News

Mexico Missions Trip 2012
By Nathaniel tou Hsieh

On Friday March 2, about a dozen of us set off to San Diego en route to our final destination: Tijuana, Mexico. Our brief night in San Diego was spent at the new, four-story Epsilon (SDSU) chapter house and let's just say the unreal cleanliness and decorative design of the place made Keoki a little more than jealous. After a short night's rest, we were on the road and on our way to the Amor ministry headquarters (after a breakfast stop at McDonalds, of course). At Amor, we met our supervisor Rachel before praying it out and commencing our journey into Mexico. Though the actual roads were pretty rough and pothole-ridden, we made it across the border smoothly and quickly, especially in comparison to the journey back as I'll explain later. The site we were working at was a little farther out of the city than usual and the dirt roads gave the guys in planeteer's Prius quite a ride. Once on site, we immediately began working towards our goal of stuccoing a local family's house. This required mixing dirt, cement, and water and applying the mixture to the outer walls of the house. By the end of the morning we were pretty much able to finish applying the first coat of stucco and after a sandwich lunch prepared by RJ, the trip's fearless organizer, we started on layer number two. This took us to the middle of the afternoon and though the repeat motion of applying stucco to a wall became tiring for some, most of us thought the conversation, jokes, and Keoki's incredible Korean speaking skills made the time pass by in a snap. Thus after praying for the family and handing them the keys to their house, we set off on our trek back to the states, stopping at a local market to satisfy our Manzanita Lift and real-cane-sugar-Coke cravings.

As alluded to earlier, the trip back across the border and out of the country was not nearly as expeditious as the trip in. Though we stopped only about ¾ of a mile from the checkpoint stations, it took us a solid 5 hours to cover that seemingly negligible distance, resulting in a whopping 0.147 MPH average during our time at the border (in case you were wondering). We managed to keep ourselves entertained by playing games, conversing, and pushing Travis's truck to save gas and because the battery had died earlier. The real car problems didn't start until after we made it across the border however and within a few minutes of getting onto the freeway the transmission blew in Travis' truck (we think) and we coasted into a gas station parking lot right off the freeway. Thankfully we were in the States though and after calling AAA we were able to fix the problem and get ourselves back on the road. I would be remiss if I didn't mention our end-of-trip dinner at the Taqueria in Fullerton and although it's ironic that we came all the way back to LA to have Mexican food, it was indeed all leder had built it up to be. All in all, it was a productive trip and allowed us to spend some quality brotherhood time together. Just ask Gill.

Snow in LA - Fall 2011
By Jason Chan
Somewhere in the middle of the second most populated city in the United States, Christmas was celebrated a little early. Complete with a tree, lights and even (fake) snow, this party in early December was a welcome break from classes. It was AGO’s annual Mocktails party and its grand design was conceived by Brian “switchleap” Vasquez.

The relaxing atmosphere was a good change of pace from the high stress of classes and impending finals. The night started out slow, with people trickling in. They sampled the various drinks offered at the bar and appetizers set as music played in the background. From the beginning of the party to the waning moments, people capitalized on the photo area, taking a significant amount of pictures with the backdrop as the fake snow spewed out in front of them.

Classy was the theme of the night and it certainly held to that. As the evening began to pick up, some brave souls took it upon themselves to start ballroom dancing. This sparked a revolution which resulted in much of the house’s standing room being spontaneously converted to a dance floor. It was a darn good use of the recent rule change.

Overall, Mocktails was a positive experience for guests. It is quite unfortunate that it only happens once a year. Until then, stay classy everybody.






Mexico Missions Trip - October 7-8, 2011
By Nathaniel tou Hsieh

Although sickness, safety concerns, and swiftly approaching midterms kept many from participating in this particular trip, the group of ten that was able to go to Mexico (including two guys from Phi Delta Theta) experienced a blessed and productive time of service. After filling out paperwork and receiving last minute details from the trip organizer, Einstein “hammertime” Park , we departed from the AGO house and the three cars all made their way to San Diego. Though I can only speak for the “pledge car”, the ride down was relatively painless and good conversation with a few interjected rounds of “make-it-or-break-it” questions made the two and a half hour drive seem to go by in an instant. Nonetheless, by midnight when everyone reconvened at Ethan “chinnychinnybangbang” Smith’s house in San Diego, it was not difficult to catch some good sleep. Indeed, the next day’s impending 6:30am departure time ensured that no one wasted time in hitting the sack (or sleeping bag, to be literal).

By the crack of dawn, all ten of us were mulling around the kitchen in a semi-conscious state stuffing ourselves with the delicious breakfast of muffins, yogurt, and OJ the pledges had prepared in anticipation of a long day under the hot Mexican sun. After joining up with Jose, the project leader from Amor Ministries (a San Diego based ministry that sends short term missions teams into Mexico), we crossed the border and found ourselves driving through the heart of Tijuana. Luckily for Jeffrey “Planeteer” Nakashioya, Jose was able to drive a few guys in his truck so his prized Prius didn’t have to endure the beating of pothole-filled Mexican roads. Once we arrived at the project site, we immediately began work clearing the lot where we were to lay a foundation. The situation, to our knowledge, was that a sizable portion of this local family’s house was burnt down in an accident and Amor Ministries had agreed to coordinate various teams to come and help rebuild. Our team was responsible for helping to clear the lot and lay the foundation so most of the morning involved moving wood, sweeping up, and building a frame in which we would later pour the cement. After a brief lunch break which included tasty sandwiches again prepared by the diligent pledges (no personal bias involved, of course), all members of the team were again hard at work in various capacities to help finish off the foundation. In true assembly line fashion, some guys worked out in the street shoveling dirt, gravel, and dry cement into wheel barrels while others mixed the contents with water and still others smoothed down the cement once the finished mixture was poured into the wooden frame. Though laboring in the heat of the day did have its moments of fatigue, we were glad to have set up a system that was efficient and, to some extent, enjoyable (especially for Josh “roxbury” Romanu who developed a strange fetish for the feel of cement powder). Just when we thought we were done and Ross “kirby” Wyngaarden had finished smoothing off the last square inch of cement, the family’s dog trotted across the still wet foundation, leaving a trail of defined footprints that looked like they came out of a cartoon. After rectifying this comedic event, we all gathered in a circle and the father of the family expressed his deep gratitude for our service. Though we didn’t have too much interaction with the actual family, it was rewarding to know that the foundation we laid was a very tangible expression of love that would be of very practical use in the future. It was our prayer as well that the work we did would strengthen the foundation of faith this family had in the Lord’s goodness and provision.

After stopping by a local market to pick up Manzanita apple soda and cane sugar Coke in glass bottles, the whole team followed Jose to a street taco truck where everyone had their fill of fresh soft tacos and quesadillas. To be honest, I initially had my doubts remembering the things they tell you on cruises about eating food made with local water, yet the first bite of carne asada beef wrapped in freshly pressed tortilla confirmed that, whatever the health cost, such authentic culinary goodness was well worth it. Though crossing the border back into the States took much longer, for obvious reasons, everyone made it safely back to USC and was hopefully thankful for not only hot showers, but also God’s grace in keeping us safe and allowing us to “strong the ties” while serving a family in need.

Click here for more pics from my phone






Welcome Back!!!
By Sean Conn

After an exciting summer for many, it’s time, yet again, to begin an exciting new semester in the land of the USC Trojans. As usual, the first week of the new semester is a hectic and wild frenzy of organization fairs, free shows, handouts, and GREEK RUSH!

Josh “mustabeendacabbie” Cumbee headed up this semester’s rush events as our rush chair,. He did an excellent job of organizing the brotherhood throughout the summer to prepare for fall rush, which resulted in a smooth and efficient process.

The first day of rush was barbecue at the house. The second day the fraternity and rushees took a trip to Hangar 18 for a night of rock climbing and bouldering. With such a big group, AGO basically took over half of the venue and was free to climb wherever they wanted. Very Legit.

The third day was a 9:30 pm game of Capture The Flag across the center of campus following a delicious Texan barbecue served up by Teddy “icantbelieveitsnoticecream” James. This year, the added pleasure of late night sprinklers was included in the mix of CTF, making for a fun new twist. The fourth day was the famous Balls-and-Wieners night, beginning with bowling and ending at Pink’s Hot Dogs. Rudy “kramer” Scalisi claimed the hot dog eating competition in an intense battle for bragging rights. And finally, the fifth night of rush took place at Dockweiler beach where a few pickup games, a bonfire, worship service, and a speech by Beau “flex” Wirick ensued.

Eight rushees attended bid dinner with the rest of AGO at San Antonio Winery. By the end of the night, all of them accepted their bids and were excited about beginning pledgeship the following week. AGO Pi Chapter has been extremely blessed with these men who have decided to rush. Please pray that both the house and the pledges will grow in knowledge and love with our amazing Creator, as well as with our brotherhood in the coming semester. Strong the Ties!



Founders Day 2010
By Eric Inamine

Founders Day 2010 was an amazing experience! It was a blessed time of fellowship and bonding among the brothers of Alpha Gamma Omega from many different chapters.

The Pi chapter at USC sent around 20 brothers to the banquet, including a handful of pledges and alumni. There, we were able to meet and get to know brothers from other chapters as we shared stories of our experiences in AGO and learned how we could support each other’s ministries on our respective campuses. The Legion of Honor shared stories and words of wisdom with us, encouraging us to keep our faith in God and to continue to proclaim His glory in all aspects of our lives. An AGO alum shared how the fraternity had impacted his life and inspired him to serve the Lord throughout all his years abroad in the missions field and at home in America. It was awesome to hear how AGO had inspired this brother decades after he had graduated from college and motivated him to seek and serve God in all his life’s endeavors. Finally, Jim Johnson, AGO’s national president, gave an address on the state of the fraternity and shared with us his vision for AGO and how God can use this fraternity to glorify Him.

Founders Day was one of the best experiences I have had as a member of AGO as it allowed me to see on a much larger scale what this fraternity is about and how we can pursue God as one body. It allowed me to begin friendships with brothers from other chapters and see AGO is truly a fraternity for eternity.



AGO's 2009 Philanthropy: Bringing The Invisible Children to Light
by Jonathan Tsang

On October 15th, AGO held its Invisible Children philanthropy. Our very own Cameron "toto" Ernst organized this event along with Geoffrey "nachocheese" Weaver. Featuring live music from extremely talented musicians such as Ariel Dixon, the Luke Walton Band and Cameron himself, the event was packed with laughter and energy. I personally hung out at the back of the house where I had easy access to the chocolate fountain.

Looking forward to the highlight of the evening, our guests forwent the comfort of the common room to view a screening of the new Invisible Children documentary outside. We settled down on couches in the parking lot while braving the harsh mid-autumn Californian elements. After Cameron briefly introduced I.C.'s mission of rescuing African child soldiers, we watched how a USC alumni summoned masses of people passionate about the cause to engage in a publicity exercise of epic proportions.

In spite of the fact that we were physically isolated from these children, the documentary reminded us of the power of our own voices. From signing up for information to donating to Tri, anybody could easily make a difference in others' lives. I learnt that like narwhals that swim in the ocean, we too can cause a commotion.

Desperate for the last few chocolate dipped strawberries left in the house, we headed back inside the house to finish partaking in scrumptious confectionaries and make last-minute purchases of Toms shoes. Our guests left fully satisfied on all accounts. All in all, this was a very memorable event that I hope will make a return very soon in the future.


AGO Fall Rush

sol·id |' sälid|
adjective (-id·er, -id·est)

1 awesome dudes that came out to rush Alpha Gamma Omega Fall 2009: "Whoa, these kids are totally solid! Which fraternity are they rushing again?"

2 not hollow or containing gaps: "Guy's a spiritual rock star; his faith is solid."

3 firm and stable in shape: "Look at that beast of an active with the solid pecs!"

SYNONYMS
legit; mind-bogglingly cool

Fully recharged with energy over the summer, AGO's actives returned from Camp Balcones Springs and mission trips to places like Tokyo to hold one of the most successful rushes in Pi-chapter history!

Josh "mustabeendacabbie" Cumbee and Bradley "heffalump" Schell, this fall's Rush Chair and Assistant Rush Chair, respectively, designed a thrilling and engaging rush week featuring highlights such as scrumptious burgers on the grill, bowling night, Pink's Hotdogs, madmen dashing around campus (also known as "capture the flag"), putt-putting and worship bonfires, before ending with the bid dinner at San Antonio Winery (good pick squirtle).

Of course, no rush week is complete with our hallowed tradition - the chili dog eating contest. Contestants this year included Madison "squirtle" Ainley, Austin "buddytheelf" Westland and the defending champion, Matthew "dirtyharry" Potter. What a sight that was! Our rushees were thrilled to find out that AGO comprised not only of spiritual studs but skilled speed-eaters as well. (Oh yeah, Matt smashed his own record again while leaving the others in the dust.)

Finally, at the end of a successful rush week, the AGO actives pinned 16 pledges, who will be growing with us this fall. Please pray that these young men will find a spiritual home at AGO and that they will continue to develop their relationship with Jesus Christ during their career here at USC and beyond.

Congratulations to all on finishing an extremely rewarding first week of school! Fight on!

Songfest 2009 - Second place never felt so good.

Dennis Lin

While Alpha Gamma Omega's four-year run as Songfest champion came to an end Friday night, the magic didn't stop there. In an unexpected turn of events, this year's grand prize went to sister sorority and event newcomer Alpha Delta Chi, which teamed with Theta Xi to make one of the most memorable debuts in Songfest history. AGO and show partner Alpha Phi came in second, but judging from the looks on their faces, you would've thought they had finished one spot higher. Delta Gamma and Sigma Nu rounded out the top three.

This year's theme – “Do You Believe in Magic?” – set a high standard for the night’s entertainment. The entertainers certainly didn’t disappoint. Alongside the performances from the sororities and fraternities, other groups, including the SoCal Vocals and the USC Band, combined to put on quite a show. But in the end, the spotlight rested on ADX and Theta Xi, and deservedly so. Despite their obvious disappointment, the members of Alpha Phi and AGO had nothing but applause and admiration for their fellow competitors.

Congratulations to ADX and Theta Xi, your 2009 Songfest champions! And a big thank you to the ladies of Alpha Phi for making this a special year.

Srping Break

Nick Rice

Over spring break, several members of Alpha Gamma Omega went on a service trip to New Orleans with Campus Crusade for Christ. Matt Potter, David Arbanas, Andrew Guirguis, and Nick Rice. Twelve students in total traveled to New Orleans with the mind set that we would be rebuilding New Orleans as a result of Hurricane Katrina. However, once we arrived, we realized that things might not work out the way we planned exactly.

The first two days we were there it was constantly raining, so we couldn't do any service work; we used these days to be tourists. First we took a tour of the destruction of Katrina in order to get a glimpse of exactly how much of a toll Katrina took on New Orleans. Even after 4 years, there were still empty houses and areas that needed complete renovation. On the second day we were there, we went to a church service at the church we were staying at. That afternoon we took a tour of the Garden District and the New Orleans Museum of Contemporary Art. On our third day there we thought we would be working on houses, but God had other plans for us.

Instead of doing rebuilding work, we ended up going to downtown New Orleans with over 100 hamburgers to street evangelize to the homeless people. Everyone had different experiences on that day, but we all had our eyes open to need to be more open to sharing the gospel. The following day, half of the group went out sharing again while the rest of us stayed around the church to clean up the church and do some painting. After two days of God leading us to other projects, we we're finally blessed with the opportunity to start more direct rebuilding of the community around New Orleans.

On Wednesday, our 6th day there, we split into three groups. Four people went and painted parts of a nearby church, four went and helped build furniture for an elderly woman, and then got to fellowship with her. The final group of four went to a couple's house that survived the storm and began to stucco the outside of the laundry room. On Thursday, our final day of "working," everyone went to the couple's house where stuccoing was occurring. About half of us worked on finishing the stucco while the rest of our group worked on other projects in and around the house. That day we finished the stucco job, cleaned the upstairs of the house, painted some furniture, cleaned windows, and cleaned all the brush and dead trees out of the backyard.

On our final day in New Orleans, we went to a famous plantation where many movies have been filmed. It was a great time to relax before coming back to busy USC as well as debrief our trip. Prior to getting back on the plane we also had a chance to explore a swamp and look for alligators; we unfortunately couldn't find any. Overall, while this trip didn't go exactly as planned, God blessed us so much more with his plan and gave all of us a great spring break that we will always remember.

Election Season

Dennis Lin

The beginning of the Christmas season marks the start of several things: Christmas shopping, eating, spending time with family and friends, and of course, studying for finals. At AGO, it's also time to introduce the new E-Board for 2009. On December 1, we officially inaugurated Ricky Cambier as president, Rudy Scalisi as vice president, Zac Hampton as chaplain, Justin Grubbs as pledgemaster, Daniel McEntee as treasurer, Teddy James as house manager, and Nick Rice as secretary. As we make this exciting transition, we are thankful for the 2008 E-Board members and all their hard work. AGO is truly indebted to them for their time and energy, and we look forward to continuing the tradition of service at USC.

In other news, two AGO brothers were elected to the 2009 IFC E-Board. Nick Hamada has been named IFC President, and Aaron Rizkalla will be the new VP of Scholarship. God has blessed us with this unprecedented opportunity to reach out to the rest of the Greek community. Please be in prayer for the new E-Board and for Nick and Aaron as they lead us into the new year.

Showdown at Pismo

Erik Cambier

AGO Kappa chapter (Cal Poly) held its annual Pismo weekend on October 17-20. Most of the AGO and ADX chapters converged on Pismo Beach for a fun weekend of flag football and fellowship. Most of us Pi Chapter guys traveled up Friday and camped overnight near the beach. The flag football tournament began Saturday morning. We fielded two teams this year: Alpha and Omega. Omega started off the day with commanding wins over Iota and Kappa alum, while Alpha tied Epsilon Alumni and lost to Xi. Unfortunately, our ADX team faced off against the eventual ADX winner in the opening game. The SDSU chapter's large and aggressive O- and D- lines were too much for the ladies of USC and they were eliminated from the tournament.

After a delicious lunch courtesy of Kappa, we returned to the tournament. Omega was seeded the #1after our dominant performance earlier in the day, while Alpha began seeded a solid #4. Omega defeated Beta chapter while Alpha beat Epsilon. The two Pi chapter teams then had the poor luck of being paired off against each other. It was a close match that turned into a defensive battle, but Omega eventually prevailed. Unfortunately, several players on both teams were injured and knocked out of future play. For the championship, Omega played against Xi, the team from Colorado. It was a fierce struggle but we had given our all in the preceding civil war and Xi proved too much for us. After the game, us, our ADX, and Xi all went to In-N-Out and hung out. The Xi guys are a solid group of guys and it was fun meeting them. It is great that their long drive out from Boulder proved worthwhile for them. Overall, it was a fun day (albeit a long one) and we met a bunch of people from other chapters.

Parents' Weekend 2008

By Daniel McEntee

This past weekend was Parents' Weekend here at USC and AGO organized some fun events for the entire family. On Friday evening the Weaver family hosted a parents' mixer at their home. The parents apparently had a good time there and got to meet one another before the game. On game day, most of the AGO parents and siblings went and watched the game in a big group since AGO had bought up a section of seats for the game. After our shut-out of ASU, everyone returned to the house, where Leora had an amazing victory feast waiting for us. Ricky said a few words on behalf of E-board and we proceeded to mingle with each other's families and eat BBQ chicken sandwiches, baked beans, coleslaw, and fudge brownies. To cap the night off, we watched Florida rout LSU. Good times abounded for all yesterday.

AGO Fall Invite

By Daniel McEntee

We held our fall invite this last Friday at the Discovery Science Center in Santa Ana. Although there was no official theme, many couples decided to dress up as nerds. My personal favorites were the dinosaur, the space pirates, and the time travelers. Most of us went out to some fine dining beforehand (P.F. Chang's and El Cholo were popular locations) and then we all met up back at the house between 7 and 8 pm. We then rode in two school buses down to Santa Ana and our childhood, singing humorous children's' songs on the way. We had rented out the entire first floor of the center, which had numerous interesting attractions. We lied on a bed of nails, felt a 6.1 earthquake, watched a 3-D film on dinosaurs, and did other educational things. The pledges even made a giant human pyramid to entertain everyone and impress the girls. Overall it was a fairly fun time for all, especially for many of our dates.

Helenes Exchange

By Daniel McEntee

This past Thursday AGO held an exchange with the USC Helenes. A large group of them came over to the house and we visited with them for several hours. Some of the pledges grilled tasty chicken tacos, which were a big hit. It was fun getting to know the girls and I personally had some interesting conversations with them. The pledges soon started an around the world ping pong tournament that the girls loved (some of them didn't want to leave because the game was so fun) and the foosball was also quite popular. They seemed to have a good time and we certainly did. We hope to do something again with them in the future - they were a great group to do an exchange with.

AGO Reclaims Top Fraternity GPA

Daniel Jay Mcentee

I am excited to announce that AGO reclaimed the top fraternity GPA based off of this last semester's grades. AGO averaged a strong 3.36 GPA, up from last fall's 3.27 average GPA and well above the fraternity average (3.20), male average (3.19), and undergraduate average (3.26). With God's assistance, we strove to do our best in school this last year and our +0.09 GPA increase was one of the largest on the row. As Christians, we believe that working hard and succeeding in school is important since doing so honors God and sets a positive example for others. We pray that this current semester results in similar achievement.

The Longest Day

Daniel Jay Mcentee

USC played Ohio State this last Saturday for our home opener, as most of you probably know. Widely viewed as the most important regular season match-up of the season, the game was sure to be crowded. AGO has a policy of being one of the first (if not the first) groups in line. We do this so that we can all get excellent seats, which is tricky since there are so many of us. We knew that people were going to be there early, so about 20 of us left our house at 6:00 am and arrived at the line around 6:20 am, even though kick-off did not occur until 5:15 pm. Arriving this early still put us behind about 20 or so people, but we were the first big group. While we dined on free Chick Filet sandwiches and received Home Depot hardhats and banners (ESPN College Gameday was being held at USC), more and more AGO members and friends trickled in. To amuse ourselves, we studied, played cards, slept, and talked with one another.

By noon, our party of AGO, ADX, and other friends had swelled to over 50 in number, and there were probably 80 AGO + friends by kick-off. After 7 hours in line, we were let into the stadium, only to wait around for another 4 hours for the game to start. The game itself was almost anticlimactic after waiting in line for long, with USC routing OSU 35-3. While certainly enjoyable to watch, the game was never close and USC effectively won the game by half-time (really, in first quarter). However, it was exciting to see how effective both our offense and defense were against a top 5 team. The team this year reminds me of the 2004 and 2005 teams. Hopefully it can avoid missteps can win another national championship. After our victory, everyone headed back to the AGO house, where a giant feast of various delicious meats, coleslaw, bread, and beans awaited us. Overall, it was a great day, though all of us were dead tired by the end, especially those of us who had spent over 15 hours at the Coliseum.

AGO Fall 2008 Rush a Smashing Success

By Daniel McEntee

AGO kicked off the semester with the most successful rush in the chapter's history. Over 50 guys attended our various rush events, which began on August 24th with the group IFC barbeque in the quad, where we served our trademark guacamole and bacon burgers. The following day we grilled delicious carne asada back at our house and played some intense Texas holdem and blackjack. The winner of the tournament won an autographed Pete Carroll football. On Tuesday we went bowling and then hit up Pink's Hotdogs for some deliciously unhealthy food. We had to wait in line for quite some time but the food was worth it. While there, we conducted our semesterly chilidog challenge. Matt Potter won again, handily defeating his challengers. Wednesday had us grilling delicious beef brisket (so good!) and chorizo on our front porch before heading off to the various campus ministries with the rushees. We then reconvened at Tommy Trojan and had an exciting capture the flag match, with yellow winning twice. On Thursday we met up and headed over to Dockweiler Beach, where we played football, frisbee, and a variety of other games. We dined on pizza and then started a roaring bonfire. We sang some worship songs and then Josh Cariaga spoke about his experiences with AGO and its effect on him. We closed out the night by tossing all our wood in the pit and making the bonfire massive – it grew so hot one had to stand at least 10 feet back to avoid being burned. On Friday we took those who received bids out to Korean BBQ and had some all you can eat meat before heading back to the house for some fun. We then reconvened on Monday and pinned 17 new pledges. So let's give it up for the Pi pledge class of the Pi chapter of AGO!

Wannabe Wicked Competition

By Ron Sasaki

Last Wednesday, our very own Cameron Ernst had the opportunity to perform in front of hundreds of screaming fans. He was a finalist in the Wannabe Wicked Competition at Universal Studios Citywalk.

Cameron advanced to the finals by finishing in the top three of a preliminary round of competition in July. Supported by dozens of loud friends, Cameron sang an amazing version of “Dancing Through Life.” He certainly impressed the judges, receiving very positive comments from all five judges. As the competition progressed, it became clear that all fifteen finalists were very talented and extremely qualified to win the first prize of appearing in the musical. Unfortunately, Cameron did not win the competition, but certainly won over the crowd with his amazing voice and stylish dance moves.

Friends and Neighbors Day

Ricky Cambier

This past Saturday saw several members of AGO participate in the annual Friends and Neighbors Day. The purpose of the event was for USC students to reach out to the community surrounding USC and volunteer their time to improve it. Ron Sasaki and Mark Harrison took part in an effort to garden an area in Exposition Center. Matt Gin, Eric Dressler, and Ricky Cambier had the opportunity to learn about the Figueroa Corridor and find areas that could use improvement. Robert Moore and Brandon See went to the neighborhood council in order to spread information to the surrounding area. The experience was both fun and enriching as the members served the local community.

AGO Mid-summer Reunion

Ricky Cambier

AGO continued its annual tradition of the Mid-summer Reunion from Friday, July 11-Sunday, July 13. Brothers who are working, interning, or studying locally come back to the house for a weekend of camaraderie and memories.

Friday evening began with an epic trip through the ghetto into Crenshaw to watch the late-night showing of Batman: The Dark Night. Saturday began with a lazy morning eating breakfast at Baja Sharkeez in Manhattan Beach followed by an afternoon of football and volleyball on the shoreline. Then, a feast followed the festivities. Grilled steaks, chicken, and lamb chops were served with gourmet mashed potatoes, and corn on the cob. The night was topped off with cigars and a fun poker tournament. Despite the late night, brothers hit up church and then said their goodbyes as they left to go back to their summer occupations.

The beauty of this brotherhood is that we can come together at any point in our life journey, even if we haven't seen each other for a while, and the bond feels like we never left each other. As we spend time away doing what God calls us to do, we realize the impact and value AGO has. It's in this place that God forges relationships that will last beyond a lifetime, a fraternity for eternity.