Wow, I thought I did a lot but after reading some of the replies to this thread I feel like a slacker!

I've been a Province Director of Alumnae for five years now. I was President of my Alumnae Association when the treasurer relocated out of state in 2000, and I've been stuck with being treasurer ever since.

Kappa doesn't have a life-loyal program. We pay dues to our Alumnae Associations, then our associations pay $15 per capita fees to the Fraternity. There was recently a big promotion to have alumnae without associations pay percapita fees directly to the Fraternity, which was relatively successful.

I am extremely active within my chapter at a local level. I am the current President of the Housing Corporation. And a lifetime member of the Georgia Alumni Club. As any alum knows, you can be as active or inactive as you wish out of college. It is also important to walk that line between being an interested and supportive alumunus, or "that guy" that still sits on the porch and hits on 19 year old women, hoping you will find one that likes slightly overweight, balding, divorcees.

I definitely don't think you are insulting me if that is what you are referring to. I think there are definitely women out there who fall into the second category, and it bothers me. I think I do a very good job with my advising positions, at our regional conference last month I won the award for best Chapter Adviser and Bentley won for best formal recruitment, which I definitely take some credit for since I was their Recruitment Adviser for two years before becoming their CA last year, and I was very very involved with their rush this year (of course, I also had a very motivated chapter and a wonderful VP Recruitment to work with). As for Tufts, I don't think I did as good of a job because I was focusing on Bentley so much (I hate how rush falls near the same time for every chapter around here!), but it was my first year at the school and I had a lot of learning to do about all the weird things they do like guaranteed bidding. I relied on their CA a lot, but we had a good system going. I feel I made some positive changes, and hopefully things will continue to go well in the future.

As for my alum position, I really took it because no one else will. I definitely don't think I do a very good job, but I figure it's better to have me doing something than no one doing anything at all. This is one area that I definitely can't say no. I was the president for one year because no one else was interested, and last night I was elected VP Programming again because no one else wanted it. All our leadership right now is in the collegiate chapters, it's where everyone would rather be at the moment. We are getting better in my AC, but it's a much slower process changing that than changing our collegiate chapters.

I guess I do fall into the first category, I do live and breath Alpha Phi. I have since I graduated college 5 years ago, and I hope to continue. I know some people may think it's weird or don't understand, but I don't really mind. It's truly what I love to do. I haven't found a profession that interests me (outside of maybe being a mother-due in 5 weeks!), and I'm lucky that my husband makes enough so that I can stay home and that he'd prefer me to. But one thing I've noticed is that no one is ever asking me to do more. It's more me offering to do more. Sometimes I regret it (I was rather upset at myself for volunteering to help Tufts last December), but usually by the end I'm very happy that I did. This semester especially has probably been the most rewarding ever. Bentley seems so happy to have me working with them (and they cried over both awards), and Tufts made me this huge thank you basket full of stuff for helping them with rush. So that makes it even more worth while.

I also feel that since I now have all these skills with rush and in other areas, I should be giving back and using them as much as I can. I joined Alpha Phi at a very hard point in my life, and it was the one thing besides my husband that kept me sane and helped me survive and actually slightly enjoy college. I will never forget that, and I want to do my part to make sure we can be there for other sisters in the same way in the future. I'm hardly perfect at what I do, but I try very hard and enjoy it all.

I think this is my biggest post ever on GC!

Re: Are you an active alumni member?
 

a resounding yes!
 

yes, i am active AND FINANCIAL in my organization and hope to remain that way for the rest of my life...
while everyone does not stay active, upon initiation, it certainly is an NPHC expectation that sorors/frat remain active for a lifetime...
kudos to everyone who continues to support their brotherhood/sisterhood faithfully post-undergrad--when teh REAL work begins!

Re: Re: Are you an active alumni member?
 

And a wonderful Founder Day Chair too.....:D

Oh no, I threw that in at no one in particular on this thread. Some people just seem to offend easily and I was certain someone would take it all wrong. I think I should just put it in my signature........

I think you and I are made from the "same cloth" as the saying goes. I have a habit of taking things when no one else wants to. But yes, some people do great at doing ONE thing at a time and if you give them more, they fail miserably. And in the case of a GLO, it affects so many other people.

Are you involved in the local, regional or (inter)national level?
I am involved locally and internationally.

What do you do, specifically?
I am a founding member of the Pittsburgh Alumnae Chapter. I am the Chapter Key Advisor for the ZN chapter at Slippery Rock U of PA. I also am an ACHIEVE program facilitator - which rocks!

Why did you choose this area of involvement?
I love the collegians. I want everyone to have the great expierence I had!

Are you also a dues paying alumni member of your GLO? If so, does that mean you pay dues only to your local alumni chapter or you pay separate local and international alumni dues to be considered an active alumna? If you are not a dues paying alumni member, why not?

I give to the Phi Sigma Sigma Foundation as often as I can. I pay Alumnae chapter dues. We do not have an International alumnae dues program yet.

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I've been involved locally for about 5-6 years now. I've been the academic adviser and I'm currently the ritual adviser for a local chapter. I've not joined an alum group yet, but plan to soon. I chose to become involved when the chapter needed help, and I just haven't left.

I'm also a charter member of the Life Loyal program through AOII.

Number One, I dont think anyone is throwing barbs at anyone.

Number Two, anyone who donates Time or Money to Either Their Time or Money should be commended.

We who do are a very small % of the Total Organization or Chapter who do not.

If Any Do One Thing, it is a Plus and commendable.

Thank each of You from Me as I know what it is like.

Re: Are you an active alumni member?
 

I am an involved alumna. I am the Alumnae Association Liaison for my chapter. Our Alumnae Associations are online groups that are chapter specific that are set up by headquarters and then have an alumna volunteer from the chapter maintain the group.

I am one of the Founders and the current President of the Southern L.A. County Alumnae Chapter.

I am involved with the South Bay Alumnae Panhellenic Association and serve as Scholarshop Co-chair there.

I did serve on the national Academic Excellence committee but our job is done so that committee is not active anymore.

I pay dues to my alumnae chapter. Phi Sigma Sigma doesn't have national alumnae dues.

I've tried to be as active as possible over the past 2 years since I graduated, but it's difficult. There's no alumnae chapter near me, and the collegiate chapter in town doesn't seem to want help. I've attended conferences at Headquarters about keeping young alumnae active and participated in IMPACT (a leadership program) at the local chapter with women from all over the country. Two weeks ago my collegiate chapter (which is two hours away) held initiation, which I attended. I was asked to be the social advisor when I was there, so I'll be doing that long-distance. I wish there was more I could do. I keep up-to-date via the website and donate whenever possible (we don't have national alumnae dues or a life loyal program... yet). I wish I had an alumnae chapter nearby. There aren't enough in town to create one, but I have met a few in the area with whom I communicate. I just wish I could become more active and give back to the organization that has given me so much.

Xylochick,

I tried to PM you about your local chapter, but your mailbox is full!!

PsychTau

All cleaned out now :)