So, I know that it has been forever since I posted to my blog, but I really want to keep this blog going! I have actually been writing posts in my head, I just haven’t made the time to sit down and write them… This will be my post to catch up on everything, and then I will try to stay up to date on everything that we do in Omega Phi Alpha. This sorority is so important to me, and I want to share my love with the world! 🙂
The last time that I posted, I was getting ready for Spring retreat. Now that retreat has come and gone, I would like to announce that my ammendment passed! After much debate and long discussion, we decided to ammend my original ammendment from 30 service hours per semester to 25 hours. The Alpha Zeta chapter of Omega Phi Alpha now requires 25 service hours!! I am incredible happy, and I think that we are headed in the right direction. We have so many amazing service projects lined up this semester, that I am sure girls will get way more than 25 service hours. After they see how easy and fun it really is, maybe they will be in support of raising it again. I am thinking of ammending again at Fall retreat, but we will see how this semester turns out first….
I also proposed that we include our local history in the information that is taught to new pledges, and this procedure change also passed!! I am very excited about this as well, because I feel that it is very important to keep the knowledge of our chapter alive. Now that we are growing, integrating the information into the things that are presented to the pledges each year will make sure that it is passed along down our family trees. During the voting, we decided that the membership director/pledge mom would decide how to incorporate the information for her pledges. 🙂 I have not started compiling the information yet, but I will have it done by the end of this semester (or the end of summer at the latest) so that we can approve it as a chapter before it is presented to our new pledge class in the fall.
At Spring Retreat this year, I am going to propose an amendment to our local constitution. This is the same amendment that has been proposed in the past, most recently by Jessica F. last year, so I asked her if she could help me with it. Here is my amendment:
“Amendment
Currently Reads
Article V. Membership
Section 1) A. Requirements
e. Participate in 20 hours of service per semester. These hours shall be earned through planned chapter service projects. It is required that a sister attends in a minimum of three service projects. Participation in an event shall include any or all of the following: project planning, project publicity, project attendance, post-project work, and contribution of necessary items to conduct the project. Service hours can not be used for reasons outside of Omega Phi Alpha until the required minimum hours have been met. Once the required hours have been met any hours exceeding the minimum required hours can be used for non- OPA reasons and will not be included in total OPA hours.
Clause 1. Full hour credit for physically involved service projects will be awarded at the discretion of the Service Director and a second Executive Board member. To earn full credit a sister must not only be physically present at the project, she must also be actively involved. In the event of the service director’s absence, she shall appoint two (2) sisters from the service committee to serve in her stead, one of whom (if possible) should be another officer (EB, CSB, etc.). Any extenuating circumstance causing a sister to not be physically able to fully participate (injury, illness, etc.) must be discussed with the Service Director prior to arrival at the project.
a. The sister can request a meeting with the CSB to discuss docked hours based on the decision of the service director and second executive board member.
Clause 2. If a sister votes “Yes” to a service project, the sister is obligated to actively participate. She will be allowed one fault per semester, after which she will be called to CSB.
Change to Read
Article V. Membership
Section 1) A. Requirements
e. Participate in 30 hours of service per semester. These hours shall be earned through planned chapter service projects. It is required that a sister attends in a minimum of three service projects. Participation in an event shall include any or all of the following: project planning, project publicity, project attendance, post-project work, and contribution of necessary items to conduct the project. Service hours can not be used for reasons outside of Omega Phi Alpha until the required minimum hours have been met. Once the required hours have been met any hours exceeding the minimum required hours can be used for non- OPA reasons and will not be included in total OPA hours.
Clause 1. Full hour credit for physically involved service projects will be awarded at the discretion of the Service Director and a second Executive Board member. To earn full credit a sister must not only be physically present at the project, she must also be actively involved. In the event of the service director’s absence, she shall appoint two (2) sisters from the service committee to serve in her stead, one of whom (if possible) should be another officer (EB, CSB, etc.). Any extenuating circumstance causing a sister to not be physically able to fully participate (injury, illness, etc.) must be discussed with the Service Director prior to arrival at the project.
a. The sister can request a meeting with the CSB to discuss docked hours based on the decision of the service director and second executive board member.
Clause 2. If a sister votes “Yes” to a service project, the sister is obligated to actively participate. She will be allowed one fault per semester, after which she will be called to CSB.
Rationale: This amendment is based on actual research that I collected from last semester. On average, each sister completed 34.7 hours of service. 91% of active sisters met the proposed requirement or were within 5 hours of reaching 30. 69% completed 30 service hours or more, and 48% completed 35 hours or more. Most of us are already meeting the 30 hour mark, and by increasing our minimum requirement, we will be showing the world our great work. Alpha Zeta is one of the chapters that requires the smallest amount of hours; most chapters of Omega Phi Alpha already require 30. Social sororities, such as Delta Phi Epsilon, require 15 hours, and Human Services majors are required to complete 20 hours. We are a service sorority!!! Let’s reflect our passion in our requirements.
Author: Teigan McIntosh”
As you can see in my rationale, most of us are already completing 30 hours of service! Personally, I take a full load of classes, I work two jobs, I have a life outside of Omega Phi Alpha, and I still complete all of my requirements. For the past two semesters, I have completed more than 30 hours of service, and it has not been hard. Because of the nature of many of our service projects, I am able to complete more than enough service hours. For example, longer projects such as Boo at the Zoo and Light the Night allow sisters to acquire multiple hours at a time. All sisters should be able to complete at least 30 hours per semester. I think that this is a very reasonable number. After all, we are a SERVICE sorority! I am not proposing this amendment or pointing any of this out because I think anyone individually has done anything wrong, I just think that as an organization, we should step it up especially since most other chapters already require 30 hours. It is time for us to increase our minimum requirements!!
Also, after working on the archiving OPA project this year, I would like to propose that we include information from the local history of the Alpha Zeta chapter in the pledge quizzes. I believe that it is important for the sisters to know their local history. Here is the email that I sent to our president, Tegan, asking her what she thinks about this idea:
“Hi, Tegan.
-Teigan”
Nothin' Sweeter than ΩΦΑ 