Founder's Day is an annual formal event held by our chapter to celebrate alumni, current brothers, and what our fraternity stands for. The evening starts off around 7pm with a catered dinner and a keynote speaker. This year High Chancellor Weston McCorkle talked with us about the diversity of agriculture and the importance of promoting it. After the speaker, our Chronicler shared a slideshow of what our chapter had been involved with in the past year.
The committee puts in a lot of time to organizing Founder's Day. The planning normally begins in about November and continues until the day of the event. The event was held Friday, May 4th at the University Club. Brothers paid $15 to eat a wonderful chicken dinner. 46 brothers, 2 alumni and many other friends were in attendance.
There are then presentations of scholarships. These include two Chapter Scholarships, as well as the Wakefield and D.S. Weaver Scholarships. We also give out two alumni awards; they include the Faculty Award and the Community Award. These are to celebrate the alumni that have gone above and beyond for our chapter. There are then four other awards given out to brothers. These include the Commissioner of Agriculture, Outstanding Senior Brother, Chancellor's Award, and a Christmas Tree Award. After the awards ceremony, there is a recognition of outgoing officers and then a DJ to end the night with dancing and fellowship.
Having our annual Founder's Day event is a great opportunity to reach out to alumni and learn about how much the fraternity has changed and grown since they were active brothers. Our chapter really enjoys this event because it celebrates the four pillars of Alpha Zeta: Scholarship, Character, Leadership and Fellowship.