Chapter Highlights Cal Poly Membership took a hit during the last year and we did not recruit anyone which hit morale hard. We were scared to see similar results due to the pandemic. In the end, we were able to recruit 2 members during Spring semester who were so excited to become part of our organization, they were already securing future new members for Fall! With this, though our chapter is small now, our morale is at a new high and that energy will serve us well for the next semester when our campus opens. Several months before we even heard of Covid, we established a Discord server for our chapter, which put us in a good position to make the transition to a virtual format. As a result of our preparedness, we conducted our weekly meetings, executive board meetings, and our annual bylaw revisions without a problem. The Discord server allowed us to easily host virtual events with our own members and other organizations. We have had at least 6 brotherhood events and 6 social events each semester. Iowa State This year we hosted our annual retreat in person again at an outdoor park; we spent the day evaluating how our chapter has done the past year, how we want to do a year from now, and what goals we needed to make it happen. The week before initiation in 2020, the university eliminated all in-person activities. Our ritual committee turned a week of in-person brotherhood activities into virtual activities for our 14-member pledge class. Group activities during I-Week like cookie baking turned into mug cakes over Discord. We grew our sense of brotherhood using an Iowa State Triangle Discord that promoted safe and fun time spent with each other. We even won the Innovation award from Iowa State’s Sorority and Fraternity
Engagement Office for our use of Discord and ability to pivot to the uncertainties of Covid-19. We needed to reevaluate how our chapter was doing during this stressful time and enhance the membership experience. One way we did this was through a culture board, Crucible Talks, and a workshop led by our house director. Our culture board is an online form that members can fill out anonymously about how things were going. Crucible Talks were safe spaces where brothers could talk openly. It could be simple things like how stressed they were for exams, or heavier things they wanted to talk about with their brothers. Our chapter is seeing our brotherhood change for the better. Michigan After a year of chapter professional development, fundraising, and brotherhood, we are full of energy for the future. We concluded the 2020-2021 academic year with our best fundraising work. Between fundraising for Movember, the Muscular Dystrophy Association, and a bonus for our chapter chef of 13 years, we raised about $6400. We are excited to expand our service impact on campus next year. While Covid-19 dramatically altered how the brotherhood operated, interacted, and socialized, our men showed a renewed commitment to forming great relationships and building themselves as better men. We had the opportunity to host 15 professional development, DEI, and academic-related events, most delivered in a virtual format for all brothers to attend. This year, we aim to focus on improving our impact on the campus and community, expand our relationships with other student organizations, and recruit a pledge class of over twenty men. As the Michigan Lambda chapter nears its 100th anniversary, we are proud to look back on our strong traditions and roots in Ann Arbor and continue to build our brotherhood for another century of success.
Discord is a voice, video, and text communication service used by many of our chapters. 8
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