Encore

What Difference is the NAA Making for Kappa Kappa Psi & Tau Beta Sigma?

by Dale Croston Chair, NAA Board of Directors

Over the last few years I have been asked questions such as: • What is the NAA doing? • Where is my money going? • Will my membership make a difference nation- ally or will it be better served locally?

These are all valid and good questions which I’ll try to answer. The NAA was formed to provide an avenue for our members to keep their ties to Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. As alumni, moving away from your local chapter, it is hard to keep in touch and involved. Ninety percent of the NAA members are members who want to continue supporting Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma nationally even though they have lost ties to their chapter. The other 10% of the NAA membership are still very active in local Alumni Associations supporting their chapter, district, or community band programs.

The questions I hear most often are: “Why should I pay dues to both a national alumni association and a local association? Wouldn’t my money be better off just staying with my local association?”

That’s hard to answer; it’s all about personal feelings and preferences. I myself see the value for both. I pay national and local dues just like when I was an active member. As an Active, part of my chapter fee went to the National Chapter of Kappa Kappa Psi and part was added on for my chapter to function with. I will always support my chapter and I will always support Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. It’s hard to see what impact the alumni make because most of us only know the chapter level of our organizations. We never see the big picture and how it makes a difference.

Let’s look at some examples of the impact the NAA is having and what impact it could have on Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma: • Local Alumni chapters went from 4-5 before the

NAA to around 19. As the NAA promotes and helps people to create local alumni associations, more are sure to develop. • The number of individual subscriptions to The

PODIUM is up, and this is helping cover the cost of production for the Chapters. Most individual subscribers are NAA members who pay $10.00 per year to get The PODIUM and stay up with the organizations. • Life Memberships and their impact on the trusts have grown every year since the NAA started promoting the program, totally revitalizing the program into a money maker. • With the increase of Alumni participation and the

NAA at National Convention, the convention fees collected covered the costs for the first time. Again, alumni helped to reducing the costs for the National

Chapters who in the past have had to eat any extra expenses. • Chapters who incorporate the NAA into their candidate programs encourage retention in their ranks from the start, which will help keep members active until graduation, helping to solve the ever-present retention problem. • With the NAA’s help in promoting them, national campaigns such as the Walk of Honor (bricks), Trustees’ Gift programs, and the S.O.S. capital improvement program all have generated additional funds.

However, these are only some of the bonuses for having the NAA around. Let’s look at the current programs and projects of the NAA itself:

• Our oldest program is the Chapter Delegate Assistance Fund. This covers the registration cost for some delegates who need help getting to National

Convention. • The SPAF (Special Project Assistance Fund) helps active chapters OR alumni associations with the costs of projects they are trying to get off the ground. • The district allotment sends $5 of every NAA member’s dues to the district of their choice to help that district’s budget. • A web site is maintained for NAA information and events. • An alumni listserve was created for alumni to keep in contact with each other and share ideas. • Creation of guidelines and an idea packet for new alumni associations. • The NAA also created the Encore, a publication to feature alumni news (you’re reading it now!).

• OUR NEWEST PROJECT is a proposal to assist in a complete overhaul of the National Headquarter’s database to bring it up to the needs of the Headquarters staff, the National Chapters, the Trustees, and the

NAA. Members will be able to update their information from year to year and access information to help

Headquarters keep records correct and up to date.

Several surveys over the past year to our members and actives asked what they wanted to see or get out of the NAA. Most of the responses were service or social requests. The NAA is not set up to operate social or service events for local areas. These are the responsibility of Local Associations. Most District, City, State, or Chapter associations have the ability and manpower to get individual alumni members more involved in projects.

Meetings of the Association

The annual meeting of the Association will take place during National Convention in Norfolk, VA, July 23– 26. Any member unable to attend may fill out a proxy form and send it to any director. Proxy forms can be found on the NAA website at: www16.brinkster.com/kkytbsnaa/ index.html.

All proposed amendments to the constitution or bylaws must be submitted in writing to the Chairperson no less than sixty days prior to a regularly scheduled meeting of the Association. Please contact Dale Croston at naasw@kkpsi.org if you wish to propose amendments. If you have any other business to bring before the membership, please let Dale know so that it can be included in the agenda.

Chapter Delegate Grant & Special Project Assistance Fund

If you are an active and wondering if your chapter will be able to afford to send a delegate to National Convention, the NAA awards several grants to help make sure every chapter is represented. This grant will go to your registration cost. Also if your chapter or alumni association is working on a project and perhaps need some more funds to help you succeed, the NAA has a Special Project Assistance Fund to help you. Applications for the Grant or SPAF are due May 1; application forms can be found on the NAA website.

National Convention Silent Auction:

the NAA Silent Auction. We rely on donations from our members and actives for our success. Only new or gently used items will be accepted. At the last convention in Corpus Christi, thanks to your donations the NAA raised $3,600. If you want to contribute something, please contact Cathy Fletcher at naase@tbsigma.org.

Milestones

Births

Anna Cecilia, daughter of Richard (ΚΚΨ/Omega) & Heather Mackey (ΤΒΣ/Omega) Kealy Rae, daughter of Jeff & Theresa (Ronayne) Giddens (ΤΒΣ/ Beta Zeta) Caroline Rebecca, daughter of Jim & Tricia (Irrgang) Fawcett (ΤΒΣ/Gamma Omega) Gracie, daughter of Dennis & Kristine Gotthelf Wills, (ΤΒΣ/ Gamma Epsilon)

Weddings

Avery Kenley (ΚΚΨ/Delta Iota) & Lizzette Jackson (ΤΒΣ/Beta Phi) Raymond Kim (ΚΚΨ/Eta Phi) & Lianne Webster Joseph Johnson (ΚΚΨ/Epsilon Kappa) & Whitney Bailey Doreen Latyce Parker (ΤΒΣ/Eta Delta) & Kenneth Starkes

Career

April Marie (Houck) Jarobe – Passed her boards to become a Registered Nurse Eric B. Morson – Passed exam for NASD Series 24 license, mak ing him a “General Securities Principal” Kathi Waddle – Passed her ExCET test for a Texas Teaching Cer- tificate

Alumni in the Spotlight by Catherine Seaton

In this edition of ‘Spotlight’, we focus on two very different alumni. Debbie Bradley has been a chapter founder and a music educator. Aaron Seifert has actively pursued another interest and shows that we continue to grow after our college days.

Debbie Bradley, alumna of the Epsilon Xi Chapter of Tau Beta Sigma, has been making a difference in ΤΒΣ and in bands for over twenty years. In her words, it is an “elevating and wonderful feeling to serve.”

It all began in the 1970s at Troy State University in Alabama. Debbie remembers band members gathering on Sunday afternoons to play football or to watch the game. Her band director Dr. John M. Long, a Kappa Kappa Psi alumna, recognized that the members of the band needed “unification.” He approached the students about Kappa Kappa Psi and Tau Beta Sigma. Debbie became a founder and the first chapter president of the Epsilon Xi Chapter.

She graduated and went onto a career as a band director. A few years later an active member invited Debbie to attend the District VIII Convention. There she was elected as District Vice-President and began ten years of service on the District Council. It was interesting to learn that alumni were once able to be elected to the district council.

Debbie continues to be involved with her chapter. She visits them at least once a year, usually at the Southeastern Band Clinic which Troy State University hosts. Her connection to these actives is so strong that they often travel four hours to Georgia to work with her band students. Debbie cherishes these times with her chapter because she can “go back in time to touch her past.”

Tau Beta Sigma recognized her commitment in 2001 with the Outstanding Service to Music Award. Debbie is the band director at Cook High School in Valdosta, GA and is serving as the Vice President of Women Band Directors International.

Following a recent performance of the USAF Band of the West in Stillwater, ΚΚΨ/ΤΒΣ National Executive Director Lt Col Alan Bonner (himself a former commander and conductor of this unit) caught up with these alumni members of the band. Front row, L-R: A1C Lindsay Zufall (ΤΒΣ/Gamma Mu); A1C Sandi Brashears (ΤΒΣ/Beta); MSgt Kani Nichols (ΤΒΣ/Rho); SrA James Walker (ΚΚΨ/Eta Sigma). Back row, L-R: 2 Lt Matthew J. Seifert, Deputy Commander/Associate Conductor (ΚΚΨ/ Beta Gamma); TSgt Nathan Sielbeck (ΚΚΨ/Zeta Kappa); A1C Tamra Gobert (ΚΚΨ/Beta Gamma); Lt Col Bonner; SSgt John Davis II (ΚΚΨ/Epsilon Lambda). Continued 

Sederick C. Rice (ΚΚΨ/Epsilon Chi) was recently named one of Ebony magazine’s “Young Leaders of the Future” in its February 2003 issue. Sederick, 30, is an adjunct faculty member in the University of Vermont’ s Race and Culture Department, and a doctoral candidate in the university’s Department of Pediatrics. He is the author of Must be the Music, Vol. 1: Memoirs of a Musical Dynasty (Morris Publishing, 1999; ISBN 0-7392-0245-6), a study of the role music and ΚΚΨ/ΤΒΣ played in the development of the University of Arkansas-Pine Bluff and other historically black colleges and universities. Congratulations, Sederick!

Aaron Seifert clearly remembers his trombone section leader approaching him as a freshman at Northern Arizona University. This section leader was Aaron’s introduction to Kappa Kappa Psi. He enjoyed having brothers for the first time in his life. ΚΚΨ taught him “how to deal with people especially in a tight knit group.”

Now he has a found another group in road cycling. Cycling began with a mountain bike for Aaron as a necessity for transportation in college. His sister challenged him to a 100-mile ride around the city of Tuscon, Arizona. He switched the mountain bike tires to smooth tires and his interest in road cycling began.

Last July, cycling took him to Iowa for the 30th Register’s Annual Great Bike Ride Across Iowa, RAGBRAI, along with 10,000 other people. This took seven days to travel 500 miles. Aaron teamed up with a club that took his stuff by van while he biked. Then at night everyone in the club meets up and camps.

This March, Aaron will travel to Hawaii for a 290- mile ride around the main island. His goal is to eventually participate in a Rocky Mountain ride. For him, cycling is not about winning races but a way to meet more people and have fun.

Alumni 101A – Now What do I do?

(Formerly: How to Beg Food Money and Support from Alumni)

The Second installment of the Alumni Courses offered by the NAA Board of Directors by Heather Mackey, ΤΒΣ Western District Director

It’s hard being an Alumnus. You are stuck in the real world dealing with real people and you no longer are a part of the day to day life of your chapter. While there are numerous Local Alumni Associations available, as well as the opportunity to form new ones, and the NAA to be involved with as an Alumni, it can be hard to let go of the chapter that was once the center of your world. When you do go back to your chapter, you are now one of the “old folks” in the back of the room that you use to make fun of. Here are some quick ideas for staying involved with the Active organizations without feeling like an “old folk.”

There are three basic things that all actives and chapters need: Food, Money, and Support.

• Most Actives fall into the “Starving College Student” category, so food is always welcomed. I don’t mean go out and buy the actives weekly groceries, but there are many ways that Alumni can help out in the category. Your LAA can host a lunch for graduating seniors at convention, or help cut the cost of the banquet dinner. Another suggestion is having the local

Alumni take the prospective members and/or candidates out to dinner one night. This gives everyone a social environment to get to know each other over something other than Student Union Food.

• As ΚΚΨ and ΤΒΣ are non-profit organizations, this means is that if you make a donation to your chapter, district, or the National Organization, it can be a tax write-off. As with anything involving the Government, there are a lot of guidelines and limitations, so please remember to check with your accountant or tax preparer to see if they qualify. IRS Publication 1771 gives detailed information about charitable Contributions and is available on line at www.irs.gov.

• Support can take on many different meanings, so it is up to you as an Alumnus to determine how you want to offer your support. Some choose to offer continued support as a National Officer or as a member of the NAA. For others, they what to give more to the active at an individual level. This can happen by being an extra set of hands at fundraisers, and for others it can be as a sounding board for the actives. No matter what form the support comes in, just make sure it is welcomed, and not forced. It is important to remember that Alumni are guests at

Active events, even conventions, and should not assume that it is okay to be actively involved.

While it can be difficult to leave the life of an Active, there are opportunities available to help Alumni stay involved. For more information on Alumni Activities, projects, Local Alumni Aassociations in your area, or how to start a Local Alumni Association, contact the NAA Board at either NAA@kkpsi.org or NAA@tbsigma.org. }

KAPPA KAPPA PSI & TAU BETA SIGMA 2003 National Convention

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