Largest Initiation Class to Date for the George Read Chapter

On Saturday, September 10^th, the George Read Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta held its bi-annual initiation ceremony, welcoming to its fraternal family its greatest number of initiates to date.  Eager to start writing a new chapter in their lives as Phi Alpha Delta members, students began filing into the main law building at Widener University School of Law hours before initiation was set to begin.  At six o’clock p.m., Dom Carrera, Phi Alpha Delta’s Marshall, commenced the initiation ceremony by escorting the soon-to-be members into the Vale Courtroom.  With over 60 new initiates, family, friends, distinguished guests, and several current Phi Alpha Delta members, the courtroom was filled nearly to capacity.  George Read’s Executive Board, led by Justice Clint Orem, proceeded to conduct the initiation ceremony in accordance with the formal requirements as prescribed by Phi Alpha Delta’s initiation rituals manual.  The objective of this formal initiation ceremony was to impress upon all those attending the ideals and principles of Phi Alpha Delta.

After the George Read Executive Board members conducted their respective parts of the initiation ceremony and the initiates signed their names into the Official Roll, the floor turned to a Phi Alpha Delta alumni- the Honorable Joseph R. Slights III of the Superior Court of Delaware.  Judge Slights welcomed the new members and shared with them his inspirational story about how he gained motivation to thrive within the legal profession. He referred to a book that he read towards the end of his law school career about Learned Hand, the infamous second circuit judge.  Judge Slights was enthralled with Learned Hand’s dedicated work ethic and passion for the law and Judge Slights became determined to emulate these traits in his legal career.  He urged the new members to find inspiration and embrace the legal profession as he did.

When the formal initiation ceremony adjourned, the current George Read Executive Board took the opportunity to present to Andrew Quietmeyer and James Lewis their awards given to them by Phi Alpha Delta international.  Andrew Quietmeyer, former Justice of the George Read Chapter, and James Lewis, former Vice Justice of the George Read Chapter, achieved the Alex A. Hochkiss Award and the Outstanding Vice Justice of the Year Award respectively for the 2010-2011 academic school year.  It’s safe to say that the current executive board has some big shoes to fill. 

With such a successful initiation ceremony and great start to the academic school year, the George Read Chapter of Phi Alpha Delta is well on its way to another amazing school year.

George Read Takes Widener Law by Storm

Table Day

Table Day at Widener University, School of Law gives the incoming students an opportunity to see what organizations are active in the school as well as the chance to speak with members to find out where they might fit or what they might be interested in. The event began at 9AM and ended at 7PM.

This year Phi Alpha Delta had a color collage of distinguished members as well as a display of the honors it has received in the past year. In addition to this, there were always three or more brothers and sisters at the table, talking points, candy and homemade cookies.

The event was extremely successful, as 176 incoming an current students signed the interest sheet and the executive board was handed 20 completed membership applications by the end of the day.

Info Sessions

The week after table day the executive board organized several information session for students to attend who had questions or comments about the fraternity.

There were two meetings held where Justice, Clint Orem discussed the benefits of becoming a member of the fraternity and answered along with the executive board any questions the students posed.

The executive board and former Justice, Andrew Quietmeyer shared stories of the relationships they developed and the opportunities afforded to them from becoming PADs.

“It’s not just something you put on your resume, said Quietmeyer, it really does give you an opportunity to get involved with the school and meet people you never thought you would.”

Students asked about social aspects, academic assistance, networking and the outline bank.

The final question of the information session, posed by a student, was “Why wouldn’t you join?”