All right welcome everyone back to black alumni week 2020. um tonight we have the nphc connect network with divineline alumni current students and friends um thank you all for joining us this week we’ve had a wonderful two days so far um and so without further ado
I’m going to turn it over to bernard ronnie and jaren to start us off for tonight thank you so much for joining us all right appreciate that miss aaron um good evening everyone um and welcome to the divine nine networking event um i’m filled with joy that each and
Every one of y’all have taken out the time to participate and provide you know wisdom and influence uh to each and every one of us um so with that being said let’s get started with how this year’s exec board is looking all right so first we are going to have
Uh josh come on and give a welcome josh serves as our executive vice president of the national panhellenic council here at auburn university so josh if you’ll unmute yourself and go ahead and start this out all right um greetings everybody my name is joshua jones executive vice president for the um
National panhellenic council here at auburn university and i’m a spring 19 initiative of the capacity chapter of 587. um greetings alumni we the current members of the national panhellenic council welcome you graciously it is an honor to be in the presence of those in life the current situation of the world
Who not only walk the same path that we do now but paved it along the way as well you all work so vigorously to ensure the well-being reputation and the continuation of your respective chapters and our council as a whole and for that we are exceedingly grateful
I hope that today you find pride and joy in the current state of your chapters and the council and the progress that we’ve made since your departures and that’s it for me welcome all right so i appreciate you josh for that welcome um so let’s go ahead and
Uh move towards introducing this year’s um executive board so so yeah so to our left we have uh miss nigel williams who is serving as our vice president of conduct and recruitment as well as our vice president of administration uh to the right you just heard from him mr joshua jones
Who serves as our executive vice president as well as our vice president of finance and i ronnie isaac am the current npac president so two people that uh aren’t listed here but should be mentioned are spring 2020 graduates jada walker who is a member of delta sigma theta and served as
The vice president of administration for her last semester as well as john henry capones who is a member of omega sci-fi and he was filling in the role of vice president of conduct and recruitment so thank you all for your efforts um now we’re going to talk a little bit
About who the greek life staff is so first i’ma talk about the staff that isn’t pictured here this includes mrs sue walker who is our administrative assistant of the greek life office we have christopher lucas who is the assistant director and then we have mrs lindsey alice and adam joyner
Who are both greek life coordinators in the picture we have ryan powell to the left who is the greek life director and we have bernard goings who is the greek life coordinator for mphc and mgc so thank you all for y’all’s help with this current exec board um
So now we’re gonna dive into how the nphd community is doing so we have uh five active organizations um right now with a total of 43 members of those 43 members we have 20 members who hold leadership roles throughout the campus uh such as mrs olivia coleman who was the bsu president
And uh represents delta sigma theta as well as ada ruth huntley who is the current sga uh president and is a representative of alpha kappa alpha sorority incorporated um some national organizations uh implemented a moratorium for spring 20 and fall 20 uh due to covet you know which negatively impacted our current
Membership but um we’re being optimistic and are actively engaged in reactivating uh zeta phi beta sorority incorporated as well as out of phi theta fraternity incorporated um i’d also like to note that uh for spring 2020 we had a council gpa of 3.4 which is the highest in
Mphc history here at auburn um so big congratulations to the council for that semester um so now we’re going to talk a little bit about some of the accomplishments that our council has had this year so it’s a great pleasure to announce that um tiger stomp 2019 won as the most
Entertaining campus event um tigerstomp serves as our annual step show which provides an interactive experience that draws the audience into a variety of stories exciting dance moves and stunts um unfortunately due to covet 19 we had to cancel tiger stunt 2020 but we are planning and very hopeful on having it
Either in spring 21 or fall 21. so another accomplishment that uh i would like to know is uh the council donating a total of five thousand dollars to the completion of the npac legacy plaza um it was very important to you know the council as well as the exec
Board to contribute to this project to show that we are both physically and financially invested in our project i’d also like to give a shout out to the interfraternity council as well as the panhellenic council for matching us and also providing a five thousand dollar donation as well um this shows that
You know we’re a community supported project and you know mphc isn’t doing this alone um so it’s good to know that you know we have the entire auburn family you know behind us to make sure that we get the representation that we would like to have on campus
So um now i’d like to talk about some 2019 award winners so first i’d like to uh talk about chapter president of the year for 2019 2020 and that’s going to miss chelsea holland who represents the capital upsilon chapter of delta sigma theta although this isn’t her picture here um
I’d like to say that brianna scott who is in the picture was the following chapter president and was present for miss holland so congratulations to her and um kappa upsilon so next we have our mphc member of the year which is awarded to mr julius hammond um he was a fall
2015 initiative of the omicron cava chapter of alpha phi elf return incorporated and also served as the mphc president for the 2017 and 2018 year so congratulations mr julius um next i’d like to highlight the nphc chapter award winners um and that’s going to go to the kappa kai chapter of alpha kappa
Alpha sorority incorporated as they received the dwight daniel chapter leadership award the nelson mandela greek unity award and achieving the academic award of highest gpa um so congratulations to kappa kai um now i love talking about awards and whatnot but i’d also like to highlight some goals that we have for this
Upcoming year and then following that i’d like to talk about some events that we have finishing out this exec board’s uh current year so um some goals that we have uh of course is the reactivation of zeta phi beta sorority incorporated as well as iodified theta fraternity incorporated
Um we’re always trying to increase minority recruitment so that’s going to be an ongoing goal for us um something new that we have is the development of an mphc alumni speaker series um we all thought that it’d be you know very great to have constant motivation and inspiration
Um from alumni for the current exec board and you know helping them throughout their term uh i personally feel it’s always good to have additional resources and advice from those who served in our roles in the past and this allows each exec board to experience that kind of insight
So we’re going to start implementing something like that so alumni stay tuned for an email um i’d also like to talk about rolling through the planes which is essentially a mphc uh photo lineage so this is a unique opportunity um to look at our mphc from the past so
Um i also think this can be you know a very resourceful tool to be aware of how the council was ran in the past and an influential moment for us to recognize some things that we should bring back or using you know old ideas that y’all used in the past and you know
Innovating them to where they kind of fit to today’s generation um so with that um any and all pictures that you have uh where y’all were you know doing community service either as an individual a chapter or a council we ask that you know you send these uh
Pictures to um the email nphcpresident at auburn.edu um that way we can kind of like you know get a little photo book put together and that’s something that each council not each council but each exec board can you know look at and potentially come up with some ideas for so um
These pictures can range all the way from 1972 when omega sapphire was charted here up to our present 2020. um so i just asked that when you send in your pictures um through the email you provide a description of what’s being performed in the picture um the year that
This picture was taken and if you know the names of the members that are in the picture it’d be great to provide that as well that way you know everybody gets that kind of recognition so um starting this off this year i feel like this would be something beautiful
To look at a year from now um so please send in any and all pictures that you have um so those are our goals now i’m going to move into two upcoming service projects that the council has uh prepared um so the first one we have on the left
Uh that’s gonna be the tuskegee mackin county head start pumpkin decorating contest so essentially what that’s gonna be is uh us working well mphc working with the head start and providing families with an opportunity for family time and creative discovery um the participants will be provided general decorations
And uh pumpkins and on october 24th the council will be present for a virtual decoration party with a head start to make it a fun experience while they’re decorating you know so um students who need additional help or have specific questions with their pumpkins have the option of going into breakout
Rooms and receiving help from uh members of the npac right now and then once everybody is comfortable with the process you know we return back to the main zone page and then you know we continue the virtual zoom party so um it’s a lot of face-to-face time um with
You know the kids who are decorating pumpkins and their families and whatnot as well as us also enjoying that experience of you know being some sort of impact to said community um afterwards once all the decorating is over the council the council will award the top four students with a family
Pizza package and you know like i said um i just felt like that’d be a really good way to kind of stick with the theme of the holidays and get everybody excited about that on the right side we have the uh virtual princess camp which is an opportunity for our sorority chapters
Um where they participate in a zoom party as well of activity books you know decorating crowns dancing and you know even a nice manicure nail set so this event you know is a fun project of reminding the young ladies of their worth and self-love so um the little girls who have the
Pleasure of participating with our sorority chapters we’ll have a very engaging and unique experience um this is uh scheduled for october 10th so the fun is soonly approaching um and i’m looking forward to the great feedback that we get from the uh the girls that are
Participating in that as well as the uh two chapters we have that we’ll be assisting them that so um those are the two events um now uh with that being said i’m gonna turn it over to mr jaren spragens who is our fundraising chairman and he’ll provide you with an in-depth
Presentation on the mphc legacy plaza um good evening everyone i hope everyone is doing well i’m in the midst of this pandemic of course we wanted it to be in person but we hope this has been a smooth transition and everything has gone smoothly again i’m james sprague and i’m a spring 19
Initiate of the omicron kappa chapter here at auburn and tonight i have the pleasure of discussing and presenting the npc legacy plaza to you all so the mpc legacy plaza is just be will just be a beautiful serene essentially located space on campus that’ll help um the the piece about inclusion and diversity
Um as we know you know our numbers are trending downwards so we we want to use this piece to not only you know celebrate the greek later organizations but also use it as a recruiting tool for future students um surrounding auburn and kind of encourage them to attend attend army university
Why auburn as i just mentioned um auburn’s numbers are trending downward and that’s something that we’re trying to figure out ways to you know recruit better um you know need based scholarships and things of that nature but as far as where the legacy plaza will come in um we can definitely we
Definitely can see you know using this as a recruiting tool but also educating our current student body as to you know what npsc is you know what it means to the african-american community and how it kind of galvanizes and unifies everyone and so um you know future students you
Know they can come by on tours or with their parents at football games and they can pass this space and see how you know beautiful and special and um cultivating this whole plot will be and so we’ll have you know pictures you know later on in the slides but this is
Kind of why you know we chose already no other campuses have it and so we decided to bring this idea to our university and kind of you know kind of have our own sense of uh belonging our own place on special place that we can have on
Campus that we can call our own so uh timeline um before i get into the timeline the first date we have is january 2018 but i want to say that the legacy plaza was in talks way before um that particular date so i just want to you know thank
Everyone who was a part of it who discussed it whoever you know talked about at legacy plaza before january 2018 your work really got the ball rolling and allowed us to even get to this point so we thank you for you all work beforehand but officially um
January 2018 was when we first started to discuss the npc legacy plaza fast forward to july of last year the project was tentatively uh tentatively approved by the board of trustees as a special fund which allowed us to fundraise so we can have money coming in from alumni current students whatever case
May be to help raise the funds for this project um following that uh this past july um the blt unanimously approved the project and the naming of it which was obviously great and we could actually you know break ground on this particular project and then this september um
The whole epc council as a whole decided to change the location from the south to the west location like i said you’ll see a better visual aid in the coming slides and so um the legacy plaza will just celebrate you know the past the present and the future of this whole community
That we know as a divine nine and celebrate the legacy and the accomplishments and the historical um background of the whole ephc from each org to the whole npc as a whole and there’s a lot of history there’s a lot of uh accomplishments and achievements that auburn’s npc
Has achieved and so we just want to highlight that and use his space just to celebrate us as a people so um as i mentioned before this this south end is where parker is currently and where the markets would have been so this whole side is where parker is
And where the markers would have been so instead of being on the south end we moved it to the west end which is where those trees are and there will be nine trees lined against um and that big building behind it is the aclc which is being constructed as we speak
So those nine trees will just represent each divine nine organization and then as you see the green space or the elevated amphitheater seating is what people can sit down at or sit down in and look down actually at the markers themselves so that’s kind of why we switched it we
Felt like it would be a better view and also when the sun sets it’ll actually look a little bit better than if it would have been on the south side i mean excuse me the south uh the south location so that’s why we switched it so this is kind of
A bird’s-eye view of this whole space so you have the the nine trees representing each org you have the aclc that’s lining up and you also have the dining hall which is off to this uh north side right here so these are currently being built
And so as a result we won’t have to worry about and wait on the demolition of parker we can already break ground and kind of begin the progress of building this um these markers and so this is kind of like a bird’s eye view of everything
This is just a rotated um picture of it it’s more detailed as i mentioned before the nine green circles represent each org the aclc is lining up behind those trees and then the dining facility that they’re building will be off to the left and then like i said parker
Is on that south edge and then looking out is the amphitheater with the elevated seating so a nice space um plenty of space for you know cookouts pictures videos step shows yard shows you know whatever case may be you know this space will be a big space
Um space that you can use for you know family for whatever the case may be um this will be our our space so some benefits um very interesting benefits uh phase one should be completed around fall 2002 excuse me to fall 2022 and phase two should be completed at the latest around
Spring 2024 as i mentioned before depending on when they decide to tear down parker um interestingly enough in 2022 as ronnie mentioned before we will be celebrating 50 years of when omega sapphire chartered here at army university back in 1972. so we’ll be celebrating 50 years and fall of 2022 and then the
Following year 2023 we will celebrate 25 years of the entire nphc being here at auburn so with both phases both dates we will have something to celebrate you know obviously holistically we can celebrate just the project being completed but those particular time periods 50 years for mega sci-fi being here at
Urban university first and then 25 years for the entire ephc being here so um as you can see the lazy plaza will serve as kind of just celebrating the whole legacy the longevity of the nphc and just the whole um from everyone who has who was there in the beginning from 1972
To now to the future this is this is commemorating all of that hard work all of those blood sweat and tears um that brought us to this point and so like i said it’s something to be proud of to be grateful for and something that we can have and look back and say
You know i was a part of that i helped you know construct this this masterpiece so looking forward to seeing um it being completed so next thing next slide and we’re trying it we’re trying to do this um it’s not it’s not uh given it’s not confirmed but
We’re trying to increase the space between each pillar it’s kind of small in between each pillar but the reason why we’re trying to increase the space in between it is so that way when people are taking pictures videos whatever the case may be people won’t be you know
In someone else’s photo or someone else’s video there’ll be enough space that people can share the space take pictures you know do whatever and they’re not crammed up next to somebody else’s uh monument so that’s we’re trying to do that it’s not confirmed but we’re trying to increase the space between each pillar
And then off to the left the big um the tenth marker will commemorate and celebrate and provide a historical context to the whole ephc so you’ll have the nine represent each board but then that tenth marker will celebrate and commemorate the whole um divine line so someone that might not know what ephc
Is what it stands for this marker the 10th market will kind of serve as that purpose and so imagine you know you’re coming back to a football game you know it’s october and you know you have a few kids you have you know your line sisters your line
Brothers and you’re coming back to the npc legacy plaza this is kind of what we envisioned with it being completed um the building that you’re looking at straight ahead is the aclc as i mentioned before and the smaller building is the dining facility and those nine trees representing each um each org
The markers will be right in front of those trees and then the amphitheater as i said before with the elevated seating will be kind of panned out like that so this is kind of what we’re envisioning this is kind of what we’re picturing and hoping that you know with all our
Hardware with all the meetings and things like that this will be um what it would be when it’s completed so this is kind of uh the field we’re going for but just you know kind of imagine you’re coming back to a football game and this is the mpc legacy plaza that space um
That we’ve you know worked hard for this will be the finished product so hopefully like everything goes well we have a few more meetings coming up but other than that everything is looking up to par and we will be breaking ground soon so um like i said thank you all for just coming
Um and for all the people that have come before us you know people that’s currently in the npc we thank you just for you know leading the way um paving the way um graduating but also coming back and providing feedback being mentors the whole nine you know we don’t take it
For granted and hopefully we can you know be in your shoes someday and come back and do the same thing that you all did for us um if you have any questions or inquiries or whatever you can follow us on you know instagram twitter facebook and like ronnie mentioned before you can email
That email address with whatever questions you have and um i think that’s all i have all right jared well i appreciate that my name is peyton also brook and i am the development officer for student affairs here at auburn and i wanted to circle back really quickly
To something josh said that i thought was really impactful and he said that many of you walk the same path as our students are walking today but at the same time you paved it as well which i think is extremely powerful and i think that speaks to really what this
Project is designed to do and that is to create and celebrate a legacy uh for all that you have done through the years uh in as part of your nphc fraternities and sororities and so that is why i am very excited to play a small part in this project
Helping with the fundraising and tonight i just want to briefly give you a few updates talk a little bit about strategy and then introduce you to a couple of individuals that have already generously given and have been a huge help in getting us off the ground with their fundraising efforts so
Um to give you a little bit of background as jaren mentioned the aclc will be right there by the lakewood plaza which is great because that is going to help us i was going to throw that away but daddy which is uh great in that it will allow us
And help us with the landscaping that you saw the beautiful landscaping what we as development and student affairs are aiming to do is to raise around a hundred and forty thousand dollars for the legacy plots themselves as well as that tenth marker that you just saw and jared described the great news that
I have to share with you today is that we have already raised sixty thousand dollars for this project um that includes the fifteen thousand dollars five from nphc five from panhellenic and five from a ifc excuse me is in addition to 25 000 from a corporate donation and two pledges
For 10 000 from two individuals that i’m going to introduce here in just a second so really exciting news that we are off to a fantastic start now with that being said uh our vision is that part of our strategy will be to have a divine nine donor list
That will celebrate nine individuals that give at the ten thousand dollar level uh as i just mentioned we’ve got two individuals that have already given so we have seven spots left for those ten thousand dollar gifts and one thing that i want to share with you is that those ten thousand dollar
Gifts that’s not saying hey you gotta write a ten thousand dollar check today that can be broken up over three years it can be broken up by monthly payments and so if you wanted to do it for three years uh over 36 months it would be about 278
A month to again chisel your name into this legacy plaza which i think would be really special and those individuals will be recognized on that marker that jaren pointed out towards the end of his presentation and so um i want to encourage those of you that are interested
That want to talk through that if you want to email me i will put my email address in the chat also if you wanted to just send a direct message to me and go in the chat and just send it directly to peyton also brooke and just say hey i’m
Interested that doesn’t mean you’re signing up to give me a ten thousand dollar check uh it’s just hey i’m interested in having this conversation it could be that you know other individuals that might be interested in supporting the plaza which would uh be incredible i’m happy to do
The legwork and have those conversations but again i couldn’t be more excited about this project and i’m ready to get there to our 140 000 goal as soon as possible so that we can ensure not only that we get there we have everything to build this beautiful plaza
But that we have extra money there as well so that we can continue to sustain it for years to come with all of that being said i am going to turn it over now to regina sanders and to sonya jenkins who have both graciously given at the ten thousand dollar level for
This incredible plaza and my last thing i will say uh before i sign off is that as you notice we have gotten ladies very involved early on and so i need the fellas to step up because we’ve got aka delta sigma theta representation looking forward to hearing from some of
The fellas as well so that we can kind of keep track of who’s given the most and again all going towards this incredible legacy plaza but with that i’ll turn it over to regina thank you guys and have a great evening thank you very much peyton and first of
All i just want to say um welcome and greetings to everyone on behalf of the auburn alumni association we’re super excited that this group is participating in black alumni weekend and i know that yesterday was great and tonight focusing on the divine nine makes it even better so um thank you so
Much um aaron for all of your work and programming so when i think about this project um it’s really important and jaron said a lot of really good things about the importance but whether you’re greek or not i think that everyone recognizes the importance that the divine nine has on the black community
Um so this legacy plaza is going to speak volumes for auburn university i know that it’s been said in a lot of ways that auburn has been a little bit passive when it comes to some of the major statements made in favor of african americans as well as against racism
But i think that this is a huge step in the right direction when i think about this plaza i think about its importance being around education jaren talked about that not only educating the students but i also think educating the alums when they come back to campus
And they see this legacy plaza in the position that it is in campus um people are going to walk up out of curiosity to unders want to understand what is this and this is our opportunity to be a mouthpiece for the importance of the divine mind the important contributions that african
Americans have made as well as the contributions that we’re making to auburn university so i am very excited about this and when i was approached about um being a donor um i was all in because i think that you know you you lead by example and i
Think that there are several of you who are on this call who have given a lot to this university in the alumni capacity as well as for your greek letter organizations and so i just want to encourage you this is my sound bite for a friendly competition
We already have the the best two sororities that have stepped up to the plate alpha kappa alpha sorority incorporated at delta sigma theta so i want to challenge all of us to give you don’t have to give a thousand dollars you can give ten dollars you can
Give a hundred dollars you can give five hundred dollars whatever you can give i want everyone who’s on this call to tell someone else as well as to um reach inside your pockets to really contribute to this because this is something that’s going to be on campus
For perpetuity and to be a part of something this monumental on auburn university’s campus is going to speak volumes for you and your own legacy and what you’re able to give to this university so i’m appreciative of the opportunity i’m thankful to be able to do so
And i just want to encourage all of you to do the same and now i’m going to hand it over to sonia thanks regina and war eagle to everyone um there’s not a whole lot left to be said but just to encourage those who are on the call
To uh recall the reasons why you joined your respective organizations there was something about your chapters before you became a member that made you say i’d like to become a member fraternity or sorority and i think for me having arrived on auburn’s campus in the 80s i think about it often we
Were barely 20 plus years out of integration when i arrived on campus and so to think that 10 years prior 13 years prior to my coming my chapter the kavosan chapter which was chartered in 1974 they were only a decade out of integration but still found the tenacity found the fortitude
To be able to survive some very intense um situations on the campus but still charter organizations same for the other greek letter organizations the divine nine who did the same during that time and what would have it what better way to honor their legacy than to continue it to continue the conversations um
It’s it’s a first step i think in many to come that will honor the divine nine and the contributions that we continue to make on campus it was really a nice chart to see um the places in leadership that we have on campus and what better way
To honor the leaders on campus and those that have paved the way before than this legacy plaza our foot stonework regina um has said you know we’re all about competition now so uh i would like to challenge the the fraternities as well as the sororities once they um
Whether you’re have a chapter on campus right now or not um we could use your your your fundraising your if you don’t have it you know five dollars ten dollars it will make a difference i mean don’t think your donation is too small um like like regina said also um when i was
First approached about it i was all in no questions asked again i thought about the charter members of the capital of salon chapter back in 1974 i think about what kept up salon meant to me when i was a student on campus um when i didn’t feel like i had a home
In air quotes at auburn cap upsilon was my home until i felt like auburn was home and so i don’t know if that’s your experience that was my experience in the late 80s early 90s but i always felt like i had a home returning to the
Plains when it came to the chapter and and the greek life so um encourage you to to be a participant an active participant with your time your talent and your treasure for the legacy plaza it is going to be an amazing opportunity to showcase the greatness that’s happening at auburn and with the
Divine nine and thanks for the opportunity peyton thanks so much to both of you guys and i’m about to or both you ladies i’m about to send across my email here momentarily through the chat as many of you have reached out i appreciate that and uh haven just mentioned that uh
Regarding the link um i do not have the giving link right now i will work on that and get that sent across to aaron to distribute so thank you on that haven and besides that i will again just say if you’re interested i’m always available i’m happy to talk
About it we’re very excited about this project also consider that corporate matches are a possibility too if your employer offers that that is something that you could use as well to help make this great project happen um again thanks so much to everyone and i will now turn it
Over to bernard to get us into our breakout rooms uh thank you peyton i don’t think i’ve introduced myself um but my name is bernard goins and i serve as the advisor for the national panel olynyk council here at auburn university uh we want to just thank everybody for uh those beautiful
Presentations um and we also want to kind of circle back because i skipped over one well we happen to skip a little person and we definitely don’t want to do that so i want to give najja the opportunity to kind of give some acknowledgements uh before we get ready to move into our
Breakout room and we also have a little bit of time built in for q a as well so if you have any questions start to uh formulate those and you can drop those in the in the chat box uh so we’ll start answering them and if you haven’t uh updated or renamed
Your yourself please do that at this time um and make sure that you add your organization to uh your when you rename yourself and if you don’t if you’re not a part of the community community definitely put friend by there because we we have a lot of friends and we
Definitely have something special uh plan for our friends as well so nausea is your if you’ll unmute yourself i’ll let you uh take it from here thank you bernard good evening everybody my name is roger williams and as ronnie stated earlier i am the vice president of administration as well as the vice
President president of conduct and recruitment for mphc and i am also a member of alpha kappa alpha sorority incorporated thank you everybody for joining this event with nphc and i hope everyone enjoys themselves first i would like to acknowledge all and any members of the board of trustees
As well as the staff of student affairs lastly i would like to acknowledge any past nphc executive board members and advisors that we also have on the call and i hope that everybody enjoys their breakout rooms
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