Actually, no; it's the *chapter's* say on whether joint classes and projects happen, not any one particular officer.

UPDATE!
 

Our Pledge Initiation ceremony is next sunday, September 23.
Some members of Beta Beta will be at the ceremony for support; really awesome seeing as they have to come quite a ways to get to Detroit.

And now for my next issue:
We usually do something nice for the pledges when they initiate as pledges, then when they activate as Brothers. Due to the national conference, our funds are a bit short.

Instead of doing our gift bags, which cost 45 dollars a head BOTH times, we were going to do 10 dollar T-Shirts each time.

The first shirt is for them to wear as pledges; it will not contain the Greek Letters. It will be the White/Gold Torch Design as seen in Graphic Standards.

The second shirt will be printed with the Greek Letters for wearing after initiation.

We plan to get these from the APO Collection at US Greek, but I must say that I have had more than a few problems with the company. Any recommendations for where else to get them, or maybe get a Torch design Iron-on and do you even think this is a good idea?

And you are most definitely correct :D my apologizes for the oversight.

Very true, I will have the President email Eta Pi and see if they would like to attend our pledge initiation.
Thanks!

Nothing says National Fraternity like having brothers from other chapters at the pledging ceremony. (On another note, I really avoid using the term initiation to refer to the ceremony where students become pledging...)

Oddly enough, I don't think my chapter did anything like that at either ceremony. Nothing for the pledge ceremony and at the brotherhood ceremony it was the big brothers' responsibility.

About the initiation terminology: Duly noted. It has always confused me because we use pledge initiation to refer to taking the oath of pledgeship and Activation as the term for when pledges become full brothers in the fraternity. Weird right?

Also, we thought about giving that responsibility to the Bigs, but the chapter voted it down. Bigs still have the option to purchase something for their Little though.

Yeah, wierd. I don't know if the National Documents are inconsistent or if the common terminology needs to be more "pushed". I know that there are lots of things not common across the fraternity (starting with APO vs. APhiO), but still...

UPDATE!
 

So we had our first pledge ceremony.....SUCCESS!
We also initiated three people who had their ceremony delayed due to a missing advisor.

It was a LOOOONG day, because right after both Rituals, we had a general body meeting.

The Pledge Ceremony yielded 4 Pledges! YAY!

We are having a second ceremony; some of the people who expressed a heartfelt interest in pledging weren't able to make the first one, and we didn't want to exclude them.

After General Body, I got to talk to the pledges, read them risk management, and go over the pledge requirements. They seemed a bit overwhelmed, but happy to begin their journey!

mazel tov! Scheduling one pledge ceremony that everyone can make can be one of the most difficult part of the Membership VP's job...

Second pledge ceremony: FAIL
 

:mad::mad::mad::mad::mad::mad:
I called everyone that entire week before it to confirm attendance. 8 people confirmed that Sunday, September 30th at 12 pm on the second floor of the Student Center, they would be in attendance.
I tell them that I will call them the day of at 11:30 am, 30 minutes before the ceremony, as a reminder.
THE DAY OF, though I called, and texted, and the potentials confirmed, I got about 7 text messages at NOON, when the ceremony was supposed to start, telling me they would not make it.
And one person said she didnt come because she didnt have anything business casual to wear.
But I didn't find this out until THREE DAYS LATER and through my friend.
Because no matter how many times I texted and called, no one responded, and I had all the right number because I talked to them all in person AND on the phone.
The VERY SAME DAY, after the designated ceremony time passed and the pledge class was in session, a pledge dropped out, complaining that "This club is asking for too much, and the pledgemaster is too aggressive." (The emphasis belongs to the pledge.) THIS IS WHAT HE TOLD OUR CHAPTER COMMUNITY ADVISOR, WHO ALSO HAPPENS TO BE OUR SECTION 55 CHAIR. The pledge hadn't even sat through the first class!!!!! He walked in late, then made the declaration to the chapter president. He did not attend ONE service project, went to one fellowship, and didn't pay his fee.:mad:
Before this though, instead of talking to me about his concerns, he voiced them to two active Brothers who happen to be his friends.
And he subsequently lost them as friends, due to the fact that our chapter is 95% female, and he said, and I quote, " I don't see how FEMALES are a fraternity. You all are a club, not a Fraternity."
They gently explained to him our history, which he would have known had he sat through the first pledge class. BUT NOOOOO, two Active Brothers who happen to be female can't possibly know what they are talking about.:rolleyes:
ON TOP OF THAT, we find that the class of Brothers we just initiated due to a missing advisor delaying our ceremony, complained to our SECOND community advisor that the pledge program (which THANK GOD was before my tenure) carried some extra requirements that were "secret" and could have opened us up to a risk management issue.
Couple that with accusations of me being aggressive, and my pledge program is now under intense scrutiny. Not that it matters, because my program adheres to the National Pledging Standards, and the pledges have been read our Risk Management Policy, and I am fully transparent with all pledge class proceedings. I even give actives binders and worksheets to use in class!
Then, as if all that was not enough, I was lenient on the collection of fees. Two paid, the other two did not, and one of the other two dropped, so now I just costed the chapter money. The other pledge who did not pay has been MIA, and I knew he had a personal problem going on, but I talked to him since the incident. Now he is either avoiding me, or....I don't know.
Since I am also acting Treasurer (our treasurer has been MIA since CAPS) I feel absolutely horrible!
Then we have Sectionals coming up--NOBODY PAID YET. So we are using the chapters current funds, and the members will reimburse. BUT FIRST, they must pay dues. All dues are due October 7th, NO EXCEPTIONS. Which sucks, because even I don't have the dues until October 8.
Let's not even start on Nationals funding.

And forgive me; I will modify this post if you all do not believe that this is in good taste or that I am airing my chapters dirty laundry.
I just needed to get it all off my chest with out causing drama in the chapter.
Any and all comment is welcome, as is any GC snark that I am opening myself up to :D

Ouch! Other than that Mrs. Lincoln how was the play... At least the Section chair is involved early...

Section Conference!
 

Section Conference was awesome; all the actives, alumni and pledges that went had an excellent time!

Nu Beta were excellent hosts!

Taking on a new pledge....
 

I am taking on a new pledge, though I didn't really want to.
I feel they may be too far behind and will not complete the program.
The chapter president as well as the other members of the pledge class agreed that this person should be given another chance (this was the potential new member that didn't show because they didn't have anything business casual to wear :confused:)
I am asking for their fee UPFRONT so that I don't have another fiasco like the one I caused before.
I feel that because the chapter prez is their friend, they are going to expect concessions and leniency, which I WILL NOT GIVE.
This person is already entering the pledge class late; they must work twice as hard if they expect to activate.
They have 3 service hours already, due to them attending a service project that my chapter had, and we agreed to apply those points.
She has missed the first test though, and has a lot of catching up to do if she expects to meet the requirements.

MY PERSONAL OPINION: The potential new member is a flake. I don't think that this person is going to follow through on ANYTHING. She has demonstrated to me, even before the clothing fiasco, that she is unreliable, inconsistent, and flighty.
I don't want to invest in someone who isn't going to contribute to the health of the chapter.

I am hoping she proves me wrong.

Thoughts?

Lack of Business casual in and of itself should not be an issue long term. With this much notice, something can be found for initiation. I worked with a chapter that did pledging out at a scout camp. But not showing up due to that, hmm...

New pledge under these circumstances should require chapter approval.

I'd give the first test to the pledge anyway as makeup, presuming they can get most or all of the information from the pledge manual/other similar sources...

The new pledge is taking their first test on Sunday, while the other pledges are on their second test.

The new pledge agreed to take their second test Wednesday of next week so she can finnaly be on the same page as the others, and not initiate two weeks later.

The pledges are bonding with the chapter and each other quite nicely. This is PROOF that hazing has no place in Fraternity life.

I love all of them; I see them on campus and we hug and chat and keep in touch. One of the pledges complained she didn't have the money to get anything to eat, and was on her way to work and was having a generally terrible, horrible, no-good day.
Though I was quite grumpy myself, and hadn't had breakfast, I gave her the granola bar I just bought without a second thought, gave her a big hug, and told her that things were going to brighten up.
The smile on her face made me remember why I joined Alpha Phi Omega.
Aside from my pledge class, I haven't really hung out much with other members of our chapter, and missed bonding and encouragement and general friendship. Thats one of the main reasons I wanted to be pledgemaster, so that I could foster and encourage that bond.
I almost cried with happiness.
Later on, I will be helping her with her English homework :D
And they rock at service projects.
Our chapter is most definately recruiting the right ones.

How many currently in the pledge class?

Now there are 3 :) Happy Happy Joy Joy!

Welcome to all prospective member of APO! My APOversary is November 19, 2000.

I'll make sure to remember! Mine isn't for a while.....

So we set the pledge class project, it is going to take place during NOEL NIGHT!
The pc president is talking to the Detroit Public Library, Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History, and Barnes and Noble, all venues that host Noel Night events.
The pledges are doing Cards for smiles, which is where we give cards to the terminally ill at Childrens hospital. They have a lot of rules, and the cards have to be laminated once we finish drawing them all, but I am confident in the pledges!
Noel Night is a big thing in Midtown Detroit, and we hope that a lot of community members will stop by and help make the cards.
As an incentive, everyone who does a card gets a blueberry candy cane and a thank you note!
This will be fun!

When is Noel night? Initiation will be before Xmas, right?

Noel Night is December 1st, the deadline for their service project to be completed is December 2nd, and they will initiate on December 9th, the 6th anniversay of Zeta Pi's rechartering!

Its a tight schedule, I will admit, but good ol' Wayne State and late final exams makes it almost nessecary. We like to have everyone intiated before finals start; one less thing to worry about.

Cool. I hope there is no problem with the Noel Night...

I definitely agree with initiations before finals. Fall semester tends to be particularly tight...

I know of only one chapter that pledges in the Fall Semester and initiates in the Spring, Theta chapter at UVA. I've never gotten a straight answer as to whether time not in school should count toward the time in the 6-10 weeks, but given as far as I can tell Theta has been doing this longer than the current Region III Director has been a brother, I doubt that they are going to get in trouble for that. I definitely wouldn't recommend a chapter changing to that...

if it isn't one thing, its another :(
 

:(
Apparently, the pledge class president just notified me that Childrens Hospital does not accept donated cards, even if laminated.
But the pledge class vp of service works there, and she said they said it was okay.
We have to get to the bottom of this, or pick another project... FAST. :(

Hate to get derivative, but just in case, what is UDM's pledge class doing?

GAHHH!!! I have totally been slacking on the inter-chapter events.
There meetings are WAAAAY later than ours on Sundays. Since no one in the chapter has a car (my husbands car died) and trying to go anywhere on the bus on a sunday ensures you will be waiting for at least two hours, I dont know.

I am going to be giving them a call, should have done it WAAAAYYYY sooner.

Maybe they can come visit?

UPDATE
 

So, I have been totally negligent on posting :( Sorry!

My chapter initiated the 3 pledges on December 9th. All of them totaled at least 45 service hours each, way more than the required 20.
They attended almost EVERY General Body meeting, as well as Committee Meetings, and planned and completed a wonderful Christmas themed service project! :D
I am so proud of them.
I held an exit interview of sorts, where I asked them what they felt we could do to improve the pledge program.
One said the program was awesome, and that no changed were needed. One said that we needed to have more fellowship activities just for the pledges, and a third said the same. She didn't feel connected to her pledge brothers as well as she would have liked to.

I would like to include more fellowships, but as pledge educator, I don't feel that it is my total responsibility to plan fellowships for them. I planned one or two, and told them that if they wanted to have more, or do something completely different, then it would be up to them to plan it. I reiterated that during the exit interviews as well.
Since they have been active, they have been more than productive Brothers.
They coordinated the gift wrapping party for our Adopt a Family Project, helped paint the Spirit Rock, completed our showcase for the Fraternities anniversary, and expressed interest in assisting members of the Executive Board.

I am pleased at the direction my chapter is taking; I was really concerned that we were going to lose an entire pledge class (like we did Spring 2012; all of the Brothers from that pledge class initiated, but were never heard from again, although you will see them on campus in letters all the time :mad: )


A few things I WILL make sure to include: More Intra-chapter things. The pledges have met Brothers from Eta Pi, but haven't hung out with them much since Section Conference.
More fun activities like APO Jeopardy or APO Bingo. We didn't get to play much because we kept falling behind :(
More emphasis on service: I want them to begin thinking about how to plan a project from day one, so that we don't have them doing a project the day before the deadline.

I loved this experience of cultivating and guiding our new members; can't wait for next semester's class!

Congrats!
 

Congrats on the three new brothers?

Brothers wearing letters who have gone completely inactive is a completely different issue. :(

Hope that the two chapters can stay in good contact!

:D:D
Thanks much, I have never before felt so involved in my chapter.

That's great, are you pledgemaster again next semester?

Congrats on the new brothers!

I agree with Randy in wishing for the two chapters to be in contact with each other! :-)