Warren Hartenstine ’67 wasn’t just a member of Kappa Sigma during his undergraduate years. He was very involved in extracurricular activities as well, such as being the right guard for Joe Paterno’s first football team, president of his fraternity, IFC President, a member of Lion’s Paw Senior Honor Society, and a member of Skull & Bones Senior Honor Society. Even with such a vast undergraduate experience, Warren cherishes his time as a Kappa Sigma – even to this day.
Warren joined Kappa Sig because he saw it as an opportunity. He and six other football players wanted to live together, but they didn’t want to live in the dorms. At the time, the Kappa Sig house was built for 60 residents, but only 20 men lived in the house. It was a way for them to define suite-style living and improve the house. That year, Kappa Sig housed 36 people.
The house proved to be a place that sparked many funny and fond memories for Warren. In fact, he claims that the movie Animal House had nothing on the Kappa Sigma house! Some of his favorite memories weren’t meant to be published, but he shared remembrances of how Kappa Sig used to have snowball fights with the lacrosse team, and how brothers would jump off the roof in their underwear onto the snowdrift in the stair tower.
“One of my favorite things about being an active brother was taking a house with 20 people and going from a lower-tier fraternity to winning 3rd place during Spring Week and becoming a leading fraternity a year later,” he said.
Fun and games aside, Warren stated that one of his fondest memories was watching the impact the war had on brothers’ lives. “While we were having fun, external situations in the world got worse, and we grew closer,” he said. “Fraternities went from a place where you socialized as students, to a place consisting of young men dealing with real world problems.”
Warren cites his membership in Kappa Sigma for his success as a business leader and for helping to develop the skills he uses today to find a vision for the projects he has been involved in.
“I also wouldn’t have been associated with so many wonderful people,” he said.
Today, Warren stays connected with many of the brothers through social networking and email, as well as in-person reunions at football tailgates and golf outings.
“You always lose touch with some folks, but the thrill is when you reconnect with them!” he said. “Thank goodness for social networking and e-mail. Without them I wouldn’t have a lot of contacts with many brothers.”
He also financially supports Alpha-Delta in his alumni years, because he knows fraternities typically don’t have a cushion for unexpected problems and thinks alumni should help to support that.
“I don’t think it is fair to burden undergraduates who are already paying the highest tuition for a public land grant university,” he said. “The alumni should be responsible for creating a reserve fund. If you don’t give back financially, you should give back in time or talent.”
“One of my favorite things about my alumni experience is the opportunity to give back,” he added. “I have been on the board, Alumni Council, and annually support the active brothers. I have come to realize that fraternities have increasing value over time. It makes you wonder if the time makes the person or the person makes the time.”
Warren wants to instill those values in the future generations of Kappa Sigs. He has this advice for future brothers: “Remember that subordination doesn’t make better brothers. We can’t train brothers to not maintain the house by passing it off to people learning to become brothers. Pledging is a time of learning and brotherhood is a time of responsibility. Remember AEKBD. It personifies so much of what we are about and who we are. Fraternities are a collegiate experience, but that’s only a part of the story.”
Today, Warren is married and has three kids, two of whom are Greek. He lives in Havre de Grace, Md. After graduation, Warren worked in higher education and eventually got involved in the international fashion business. He is now working with two companies on cloud computing solutions targeting fashion retail.
Reconnect with Warren at [email protected].