I see..Most chapters in APO-Philippines were formed by extension membership.. I haven't heard of any chapter which was chartered composed of no APO brothers in the first place.

To start a chapter in a school without one in APO-Phils, usually a brother or brothers would lead in the formation of this chapter either by studying in that school and recruiting. Or students of the school pledge for extension membership in a nearby chapter. Once initiated, they form a chapter.

:)

Interesting. But this just wouldn't work in the US. The distance between schools is too great.

In the 'old days', groups of students would form a group at their school and petition to be chartered as a chapter. We use to require that they opporate as a local group for atleast a year to show they are viable.

Nowadays, our Chartering process goes like this. A group of student expresses interest in being a chapter of APO. they met certain requirements and become an Interest Group. As part of this, we assign one or more APO Alumni to be their sponsor, who will oversee their progress and educate them in APO. Once they met certain requirements, they become a Petitioning Group. A Petitioner is very similiar to being a pledge. The PG again works to met certain requirements, and if they do, the group is chartered as a chapter, and all members are initated as Brothers. The process can take anywhere from 1 to 2 years. While sometimes APO Brothers who are students at the school may be the start for such efforts, its in no way required. We do try to pair up such groups with another local chapter which acts as their 'Big Brother' chapter.

i see..most schools philippine cities are within 30-40 minutes of each other..so extension membership works for us..

in 2006, my region (Region 7) started a chapter in a town college about 4 hours away from the city..brothers who lived in the town served as the core group and on the activation night of the pledges, brothers from the city travelled all the way to the town to attend the ceremony. it was great! the chapter is currently working on its petition for recognition. :)

Distances between chapters
 

Of the first nine chapters of APO-USA, none of them are less than 3 hours travel apart and the ones that are only 3 and 4 hours apart are only that close because of interstates (built in the 1950s). Alpha and Beta are 4 hours apart, mostly on the Pennsylvania Turnpike, Gamma is about 3 hours from Alpha on an interstate that I know wasn't even a thruway in the 1920, Delta is two days travel south, Epsilon is half way across the country, Zeta is all the way across. Eta is about 5 hours (today) from Epsilon and Theta is about a days drive south of Alpha. Iota is about 4 hours (today) from Epsilon.

Kappa is a brisk 15 minute walk from Beta, but that's definitely the exception in the first alphabet.

Randy