Hello everybody my name is Chris Niles I’m the director of alumni engagement and I want to talk with you tonight about fraternity for life as this was initially promoted but I’m also sharing additional information with you about our seniors and what else can be done for them to help mark this important
Transition so whether you are a senior yourself you’re an officer you’re a volunteer I appreciate you taking a little time with me on this and hope that you share it and act as a catalyst to stir other conversations within your ranks I want to do three things with you here share
Some thoughts about what you can do within your own local chapter and your own traditions share some thoughts about what we are up to from headquarters and some new initiatives we’re working on and then talk directly about fraternity for life and that ritual as part of our
Tradition on the local level what’s most important is planning what you’re doing and please involve your seniors do not just plan this around them for them on their behalf without even asking them what they most care about which pieces of the tradition matters most what they
Most want to see so involve them in this process you have to give a real look at what your traditions and routines typically have been some things can still work albeit in a modified fashion some things realistically may not work given the current restrictions take a look at what you can do
Put some creative thought and energy into how you can modify it and make some things work a little differently and also put some energy into doing something new and different it’s not just that you might be losing something that you can’t do the way you used to you might start something new that’s
Maybe even better in this new format that might even spark a new tradition that can carry on so think about what that might be and how you can support your local traditions please utilize the teak Network talk amongst yourselves talk with your volunteers utilize social media to ask questions and share best
Practices with other groups utilize the professional staff and our resources we are here to help you in terms of professional staff let me tell you about some other things we are currently working on we want to help host some virtual town halls just for seniors later in April or early May we’re hoping
To do that on a province level with both volunteer and staff leadership on that and create an opportunity for those seniors not just together from your campus but with other nearby campuses throughout your province to come together and celebrate this important transition a chance to share some shout
Outs some successes talk about what’s going on and also talk about how to stay engaged with deke as we celebrate this this shift and this moment in time as they complete their undergraduate career we are also looking at how we can celebrate fraternity for life and I’ll
Talk some more about that in a minute but we are going to offer an online virtual version of fraternity for life that we can celebrate on a regional level so across the four regions of our map later in May or mid-may is probably when this will actually land we will
Offer these out and as soon as we have dates we’ll be sharing that out again so that seniors can have an opportunity to participate in that a couple other things we’re working on on a larger scale this is a little this is definitely softer at this point but we
Are exploring the possibility of a first time ever Teek nationwide commencement celebration for the class of 2020 we’re not sure yet if this is feasible and if we can really make this happen especially on such a short timeline this is something we’re all in this together right nobody
Expected this to be happening so we are working on some new possibilities and if this comes to fruition if we’re able to make this happen we will certainly be sharing that information as soon as we can we have also talked very briefly that conclave presents another opportunity albeit 18 months out but
That may be something to where we can offer something special and add something creative in as part of the conclave 2021 experience in Houston and that could be a great opportunity for senior classes to think about coming out and celebrating together with us in August of 2020
So again that’s very soft that’s not something we’re gonna be working on for months yet at this point in terms of trying to firm up those ideas but there are possibilities out there that we’ve already identified so keep your eye out for more information about the town hall conversations about fraternity for life
And about whatever else may be coming down the pike in terms of fraternity for life itself there really is no way for us to honor our ritual in that strict formal sense in its traditional format we’re not going to be able to recreate that virtually given the current
Restrictions and it we wouldn’t really want to we’re certainly not supporting people to start thinking creatively about doing online initiations that would not be a good thing that’s the first time people get introduced to what ritual is and would really unravel the whole point our seniors though are more
Familiar with ritual and how it fits in as part of our culture and they can place that into context they understand why we would be wanting to still do something now but in a modified fashion and can make sense of that so we still want to mark this this is an important
Moment for the seniors and we want to give them that opportunity so we do believe there’s a way to do this online at a distance from each other and in a way that is still respectful of the traditions of our ritual we will be offering this as I said in May and we’ll
Get dates out as soon as those are available if you our group wants to do this yourself with just your own seniors that’s still an option to be aware though that it’s going to be a little different typically the whole chapters there for at least part of it and then some guys
Leave and it’s just the seniors that’s not really gonna make sense in the virtual space if you’re gonna do it with just your own chapter it’s basically just gonna be a meeting of the seniors which can still be wonderful and if you want to do that we can help you with
That but we also want to make it available system-wide and that’s what we’re looking at doing on a regional level in May so that everybody can the ability to participate in that if fraternity for life ritual has not been a part of your chapters tradition this is a great opportunity for your seniors
To get that in a case where maybe they would not have otherwise if you are interested in doing this for your own group please work with us we can help support you on this provide some guidance provide additional resources planning and scheduling is going to be key you’re gonna need to select a
Platform and be familiar with how it works have some reasonable level of security and confidence for knowing who’s there and that other folks who shouldn’t be there aren’t coming in and participating along with this we also would certainly want people to respect this as if it were ritual have a conversation with
Your people about dress what is the expectation it would not be appropriate to be drinking during this session or leading into this session you want to consider privacy and not have a roommate or a family member or somebody else hanging out just because they can right we want everybody to still respect the
Nature of the ritual you’re gonna want to practice not only in terms of the speaking roles like we typically do but also in terms of using the technology and being familiar enough with zoom or GoToMeeting or whatever other online system you might be using we can help
Provide a script that provides a cleaner flow for a kind of a one-time one group experience where it’s not some people in some people out stay the seniors we can provide a cleaner script that will help walk you right through that and that’s why we ask you to work with us on this
And if you’re interested in doing it for yourself locally please contact myself directly or contact another member of the headquarter staff so we can help provide some guidance and support and as I said I would encourage you to encourage your seniors to participate in the broader experience that we’re gonna be offering
In May on a regional scale which i think is going to be pretty powerful so there’s a range of things going on we’re all in this right now looking at different options and how we can make changes how we can make some things happen this is an important time for our seniors
We want to do the best weekend to honor and and really celebrate their graduating class of 2020 and their transition to alumni member of the fraternity so anything we can do to help that’s what we’re here for please let me know if you have questions I’m easy to find my contact informations
On the website fraud errs I love the fraternity
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