alumni chapters

[katiekittie]

Clemson University has an alumni chapter of Sigma Alpha, but it has not been active for the past few years. I am trying to get it restarted, but I'm not sure what all alumni chapters usually do. Could someone let me know?

Thanks!
Katie

[sus]

Katie,

The SFA Alumni chapter enjoys helping out the Alpha Eta chapter in whatever ways we're needed. We've hosted professional development events for them, conducted the interviews of the candidates during rush, and we sponsor two scholarships each year for the chapter. Since we're still kind of new and have a relatively small membership, right now our scholarships are $150 each to the sister with the highest overall GPA and the most improved overall GPA each spring. Hopefully, the amounts of the scholarships will increase as our chapter grows.

The SFA Alumni and the Alpha Eta chapter also co-publish a newsletter. It keeps everyone up-to-date on the collegiate and alumni news.

We've also looked into beginning several traditions for the chapter, two of which revolve around graduation. One project is to present a graduation gift to each sister the semester she graduates. The other is a graduation stole "chain." The alumni chapter purchased several Sigma Alpha graduation stoles (you can find these on the merchandise section of the national website). As sisters graduate, they borrow a stole from the chapter, wear it, sign and date the back, and then return the stole to the advisor. In 10 years, there will be LOTS of memories in those stoles!

This year, the SFA Alumni are getting together during homecoming for the tailgate party and game. We are co-sponsoring a tailgate booth with our university Agriculture department's Alumni charter chapter (charter chapters at SFA are like local Sigma Alpha alumni chapters, but the alumni are grouped by city or special interest).

One important thing to remember: once any Sigma Alpha sister receives her undergraduate degree, she officially becomes an alumni of Sigma Alpha. So when your alumni chapter reorganizes, one of the responsibilities of the chapter is to remind its alumni that they are in an advisory position with the collegiates and no longer voting members of the collegiate chapter. In fact, alumni should really not attend a collegiate meeting unless specifically invited by the collegiates. But, ALWAYS keep in contact with the collegiates to see how you can help them! Most alumni chapters do this by electing a Collegiate/Alumni Liaison to their officer team.

Hope this helps! I wish you lots of luck reviving your alumni chapter!

[katiekittie]

Thanks for the advice!

[katiekittie]

It seems like alumni chapters generally do a lot to support the collegiate chapter financially (scholarships, funding events, etc.). What sort of things do they usually do to raise this money?