Rush 2008!

Interested in rushing Sigma Alpha? Plan on attending at least two of the following awesome rush events!

• Monday, September 15 at 6:30 pm: meet at the campus farm for a tour, followed by an info session where you can get to know the sisters- there will be ice cream!

• Wednesday, September 17 at 5 pm: Fall Bash in the Animal Sciences courtyard

• Friday, September 19 at 7 pm: bowling

• Thursday, September 25: cookout at the AGR house (the ag fraternity) at 5:30; call Amanda if you need directions
  

• Saturday, September 27 at 5:30 pm to Sunday, October 28: camping at Greenbelt Park

Meeting Notes 9/22/08

Old Business:

• Since the scholarship report is not being submitted, we will just pay the fine.
• Due to a mix-up, we will unfortunately have to pay dues for some deactivated members
• Sara, Amanda and Margaret are going to National Convention, and one of our rush shirts is being included in the quilt J

Don’t Forget:

• Interviews are next Monday. They are MANDATORY for all actives. Professional dress.
• Cookoff in the ANSC courtyard this Weds.
• The All Nighter is at Stamp this Friday

Reports By Officers:

• 1^st Vice (Professional):
• Planning an etiquette dinner, and possibly a presentation on professional speaking skills.
• Rush:
• Remember you must attend 3 rush events or be fined.
• The Thursday (formerly TBA) rush event will be a cookout w/ AGR at their house at 5:30 (Don’t forget if you signed up to bring something!)
• Saturday the 27^th is camping.
• Please reply to Kim ASAP if you want to come so that she can plan.
• If it rains, an email will be sent out the day of w/ new plans.
• Please bring $5 to camping.

Fundraising:

• Molly will be overseeing the cookbook project. Please come to the cookoff, taste food, and ask the teachers about contributing!
• Looking into citrus and nut sales for the holiday season.
• “Masquerade for Hunger Aid”
• Starts at 7:30, dinner at 8, on November 1^st.
• $33.50 per Sigma Alpha active (price per plate), $40 for students, $50 for non-students.
• Think of (and email to Kim!) ideas for baskets. We need to get businesses to donate.
• We will distribute letters about donating to heifer to other colleges in the university besides AGNR. Lara is working on this.

Chapter Visit:

· Mandatory for all actives. If you do not attend, you will be fined $25.

· October 3^rd in the evening is an officers meeting. Exec board only: Sara, Amanda, Cindie, Rachael, Jennie

· October 4^th from 8am to 5pm. Amanda will reserve room.

· Sisterhood event afterwards.

· Sara will organize the dinner for Friday, Joann will organize lunch on Saturday, Margaret will organize dinner and the subsequent sisterhood event.

· Dress comfortably. A list of things to bring will be emailed out.

Discussed things we like and dislike, in order to address changing the bylaws:

• Likes:
• Sisterhood of the sorority.
• How everyone is helpful and friendly
• The organization, efficiency
• Dislikes/ Ideas for Change:
• Idea that if you don’t attend a certain number of rush events, you can’t vote in interviews.
• Execute more fundraising
• Question whether, even if the absence is excused, you can be absent from all of the meetings of a semester and still be active.
• Create some system for regulating how many people come to each rush event (looks bad if there aren’t many of us there!)
• Want to make sure Bigs really get to know their Littles.
• Bring balloons etc to littles when they are accepted after interviews
• Can you have 2 littles?
• Institute a policy where you would have to be in the sorority for a certain amount of time before running for an office.

Meeting Notes 9/08/08

• Our new room is ANSC 3105. We will still meet at 6:30 on Mondays
• T-Shirts for rush should be in by September 15^th. They will be $19, and should be made payable to Sigma Alpha
• Due to work conflicts, Julia B. cannot come to meetings on Monday, so we need a new Rush and Social Chair.
• We voted for Kim J
• We need the mail from Lisa Perez!
• Cindie H. will now be in charge of the scholarship report.
• Amy B. will get the mail.
• Dues will need to be paid next week or week after, but preferably next week (9/15/08). They are $100.
• Amanda H. is going to look at some professional development events on the national website.
• Sarah G. and Julia B. are excused Mondays for work
• The Alpha Delta Chapter of Sigma Alpha (at University of Nebraska at Lincoln) re-chartered their chapter, so we are sending them a welcome back card (Maire).
• RUSH! :
• Amanda was voted rush chair
• Margaret could not find attractive pencils to give out at rush so we are not doing it this semester.
• Amanda will look into it for next semester, and made it a motion.
• Jennie seconded the motion.
• Motion passed.
• We are not doing the First Look Fair.
• ANSC new student orientation is this Wednesday. Setup is at 4:30. It will run from 5-7
• Kim moves that Fall Bash on Wednesday September 17^th be a rush event.
• Jennie seconded.
• Motion passed.
• The Cookoff is September the 24^th at around 5pm. It is not a rush event.
• Camping kim at greenbelt park or sleepover?
• Either Camping at Greenbelt Park or a sleepover (possibly at Sara & Amanda’s house) will be a rush event. It will be on the 26^th of September, a Saturday. Setup would be at 5:30.
• Kim made the motion.
• Victoria seconded.
• Motion passed.
• Again, we’re not doing the first look fair
• Cindie motioned.
• Kim seconded.
• Motion passed.
• We are looking into bowling for a rush event.
• Amanda will figure out where.
• It will be on sept 19^th Friday at 7
• Info session for rush will be a farm tour/ see the fistulated cows/ eat icecream. We will meet on Monday the 15^th @ 6:30 in the area outside the shack/ horse barn. Amanda will get the ice cream.
• Amy moved.
• Maragret seconded.
• Motion passed.
• If we can do a rush event with AGR we will. If not, we will do some kind of charity event. Time TBA, on September 25^th
• Jennie moved
• Amy seconded
• Passed
• Amy moved that sigma alpha reimburses people for costs incurred by rush
• Kim seconded.
• Motion passed.
• Molly said the website is up and running and that she will email out the url
• We will not chalk this week due to weather
• We will hang flyers this week
• Amanda will make flyers and bring them on weds, which we will hang rest of the week.
• Chalking at 2 on Tuesday next week, meeting in the ANSC dowstairs hall by 0408.
• Sara is bringing chalk to next weeks meeting to give to people. This way you can chalk at your own leisure

• Meetings for month of September:
• 15^th = rush event
• 22^nd= business
• 29^th = interviews
• Meetings for month of October:
• 6^th= mc ceremony
• 13^th= professional
• 20^th= business
• 27^th last one is sisterhood
• Meetings for month of November
• 3^rd= business
• 10^th = prof,
• 17^th = business/sisterhood
• 24^th = activation
• Meetings for month of December:
• 1^st= prof.
• 8^th = sisterhood/business wrap up
• We need to make list of rules saying about what you can and cannot do if you join sigma alpha to avoid confusion for rush/mc.
• Sara and Amanda are going to the National Convention. Please let them know by the end of the week if you are interested in going as well.
• They are getting sigma alpha button down shirts.
• You can access the shirts on the national website and buy them
• Maire is emailing Sara pics. from last year for the slide show.
• Tractor certification tutorial is on October 14^th. It is $60. See Sara for more info.
• 13^th = a young farmers leadership conference you see farms, workshops etc. email Sara for more info.
• Future harvest conference in January 16^th and 17^th in Frederick.
• American Agriwomen positions open. Email Sara. 10-20 hrs a week some paid positions through the school year.
• Women in dairy conference in Pennsylvania on Thursday November 20^th during the day. Good for networking, and speakers, etc. email Amanda for more info
• To raise more money for the ark:
• Costume Ball at Sir Walter Raleigh’s on November 1^st.
• Would like to have a silent auction.
• Also, would like to have a fall harvest-esque event where kids could come in their costumes and bob for apples, etc.
• Would ask local businesses to sponsor.
• KIM NEEDS HELP! This is a big project J
• Maragret made motion to do this.
• Jennie seconded.
• Motion passed.

Meeting Notes for 8/09/08 (summer meeting)

Minutes from Sigma Alpha summer meeting – 8-09-08

• Attendance: Sara, Amanda, Margaret, Jennie, Kim, Joanne
• Goals for this coming school year
• Every officer gives input/update on activities at meetings
• Secretary needs to take minutes/attendance at every meeting and send them to president for approval
• If an officer misses a meeting, she needs to find a replacement
• Enforcement of attendance policy and fines
• Hand out bylaws at first meeting for clarification
• We need get local ag sponsors for more SigAl events! (Ex: Monsanto)
• Develop a point system to motivate members to participate – the more you put into the sorority, the more you get out of it (prizes, $ to go to conventions, etc.)
• Kim volunteered to be “Points Master” and wear a wizard’s hat for whatever reason (heehee)
• Points Master would have all authority to decide on point values and to keep track of participation
• More fundraising, maybe by merchandise selling?
• Definitely do Flower Power again
• Fundraising through a possible Halloween/harvest-themed fall dance hosted by SigAl to benefit Heifer – tentatively Nov 1
• Another Franklin’s dinner plus more advertising for it
• Fruit sale
• Possibly have optional follow-up meetings for things that can wait the whole week at a coffee shop or something – also sort of sisterhood building
• Kim to take charge of getting on the New Resident Orientation list of activities, but maybe not with the watermelon crawl, because Pepsi turned down our grant application again
• Chapter visit, October 3-5: EVERYONE MUST COME!!
• National Convention in San Mateo, CA (Oct 16-19)
• Early registration ends Aug 31
• Cheapest flight Amanda found was about $350 round-trip with Southwest
• Will send an email with more details
• RUSH
• No input in MC voting by a sister unless that sister actually attended rush events/got to know the girl in question
• Should do co-rush event with AGR
• Line dancing with mocktails at AGR house
• More rush event ideas
• Bowling, camping/sleepover, Fall Bash, new student orientation, teacher-student cookout, moonbounce, ice cream meet and greet, fistulated cow/farm tour/ice cream
• Historian needs to update trifold – she needs money
• Rush handouts/flyers need to be redone – less text, more concise
• After last semester, we thought rushes could have been more informed – they can’t see bylaws until they’re MCs, but they will need to have a list of rules before rushing
• Tentative Rush Calendar
• Sept 8, 6:30 pm: first SigAl meeting for Fall 08
• Sept 8 – 12: flyering and chalking, go into Ag classes, hand out any promo items
• Sept 10, 4:30-7:30 pm (pizza @ 6:30) – Ag New Student Orientation
• Sept 15 – 26: two weeks of rush events
• Sept 16-17: first look fair
• Sept 29: interviews
• Oct 6: MC ceremony
• Nov 24: activation
• Julia: please compile that list of rules for possible rushes to read before rushing, and please fix flyers
• Rush t-shirts for fall 08
• Submit possible designs by Aug 16
• Kim wants everyone to send her an email by Aug 23 saying what t-shirt they’ll vote for, what size you want, whether or not they still want a shirt if another design is chosen; payment at beginning of semester
• PHILANTHROPY
• Faculty letters for $1 Heifer donations
• Cardstock already purchased, but letter needs to be written
• All sisters can have a building to deliver letters into faculty mailboxes
• SISTERHOOD
• Football games
• Sept 26: Stamp All-Nighter
• Birthday cake every month
• Brainstorm at meetings to include all sisters’ input for sisterhood events
• Spa night: hire masseuse during exam week?
• Capture the flag on the mall
• Farmer’s market in Riverdale
• PROFESSIONAL
• Have more speakers
• Do a dinner etiquette practice dinner
• Dress/make-up for the workplace seminar
• Resume writing
• “Elevator speeches”
• Graduate program advisors for girls who don’t want to be vets but do want to go to grad school
• Oct 14: tractor operation workshop
• Do more Ag workshops, like at National Ag Library down Rte 1
• MAEF for Ag in the Classroom
• FFA: “Goats in the Classroom”
• SOCIAL
• Cook for AGR at their house
• Sept 20: dairy farm tour (“Cows and Corn”) with AGR; also corn maze, barn dance, etc.
• SCHOLARSHIP
• Paper test bank needs to be started
• ALUMNI RELATIONS
• We need to have a liaison with them!