Alumnae-Collegiate Relations

adpiucf · #1 07-02-2003, 04:40 PM

The revelation about an alum site for Greeks inspired me to ask this question to all of our alumnae and collegians (if you are a non-ADPi, please feel free to chime in your ideas or experiences, too!)

What kind of interaction do you, as a collegian, have with your alum, or vice versa? What sorts of activities do you hold together or for each other?

Are you in an alum assoc near a chapter? Or vice versa?

Are you in an assoc far from a chapter? Or vice versa? Are you doing any long distance projects with another group?

What are the best ways for the chapters and alumnae assoc to communicate with one another? Any great ideas to share? Have you co-sponsored a philanthropy event together, TME, etc...?

Also, a FACT SHARING tip of the day-- did you know you can search for ADPi alum in your area? And yes, you can locate Collegians, too! Exec Office will provide you with a form, and all you do is fill it out with the zip codes of the areas you would like to target. You can even specify if you are looking for members of a certain chapter within those zips! EO will mail you the labels or an excel file. This is a great tool if you are looking to build up your alum assoc, or if collegians are looking to send a communication to alum.

Pi Love and All of My Mine...

SLUadpi · #2 07-03-2003, 10:09 AM

The alums and collegians in St. Louis have a pretty close relationship. This past year, we started an ADPi babysitting thing, where the college girls will babysit for the ADPi alum's kids in the area for a little extra cash. It's also a GREAT way for the alums and collegians to meet and interact. We're also trying something new, where alumnae can contact, via email or phone, the girls in the chapter that have the same major as they had. The alum can tell the girls what they've done with their major, give them advice...etc. This summer some of the girls in the chapter and some of the alumnae in the area got together for the Race for the Cure. I'm sure they had a fantastic time!

adpiucf · #3 07-03-2003, 12:45 PM

My home chapter also had the babysitting list--- it's a win-win scenario!

We also invite our area alum to come back for a special "Recruitment Week Preview"-- at UCF, we call it "Pi and Tea." It gives alum a chance to see the house, hear about the chapter, and for the collegians to practice conversation, etc. (some of the chapters that still do skits perform their skit; those with videos show their video). And of course, it's a great chance to have a meal together! In the spring, USC hosts an Alumnae Tea for the whole chapter and the alumnae, and they also hold their Jewel Degree that day. This year, UCLA hosted Founders Day in conjunction with JD.

One of the chapters and alum assoc just won a convention award for co-hosting a large charity golf tournament together for RMH. They do it every year

Isn't that a great idea for joint-project?

UCLA and USC chapters got together with the LA alum last fall to co-present ADPi a Lifetime Experience.

Does anyone else have any ideas? Challenges keeping you from developing relations?

ADPi-Jen · #4 07-07-2003, 10:54 AM

I'm an alumna and a member of the recently chartered Twin Cities Area Alumnae Assn. Unfortunately, there is no current active chapter in the state.

Alpha Rho chapter at the U of Minnesota closed some years ago.

Our Alumnae assn is still very new and I am VERY appreciative of the ideas I have found through GC and the Yahoo group Sorority Alumnae as well as the new ADPI MSN group.

I'm a may 2002 grad and I still keep in touch with members of my chapter (current Deltas). I enjoy sending them violets through email and a note in the mail every now and then, just to let them know that I am thinking of them and I wish them well.

Great work alumnae on the connections you have made with the collegians in your area. My chapter didn't have consistant Alumnae support....I applaud you!!

Violets to you all!!
Jen

adpiucf · #5 07-07-2003, 04:12 PM

ADPi-Jen,

Would your alumnae assoc be interested in helping support a chapter from a distance? It could be a mutual system of support: the chapter sends you updates via a quarterly e-newsletter, you can plan a philanthropy event together and collectively donate the monies to the Foundation. Perhaps your assoc can sponsor a dinner evening for the chapter during their Spirit Week, you can provide advisory board support from a distance, too, sponsor special projects together, etc.

What do you think? Would your assoc have a preference on what chapter/area that would be? Or could it be chosen from a list of chapters who have critical needs in the area of alumnae involvement?

pinkyphimu · #6 07-08-2003, 01:37 PM

hello macon sisters!

i am the new president of my chapter association and i am always looking for ideas of how to bridge the gap between collegiates and alums. just a quick little nomenclature thing...we have alum chapters which consist of women in a geographical area from all different chapters. chapter associations are for alums of a specific chapter regardless of where they live.

we have a "heart to heart" chapter. each alum chapter is paired to a collegiate chapter. sometimes, they are close by and sometimes they are not. the boston alum chapter is paired with a collegiate chapter in maine! we send them a valentine's day gift box with goodies. as a collegiate, my chapter received welcome gifts for the new phis. we also got a banner wishing us good luck for rush. it was really cute!

our chapter association hasn't been very active, but last year before recruitment, we sent the girls a stress relief basket filled with nail polish, lotion, goodies, facials, etc. we also wrote letters to the collegiates to get them excited for recruitment. this year, we are going to do both of them again....plus we are going to write welcome letters to the new phis.

seniors who are graduating are also given an alum chum. they are paired with an alum for about a semester who is basically available to help them transition to life after college!

when i was still a collegiate, the alums cross stiched pillow cases for the new phis. they were so adorable. i would like to do something like that again, but i don't think we have time!

the collegiates in my chapter usually host a bbq during homecoming weekend for alums.

i hope these help a bit!

adpiucf · #7 07-19-2003, 06:42 PM

Does anyone else have any feedback in this area? Things you wish you could do?

ADPi-Jen · #8 07-21-2003, 02:37 PM

Adpiucf-

I didn't mean to totally blow you off. Thanks for your ideas. I will bring them up at our next meeting. Since I have only been an alumna for a year, my heart still really feels like a collegian and I would love to support ANY chapter ANY way I could. I hope that the other Twin Cities Alums will feel that way too...

Personally, I still hope to be a source of support for my own chapter and I plan to send some cards their way throughout the years...Especially during recruitment & the holidays. I'd like to attempt to be at least a familiar name...since its hard to be a familiar face from 100's miles away.

Thanks again for the ideas.

adpiucf · #9 07-28-2003, 09:05 PM

My pleasure Jen! Sisters--- let's keep this thread moving.

Ladies, I would love to hear any feedback about sister relations. Alumnae, are you supporting a collegiate chapter? Which one? Do they support you? How do you define support? Alumnae, what is your "wish list" from the collegians?

Collegians, do you have an assoc supporting you? Again, define support... Is there anything the alum could do to step up to help out? What are some things the chapter is doing to keep alum looped in?

adpiucf · #10 08-11-2003, 08:56 PM

Another idea:

Talk to your alumnae association and find out when they are sending out their newsletter. A lot of collegiate chapters have trouble starting a newsletter due to postage costs. If you were to design a newsletter that is only front and back sided and print them up (anywhere from 50-200 sheets double-sided), you could include them in your alumnae assoc's 1/4'ly newsletter to alum and save your chapter money. Alum love to hear what is going on with the local chapters, and the more they are looped in, the more they want to help support your chapter!

The microsoft word homepage has lots of great free newsletter templates you can use. You can also start a free yahoo! groups email list to keep your alumnae updated. The trick is having all of their email addresses, which your alumnae assoc pres can provide you with, or Exec Office can do a search for contact of information of alums by chapter, by zip code, age, etc...

honeychile · #11 08-12-2003, 10:33 PM

Well, here's where I'm at:

I'm an alumna who lives near Pitt. Another alumna & I would like to have a "Suite Shower" for the chapter, and will be asking many alumnae to give things much like shower presents. Right now, there are no cooking supplies, everyday dishes, flatware or such that's owned by the Suite; everyone brings their own.

They are also in need of several other "niceties" - tableclothes, draperies, artwork sized for the large walls, etc. I think I've already posted that I'd love to get a decorator's 2¢ on what to do, too. I also know of at least one major item that they are going to be very pleased to receive!

Yet, any Wish List we get is mostly Rush supplies.

They are needed, of course, but this is supposed to be a lesson in the life-time commitment to Alpha Delta Pi, not just for the next rush. I don't want to be in the awkward postition of saying, they need such-and-such for rush, and oh by the way, they also need 2 microwaves. That is just not going to fly.

So... the other alumna & I are going to try to have a talk with the Housing Chair & President, so they see exactly what we're up to. Any ideas or suggestions will be gratefully appreciated!

adpiucf · #12 08-13-2003, 11:19 AM

Honeychile, there should be a house corporation in place with the chapter. Meet with the house corp president and explain that you wish to make such a gift. At the next house corp meeting, which are attended by the collegiate property manager and the chapter president, the house corp president can bring this up for discussion. Together, house corp and the collegians can generate an effective wish list that goes beyond recruitment supplies, and area or chapter alum can pick and choose off this list.

A great idea that came up at convention this year-- one of the chapters determined their "wish list" and they went to www.target.com and started a wish list online of all the products they wanted/needed for their house. Alumnae were told about this online wish list, and if they wished to contribute, all they had to do was go online and charge their credit card-- everything was delivered directly to the sorority house so that no one had to lug anything over there! Isn't that a great idea? A chapter and an assoc can go online and start wish lists at multiple registries, and then inform one another, parents booster club, etc, of the wish lists.

Happy purchasing!

honeychile · #13 08-13-2003, 10:50 PM

Just so you know, Alpha Iota has no working Housing Corporation right now. They run Housing Corp. dues on a line item in the budget, but it's not overseen by any alumnae. THAT is a huge problem with why Alpha Iota does not get the alumnae attention it deserves!

In the past few years, the sisters have bought things for the Suite, instead of Housing Corp. The wonderful inheritance of furniture from Ohio State is hopefully going to break that pattern - which is where we're trying to fill in the cracks. The furniture is lovely, but there just needs to be that certain je nais se quois to oomph it up. If you only knew how many times I've fantasized about redecorating the Suite - its lines & archetiture is amazing!!

I'll see about the Target idea. We also would like to have an actual Shower Tea, more or less to show how inexpensive yet pretty one can be done. This leads me to another concept, but I just got a call (I'm on call tonight) and have to run out. I'll post it later or tomorrow!

adpiucf · #14 08-14-2003, 03:00 PM

Honeychile, even without any housing, like a house, dorm, suite, etc., the chapter can have alum form a house corp. Are there alumnae in the area?

honeychile · #15 08-14-2003, 07:33 PM

Yes, there are alumnae. There isn't the money to actually incorporate, however, which is why they're using the line item.