John Cain Spring 2009 Semester - jjcain

Bittersweet

jjcain — Sat, 07 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

One of the toughest times I've had on the road so far. I'm sitting in a chapter meeting in Nebraska when I hear that the exciting news that the Akron chapter had won the Dean's Cup for 2008 (Most Outstanding Fraternity). Lambda Chi at Akron was a perenial second place or worse chapter on campus since we last won Dean's Cup in 2000. Year after year we came close to winning and I was blessed enough to be part of the chapter in 2008 to see us win again. As great as this news was though, it was really hard on me not being there to enjoy the victory with my brothers. The best I could do was write this email below to them. I've attached this mostly because I don't think I could write an entry here any better or more heart-felt than this email was. Enjoy!

~~~~~~

Hey Brothers,

After hearing the amazing news from last night I wanted to sent out a message over what is probably the best mode of communication to reach all of you with Spring Break coming up and you all still recovering from what I can only imagine was an awesome night last night.

Being away from home for nearly 3 months and on the road for 8 weeks now has taught me a lot about myself and this fraternity. Most notably it has taught me how important all of you are to me. I will be perfectly honest, yesterday was bittersweet. I was sitting in a chapter meeting at the University of Nebraska - Omaha and looked down at my phone to see three missed calls and 6 texts. I opened up the first and saw Preston had informed me that we had won. Naturally I thought Rojo was messing with me but as I continued to read through the messages and it hit me that we had actually done it. Though we never set out to better ourselves to win a trophy, the hard work paid off and the chapter was recognized. (Feel free to let your mind wander back to when we were ripped off at Songfest. Trust me, right about now it will feels amazing to recall the crowd gasping when we were named 2nd place.) Anyway, the reason it was bittersweet was because I was not there to celebrate with all of you, and trust me you would have likely seen John Cain in rare form. I truly love what I do and working with brothers around the country but its times like last night that hit me hard.

I was so excited for you guys and what you have accomplished in the nearly 3 years I have been affiliated with the fraternity. Those of you that were around for what the chapter has experienced over that time know what I am talking about when I say that you have done a hell of a job to make Gamma-Alpha Zeta something worth fighting for. Rest assured, each of you have played an integral role in this accomplishment. From the oldest brother (Conway) to the newest Associate who was not even around in 2008. Our desire to make this a better chapter for all of you new guys is what got us to this point. I appreciate the good words some of you guys have sent me. I'm humbled and honored by the President of the Year but when it comes down to it, there was abosultely no way any of that would be possible without all of you and I sincerely appreciate that.

I will leave you with one last thought. Yes, we won and stuck it to all those that never thought a wet house with not so great grades could win. However, you have any amazing group of guys there that will continue to do amazing things as long as you continue to work hard. Of all the chapters I have worked with, Gamma-Alpha is definitely one of the most cohesive. (and by the way, we are definetely the most comfortable being in a shower with other dudes. Hands down. No question.) You have the ability to exceed everyone's expectations. Today, as I sit in a student union almost 1000 miles away, I am glad to say I am the proudest Gamma-Alpha alum alive. You guys are why I do this job; my brothers, my closest friends.

With love in ZAX,

New Videos

jjcain — Sun, 01 Mar 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I wanted to post some videos of my last two months on here. There is a January video here.

And a Februrary video here.

Eastern Illinois University

jjcain — Wed, 28 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Same deal, got behind on these so here are the pics, including Abe Lincoln's home when he was elected President. I promise I have something cool coming up.

Valparaiso University

jjcain — Sun, 25 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

For the sake of time I will just put up pictures for this one. Valpo was a nice campus, small and snow-covered but had some nice new buildings. Here are pics.

Chapel

Boston University

jjcain — Mon, 19 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

Old Church near Boston Common

I arrived in Boston on Sunday to a city that just had a foot of snow dumped on it the day before. From what I could tell it was a little warmer than what I had left behind in Indianapolis. I ended up on a later flight out of Cincinnati so Matt Roy and I left the airport and went straight to Boston U's campus, bags in tow. We met with the chapter there to talk about recruitment, they were a great bunch of guys that represented our Alpha chapter well. To you non-Greek readers, the Boston U. chapter is the first chapter of Lambda Chi Alpha and is where our founder, Warren A. Cole, was a student.

Trinity Church

Warren Cole wanted to start a fraternity that was different from the rest and he most certainly accomplished this. He was perhaps the greatest recruiter this fraternity has ever seen and was responsible for most of the early success of Lambda Chi.

Boston U. Chapel, College of Arts & Sciences

Boston U. College of Arts & Sciences

The BU campus was amazing. Large academic buildings lined the Commonwealth Avenue where the green line subway came above ground and ran down the middle of the street. I'm sure we looked the tourist part as we looked around pulling suitcases behind us through the snow and slush. We got to our hotel, named Hotel 140 which was in the old YWCA building downtown. This was definitely one of the most trendy places I've ever stayed in and was right across the street from Trinity Church and the Boston Public Library.

Monday was a light day on the business side. Our main goals were to visit 22 Joy Street (where the name Lambda Chi Alpha was first uttered) and drop off flowers to the woman that lived there. Come November we will be having our closing Centennial Celebration in Boston and this house is one of the tour stops.

22 Joy Street - Birth of Lambda Chi Alpha

Standing across the street from this home really brought me full circle and helped me feel more secure that God has put me in the right place. Just two blocks from this home on Joy Street sits the Massachusetts state capital building and Boston Common. Not more than 8 years ago I was standing in this park with my family on vacation. Little did I know that the location of the birth of my fraternity that has become such a large part of my life was just a few yards away. That to me is amazing.

State Capital Building (back)

Tuesday took us (again with bags in tow) to Cambridge to visit the chapter at MIT. I never in my life expected to be walking the campus of MIT. It was a quite a thrill and though it seemed like your run-of-the-mill college campus, I know not many people from my hometown are afforded an opportunity to see a place like that and I am so grateful to have an experience like that.

Massachusetts Institute of Technology

MIT apartment complex

Getting to know Indy

jjcain — Sat, 10 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

I'm finally getting use to making my way around the city, oddly enough just in enough time to start my travels out. Pictures below date back a few days but are of NCAA Headquarters, Lucas Oil Stadium (Home of the Indianapolis Colts), the statue at the center of Indianapolis and our fraternity headquarters. The trip to Cincinnati got canceled so I'm here until next Sunday when I head to Boston. Leaving for good on the 25th.

Staff Retreat

jjcain — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 00:00:00 GMT

We're in Bloomington at Indiana University's campus for the weekend. This is a huge school with great old buildings and a greek tradition that goes back to the 1850's. We are staying at the hotel in the Student Union which is unlike any Union I have seen. It resembles a cathedral in some aspects and I can see a cemetery outside my room window. This will be a productive weekend with lots of meetings and discussions between the fraternity staff. Will be back in Indy on Sunday.

My new home base

jjcain — Tue, 30 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I finally got to Indianapolis, got my stuff moved into the apartment and started getting acclamated with the area. I begin work on Thursday and then head to Indiana University's campus this weekend for a staff retreat.

Leaving Ohio

Leaving Soon

jjcain — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 00:00:00 GMT

I'm in my last few days in Ohio and have been trying to wrap up a lot of stuff here. I haven't really had a chance to stop since graduation but I'm looking forward to Christmas with the family and seeing a lot of friends before I go. I'm excited to head out and look forward to working a job and actually getting paid for it. Hopefully those of you that are seeing this for the first time will check back as I get more updates. Thanks to my parents graduation gift of an awesome camera I will be capturing pictures from all over the Midwest as I travel around and will be posting here. When my phone number changes I will send out a text to everyone and keep you posted.