The Beginning That Never Ends
Membership in Alpha Gamma Delta does not end when you graduate and are no longer
a college student. It is a lifelong membership that allows you varying levels of
involvement long after your college years are over. This issue of NewsBytes focuses on
the different types of involvement that you can have with your own chapter as well as
members of other chapters, as an alumnae member of Alpha Gamma Delta.
Your Initiating Chapter
Staying in touch with your initiating chapter once you've moved away from your alma mater is not
always easy. For the first couple years, you may still know a few collegian members who were
there before you left, so they are usually the ones you contact when you want to know how the
chapter is doing. What about after those people leave though? How can you keep up with your
initiating chapter? How can you let your initiating chapter know that you still support them?
Here are some suggestions:
- Be sure your initiating chapter always has your current mailing address. This will allow
you to continue receiving newsletters, as well as invitations to various functions such as IRD,
Recruitment, an alumnae tea, brunch or other special alumnae event.
- Try to attend your initiating chapter's IRD every few years instead of only attending one near
where you live. IRD stands for International REUNION Day - reunite with your initiating chapter
once in a while!
- Visit your initiating chapter's website. About half the collegiate chapters are online at this
time and and that number is rapidly increasing! Websites are a great way for chapters to share
information in a timely manner and are a great additional resource to traditional newsletters. If you're
not sure whether your chapter has a website online already or not, please visit AlphaGam.Net's
Collegiate Links page to see if it's listed. If your chapter
is not listed and you know they have a website, please email links@alphagam.net
with the website address. If your chapter doesn't have a website yet, please encourage them to visit
AlphaGam.Net's webdesign pages for information on how to create one!
- Take advantage of one of the free online communities. AlphaGam.Net recommends
eGroups as an excellent place to set up an email
discussion or announcements list for your initiating chapter's alumnae. Aside from a simple email list,
eGroups provides a message archive, calendar, links respository, database where you can set up
different tables for things such as an address book or a phone list, document vault and an online poll.
Some other online communities are SixDegrees,
PlanetAll, Yahoo!Clubs, Planet Alumni.
Once you have one of these set up for your chapter, email links@alphagam.net
and we'll be happy to help you advertise it by linking to it from our Alumnae
Links page.
Junior Circles
Junior Circles are for alumnae 35 years and younger. Many Junior Circles are affiliated with
a local alumnae chapter or club. Members of the Junior Circle are invited to participate in
alumnae chapter/club events, but the Junior Circle also holds its own events. See our
Junior Circle Links page to see what some of Alpha Gamma
Delta's Junior Circles are up to! If you'd like to find out if there's a Junior Circle in your
area or are interested in finding out about starting a Junior Circle, please contact the Junior
Circle Chairman, Rebecca Battle Bryant, at wdbrbb@mindspring.com.
Alumnae Chapters and Clubs
Alumnae Chapters are found in areas where there is an active collegiate chapter. Alumnae Clubs
are found in areas where there are no active collegiate chapters. Both are great ways for
alumnae to stay involved with Alpha Gamma Delta! Besides the fact that chapters have a more
active roll in supporting a collegiate chapter, chapters and clubs are very similar. They both
have ample leadership opportunities, philanthropic focus and social events. Visit AlphaGam.Net's
Alumnae Links page to see what some of Alpha Gamma Delta's
Alumnae Chapters and Clubs are up to!
Rose Sisters
Rose Sisters is a program for Alpha Gamma Delta alumnae who live in areas where there are no
alumnae chapters or clubs. Through the Rose Sisters program, alumnae receive newsletters
that provide updates on the Fraternity. This is an especially great program for those
members who live outside the United States and Canada. If you are interested in joining the
Rose Sisters program, please contact the Rose Sister Chairman, Patti Speakman Conville, at
RoseSisAGD@aol.com.
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Becoming an Advisor
Another great way to stay involved with Alpha Gamma Delta as an alumna is to become an
advisor for your local collegiate chapter. You don't necessarily need previous experience
as a collegiate chapter officer to become an advisor. If you are willing to learn and have
some time to give the collegiate chapter and the Fraternity, you can certainly be an effective
advisor. The time committment required for advisors really depends on the office you are an
advisor for. Some advisors will only need to commit to one night a month for Executive Council
meetings plus a committee meeting or two. Others may need to be more actively involved with their
advisee on a constant basis. And yet others, like the Recruitment and Membership Advisors, will
need to put in a lot of hours during formal recruitment, while only putting in minimal hours during
other months. Please contact your local collegiate chapter to see if they need advisors... most do!
AGD Website News
If your Collegiate Chapter, Alumnae Chapter/Club or Junior Circle is interested in starting a website,
please be sure to visit our WebDesign pages for information about how to get
started. If additional assistance is needed, please feel free to email
webdesign@alphagam.net and we'll be happy to help in any
way we can.
New Alumnae Chapter/Club Sites
Atlanta Alumnae Chapter - Georgia
Old Dominion Alumnae Club - Virginia/DC
New Collegiate Chapter Sites
Zeta Nu - Alma College
New Junior Circle Sites
International Junior Circle-U.K. - England/U.K.
New Webring Sites
Atlanta Alumnae Chapter - Georgia
International Junior Circle-U.K. - England/U.K.
Old Dominion Alumnae Club - Virginia/DC
Zeta Nu - Alma College
Interactive Poll
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NewsBytes Poll
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How have you remained an active member of Alpha Gamma Delta as an alumna? (Please choose the "highest" level of your involvement)
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Announcements
Join the AlphaGam.Net
Announcements list! Joining this list will enable you to receive site update announcements,
chat reminders, notices about newsletter issues being posted and more.
Contributions
Want to contribute to the next issue of AlphaGam.Net NewsBytes? We're looking for topics,
articles, chapter announcements or any tidbit of info that Alpha Gams would be interested in.
Just send an email to news@alphagam.net and let us know
what you would like to see posted here. Please be sure to include your full name and collegiate
chapter. Alumnae, please also include your Alumnae Chapter/Club or Junior Circle affiliation,
if any.
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