The time is upon us: Graduation. While some people aren’t too excited about getting out into the real world, our seniors have no choice. For them it feels like just yesterday that they received their bid, bought 15 block letter shirts and dove blissfully into pools of themed parties and Sperry Topsiders.
It’s a sad and difficult journey on the way to becoming alum, but what we fail to realize is that the only thing better than being an new undergrad Greek member is being a new graduate Greek member. Alumni have all of the benefits of a collegiate member without the rules or the dues. How that doesn’t sound appealing to absolutely everyone, I’m not sure, but those seniors are about to become the fun loving people we've been trying to be for the past three years.
Far too often, the underclassmen in chapters eagerly wait for the seniors to graduate and move on. Freshman finally get their littles; sophomores move into the upperclassmen ranking; juniors have made their way to senior status. But don’t write them off just yet, because being friends with your new alumni could enhance your undergrad AND postgrad lives.
Here are some reasons to stay close with your alumni:
Networking: This is the most obvious one, but it’s definitely a thing. While not everyone in the house studies what you do, chances of the recent grads getting a job they didn’t want after college are high, and maybe that's in the field you did study! Graduating and getting a job is a struggle, but getting internships nowadays isn’t much easier. Find out where your alumni work and see if they take interns or applications or résumés or anything at all. More than likely your brother/sister won’t have anything to do with the hiring process, but getting some info and having someone to speak positively about you never hurt anyone.
The “21” Club: Turning 21 is the highlight of most collegiate careers, so congratulations to those of you who have made it in. Some of us, like myself, haven’t made it there yet, so you 21 year olds are left with no one to hang out with. (Sorry you became friends with so many fantastic people who are younger than you, we're trying to get there as soon as we can.) Alumni are a great fix to that problem. They want to come back and visit the campus on the weekends away from their life at mom and dad’s, and you can finally go out with them! You were never old enough before but oh how the tables have turned.
New Alumni Friends: When graduates move back home, or to a new city, they start going to new places and trying new things (just like freshman year) and they get to meet other alumni of your national fraternity, doing the exact same thing. We love meeting other chapters as undergrads, and it’s even more exciting when they haven’t seen a real life collegiate member in forever. Take advantage, go out and meet some other alumni from other chapters, I bet they have some really awesome stories and will buy you a meal or drink.
No Rules: Being Greek is a wonderful experience, but I think we can all agree on one thing: The rules are really holding us back from being super fun insane. Well alumni don’t have those things, rules, so they aren’t too concerned with breaking them. Do your handshake on the way to the bar, talk about how great or horrible your executive board is doing, post a picture with a drink and a sketchy bartender -- they can do all of that and not get called into standards for any of it. We might not get to post the picture ourselves, but knowing it exists is enough most of the time. *Disclaimer: Posting a ton of pictures of you wasted isn’t the best idea anyway. Be cautious, you’re still an undergrad and still don’t have a job yet.
Remind Them Why They Joined: Everyday we are reminded of why we joined our chapters. We have lunch with our sisters and go to the library with our brothers, not to mention Greek week where we all get to see who loves their chapter most (Just kidding, we all love them equally. LOL.), but alumni don’t have that everyday reminder. So while we can benefit so much from their career advice or party tactics, they can benefit from the love of our bond. Reaching out and reminding them that they are still our brother/sister can remind an alumni of why they joined their organization oh so long ago.
