On Saturday, March 5, 2016, 65 men at the University of California Santa Barbara stood together as they became the Founding Fathers of the California Eta Colony. In attendance were several Phi Delta Theta alumni,  fraternity and sorority representatives from the University of California Santa Barbara Greek community and many other friends and family members. Province President Steve Youts presided over the ceremony as he expressed his excitement for the new group to begin their journey ahead.

Colony Chapter Advisory Board Chairman Stephen Dunne expressed the sentiment of the chapter’s alumni, “It has been a 25-year journey for Phi Delta Theta to return to UCSB. With a colony average GPA of 3.376 and the character of the men in this group, there is no doubt that these men will be active and benevolent contributors to the campus community the way California Eta once was.” He ended by giving a heartfelt thank you to all guests present.

Leadership Consultants Pete Stuart and Danny DuBois have been at the university for the past eight weeks to recruit the Founding Fathers and begin the foundation of what is sure to be a very impressive colony.  The colony is made up of a very diverse group of men from three different countries, in over forty organizations and nearly fifteen different majors. Despite the differences in each of them, they all share a common bond of boundless leadership and strong character.

As the Founding Fathers begin their path to Installation and Initiation, they will surely be faced with challenges on the road ahead, though there is no doubt that the California Eta Colony at the University of California Santa Barbara will be an immense success.