Battle of Barton

Sean Donegan
Alpha Gamma Rho

On Feb. 4, the Brothers of Chi Phi teamed up with the three branches of the Cornell ROTC Program to host the premiere Battle of Barton. Starting at 3:00 p.m., coed teams of five stormed Barton Hall to compete in a series of athletic challenges including an equipment haul, sprint relay, pull-up/flexed arm hang, and a series of a tugs-of-war. Still dressed in their coats and ties from the A.D. White Leadership Conference, members of participating houses watched and cheered for their team as they faced off in multiple elimination rounds, 

Steven Sacks (’12) an active in Seal & Serpent and a Marine Option in the Naval ROTC program noted that “It was inspiring to see all three branches of Cornell’s ROTC working together with our Greek Community to host an enjoyable fundraiser that will hopefully begin an annual tradition that supports out nation’s wounded warriors.”

Each team payed a $25 entrance fee, all of which went to benefit the Wounded Warrior Project, a nonprofit organization that works to raise awareness and to enlist the public’s aid for the needs of severely injured service men and women, to help severely injured service members aid and assist each other. As the hours passed and teams were eliminated athletic, ROTC, and Greek teams continued to persevere through competition after competition, encouraged by their fellow teammates and friends.

Katherine DiPastina (‘13) a member of Phi Beta Phi, reflected that “the Battle of Barton was very physically demanding, more so than we expected, so our support for one another helped us push through the tougher obstacles. Overall it was really fun playing against one another and we were proud to have helped such a great cause.” A sorority that represented the female membership of most teams, Katherine found that “it was great to do this event with a bunch of my sisters because, in spite of being divided into several different teams, we still were rooting for each other in the events.”

In the end, the first Battle of Barton was won by Tim Kozen ('11), James Cummings ('14), Shawn Smith ('14), Ryan Stroup ('15), and Katerine DiPastina ('13) a team made up of members of Chi Phi and Pi Beta Phi. Second place went to the Men's Crew Team, and third went to Alpha Gamma Rho and Alpha Epsilon Phi members. Overall, the event included nineteen teams, raising $611 for the first of hopefully many Battle of Bartons.

Vice President of Chi Phi, Nick Perez (’14) noted that “Tim Bruhn (Chi Phi Philanthropy Chair and member of Order of Omega) and Chuck Motzer of Naval ROTC did a great job on Chi Phi’s end of organizing the event... seeing Chi Phi’s working together with athletic teams, ROTC groups, and other Greeks to support the WWP was great. I hope that we can expand the event to help our veterans even more in the years to come”