Welcome to our Zoom Pledge Meeting TAKE 4! Today the pledges are going to be surprised by their new “Big”. One by one the “Bigs” will come on to the screen and announce the name of their little. Even though this is online, this is their official big in the Fraternity. The brothers are here to help guide the new pledges through this process and answer any questions they have. This year it is even more important to have them to lean on. My goal is to connect them with another AZ brother that can fill in the missing blanks in regards to missing those in-person moments. Creating that valuable one on one connection so that no one has to feel alone.

I decided that one best friend wasn’t enough, so as well as getting an active brother as a Big, I pulled in some awesome Alpha Zeta Alumni. Alumni Buddies will be part two of this process. The pledges this semester will have two amazing people in their lives. I want them to learn our traditions, values, and our passions for agriculture and the environment.

This has been an unexpected challenging semester but while it has been difficult it has also allowed me to create special situations for the pledges that would never have occurred before. For the first time, ever Alumni are able to actively help in this process. Some chose to be buddies and others can simply sign on during our zoom meetings and get to know some cool people. Zoom meetings create a safe space for everyone to collaborate and connect our lives together.

-Arlyn Smith, Pledge Chair

On Thursday April 23rd, several members of the North Carolina Chapter of Alpha Zeta attended a pre-recorded virtual field day of NC Small Grains via Zoom. This research station managed by North Carolina State University is located in Salisbury, North Carolina. In our virtual tour, we learned about weed control, fungicides, malting barley and much more. A big thank you goes out to our alumni, Kaitlyn Milstein, who not only brought this experience to our attention but was generous enough to join our Zoom call and answer a few questions about the tour and gave us guidance in our discussion. Additionally, thank you to NC State Extension for providing this wonderful educational resource for students like us.  

If anyone is interested, here is a link to Small Grains Extension’s youtube channel where we accessed the videos: 
https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLFEZmHj55mFJHZHo2o71IKIwWti2grtCM  

On Wednesday, April 15th, the North Carolina Chapter of Alpha Zeta held officer elections, selected our newest advisor and delegated awards to distinguished brothers. We shared our utmost appreciation and thanks to our previous officer team as well as our beloved seniors for all they have done for our wonderful fraternity. We are so proud of our North Carolina State University graduates and wish them nothing but the best in their future endeavors. Additionally, we want to once again say thank you to our alumni and advisors who attended the meeting as well, offering a helping hand when needed in our discussions throughout the night. Best of luck to our new officer team, and Go Pack! 

North Carolina Chapter Officers 2020-21: 

Chancellor Kristina Phelps 
Censor Taryn Cowles 
Scribe Micah Furr 
Treasurer Seth Moody 
Chronicler Madi Weast 
Newest Faculty Advisor: Dr. David Crouse, Distinguished Undergraduate Professor 

This past winter, our members created a beautiful LOVE sign for our organization and competed to win against other clubs from the college. Pictured is some of our amAZing volunteers for the day with their decorated sign during the tailgate event with Farm Bureau.

We held our annual rose sale on Valentine’s Day. Our brothers participated in selling the roses all morning and afternoon. We were able to raise about 500 dollars total for our chapter due to the dedication and support of our fellow brothers. We had faculty members participate by buying roses and Alpha Zeta brother delivering them.  Our brothers tabled at many locations on the University of Florida’s campus as well as personally delivered roses around campus. A special thank you to our fundraising chair, Kriss Eisaman for putting this fundraiser together and making it such a success!