Over the summer, many chapter officers and advisors had the privilege to attend national headquarters conventions. Attending a national convention gives students and advisors the opportunity to travel and connect with other members from across the country.
Alpha Chi Omega won a number of national awards, delivered from their headquarters due to their convention taking place every other year. Among their awards were Outstanding Fraternity/Sorority Advisor, recognizing Kate Roessler for her outstanding job as a “campus professional who supports and mentors the women of Alpha Chi Omega to seek the heights.”
Kate Roessler served the Missouri State community as Assistant Director of Fraternity and Sorority life for 4 years. Past Alpha Chi Omega President, Alyson VanWinkle stated “Kate was always a useful resource and an encouraging advisor to me during my term. She truly embodies a real, strong woman by her wisdom and devotion she shows her students and their chapters”. Their chapter was visited by Alpha Chi’s National President, Angela Costely Harris to present their awards during spirit week. They also celebrated winning the National Council Trophy for the second year in a row, which recognizes chapters who best exemplify the ideals and mission of Alpha Chi Omega. Alpha Chi Omega also received Outstanding Collegiate Advisor Award, recognizing chapter advisor, Brittany Gum, as well as Seeking the Heights: Risk Management.
Pi Kappa Alpha received The Robert Adger Smythe Award, which recognizes the top 10% of all 220+ Pi Kappa Alpha chapters across North America. This is the first Smythe award in Zeta Chi’s chapter history. Former Chapter President, Ethan Johnson added, “Achieving the highest award granted by our national fraternity is still surreal. It represented years of hard work that our alumni put forth in order for our chapter to be on Missouri State’s campus. It represented the hard work that active brothers put forth each day toward academics, the community, and our campus. To have been a leader during this time has been one of the most impactful seasons of my life, with memories that will last forever. I look forward to continued innovations in management and outreach from the brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha Zeta Chi in the coming years.”
Members of Alpha Delta Pi also attended Grand Convention this summer and were able to witness the rebranding of ADPi. The sorority has not been rebranded since 2001. President Jolie Quinn noted, “Grand Convention was a once and a lifetime experience! It was so much fun meeting sisters from all over. At Grand Convention, ADPi released our new brand, “Be the first.” It was such a positive environment as we released our new brand. It was so exciting being the first to see the brand surrounded by so many sisters.”
August also brings IFC recruitment events as well. During the first two weeks of classes, men have the opportunity to attend recruitment events such as BBQ’s, service projects and intramural games. Men have the choice of what recruitment events and chapters to go to. Between
Former Delta Chi president and 2018 Homecoming King, Andre McIntyre, had the opportunity to be a part of the Fraternal Government Relations Coalition’s (FGRC) Capital Hill visit April 23-25th in Washington D.C. Andre was one of a handful of students presented with this opportunity to visit the nation’s capital through direct interaction in legislative process currently impacting fraternity and sorority life across the country. While there, he was able to represent Delta Chi Fraternity, Fraternity and Sorority Life members and Missouri State University. Andre said, “My team consisted of myself and Emily Bauer, a Delta Phi Epsilon from Truman State, and we visited the offices of Congressional leaders to discuss the benefits of FSL, why students’ freedom of association should be protected, and three pieces of legislation… The legislation protects our freedom of association, and the other two were anti-hazing policies that add transparency to acts of hazing on campus.”
When asked what made him want to go he said the following, “when I was presented with the opportunity, I had the chance to research the issue. Reflecting on my fraternity experience, being a part of a single-sex organization has added so much to my overall university and has provided incredible opportunity for growth and leadership development. I found the issue very relevant to me and something that I am passionate about.”
“[Being in charge of philanthropy] allowed me the privilege to take head on planning the Sigma Chi Food Drive benefiting Bear Pantry! When the new exec board was elected, we knew that we wanted to improve our philanthropic donations and become more invested with philanthropic events around campus. After constructing a new philanthropy committee, we took the time to organize this event. I heard about the new Bear Pantry on campus and I felt that it would be a perfect opportunity to help jump start the Bear Pantry and give Sigma Chi an opportunity to fulfill Missouri State’s Public Affairs Mission by being engaged in the community in order to collect donations for the pantry. I know that there are so many students and families that suffer from food insecurity and I felt that this would be a perfect opportunity to help them overcome the obstacle of food insecurity in any way possible… As we were planning the food drive, I never really thought of a specific goal in mind in regards to how many donations we would receive, but we definitely exceeded any expectations that I could have had. After three days of collecting donations, we ended up collecting 1,150 items, totaling at 475.9 pounds of items. Along with food, we were also collecting toiletries, deodorant, toothpaste, toothbrushes, etc. and I was very happy to see some of those items donated as well. Not only did we want to collect food for the Bear Pantry, but we wanted to help spread information about the Bear Pantry to the students in hope that if someone ever finds themselves struggling, they now know they have somewhere to turn to for help. Everyone in the chapter, especially myself, was thrilled with the outcome of our food drive, and we are definitely looking forward to working with the Bear Pantry a lot more in the future. Lastly, Sigma Chi would like to extend a big thank you to everyone who donated to our food drive because without your generous donations we wouldn’t have been as successful as we were!”