What Chapter Offices have you held, which offices did you enjoy.

g41965 · #1 12-12-2003, 05:15 AM

Recently I reviewed some old chapter materials and realized I had held 3-4 chapter offices. upon review of my folders I realized I enjoyed certain jobs and disliked other positions and I've never seen a thread asking the same or a similar question so here goes my list.

Alumni Relations 2 semesters, I loved this job, I planned the golf tourney, alumni weekend( got to hire a band and set up a catered breakfast and write, edit and produce a four page newsletter three times the newsletter had a circulation of 700+. I met 40-50 alumni and I really felt like I helped my chapter.

Pledge Trainer 1 semester, Yuck, hazing was a big issue, the Chapter President and I really pushed to cut hazing and we caught tons of abuse from the chapter die hards. Very disappointing, the chapters bad spirit hurt the pledge class and out of 6 pledges only one was initiated.

DU Convention Delegate. Great, I enjoyed meeting other chapter's members and I really saw what an international fraternity was all about.

House Improvement Fund Mngr, 2 semesters, Mixed bag, Good side I raised about 5 k from alumni and from passing a proposal that the coke and beer machine ( yes we converted a coke machine to sell bottled beer 24/7 and the pledges had to keep it stocked) money be reserved for house improvements.
We repaved our front driveway and painted the front of our chapter house with these funds.
Downside I caught a lot of heat for not getting a big screen TV and or putting solid core doors in to the chapter rooms.

Overall I enjoyed working on chapter projects.

Senusret I · #2 12-12-2003, 09:10 AM

For Alpha Phi Omega:

One year as Vice President of Communications. I was second in command of the chapter and in charge of the chapter email list and website. I really liked this job, but the only drawback was that when the president was absent, people acted like they forgot the order of succession!

Voting Delegate for the 2000 National Convention. THA BEST! I enjoyed everything about the convention, and it's just too bad that alumni can't be delegates for their associations.

One semester as Vice President of Pledging. A lot of work and I did it my last semester in college. I loved it though, and I am close to the line that I brought in. One thing about doing it as a second semester senior, you can get away with taking more risks -- that is, trying things that haven't been done before. If those new things fail, they can't yell at you for very long.

For Alpha Phi Alpha:

Editor of the Chapter Newsletter. Hate it. Will never do it again. Requires too much work every month.

Webmaster. Love it. Had experience already and the chapter had no website to speak of, so it was fun creating it from the ground up. Allows me to work independently, but cooperatively with other Brothers.

Kevin · #3 12-12-2003, 09:57 AM

I was Marshal (new member educator) for awhile. That was one of my favorite jobs. We don't haze, I taught leadership workshops, workshops on history and we did hold brotherhood activities. It was pretty good fun.

Then I was elected to Lieutenant Commander (that's like executive VP). I was the #2 guy. It was cool because of what I was able to accomplish -- leading the executive council that finally achieved getting our charter. That was pretty cool. I also revised our constitution and bylaws a few times in this office. As LC, I think I changed-up the way our exec was run. Most of what I started doing is still done today. The only downside to an office like this is that you have to put up with drama from the membership.

After that I was treasurer. I'd only recommend this job for someone that really loves their chapter. I was able to guide us through our first BIG formal, the transition from colony to chapter, all that stuff. I accomplished a lot, but the treasurer doesn't make friends. Especially when he's good at keeping people paid up

Right now, I'm recorder for the alumni chapter. It's alright. I put out the newsletter, keep contact with alums and coordinate communications with the alumni chapter. Again... lots of work.

AGDee · #4 12-12-2003, 10:05 AM

Chapter Offices:

Recruitment- tough year, the previous Recruitment Chair had quit the chapter, I was a new initiate and got the office a week before Recruitment started.. BUT, we doubled our chapter size anyway.

Ritual- Loved this one, lots of fun

Membership- Enjoyed this one too

As an alum:

House Association and Membership Advisor: Both a lot of fun, got our chapter their first official house ever, furnished it, refinished furniture, went house hunting, it was fun.

Chapter Advisor: Toughest job you'll ever love. Highs and lows, quite a roller coaster but very rewarding in the end.

Finance Advisor: Ick, I'm not a financial person!

International Finance Committee: How did I end up doing that? No idea! Oversaw 7 chapters' finances, reviewing reports, etc. Tough job, tedious. Did it for 5 or 6 years though.

Province Director: Best one yet. Love seeing chapters pull themselves up to excellence! Love seeing the "whole picture" of each chapter rather than just the financial aspect. Still get quite a bit of direct contact with the collegians who are just awesome women to work with. Love helping them to be the best chapters they can possibly be!

Dee

astroAPhi · #5 12-12-2003, 12:19 PM

Athletics - this was my first position and I was so excited about it! I really love sports, so I had a good time organizing the sports teams, but now I really like just being a member of the team, not the one who tells everyone what to do. It's also a big pain in the butt to find football coaches, etc. The only thing that really sucked was the fact that my first semester as a sister, I was Alpha Phi's Greek Week representative. I had no clue what I was getting myself into. We've since then recommended that new sisters shouldn't have this position because myself and the girl after me were both freshmen, and we had a hard time in particular with Greek Week.

Historian - one of my favorite positions (ok, I'll admit, I liked them all)! I've always been a picture person, and scrapbooking became an addiction. I got us a nice, smaller book from Creative Memories as opposed to those huge wooden albums that were just huge and impossible to lug around. The girls like it because it's more portable and easier to just plop down with it in your lap and thumb through it. I had to get my own scrapbook after I passed on the job to someone else. lol.

Guard - basically like an assistant Ritual person. It really wasn't much of a position when I had it, but I'm trying to help the girls make it what it should be. My little sister was recently appointed and I'm so proud! The most important thing about this position was it inspired me and made me realize how highly I placed Ritual. Hence...

Chaplain - I took on this position because at the time, I wasn't pleased with the direction of the chapter and wanted to make a positive influence on the new members, but didn't have time to be New Member Ed. I thought the best way to do that was to emphasize the importance of Ritual and make sure the girls understood it. I hoped that if they truly believed and understood the Ritual, they'd be better members in the end. While one of the most difficult positions I ever had, it was also the most fulfilling. I started crying this year at my last initiation, seeing 16 amazing women join our sisterhood. It was a truly powerful moment, because we had gone from obtaining only one girl at Formal Recruitment exactly one year earlier, to getting 13 and COBing the other 3 (2 were girls who had actually been pinned right before we left school in the Spring). I am proud of my chapter and the leaders I leave behind.

Director of Music - a new/old position that I revived. Girls were complaining that they were tired of the same old songs so they wanted me to teach new ones (and in the end, they learned one song because they didn't like any of the ones I taught! so

). In any event, we got much better at singing and I think new sisters learned the songs much quicker than they did before. It was also handy to be Chaplain at the same time because I was able to have "New Sister Education" sessions and teach them Ritual and songs at the same time. Otherwise I know I would have never been able to get them there to sing!

I never had an Executive Committee position, and sometimes I wish I had because I think I could have done some good things. But at the same time, having all of these smaller positions made me realize that it's not just always the "big dogs" that do all the work, but any group is largely dependent on everyone else to do their jobs. I've also learned that when you get all your work done, you get a lot of respect, sometimes more than the people above you have!

It's been really hard to not have a position my last semester, but I know it's important to let the new girls step up to the plate and have a chance and gain the experience they need. I'm just going to have to get involved with an alumnae group.

RedRoseSAI · #6 12-12-2003, 12:43 PM

College Chapter:

Sargeant-at-Arms - Boring...not much to it, really

Ritual - Again, not very labor intensive, although I did enjoy my part during the initiation ceremony.

Membership - Loved it! As our VP Membership, I was in charge of rush and pledge training. It wasn't a successful term, numbers-wise, but we did take that time to put lots of new policies in place (many of which I believe the chapter is still using).

Webmaster - Lots of fun.

Alumnae Chapter:

Fraternity Ed Chair - Probably would have been better if we had time for FrEd at meetings.

Membership - It's going ok. Would be better if my computer hadn't died and taken all the data with it. I'm still working on getting it back, so hopefully next year things will be better.

Social Advisor for local college chapter - I'm working to improve relations between the two chapters, and I think we're headed in the right direction, albeit slowly. Keeping fingers crossed for the future...

sigtau305 · #7 12-12-2003, 12:52 PM

IFC Delegate : I learned a lot about the different Organizations when I was IFC V.P. I have a greater appreciation and respect for them. I enjoy it, but We didn't get much done like we wanted.

Philanthropy Chairman- I enjoyed doing various Fundraisers for different Charities, Especially for Our Books For Kids National philanthropy. Bringing in 827 books was the most we ever had.

Judicial Board: Good Experience.

Voting Delegate : This was by far the best time of my life as a member. Voting on something important which would help the Fraternity was a experience I'll never forget.

ETA: Hopefully, for this spring semester, I'll be the new Rush Chairman. Keep your Fingers Crossed.

BSUPhiSig'92 · #8 12-12-2003, 01:36 PM

Homecoming Chair: Great. Planned a week's worth of events with a sorority that was really enthusiastic about it. I've been told by many brothers that was the best homecoming ever!

Fundraising: Not so great. Had a very difficult time getting people to put in the effort required to make money. No one in my chapter seemed to enjoy fundraising. I didn't enjoy this.

House Manager-Mixed bag. Got to play with power tools, which I enjoy. Had to resort to brute force to get people to do their house duties (especially clean the bathroom)

Secretary- Pretty good, the easiest position on Exec for us. A good transition office.

President- Call me a masochist, but I really enjoyed being president despite the stress and headaches. I liked getting to know the other presidents and getting to have more input into Greek LIfe as a whole. I actually had to address an audience of 500+ Phi Sigs to talk about our experience as a pilot chapter with the Brotherhood Program.

As an Alum:

Chapter Advisor- I have to agree, the toughest job you'll ever love. I did it for 4 years.

House Corp President- The high would be our chapter house renovation. The low would be dealing with people who were way behind on rent.

SigK_Bama · #9 12-12-2003, 01:37 PM

Activities and Intramurals: was a rough thing to jump into because I was a frosh and didn't understand that there were a sizeable amount of unmotivated people in my chapter. I went to all of the intramural meetings and tried to recruit the sisters to be on the teams and most of them would have nothing to do with sports and getting dirty or sweaty. I played in every sport we signed up for that year, I was buff

For Activities, I just went to the fraternity meetings for their philanthropy events. I got pissed when not many people came to the events and we lost participation points, but everyone eventually got better about it.

Public Relations: All I did was decorate a board for our chapter downstairs in the UC once per semester with the new girls' names on it.

Recording Secretary: important job for many reasons, and I didn't mind it most of the time. However, I was also the person who kept up with everyone's points for attending events and it sucked to be the one to tell the girls who didn't get enough points that they couldn't go to Formal or whatever was going on. I got bitched at a LOT. But overall, it was fine.

President: for almost the entire time I held this position, I felt like I was babysitting 30-40 grown women who acted like children. I was probably seen as a "cool" President and this may sound conceited, but I was a "big fish in a little bowl" in my chapter. Most everyone went along with what I said. I got to see a side of certain people that I never would have seen before and while it was definitely eye-opening to know that I had that much power in the chapter and could control so many things, it was also scary to know that I had almost all of the power. Like, it was my butt on the line if anything went wrong. I got stressed, probably too much to the point where it affected how I did my job, and I got bitched at by old alums. The same people who only came by to complain about us, and then we didn't see them again until we were "in trouble". Ridiculous. Anyway, it was a great leadership opportuity and it taught me a lot about myself and my limits, but I'd definitely do a few things different if I had to go through it again.

Wow, how's that for pouring my heart out!

AEPhiSierra · #10 12-12-2003, 02:45 PM

I have held a couple of positions. They're in the order I held them though some overlap:

Scholarship - boring. keep track of grades, give out cookies when people do well on tests, organize text book exchange. Not really much you can do with until recently when Second Aves was made her responsibility(Second Avenues is our national program for personal development. basically workshops or progams for things like resume writing, team building, health issues, study habits, etc.)

IGC Rep - So much drama and politics but also so important. One of the positions I knew I wanted when I was pledging because I liked doing student gov't in hs and i thought it was kind of similar.

NPC Delegate and NPC E-board - During Rush its a lot of work but its so important that its handled right.

Secretary - Easy. I was a mid-season replacement for this position during my first semester as a sister when a sister resigned. I learned how E-board function through serving in the position.

VP Minor Board - Partly good because I got to shape the chapter a lot because I was in charge of all the positions not on E-board and partly annoying because half your job is chasing people to do their jobs.

New Member Educator - Its great because you get introduce new women to your sorority and greek life. Plus since its such a popular position that its such a vote of confidence from your sisters just to receive it.

President - A LOT of work but very rewarding. It's great to be able to give back and to keep the chapter on course. Also I like the connection with national because if I wasn't President I don't think I would have ever really understood how national works. Downside is that everything that goes wrong is considered your fault and if you make a decision some people don't like you get a lot of attitude

#11 12-12-2003, 03:06 PM

Homecoming Chair
Spirit Chair
TShirt Chair--one of my faveorite!! I was determined to not have any more STUPID looking shirts!
Director of Standards and Ethics--as scary and unpopular as the title sounds.
Recruitment Vice President--Definitely the hardest (our chapter is struggling with numbers) but most rewarding. I cried my senior year when I had to pass it on to someone else.

DWAlphaGam · #12 12-12-2003, 03:54 PM

Collegiate offices:

*VP Operations - I thought this was enjoyable. It wasn't too difficult; the worst part of it was dealing with attendance issues and doing the EC minutes every month.

*VP Scholarship (1 semester, then became President) - This was an easy job because my chapter always did very well in school.

*President (1 semester) - I took over when the President before me that no one could stand finally realized she was screwing up big-time and went early alum status. I basically spent that whole semester cleaning up the horrendous mess she made of the chapter...I know I should never talk ill of a sister, but she was seriously the WORST and she made everyone's life miserable!

All in all, though, I think it was rewarding to get things back on track and to see the chapter succeeding after I finished with the office.

Alumna Advisor for:

*Scholarship team (VP Scholarship & Social Coordinator) - Again, this isn't too difficult because the chapter doesn't really have any scholarship problems.

*Alumnae Relations - This is challenging, but I like doing it because I think it is an important and often overlooked area in the collegiate chapter. I always regretted not trying to do more with the alumnae while I was in school, so it gives me an opportunity to do something that I always meant to do anyway. I also have a bit of a selfish reason, which is that don't want to lose touch with my sisters, so I want the chapter to keep us together as much as possible.

***edited because I didn't answer the second part of the question.

EGDeepher · #13 12-12-2003, 03:59 PM

APO

Membership Vice President - Not the popular job. It was hard but I enjoyed it.

Voting Delegate 2002 Nationals: Long hours, but I got to go to New Orleans!

Next Year: New Member Ed. : Looking forward to it. It should be fun

D Phi E

Risk Management: pretty easy job.

Historian: I liked making the scrapbook, showed off my creative side.

Next year: Philanthropy: I get to run the male beauty pagent we have here. It's going to be a lot of work but I can't wait!

Buttonz · #14 12-12-2003, 04:05 PM

NME...I love it. I love teaching NM's about SDT and it gives you a good chance to bond with the NMs.

Secetary: Not bad during meeting, but when you have no time to type up min., it gets annoying.

Rush Ass: I like it. It gives you a chance to see what rush is all about...bad thing is if something gets wrong you get blamed.

Webmistress: Good if you have the time and the skills. It was ok, I can't say i am sad to give it up/

Historian: A breeze for me, as I always have a camrea around.

I am also taking on Aumnae Chair for next semster.

AUDeltaGam · #15 12-12-2003, 04:21 PM

In Delta Gamma:

I have served (and am currently serving on) Chapter Management Team which I enjoy because I love knowing what all the officers are planning.

Honor Board: which is Standards. I liked it because I got really close to the girls on HB, but it bothered me when girls got called in because of stupid things.

I am currently Director of Social Awareness. I am the chapter hostess and am in charge of etiquette presentations. I am really enjoying it so far and my big presentation is going to be Wedding Etiquette!!