alumna, when did the time come....
 

I am beginning the nesting phase of my pregnancy and while doing tons of laundry, it hit me head on. I'm going to be mom and I don't need my collegiate ADPi t-shirts any longer. I've decided it is time to make them into a quilt, and start my alumna collection of t-shirts.

So I'm curious, at what point did the time come that you decided you no longer were going to wear your collegiate t-shirts? And what did you do with them??

Well, I haven't hit the point of being a mom yet, but I've been 3 years out of college. I have given most of my ADPi t-shirts to my mom for her to make me a quilt. I have kept a few in my closet and wear them around the house. Rarely do I wear them out and about - mostly b/c they are DATED....wearing a t-shirt dated 2001 or prior seems really weird since it is now 2005. Maybe weird isn't the word, but I'm sure you get my point.

I totally understand...mine say 1998. AHHH!!!!

Although I dont normally wear old shirts out, I did wear one out the other day that said 1999 and these teenagers looked at me like I was old.

I dont wear mine much unless I get in the mood to wear one, but rarely do I wear them anymore. I still wear them around the house here and there, but I have so many shirts it just depends what I pull out of my dresser.

I too have a quilt made from all my shirts that my grandma made for me and I keep my 2 diamond plaques, my diamonds made me up in the guest room.

I think it really happened for me the middle of last year. I just wore them less and less cause I have been out almost 2 years now. I dontr love ADPi any less, I just dont dress in the gear much. If I went to college I could see wearing it more to still show my pride, but I have to dress up for work. I do have a cute ADPi wooden letters I always take to my job so its sitting at my desk to still sport my sorority.

Even though my tee shirts are from 1997-2001 I still wear them out during the summer. I've worn them on vacation, in the mall, at events, etc. B/c of that, I've run into many sisters that I would've otherwise passed along. They see my shirt and start talking to me. I would love to make them into a quilt, but I can't quite cut them up yet. I do feel a little old sometimes because of the date, so I need to buy some that just have ADPi and nothing else. We've thought about doing tee shirts for our Alum Assoc, but that hasn't happened yet.

Yeah mine date back that far. I pledged Fall '98. All of those shirts have DEFINITELY been given to my mom. haha

Since 90% of my tshirts are adpi ones, two years out and I still wear my tshirts. I wear my tshirts to bed and around the house mostly. I am also planning on making them into a quilt and when I see that a shirt is starting to fall apart I set it aside. In fact I even wore my letters to one of my grad school classes last night!

Since I'm spending a lot of time with the chapter I'm advising, I still wear my shirts often (and have ordered "new" ones from ebay since all of mine from college were huge - at least those that I kept!) Even when I don't need to be down at the chapter house, I still wear my shirts (either alone or under a sweatshirt) as a way to promote Greek life in general, and ADPi in particular. Wearing my shirts have started many conversations with my non-Greek friends (who, of course, have the typical "negative" stereotypes as their idea of what I am a part of!) and to me, they remind me of who I have become because of my association with ADPi.

My college ADPi t-shirts are in a quilt, but I still wear ADPi t-shirts all the time- either current ones I get from chapters or ones from Gift Mart that don't have a date. Either that or I'll wear t-shirts from my alma mater. But I really am aware of when I'm wearing my letters still and if I look kind of gross and need to go to the store or something, I'll put something else on instead.

CO-SIGN!!!!!!!!! This was a HUGE pet peeve of mine when I was a collegiate and still think it applies to anyone who desires to wear their letters!

graduated 1992
 

I put my ADPi t-shirts in my ceder chest when I moved for my first "career" job. I pull them out every once in a while (to remember "the good old days") but I don't wear them because I don't want to ruin them for the day that I make a quilt out of them.

I love to wear adpi t-shirts more now though because I have become more active as an advisor to my old chapter ZH so I bought a couple of the extras from the chapter and that "cutie pi" one from gift mart. However, I don't see myself "wearing my letters" again. I mean making a shirt with A D Pi on it like I did in college.

I have seen a few ADPi quilts and they are wonderful to look at and hear the stories.

I guess I got off on a tangent. I say go for the quilt and buy new "undated" t-shirts from giftmart or dated shirts from your chapter or ebay is always fun to wear out.

Pretty neat ideas! I'd love to see some of these quilts!

We didn't have a lot of t-shirts made when I was in school, so this wasn't a major problem for me. I still wear my t-shirts to sleep in, but I do have a couple that I wear when I'm at the chapter or such.

But I think I reached that stage about 2 years out of school.

Spring 98 here!!!

I still have my shirts and I have bought some from Ebay so that I can make a quilt (I don't have a lot from college, long story).

I wear my rush shirts to bed and around the house. But they are pretty crummy looking. Old, holes but oh so comfortable. LOL.

I do wear out shirts but only the ones I get from giftmart that are a bit nicer looking and they don't have dates on it (unless you count 1851 ;) )

I gave away all my dated event shirts during senior wills. I kept just a few very conservative shirts after graduation- my crest sweatshirt from giftmart, a blue 2 inch lettered shirt from giftmart and one with alpha delta pi written out on the front in cursive. I wear them all only occasionally. In fact my crest sweatshirt is in storage and I haven't seen it for 2 years! I was actually missing wearing ADPi stuff recently, so I ordered myself 2 more conservative things from giftmart. One sweatshirt and one t-shirt. They are still in the mail to me! But when they get here, the sweatshirt will become my new favorite thing to wear around the house!

Ironic that we've been discussing this because I just had to retire my all time FAVORITE adpi shirt. I put it on this morning and noticed there was a hole in the back, it's pretty close to the silk screening so it was apparent that if I want to use it in my quilt, me and the shirt would have to part ways. It's a very sad day indeed, that shirt was like my security blanket every time I'd miss my chapter or feel a little homesick I'd wear it...sigh...:( On the bright side, it means I'm one more shirt closer to working on my quilt :-P

Re: alumna, when did the time come....
 

When I graduated college, I decided that unless I was at a sorority event, I didn't need to wear my shirts anymore. I wear them now at the gym or around the house, or have given many away to younger ADPi's. I know a few sisters who have done the same, or made a quilt.

I am proud to be an ADPi alumna, but our organization is an "undergraduate women's fraternity" according to the NPC creed, and well, I'm not an undergrad anymore, nor do I want to be thought of as one. If NPC and ADPi decide to make alumnae life a more important component of membership, like the NPHC sororities, then I might regard it differently. But for now, I really don't think I want people second-guessing that I can't "let go" of college because I'm stepping out to the mall in my sorority logo tees.

It goes without saying that we never give our shirts to charity or non-members so that we don't run into non-members "representing" us in our own letters.

Re: Re: alumna, when did the time come....
 

It might be because I don't feel good but I actually take offense to your comments and I don't think you intended it that way.

I take offense that because I'm an alumna and I still PROUDLY wear my letters (in fact I wear an ADPi laniard to work everyday) that I can't "let go". I would never see someone wearing their letters as a person who can't "let go".

Also the last time I checked we keep saying that ADPi is for life. According to what your saying, yeah it's for life up until you graduate from college and then poof your letters must be packed up in a box and you are never to wear them. Correct me if I'm wrong, how is that for life then?

Mind you these are my personal opinions. I'm positive others took the comments differently than I did.

Re: Re: alumna, when did the time come....
 

I used to teach in a very low socio-economic school in a college town and would sometimes see little kids running around in huge GLO t-shirts. Of course these kids had no idea what they were wearing. I always got a little kick out of it.

I *still* wear my letters!! Actually, I've bought new shirts as I'm not the same size anymore...

As far as the Greek Week, etc., type shirts, I only wore them for a couple years after school. They seemed a bit inappropriate to wear around town (esp a non-college town!).

At DLC, District 3 collects gently-worn ADPi clothing for the Eta Tau (Bishops U) chapter as the tarriffs to ship to Canada make purchasing new items (from Gift Mart) price-prohibitive! If anyone has any items to donate - PLEASE PM me!!!

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Originally posted by adpiucf
When I graduated college, I decided that unless I was at a sorority event, I didn't need to wear my shirts anymore. I wear them now at the gym or around the house, or have given many away to younger ADPi's. I know a few sisters who have done the same, or made a quilt.

I am proud to be an ADPi alumna, but our organization is an "undergraduate women's fraternity" according to the NPC creed, and well, I'm not an undergrad anymore, nor do I want to be thought of as one. If NPC and ADPi decide to make alumnae life a more important component of membership, like the NPHC sororities, then I might regard it differently. But for now, I really don't think I want people second-guessing that I can't "let go" of college because I'm stepping out to the mall in my sorority logo tees.
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Well, I agree with ASUADPI. (edited because it sounded mean I don't know what kind of mood I was in, sorry)

I believe it is the responsibility of ADPi alumnae to be a great representation of Alpha Delta Pi. Obviously ADPi makes alumnae life important. There are alpha members, delta members, and pi members, all of which are necessary for a strong sisterhood. And, there are strong ADPi alumnae organizations all over the place.

Delta members cant wear their letters during recruitment so if you live in a college town with ADPi (or are in an area where girls might go through recruitment) then I think you should wear your letters and not care about "people second-guessing that you can't let go". Actually, I want my collegiate sisters to know that I won't let go just because I have graduated.

And, if it makes you feel any better, buy an ADPi alumnae shirt, so people won't think you are still in college. I did, its cute and I wear it when I can.

Re: Re: Re: alumna, when did the time come....
 

Oh, yeah! I wear my work-ID from the Alpha Delta Pi Foundation laniard I received at Convention. I was hesitant at first, but I am a *very* active alumna and proud of it! (No one is going to be mistaking me for an undergrad!) I'm surprised more people don't comment on it; only one woman who went to Susquehana and was friends w/some of the ADPi's there.

Side note: We changed our membership classes to reflect that Our Sorority is more than just Four Years. Used to be that Collegians were called "actives" but that was not reflective of all the *active* alumnae out there! Now we have Alphas, Deltas and Pis (because "pi" goes on forever...)