90 year old becomes ZTA through AI
 

Came across this on the AFLV website.
How wonderful that those women could make her dream of being a Zeta come true.

http://www.cjonline.com/news/2011-10...e-begin-age-90

Aww, this is such a sweet story! Kudos to Zeta Tau Alpha for giving this woman a chance to finally fulfill a lifelong dream. :)

Not to be a Debbie Downer, but based on the facts in the article, I don't think she will be a real AI. It sounds more like they are granting her some type of honorary membership. It sounds like she never completed college.

I think only a ZTA could comment on whether or not it would be an honorary membership or not. If she were initiated as an Alpha Sigma Alpha sister, she would be considered a sister with no special designation, other than the fact she joined as an AI.

I think this is a beautiful story!

I think that is wonderful!

thank you TPA85, for posting this story. how appropriate that my new sister, bertie mcconnell, will receive her certificate of membership on her birthday, which is our founders day.

welcome sister bertie! way to go washburn sisters!

What a wonderful initiation THAT will be! Congratulations to all. Surely ZTA will have a magazine article - ZTAs, please post when they do!

This brings happy tears. :) I love that being a ZTA has been a lifelong dream for her even if she never finished college.

(Having a specific fraternity or sorority as an aspiration or lifelong dream always makes me smile.)

What a wonderful story!

Right, but the article does not make it sound as though they held an initiation. They reference a luncheon, but that's it.

^^^And a membership certificate.

Congratulations to the Chapter President, as well, who spearheaded the move when she could easily have ignored the stories, or sent chapter greetings, or whatever. Sounds like Mrs. McConnell is in good company.

Beautiful story and wonderful young collegians to took the initiative to make it happen.

It sounds real, either the newspaper writer 1) doesn't know much about sorority initiations or 2) does know/is Greek and is discreet to the point of being unnecessarily closed-mouthed.

Not all groups require a college degree or college, period, for AI.

To the best of my knowledge, there are no honorary memberships in NPC groups.

Not true.

I stand corrected - which group has honorary memberships?

Yeah, I'm pretty sure Sigma Delta Tau has some kind of honorary membership. But this article doesn't sound like that to me. It sounds like they're CELEBRATING her initiation with a lunch.

Maybe a ZTA can comment on whether or not the organization offers honorary memberships?

You know, I would bet that the Council of any NPC group can issue a waiver to do anything they want...and if they did this here, what a wonderful way to do it!

What a wonderful story, love it. Great move by the collegiate chapter, good to hear someone going out of their way to make something like this happen!

this!

They might have waived a college requirement, but I don't see how her experience is any different than anyone who pledged, dropped out of school, and became an instant alumna. (Keep in mind this was 70 years ago!!* Rules for joining any sorority weren't quite as stringent as they are now, from everything I've heard.)

Unless ZTA initiation lasts for a week or includes a triathalon, I'm sure she could get through it. :)

*Saying that WWII was 70 years ago makes me feel REALLY freaking old.

We do! And they are men!

It doesn't really matter one way or another if she is an AI or an honorary member. I think I just had it in my head that AI required a 4-year degree. I didn't know that individual groups could waive that requirement, seeing that it is an NPC agreement that they can not waive at the collegiate level.

There is no NPC requirement that you HAVE a college degree only that you be enrolled in pursuit of one. You don't lose your membership because you quit school before you get your degree. You become an alum when you leave school - with or without a degree.

Exactly. The girls who pledge as first semester freshmen and then transfer/drop out/what have you are still alumnae, even if they were only active collegian sisters for 2.5 seconds.

No doubt every group that does AI has different requirements. A college degree is not required for Gamma Phi - and as has been referenced before, those who pledge and initiate as collegians are full-fledged alumnae whether or not they receive their degree before leaving college as long as they are in good standing with the chapter.

I know some fraternities had something similar to AI after WWII - initiating men who had been pledges but left before initiating because they went to war. I don't know the current state of AI-type programs for IFC or related fraternities. Gentlemen?

I feel like that kind of defeats the purpose. We don't initiate at the end of four years after all. I get the 'put in the effort and don't get the results' feeling and all but...

The guy who ran the training I just took put it like this, he'd rather train his potential leaders and have them take that training elsewhere than have them learn nothing and keep them. In this situation, better to have the alumnae members, who have at least a chance of reactivating or being active alumnae than to not have them at all OR keep new members dangling around without initiating.

How nice of ZTA to initiate her and how wonderful of her daughter to share her mom's story.

Would you be in a hurry to see a 90 year old woman in a catsuit? *shudder*

I think this is a lovely thing to do, no matter what the details are. The ZTA Washburn chapter must be a classy group of ladies!

Wow, she'd be really annoyed that we had a national council member who had the temerity to transfer and only be active after two years as an active collegian. :rolleyes:

Most girls who initiate and then transfer/drop out/leave school the next semester DO NOT do it because they want to leave their sorority. Either they change majors to something the current school doesn't offer, or don't make grades, or have family issues, or lose their $$$ source. It's not very "sisterly" to say that these people are undserving of alumnae status, ESPECIALLY if family or schooling is involved, as that's something that I think all sororities would say comes before your membership. They sometimes are better sisters and better sources of support than girls who stay around all 4 years...

Well then, perhaps her chapter should get a smaller house so it won't be thrown into a maelstrom if someone's dad loses his job and she can't come back to school. Sorry, but for as rarely as it happens - and as I said, not usually for reasons the member is happy about - bitching about something like that is just plain straight up bitchy, house issues or not.

On a more positive note, this woman can still have an active alumna life. Our eldest sister became active in an alumnae chapter when she was 100 until she passed at 103 and got to witness her DIL get initiated through AI. I met her DIL at a District Day.

OK, I found a pic on Zeta's Facebook page of the luncheon but I can't get it to attach. Any suggestions?

Was this the photo?

http://a2.sphotos.ak.fbcdn.net/hphot...67715920_n.jpg

Awesome!!! Thanks. It was driving me crazy on figuring out how to post a pic.

[On a Mac] I right-clicked and selected 'Copy Image Location' and pasted the URL here. HTH!

Presumably because of the national spread of, and interest in, the story, Anderson Cooper, no less, will be interviewing her. So she gets her dream of becoming a Zeta, and a few minutes of chatting with an actual Vanderbilt. Air date not certain, AFAIK. Just another fun thing about a warmfuzzy story.

See

http://cjonline.com/news/2011-10-21/...-year-old-zeta