The 1998 Convention was yet another success. How could anyone have predicted failure when you get 30+ brothers, and their wives, children, fiancees, and girlfriends together in Point Pleasant for a weekend with great weather?
The focus of the weekend was the Meeting of the Members on Saturday morning. This was followed by a barbecue, later by Sig Series #7 Beach Volleyball, and then by dinner at an excellent local restaurant. Many brothers arrived at Point Pleasant on Friday to meet up and proceed directly to the Tiki Bar, and many also stayed for Sunday to enjoy the beach and possibly join in a rigorous Miniature Golf Tourney.
The Meeting of the Members was probably the greatest success of the weekend. The meeting was run exceptionally smooth. The whole meeting was run on schedule with much accomplished in a short period of time.
Reports from all Board Members and the Undergraduate vice-president John Messinger showed that as a whole, Alpha Rho seems to be running well, but there is room for improvement. Communications, Undergraduate and Alumni Association recruitment, service events, and fundraising are all areas that need more contributions and seek improvement. Jeff Brill jumped in to help almost immediately volunteering to spearhead the Alumni Fundraising and Service efforts.
New Board Members Joe Fass and Dave Barker were added, and Kevin Ruta was reelected to serve on the Board and later voted in as the new President. Greg lazuli was also elected in the position of vice-president. Stepping down from the Board were Bill Severino and Glenn Arbesfeld who contributions to the Alumni Association are so greatly appreciated. Their contributions are too numerous to list all of them here, but examples such as the Convention weekends and the Black and White for the past few years have been just some of the products of their hard work.
A new Constitution was also accepted at the meeting. The discussion over the Constitution was lengthy, but the Undergraduates learned much from it. It was found that many Undergraduate standing rules passed in the past few years were never processed properly and accepted into the Corporate Constitution. Joe Fass, the new Chairman of Housing and Undergraduate Development, agreed to assist in making sure these added rules are passed through the proper channels and added accordingly.
The barbecue following the meeting was excellent as well. Wives, children, fiancées, and girlfriends tore themselves away from the beach to meet up after the meeting at the VFW. The food once again was good, and there was plenty of food for all.
Following the Convention Barbecue was Sig Series #7 - Beach Volleyball. An arrogant young Undergraduate squad stepped up to the plate just to strike out. They lost all three games to the Alumni squad. For a moment in game two, they looked as if they had an opening and a chance to take it, but that opening soon closed.
The convention was yet another success, and has already been scheduled for next year on the first weekend of June at the Point Pleasant VFW. I’d like to sent out a thank you to all the alumni that put in the time and the effort to make the Convention a success for yet another year.