Annual Report for Beta Alpha Chapter
Membership List:
NAME
Megan Baker
Sara
Greenbaum
Katrina Williams
Amanda
Heilman
Sara Meagher
Lea Simon
Amy Brown
Blair Conard
Cindie Hengen
Emily Yu
Jessica
Hernandez
Jesica ListmanWard
MAJOR
Ag and Resource
Econ.
Animal and Avian
Sci.
Animal and Avian
Sci.
Animal and Avian
Sci.
Animal and Avian
Sci. & Ag Science
and Tech.
Animal and Avian
Sci.
Animal and Avian
Sci.
Ag Science and
Tech
Animal and Avian
Sci.
Jennie Howland
Dietetics
Ag Science and
Tech
Animal and Avian
Sci.
Animal and Avian
Sci.
Animal and Avian
Sci.
Environmental
Science
Megan Scott
INACTIVE
Maire O'Meara
Plant Science
Animal and Avian
Sci.
Animal and Avian
Sci.
Animal and Avian
Sci.
Katie Kemp
Lisa Richardson
Kim Menendez
Katie Hannum
Lisa Perez
YEAR
GRAD.
DATE
GPA
OTHER ORGANIZATIONS
3.4
Senior
May-08
Collegiate 4H, Ag Council, Ag Ambassadors
Junior
May-09
UMEC, Farm Crew
Junior
May-09
Work > 10 hours
3.2
Soph.
May-11
Collegiate 4H, Animal Husbandry
2.6
Soph.
May-11
Collegiate 4H, Animal Husbandry, Ag Council, Alpha Zeta
Senior
May-08
Earthworks
3.4
Soph.
May-10
Vet Sci, Alpha Zeta, UMEC, UMET, AGNR Ambassadors
3.5
Senior
May-08
Soph.
May-10
UMD Senate, Vet-Sci
Campus Crusade for Christ, Animal Husbandry, Vet Sci, CP Scholars
and Band
Senior
May-08
Senior
May-08
Collegiate 4H, IMPACT
Animal Husbandry, Ag Council, Dairy Judging Team, Alpha Zeta, Phi
Theta Kappa
Senior
May-08
Pre-vet, Commuters, Student Senate Academic Affairs Committee, 4H
3.2
Senior
May-08
Animal Husbandry, Ag Council, Dairy Judging Team
3.8
Senior
May-08
Ag Council, Collegiate 4H, UMD Women's Crew, MD Chorus
2.2
Junior
Dec-08
Donors for Life
Junior
Dec-08
UMD Sustainable Agriculture Ag Group, Garden Club
Junior
May-09
Work > 10 hours
Senior
May-08
UMD Track, Alpha Zeta
Junior
May-09
Alpha Zeta, Vet Sci Club, Work > 10 hours
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3.89
3.14
3.56
2.586
2.94
2.733
2.9
3.33
3.333
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Chapter Strengths:
 Leadership
 Camaraderie
 Socialization
 Enthusiasm
 Great rush spring 07
o Lots of flyers
 Creativity and good ideas
 Ag Day Fundraiser
o Lots of $
 Sisterhood events
Chapter Weaknesses:
 Participation
 Parliamentary procedure
 Following through
 Lack of equal participation
 Ag Day organization
 Lost MCs
o Didn’t place enough importance on ceremonies
 Not responding to emails
 Professional events
 Communication with advisor
Chapter Long-term Goals:
 Membership growth
 Development within sorority
o Traditions for example
 Stronger philanthropy program
 Finding storage
 More officer training
Chapter Short-term Goals:
 Information hunt for us and MCs
 Quiz night on SA facts
 Get to know rushes and MCs better
 REGIONAL CONVENTION PLANNING
 Website
 Test banks
 Invite advisor to meetings (get a shirt?)
 Following parliamentary procedure
 Disciplinary action for nonparticipation
 Better delegation of roles
 Better Ag day organization
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Officer Reports:
President:
The 2006-2007 school years showed some grand changes for the Beta Alpha chapter. My
goal as the chapter president was to increase the number of Beta Alpha sisters and
develop the chapter as a whole. The presidential role was harder this year because there
was a change in presidents half-way through the year. This created many challenges such
as lack of information, and transition. Also as the chapter president I was faced with
bringing the sorority out of financial debt to the National Chapter.
I worked with the National Board Contact to relieve our chapter of debt. I encouraged all
of the officers to take on new projects and to create more activities in our community. I
also worked closely with the officers and mandated that we have regular officer meetings.
1st Vice President:
As the 1st Vice President I was faced with many challenges. My goal was to start having
a meeting once a month devoted to professional development. I developed meetings and
activities to increase the professionalism of the women in our sorority.
Along with the President I worked to keep parliamentary procedure a primary part of our
meeting procedures. We had a jeopardy night to increase the knowledge of Robert’s
Rule Order. I also made sure the National and Chapter by-laws were available to all
sisters and I kept myself up-to-date on rules and regulations of the sorority.
2nd Vice President:
The 2006-2007 school years were very productive for the 2nd Vice President. It was my
goal to continue to increase the number of sisters in the chapter by at least fifteen. This
goal was almost accomplished because there were twelve new girls this year 4 in the Eta
class and 8 in the Theta class. As 2nd Vice I committed a date and time for both
semesters for the Membership Candidates to come and learn the facts and history about
the Sigma Alpha Sorority. We also had community service events such as stream clean
ups, food, and animal shelter donation drives, and during these events not only MCs
attended, but active members as well. This developed the sisterhood among the MCs and
actives.
Treasurer:
My personal goals as treasurer of Sigma Alpha National Sorority, Beta Alpha Chapter,
are to collect and deposit dues and other incomes in an organized and timely manner,
organize and maintain the money and account information, promptly reimburse members
for expenses incurred in service to Sigma Alpha, order supplies (pins, T-shirts, etc.) in a
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timely manner, and to serve on the Executive Board and help make decisions for the
betterment of Sigma Alpha.
To achieve these goals I regularly balance the chapter checkbook and organize receipts in
a binder titled Treasure’s Notebook. I give my honest opinion about the state of our
account when members suggest our account pay for sorority related items, for example,
food and supplies for events. To promptly reimburse members I bring the checkbook to
every meeting and require receipts for expenses. Supplies such as pins and T-shirts for
new members are ordered when we are reasonably sure they will complete the
membership candidate process in order to avoid purchasing extra items. To help make
decisions for Sigma Alpha I attend weekly meetings and participate in discussions and
votes.
Secretary:
As the secretary, I keep track of attendance at all meetings and events. I try to encourage
attendance from the sisters by setting a good example and attending all sorority functions.
I also keep the listserv up-to-date, by deleting alumni addresses and adding the addresses
of new initiates, and the contact sheet each semester. At meetings I take careful detail
and notes which I then send to all sisters over the listserv in a timely fashion. My goal
for the 2007-2008 school year is to encourage the use of super sister points and awards.
Rush:
As rush chair, I am in charge of coordinating the rush events and keeping the rushes
infomed about the events, meetings, interviews, and bids. Our Theta class was the
biggest class in our chapter so far! The final class consisted of 8 sisters. We made it our
duty to help the rushes get to know us and what we stand for through our rush events.
Our rush events consisted of ice cream socials, info sessions, Sigma Alpha ribbon
making, and educational events on our campus farm. We had a long interview process
with the Spring rushes, but we made sure that everyone agreed and was happy with the
girls that we invited into our chapter. As our chapter grows we plan to have more events
that promote getting to know one another and show how we as sisters promote
agriculture.
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Committee Reports:
Scholarship:
As scholarship chair, I am responsible for completion, and sending of the required
scholarship form. I encourage our sisters to achieve well academically. I headed the
creation of a test bank so that sisters can have access to previous semesters exams and
network with sisters who have completed courses in which they are currently enrolled.
Further development of the test bank is ongoing; we expect it to be fully available on our
website during the 2007-2008 school year.
Sisterhood:
For our first sisterhood event in September, we had a game night with the rushes. We
played charades and pictionary. In October we had a movie night. We watched A
Nightmare Before Christmas in the Animal Science building and had candy. Our third
event of the semester was cookie baking. We baked and decorated gingerbread cookies.
In February we had a game night with the rushes again. The sisters and rushes played
taboo. In March we had a movie night in the Animal Science building. We watched the
movie Eight Below. For our third event of the spring semester we made a baby quilt for a
sister in need. Each sister decorated a square and then we compiled the quilt.
We had an overnight event in the summer at a sister’s house. We learned about tractors
and how to drive them. Then we had a bonfire and camped outside in tents.
Historian:
The goal for the historian last year was to document our progress as a chapter through
photographs and mementos in our scrapbook. This goal was achieved by taking pictures
of sisterhood events and of our new sisters at ceremonies and keeping these in the chapter
scrapbook. Another thing that historian has control over is our Display Case located in
one of our Academic Buildings. It really gets our names out there to students within the
college as the pass by going from class to class.
Financial Report:
Please refer to the excel file named SABA Budget on this CD.
Fundraising Report:
We began each semester by collecting dues ($40.00 per member). At the end of the Fall
semester we had a candle fundraiser that raised $250.00. During our Spring semester, our
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fundraising was held during Maryland Day/Agriculture Day at the University of
Maryland. We raised money with our traditional Kiss-a-Pig contest, and a bake sale. We
made $397.36 that day.
For the Fall 2007-Spring 2008 year, we expect to try to have a bake sale and we are
currently brainstorming ideas to raise money in conjunction with other organizations on
campus. We also plan to do fundraising at Maryland Day in the spring.
Membership Recruitment Report:
For membership recruitment, the sisters got together in groups at different times and
chalked the sidewalks all over our campus. We also had rush t-shirts made for the first
time. We spent time flyering our campus throughout academic buildings and popular
student spots. Through the agriculture college we sent out emails on the listserv for all of
our rush events. We also attended the College’s social events, such as Fall Bash and
Faculty Cook-off, together as a sorority. Our recruitment practices worked with evidence
in the number of rushes. We plan to keep these practices going and to elaborate to them
and introduce ones in the future.
Philanthropy:
Our biggest philanthropy project this year has been Ag in the Classroom, a program that
we are still working to develop and perfect within our chapter. Because of numerous
scheduling conflicts with the local elementary school with which we volunteered, the
program was not as successful as we would have hoped. However, a few sisters did visit
our partner school on one occasion. We are still working hard to expand this program as
we feel it has the potential to develop into something very rewarding and beneficial to
our chapter. We are planning a field trip for the students to our campus farm during the
2007-2008 school year.
Professional Development:
Professional development really took off this year as it was not as effective the past few
years. We did many activities to encourage our sisters to strive for achievement as
women in the agricultural work force. Examples of activities we performed were guest
speakers from the Maryland Farm Bureau as well as our Campus Farm Manager who
were both women. Workshops were also very effective such as resume building and
study skills.
Report of Social Activities:
During the Fall semester, no social events occurred due to numerous cancellations of
plans from both groups. However, spring semester was much better. On March 10th, a
stream clean-up on the campus was planned with the University’s chapter of AGR. In
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May, we also took part in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resource’s formal,
hosted by the Animal Husbandry Club. This was a good time for us all to have a night out
with the sisters as well as other agricultural majors and groups from the campus.
Disciplinary Actions Taken:
 No actions were taken.
Risk Management Policy/Report:
 Please refer to the attached word file named SABA Risk Management Policy
on this CD.
Chapter Bylaws:
 Please refer to the attached word file named SABA Bylaws on this CD.
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