Though the entire university and community come together to celebrate VEISHEA, two students play a unique role in planning the celebration each year. BJ Brugman and Michael Weber are the general chairmen for VEISHEA 2011.

Brugman is a  junior in agricultural business from Royal, a town of about 400 people. However, he said transitioning to Iowa State wasn’t difficult.

“It shrinks down pretty quickly,” he said.

Joining a fraternity, Alpha Gamma Rho, and becoming involved with his college helped Brugman find friends with common interests.

His involvement has been diverse: During the past three years, Brugman has worked with Alumni Relations and Membership for Alpha Gamma Rho, been involved with Jr. Greek Council — now Emerging Greek Leaders — is a recruitment and morale chairman for Dance Marathon, the treasurer for Cardinal Key honors society, a women’s basketball scout and has been involved with 4H and Future Farmers of America.

Brugman became involved with VEISHEA his freshman year by joining the Entertainment Committee. He said it was both fun, and a lot of pressure, since so many people in VEISHEA and on campus are interested in what the entertainment will be. 

“If you want to get hooked on something, join the Entertainment Committee,” Brugman said.

His second year, Brugman was an entertainment chairman, before becoming a general chairman this year.

He credited his house with pushing him to get involved early. He said that although members of Alpha Gamma Rho are involved in many things, most of them become involved with VEISHEA at some point. When Brugman came into the house as a freshman, one of the members, Mark Pierce, was a general chairman. Brugman said he looked up to Pierce as a leader and a friend.

“It’s such an honor to lead the event my house is so passionate about,” Brugman said.

Weber, senior in family finance, housing and policy, had a different experience. Growing up in Ames, he attended VEISHEA events on and off every year. However, he became much more interested after being selected as a VEISHEA scholar his senior year of high school and spending VEISHEA on campus.

“I saw what it was all about and thought it was something interesting,” Weber said. 

His freshman year, he joined the Catering Committee, which coordinates the late-night feeds and other events. His second year was spent on the Operations Committee, as the catering liaison, and he spent the following two years as the business manager before becoming a general chairman.

He has also been very involved in different areas of campus. After staying at Acacia fraternity as a VEISHEA scholar and getting to know the guys, he joined freshman year.

In 2009, the 100th anniversary of the ISU chapter, he was the house president and in charge of overseeing the celebration. Weber is also one of two undergraduate counselors for the International Undergraduate Council, a position he will maintain through summer 2012.

“If I had not joined a greek house, I really don’t know if I would have been as involved as I was,” Weber said.

He credited the friendship and personal support offered, as well as the fact that they “bombard you with opportunities.” 

Weber also serves as vice-speaker for the GSB Senate. He said it came as a surprise when he was elected by a handful of people, but he has gotten more involved over the past three years.

“It’s been very enjoyable, working with different student groups and learning about the university and how it works has been interesting,” he said.

Coming from different backgrounds and with different personalities, the two chairmen have found a complementary balance.

“Weber and I complement each other well. He rolls his eyes at me a lot,” Brugman said.

As business manager, Weber had experience working with all facets of VEISHEA, building up a strong base of internal knowledge.

“He can answer just about any question you have for him,” Brugman said about Weber. “I’m kind of a dreamer. Like, ‘What if we,’ and Weber can recall, ‘Well, they tried something like that.'”

Brugman described himself as more of the spokesperson.

“He’s the more outgoing type,” Weber said. “We definitely complement each other well, both in knowledge about VEISHEA and our personalities.”

“They are very much a complement to each other,” said Gail Ferlazzo, associate director of the Memorial Union and one of two advisers for VEISHEA.

Ferlazzo described Weber as being very detail oriented, and Brugman as more likely to ask questions and bring creative new ideas.

She said she has advised six sets of VEISHEA chairpersons, and not all of them worked together so well.

Both have had to face adjustments in stepping into the general chairman role. Ferlazzo described the job as being “the face of VEISHEA,” though the committees do a lot of the legwork, the chairmen deal with everything in the end.

For Brugman, it was about learning to see the big picture. He said when he was involved with the Entertainment Committee, it was all about planning for those specific events, but the chairmen’s job is to check in on everything and help wherever possible.

He said the experience has helped him to learn about being a leader and communicating with different types of people.

“I’ve had the opportunity to work under some great leaders that have given me a good experience, and I hope others can say the same about my run,” Brugman said.

Weber said one of the challenges in his transition has been to let go of the business manager role, and not overstep the current manager. Ferlazzo said that he has known to “very respectfully” defer to the current business manager, Andy DeBoard, when necessary.

Though they have both played huge roles in the VEISHEA celebration, they both said one of their favorite things was seeing how many people are involved and getting to interact with many aspects of the university.

“It’s interesting to see how many different people have a hand in bringing this weeks’ celebration together,” Brugman said. “Like, holy cow … this is the whole university, city, everything.”

The chairmen work closely with their advisers and committee members to plan the celebration.

Brugman said the advisers — Ferlazzo and George Micalone, director of the Student Activities Center — are trusted resources in any situation. In their time together, they have built a personal relationship through their shared passion for VEISHEA.

Ferlazzo said choosing the committee chairmen is very important because they do so much of the planning.

The chairmen agreed that their VEISHEA legacy may be a subtle one.

“I love seeing that the event keeps growing and continuing to improve on what it offers,” Weber said. “We keep adding small things to the event, but overall, it’s VEISHEA.”

Brugman said they have focused on leaving VEISHEA in a strong place to move into the future. For example, VEISHEA has been working to make their budget self-sufficient during the past several years.

“Sometimes the things you’re most proud of might not be the most visible on the surface,” Brugman said. “You don’t have to have just the best VEISHEA ever to leave your mark. Obviously you want everything to go smoothly, for people to have a great time, for the weather to be good.”

“Ultimately, that’s the goal: for the people to enjoy the celebration.”

“It’s going to feel weird once this year is over,” he said.

However, Weber plans to stay in Ames for the next year if he can.