class has vowed to continue to work hard, have fun and do their best to
make Michael proud as he is looking down upon them as they enter
post-college life.
Our ’19 Graduating Class




















’21 Taus Abroad



















Brothers Austin Nisbett, Cole Crissman, Griffin Malm, and
Zack Thomas making a trip to Munich, Germany
Top Row: Andrew Elcock, Geoff Gaugler, Cole Crissman, Max
Smith, Allan Beilin, Austin Nisbett, Parsa Hoghooghi, Dan
Raftis, Griffin Malm. Bottom Row: Ben Burnett, Michael
Morgan, Cliff Haley, Zack Thomas.
These Brothers came together to enjoy Oktoberfest in Germany
Brothers Aubrey Whitney, Daniel Tsai, Joe Heflin, Caleb
Rummel and Mitchel Frisch exploring the rich nature of New
Zealand
In all of the traveling that our fellow
brothers are doing, they are making
memories that will last a lifetime.
What makes these memories so
valuable isn’t just the fact that they
are visiting amazing sites, but it is
also that they are experiencing these
places with their brothers, whom
they have very strong bonds with.
Academic Success, other Highlights and Final Words














Brothers Cole Crissman ‘21 and Griffin Malm ’21
traveled to Indianapolis to accept the award, on behalf of
the Xi Chapter, for earning the highest Grade Point
Average of any Alpha Tau Omega chapter
Brothers Josh Engel ’20 and Forrest Pratson are seen here
competing in the Marine Corps Marathon in October, in
which they both completed
Brothers Robert Lordi ‘22, Kent Hjelm ‘22
and Trevor Bowman ‘22, along with many
others, often spend their Saturdays working
on different Habitat for Humanity projects
These impressive accomplishments/involvements that these
featured brothers have done this semester are only a couple
of the feats that our active brothers have achieved this fall.
We also have brothers that have worked hard on the football
team, created robots, volunteered at hospitals, and
volunteered in Special Olympics events on campus.
Additionally, both active and alumni brothers came together
on November 8th to voice our concerns regarding the future
of Greek Life at Duke to thee Duke Administrators. This
meeting was very effective in getting our point across and
hopefully changed the opinions, for the better, of the
administrators about Greek Life.
If you are ever on campus, please stop by Craven U&T on
West Campus, we would love to see you. Please also feel
free to contact me with any questions at keh79@duke.edu
We appreciate any and all donations! If 2019 has been good
to you and you would like to support our chapter, please
write checks to the ATO Xi Foundation and mail them to:
Kent Hjelm, 440 Chapel Drive, Box 98559, Durham, NC
27708, or Venmo @durham-ruski-club