Rosstache Week is Heating Up!

With nary three days to go, the many beards and other concoctions created by the men of Ross are being cut down to moustaches by tomorrow. Stachians, you must be down to any combination of a moustache, fu man chu, soul patch, and/or sideburns, your hair may NOT connect below the lip.

Photos are being uploaded to the contest website, if yours is not there or you wish to have one added/changed please email

T-shirts are still for sale, stop in the b-school lounge between 11am and 2pm Monday thru Wednesday to buy one, if you are unable to do so please email sfbrown .

We are almost there men, stay strong! Keep pushing for donations to the PayPal site or in the lounge!

Rosstache Represents at SVCIC Competition

Two of the brothers of the stache, Vikram Vaiysha and Andy Davis stepped up bigtime and with their team won 2nd place in the SVCIC (Sustainable Venture Capital Investment Competition). They were the only people in the entire competition with hair on their faces, yet they stayed strong, did not pick up the razor and kept their faces unshorn throughout. Viva la beard!

Random photos from Happy Hour

McCoy, Proia, Brown and Heidel

Giannino and Erbstein

a non-hairy Dishlip, Silverman and LeBeau

Pictures of Rosstache Past for Inspiration

Many have asked "What should I do?" or "How should I dress?" We are all wrestling with these questions, and figuring out the best option for your particular face is far from easy. But what you can do is view the blogs from last year as follows . . .

2007 home

2007 Contestant Photos

2006 home

As always, email with any questions and go to the PayPal site to donate!

Updates on upcoming events

Hello Rosstachians,

Its coming time to shave those beards into cookie dusters and bring in Rosstache Week! So, here are a few things you should know (and answers to some questions I have been getting):

This Thursday, 3/27, at RSA Happy Hour (7-9)

This Thursday is the kickoff of Rosstache Week! We would like those of you who can make it to Happy Hour on Thursday to shave something fun into your beards. Last year I did some mean chops, but this year I’ll be doing something a little different – We’ll post some sample pics to the blog to give you some ideas. The main purpose is to raise awareness for Rosstache Week. We will be taking pictures to post and send out in promotional emails. You don’t need to keep your crazy look, but you have to keep at least your mustache, of course.

Shave to the ‘stache

You MUST be down to just the mustache by Tuesday, April 1^st. This year we will allow the Fu Manchu and soul patch.

T-shirts

T-shirts will be available during happy hour this Thursday, 3/27. Don’t worry if you didn’t tell us you wanted one… we got extras.

Next Thursday, 4/3, at RSA Happy Hour (7-9): JUDGING

We will be sending out more information about the final event this Friday. However, we will be asking people to sign up for different categories (e.g. Cop Stache). We are asking you to sign up in advance so that we don’t have everyone doing one category. We will also be giving out trophies for best stache in every category and money raisers (the trophies are pretty cool and it is the first year Rosstache has them – think collectors items). Outfit/costume/look counts for these awards (except the money) so do your best to look your funniest, best, or worse.

Fundraising

We have over $650 of personal donations so far… good work! Keep it coming… we still have a lot of work to do. Below is the link you can send to friends, family, etc. that will bring them to the site with the directions for donating. Also, if you would like to get an employer to donate or if it is a donation of serious size you can email us for instructions for making sure the donation is tax deductible. Using the fact that some companies match donations is a good way to get a good size check.

‘Stache on!!

-Chris and your faithful Rosstache leaders

Amit's story of courage

In a recent e-mail we published the story of an amazing MBA, Amit Nagpal.

His first e-mail to the Stachetrust was in reference to a second lunch meeting with a potential hiring company. The reply was to suggest that he shave if it was for a job, that we would all understand. But the following is this man’s reply.

Just to let you know, I didn't shave it off.
Instead I wrote an email before explaining my love for Rosstache and it's philanthropic goals. Although it wasn't for full-time, as it was a start-up company, I believe the growth indicated maturity and the speckled gray hairs represented wisdom.

He gave me some contract consulting work for the next month and a good hourly rate.
Score one for Rosstache.

Hairy & Employed,

Amit

Great Men Wear Moustaches

Many a great man has worn moustaches through history: Albert Einstein, Keith Hernandez, Geraldo . . .the list goes on and on. In some cases, all of the greats have had moustaches, such as in NASCAR. Randy Johnson would not have been as intimidating without his magnificent lip broom. Yes, in some rare cases a man with a moustache goes too far (including others that do not need to be mentioned) but we the men of Rosstache know that a moustache is a true sign of virility and we are proud to grow them for the Ross community, Ann Arbor and even the world (our honorable MAP Stachians).

As such, we announce that we will have an award titled "Best Moustache in Absentia." There are multiple cases of men who want to grow a great stache and support Orchards Children's Services, but some are overseas/abroad or heading to the MBA Games and unable to attend the finals. So if you are unable to make the contest, what we will do is accept photos up until Wednesday at Noon (REVISED since first post) to be posted shortly after to the blog. Send your best moustache photo to REMOVED, we will judge the submissions and announce the winner at the finals as well as by e-mail the next day. The same $15 minimum rule on donations for those being judged in person will follow for these men in absentia as well, but of course the more you raise the better!

A True Sign of Dedication - Picture of the Day

One of our Stachians had a wedding this weekend, in which his wife was a bridesmaid. Did he shave off his facial hair? Did he even turn it into a goatee?
Nope, he kept his beard, so Dan "The Bridesmaid" Gesser has earned "'Photo of the Day" status. Support this man and donate to the cause!

The First Challenge Bet - Sergio Laprade-Velasco

There are men in the Ross community who have had facial hair since coming here, to the point where we have never seen their naked faces. Reading that sentence, I bet one of the first people you think of is the one and only Sergio Laprade-Velasco. Practically born with a goatee in place, the fear of the razor kept him out of Rosstache. Yet he has decided to step up for the good of the charity and put his facial hair up on the charity block. If we raise $150 in Sergio's name, he will pick up the razor and be cleanshaven for the first time in his MBA career. As the first "Shave It" challenge bet of Rosstache, go to the PayPal donation site and click on the "Shave It Award" link, donate any amount of money more than $3, and click on the "Contestants Name" box on the "Please Review Your Donation" page and type in Sergio's name. We will also be taking cash donations for this at any other Rosstache-related events! So support this good man, a great charity and make him shave it off!

Midpoint Photos Part 2

All of the midpoint photos we currently have are uploaded below. Varun "Double H" Chhabra

Shunkar "Tootsie Roll" Sudnaram

Tony "Is" Gross

Tony "10 Hairs" Ouyang

Todd "Major Tom" Bowie

Tim "Love Sick" Lepczyk

Tanuj "More Booze " Mittal

Sri "Double Ds" Maddipati

Nate "Girl Scout" Troup

Matt "Empty Tank" McMurtry

Kevin "Pinner" Dundek

Joe "Hoser" Moser

Joe "Didurmomma" Digirolama

Eric "La Cocina" Vucina

Bryan "Dragon Beard" McCoy

Anugrah "So Huge-ah " Joshi

Amol "Catch em all" Luktuke

"Dear" Abhi Pathak

Aaron "Irish Cream " Bailey
Manish "Da Boss" Dabas

More photos being uploaded tomorrow from happy hour

Until then, here's a pic of some stachians enjoying basketball

Rosstache Midpoint Photos Part 1

In no particular order, here are the pictures of the men of Rosstache as taken on Thursday the 20th as well as others emailed in. If your photo wasn't taken by Steve or Chris on Thursday, please take your own and send it in to rosstacheleaders@umich.edu!

Chris "My way or the Highway" Hart

Josh "- th from" Nothwang

Matt "Coming to America" Schaar

Amit "Alfalfa" Nangalia

Mitch "Super Mario" Weitz

Aaron "3-Degree" Heidel

Mark "The Missing" Link

Christian "Pre-Pre Pubescent" Santiago

Suvro "Gunner" Goswami

Punit "Chinchilla" Chiniwalla

Heath "Toffee Bar" Silverman

Aaron "Willie" Nelson

Nate "Chocolate Syrup " Bosco

Chris "Can Do" Andrews

Justin "Likes to get" Felt

Mike "Aw Shucks" Blais

Amit "Nags " Nagpal

Puneet "Chin Strap" Singh

Andy "Green Beer" Syorka

Steve "Jewbacca" Brown

Chris "Chops" Aurner

Chris "Segway " Wilson

Andy "Don't Worry, Be Happy " Davis

Luke "Baklava" Bakalar

Kwaku "Rocku" Ntoso

Mike "Lazerh " Elzahr

Nick "Pariah" Proia

Ron "The Silver Hammer" Maxwell

Mike "Redman" Garris

Vivek "V-Spot" Gadiraju

Updates, news, sponsorships

As many of you reading this already know, Woodbury Gardens has already stepped up as the title sponsor for Rosstache, and all communications from us from hereon will include them. Through many different avenues we are searching for more sponsors, through the local community, future employers and other connections. If you have any ideas for one and/or want to be further involved in getting money for our great charity, please let us know by emailing rosstacheleaders@umich.edu .

We are currently at 98 men signed up for Rosstache, if you want to be involved or know someone who wants to be involved please have them send us a cleanshaven picture to add to the group. If people are not cleanshaven at this moment, we are reviewing them on a case-by-case basis; in most cases we know that they were cleanshaven within the last week, so we are allowing their entry. If you want to join us please come and talk to us.

We know that your face is getting itchy, trust me that does stop and the soft stage is coming any day now. Failure is not an option; you can look around the school and see the unshaven faces of many of your friends and colleagues to see that you are not alone.

We are soliciting growth pictures to be put onto our facebook page, pictures will also be taken at Happy Hour tomorrow. For now, just keep on growing!

Initiation Day 3

Tim "Love Sick" Lepczyk

Nate "Girl Scout" Troup

Mike "Ah Shucks" Blais

Matt "Empty Tank" McMurtry

Mike "Lazerh " Elzahr

Vinod "The Boston Strangarajan" Rangarajan

TJ "Sacrebleu" Lebeau

Marc "Special K" Berkowitz

Luke "Baklava" Bakalar

Joe "Propane and Propane Accessories" Strickland

Jeff "Loves" Courtney

Jai "Nagonnaworkhereanymore " Narasimhamoorthy

Dan "Wacky Walker" Luber

Max "Uncle Fester" Yutsis

Brad "The Sorta Great"Alexander

Saurabh "Icy Hot" Srivastava

Kwaku "Rocku" Ntoso

Shripal "Gene Simmons" Meghani

Sri "Double Ds" Maddipati

Ryan "Ghost Face Killa" Baxter

Chris "My way or the highway" Hart

Bill "Blow Up" Doll

Aaron "Willie" Nelson

Steve "Sleeveless" Brunn

Ron "The Silver Hammer" Maxwell

Matt "Neil" Armstrong

Kevin "Rizzo" Rizanski

Harsh "Nasty " Nahar

Evan "Pederass" Appleby

Eric "Big Softey" Satler

Chris "Segway " Wilson

Andy "Don't Worry, Be Happy " Davis

Alok "Go For Broke" Dalal

Vik "Sneakers" Anbazhagan

Aaron "Irish Cream " Bailey

Eric "La Cocina" Vucina
Shimbee "Sushi" Nakata
Amol "Look-took-eh?" Luktuke
Amar "The Hammer" Ravi
Aaron "Colonel Sanders" James

Initiation Day 2

Abhishek "Let's Polka" Gopalka

Justin "Sherwin" Williams

Ohad "Desi" Dessau

Varun "Double H" Chhabra

Anugrah "So Huge-ah " Joshi

Dan "Pho Rich " Korich

Divyesh "Operandi" Modi

Paul "Sandy" Sandhu

Vik "3V" Vaishya

Nick "Pariah" Proia

Abhi "P-Hak" Pathak

Sonal "Sassy" Singla

Travis "Not So" Coy

Jeff "LeCar" LeBrun

Sid "Vicious" Sinha

Josh "Dawgzn" Katz

Amit "Nags " Nagpal

Mike "Ferus" Garris

Josh "- th from" Nothwang

Dave "Herbie" Erbstein

Aaron "AA" Goldstein

Puneet "Gin " Singh

Todd "Major Tom" Bowie

Amiyah "Brown Bert " Setu

Manish "Da Boss" Dabas

Eric "Double" Chen

Dave "El Nino" Giannino

Dan "Balsa" Wood

Ted "Irish" McElroy

Matt "Schaarrkk" Schaar

Rosstache Initiation - Day 1 Continued

Ben "Father and" Friedenson

Dave "Hank Steinbrenner" Gaucher

Samir "The Machine Gunner" D'Sa

Shunkar "Tootsie Roll" Sudnaram

Aaron "3-Degree" Heidel

Travis "T.T. Boy" Trembath

Grant "The General" Summers

Sriram "Sleepy" Viji
Amit "Unabomber" Nangalia
Kevin "Less Than" Fuller
Gregory "Eyebrows" Crane

Joe "Dirt" Ferencz
Zvika "Never Can Get" Enav

Heath "Toffee Bar" Silverman
Vivek "V-Spot" Gadiraju

Rosstache Initiation - Day 1

Mark "Iron-On Chef" Flynn

Dan "Guess Who" Gesser

Nate "Chocolate Syrup " Bosco

Tanuj "More Booze " Mittal

Chris "Can Do" Andrews

Suvro "Suvrock" Goswami

Steve "Borat II" Brown

Brian "Vespa" Harley

Mark "The Missing" Link

Nate "Schmid Break" Schmid