The cheers and laughter, the smell of hotdogs and nachos, accompanied with friendship and brotherhood are just one way Theta Chapter at the University of Missouri has focused on their alumni relations while working towards recruitment.
Theta Chapter began a regional multi-event alumni relations program in which their chapter, potential new members and other chapters can participate.
This year, the chapter has held two of the three events that they have planned so far. In June, Theta Chapter held a golf tournament in Columbia, Missouri, where seven teams consisting of alumni, collegiate members, and perspective members, played golf. Their second event was held in Springfield, Missouri, at Hammons Field, home to the Springfield Cardinals.
“We recognized that alumni can’t always make it to Columbia, so we’re starting these summer regional events where every summer, we go to a different part of Missouri,” Brother Benjamin Brown of Alpha Zeta Chapter at Kansas State University said, who now works for the University of Missouri and helps out at the Theta Chapter.
With their plans to visit southeastern Missouri, the Chapter knew that Missouri State University, located in Springfield, was home to the Beta Omega Chapter of AGR. Rex Martin, CEO of Alpha Gamma Rho, was also in attendance.
The third event, which will be held in September, will be their annual alumni tailgate at a University of Missouri football game.
“It’s a full day of activities where alumni can bring their families to campus, we’ll have lunch at the chapter house, and have an opportunity to play games and then watch the game that afternoon,” Brother Brown said.
For the last three years, Theta Chapter has held a joint tailgate with Alpha Zeta Chapter at Kansas State when their teams are playing against one another. The two chapters take turns hosting depending on where the game is set to be.
Brother Brown said, last year, the chapters had lunch, tailgated and had a block of seats for attendees. He said roughly 120 Alpha Zeta and Theta Chapter alumni participated in the tailgate.
This year, Theta Chapter has invited Alpha Omega Chapter at Murray State to attend the tailgate for the Tigers v.s. Buffalo Bulls game set for September 7.
Brother Brown said the events have all been successful in different ways, which has made the program a success overall.
“We hadn’t engaged our alumni in southeast Missouri/Northwest Kentucky in a long time and we didn’t really know what to expect, but I feel pretty good about what we were able to accomplish these last few events,” Brother Brown said.
He said he hopes these events have been a positive influence on chapter members. Brother Brown explained how alumni engagement can be difficult, but is very important to the survival of the Fraternity.
Brother Brown said he realized that without an event like this, a lot of alumni are not as connected to the Fraternity. When he would travel outside of Columbia and run into AGRs, he said it became more apparent that it was extremely difficult for many alumni to find a way to get back to their home chapter. So, he brought the home chapter to them.
He noted the importance of alumni leading potential new members to the Fraternity and supporting the chapter financially from chapter house improvements to scholarships.
“Our ultimate goal is to continue to engage with alumni to help them feel connected to their home chapter in the hopes that they have a young man in their community that they feel is high quality and a good fit for AGR,” Brother Brown said.
Brother Brown said in the future, Theta Chapter might try to hold different events to add a little variety and peak other members’ interests. Other event ideas have been a BBQ lunch and a crawfish boil.
He said he also hopes to eventually create a scholarship for the VNR-Alumni Relations position to get collegiate brothers more involved in working with their alumni and fostering those relationships to keep the chapter going for generations to come.
