Past Events:

Vedros Golf Tournament – An annual tournament that is held in honor of Nicholas Vedros, who passed away from brain tumor complications. Last year 65 alumni participated.  It took place in October and cost $150 per person.  $100 dollars of each fee was donated for brain tumor research and/or went to The Vedros Senior Leadership Scholarship. 

Founder’s Day Celebration – In February the chapter hosted a gathering for the birthday of Kansas Alpha.  There was BBQ and brotherhood, and best of all, a stomping of Colorado in basketball.  Some alumni went to the game, but many stayed to watch the game with brothers in the house.  Afterwards there was a presentation to relay information, and take suggestions for future events.  We hope to expand this in the future so mark your calendar next year around Feb. 14!

Back to School – Over the summer our chapter advisor, Tony Kim contacted members of his pledge class for a get together event.  They came back to Kansas Alpha to hang out for the weekend, and relive the college experience.  This doubled in function as the alumni contributed thousands of dollars towards the chapter’s fundraising account.

Possible Future Events:

Mini Reunions – Hopefully in the near future Kansas Alpha will be having Mini Reunions.  The concept is to target a 3 or 4 year period of time and have every active member from that time period attend if possible.  We will have specific events scheduled such as Homecoming, etc.  As Alumni Chairs, Jeff and I would like to see the Active chapter get more involved with the Alumni, but we need more involvement from the Alumni as well.  During the Mini Reunions we would like to appoint an Alumnus from each class to spearhead the encouragement of his pledge bothers to come back to the house.  We feel that if they know who will be there they will be more willing to commit.

Initiation – In the past Initiation has consisted of only active members and initiates.  Due to the fact that an invitation failed to be sent out, we feel like this has hindered our relationship with Alumni.  Not only do we as a Chapter want to see more involvement involving the Alumni in Initiation we are considering implementing a Graduation/Induction Ceremony.  This would be almost entirely composed of Alumni and will be directed toward the graduating class.  The ceremony would be a farewell from the active chapter and an introduction into the great group of Alumni.

Alumni Involvement in Rush – Everyone knows a fraternity relies on rush to survive.  Jeff and I feel that in order to continue to improve our rushes and ultimately our Active Chapter we need Alumni involvement.  Simple tasks such as writing a letter, making a call, or writing an E-mail to a rush’s parents after he accepts his bid ease parents fears of the stereotypes usually associated with rush and the pledge process.

Formal Pledging – One of the only open events that give insight into Sigma Alpha Epsilon’s rituals is greatly under appreciated.  Jeff and I feel that by having Alumni as well as family, friends and of course women will make this experience better for everyone involved.

Founder’s Day – Kansas Alpha is one of the four Valentine Chapters and Jeff and I feel that Founder’s Day deserves to be recognized and celebrated. However, most guys have other plans with girlfriends, mistresses, etc.  If we could find a way to compromise with an Alumni Event followed by a Valentines Day formal, we could have the best of both worlds.
Also, events such as Brunch, Sports, and Brotherhood Dinners are simple, yet have a huge impact on relations between the Active Chapter and the Alumni.

As it says at the top, all of these ideas are “possible” events.  We would greatly appreciate any input about the ideas listed above as well as new or different thoughts.  We chose most of these events because they all serve multiple purposes.  They are not just Alumni events; they are rush events, chapter events, graduation events, initiation events and so forth.

Conclusion:

Any thoughts, ideas, questions or concerns please do not hesitate to call or email either Alumni Relations Chairs.  We also ask that anytime you are in Lawrence to stop by the house and give Jeff or I a call.  We realize that the majority of the time Alumni do not come by because they do not feel invited.  This is not the case.  Consider this your personal invitation to come by at anytime, this chapter is doing a lot of great things for Kansas Alpha, and we are very proud of what we are doing. Please give us an excuse to show off everything we are trying to do!