Imagine having an interactive map of the location of every Tau Beta Pi Bent monument across the country with photos and information about the chapters they belong to! Paul H. Kimpel, DE A ’70, and Neal T. Bussett, CA Xi ’09, came up with the idea of Bent-O-Rama during a visit in 2018 to UC Irvine for a district meeting.
“It’d be really great to have a website to share Bents and post where they are,” Neal thought, so he and Paul got to work the next day on the development using the Google Maps API. With just a small list of coordinates of Bent monuments he had visited, Paul was able to put the first few markers on the map. By November 2019, development was complete enough to conduct a beta test with the District 16 chapters at their Fall Conference, resulting in the first dozen Bents being established on the site. Because it was too late to prepare a presentation for the 2019 Convention, and with the COVID-19 Pandemic following shortly after, it took several years to kick off.
Bent-O-Rama officially debuted at the 2022 Annual Convention in Knoxville, Tennessee. At least 60 collegiate and alumni chapters submitted their information shortly after, and currently, around 77 collegiate chapters have shared the locations of their Bent monuments. There is a total of 81 physical Bents, three virtual, two Sigma Tau pyramids, plus four alumni chapters!
When you click on the icons on the Bent-O-Rama map, you’ll see that every collegiate and alumni chapter has its own ‘home page’ where officers can share the locations of their monuments and other pertinent information regarding the chapter.
The Oklahoma Alpha Chapter provides an excellent example of how each chapter page can be utilized. It demonstrates how a chapter can configure its presence on the website to share information about them, the Bent and Sigma Tau Pyramid locations, and upcoming meetings! While Bent-O-Rama is primarily about the Bent monument, it is an ideal place to share history, photos of activities, and goals.
But if Bent-O-Rama is about sharing Bents across the country, what about the universities that don’t have monuments installed on their campus?
Not every chapter has a physical Bent, so Paul utilizes the concept of virtual Bents, whether they are 3D models superimposed over where they would ideally be on campus or the location of the school of engineering. In the case of the New York Beta Chapter at Syracuse University, their Bent, “Bentley,” has been kidnapped by construction workers who have allegedly placed the monument in storage. Their solution was to create a “missing” poster for Bentley.
Who can use Bent-O-Rama, though?
Everyone can! This is a tool to log your personal visits to each monument or to view information about other chapters. All user activity is private, pictures uploaded by users have the option to select “this image can be used for other [TBP] purposes,” with the intention of there eventually being a carousel of photos. Chapter pages are public, but only officers can make changes to them.
Near the end of 2022, an email blast was sent to chapter officers with instructions on how to set up their pages; however, progress is still slow, and several places on the map need to be filled out. “It’s a bit of a chicken and egg situation,” Paul said, citing that chapters must be involved for it to grow. If a chapter has not included their Bent monument, users cannot “visit” them, making it important for officers to input their information!
Perhaps Bent-O-Rama’s future could include a contest in order to garner some interest from the collegiate chapters! Paul had the idea of giving chapters the opportunity to win an award for the most exciting or informative chapter page setup. It would encourage chapters to participate and incentivize them at the same time. Outside the possibility of hosting a competition, there are no current “grand” plans for Bent-O-Rama, though there may be refinements as people use it more frequently.
Paul and Neal are interested in hearing feedback regarding Bent-O-Rama! If you would like to add your chapter’s information or give feedback, reach out to them at support@bents.tbp.org.
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