“To Seek A Life Useful”
Scholarship – Service – Fraternity
Alpha: The Beginning
Psi: The Mind, Spirit and Self
Omega: The End
Requirements for membership: Any students who are enrolled in a theatre major or minor, as well as any other Virginia Tech student who is interested in the theatre and shares the love of the theatre that makes it a true craft and work of art. (May be, but not limited to English, communications, IDST, etc.)
GPA: All candidates for member ship must have a 2.50 and over.
Dues: $20 per year, $15 for Alpha Psi Omega pin, and a one time $5 fee at initiation for the Alpha Psi Omega scholarship fund at Virginia Tech. All Dues and other required monies will be recorded and handled by the Treasurer.
Scholarship Fund: Formed with a goal to be able to reward members of Alpha Psi Omega with a small amount of money that will help them further their goals of scholarship throughout their collegiate years. To be funded through $5 dues fee at initiation, fundraisers and donations from alumni, faculty, students and others.
Fundraising: To be determined by the Business/Management Chair and their committee. With goals trying to encompass the mission of the Virginia Tech theatre arts department and the motto of Alpha Psi Omega. Most fundraising will hopefully occur in conjunction with various forms of theatre arts productions at Virginia Tech. After fundraising events are over the Management chair and the Treasurer will work together to document funds for the fraternity.
Pledging: To be run and handled through the faculty advisor and the Pledge Educator. After a student was been determined eligible from their academic standings and interest, there will then be a period of introducing them into the fraternity before initiation. The Pledge educator and their committee will oversee this period of introduction for all new members. At the end of this period of introduction, all new members will be ready for initiation and know:
1. The names and symbols of the Greek Alphabet.
2. The names and addresses of the national officers, and become familiar with other casts around the country.
3. Become familiar with other Greek organizations on campus.
4. Memorize a Shakespearean sonnet. (12-14 lines.)
5. Order a pin.
6. Become familiar with other members in the Virginia Tech chapter of Alpha Psi Omega, especially the leading officers.
This chapter will also be respectful to the limitations of hazing as the Virginia Tech office of student organizations determines it.
Initiation: To be run and handled by a faculty advisor and the President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer of the organization. Initiation will most likely occur in the spring semester of the school year, and all new members will be announced at the theatre arts banquet in April. Initiation will require a shown knowledge either verbal or written of the above list of requirements, and will take place in a private ceremony for all fraternity members to welcome all initiates into the fraternity.
Bigs & Littles: During pledge education and initiation, all new members will be able to get to know fraternity members in order of selecting a big brother/sister to be revealed to them after initiation. Bigs will also be able to choose their little brother/sister, and the best match between all choices will be recorded by the Historian and made into a “family”. This family will be revealed from the Big to the Little in a Clue Week where Bigs will send out clue to their Littles in order for them to guess before revelation. Each family can adopt their own set of traditions and customs, such as special family letters, colors, symbols, and passed on gifts and clues. Purchase of fraternity items will be determined by each individual family and none of the purchases, no matter how much of a tradition in each family, will be required made.
Meetings: Will be monthly and run and led by the President, Vice President, Secretary and Treasurer. Format will be decided upon the new and old business of the month, as well as any other important news or information that needs to be addressed. Format may change from meeting to meeting, as well as length of meeting. If an emergency meeting needs to be held it will be discussed and announced by the executive board.
Constitution: To be modeled after the national constitution and fit to the school as the executive board sees fit. The constitution must also be in conjunction with the Virginia Tech theatre arts department and the programs that already exist, as well as to be as beneficial to the department and the limited human resources available. Must be approved by the executive board and faculty advisor before it is implemented.
By-Laws: Will be made for amendments to the constitution and for the adaptation of the organization as it grows. By-Laws will also be implemented for mottos, symbols, traditions, etc. as is determined by the Virginia Tech chapter of Alpha Psi Omega. These specialized forms of identification will be recorded and passed on to the next generation by the Historian.
Working with faculty: Alpha Psi Omega members will have to be able to have a healthy working relationship with the Virginia Tech theatre arts faculty in order to be of most service to our dramatic community, this includes but is not limited to: having constitutional changes reported to the faculty, support all workshop and main stage productions, helping out with forums, guest speakers and all forms of production and performance, and finding ways to enhance the publicity and real-world importance of each show with a beneficial outlet.
Point System: Established in order to encourage attendance and participation in university theatre events as well as academic and scholarship events as well, the national list is as follows:
Performance:
Acting (5-10 points)
Directing (10-20 points)
Dance (5-10 points)
Choreography (10-20 points)
Other (5-20 points)
Production:
Design (10 points)
Stage Management (10 points)
Crew Chief (10 points)
Construction Crew (10 points)
Running Crew (5 points)
House Management (1 point per night)
Other (1-10 points)
Attendance:
Regular Meetings (2 points)
Emergency Meetings (5 points)
Theatre Forums (5 points)
Department Meetings (5 points)
Performance Attendance (2 points)
Fundraising Event (1 point per hour)
Service Event (1 point per hour)
Other (1-5 points)
Leadership:
Executive Officer (10 points)
Other (1-10 points)
Community Service: This is established in order to help encourage members to use the point system to their advantage. Service will entail not just helping out the surrounding community through conventional methods like other service organizations, but through art and information. Service activities will include information booths outside of performances, refreshments served during performances, ushering, creating community serving arts performances, marketing, visual arts, etc. Any type of activity that will help get the Virginia Tech theatre arts community out into the public, campus and non-campus, will be counted towards community service activity and the executive board will approve all suggestions.
Social Activities: The Social Chair will be in charge of working with the faculty advisor and planning all fraternity social events. Social events will include any activities that are not specifically intended for community awareness or information. Social events will include but not limited to; dances, potlucks, parties, picnics, sporting events, etc. The social chair will also be responsible for working with faculty and the theatre arts department for event such as Spring Thing.
Traditions: The Historian will record all traditions reflecting specifically to the Virginia Tech chapter and on the national level. Since national traditions are already recorded, it is in the chapter’s best interest to decide which ones it wants to participate in and which they would like to create on their own. Traditions can be fundraisers, social events, service events, symbols, mottos, meeting procedures, etc. Traditions must be approved by a general consensus of the fraternity for them to be implemented by the Historian.
End of the Year Awards: the executive board will determine an award list that will reflect the talents shown throughout the year by fraternity members, as well as an award will be given to which ever fraternity member has accumulated the most service points. These awards will be done in a ceremony along with the scholarships that has been collected, and recipients have been decided upon a fraternity delegation of resumes. Specialized awards may change year to year, but scholarships and point awards will always be given out each year and based strictly on merit.
Traditional Events:
The Festival of Dionysus enfing with the crowning of the King and Queen of the Laurels, our fraternity's representatives in the greek and student activity community for alliances and guest speacking events. (Late September event.)
Satyr Days, a Greek Olympics style fundraising events that allows us to interact with other organizations on campus and compete for prizes in a style of theatricl prowress rather than athletic skills. (Late March event.)
HamFest!, a comedy/improv event involving individuals in and out of the theatre program to compete for prizes in different catagories that highlight that "Rollerderby style of entertainment" comedic improvisation and scene showings that have been made popular by "SNL" and "Who's Line is it Anyway?" (Early October event.)
The Masqued Ball, which originated from the orignial group of founders who started out as "The Masquers" before they were APO, and allows us to show off our proud theatrical heritage focussing on specatcle around Halloween. (Late October event.)
Oedipus Wrecks, a fundraising event used to help out the scholarship fund being funded by paricipants entry fee for a drag fashion show, with men and women welcome to attend and be sponsored by APO members. It worked for the Greeks and Shakespeare for their theatrical productions and people still love to see a good drag show today as proved by the popularity of such annual events around the country! (Mid-February event.)
Executive meetings:
Held on the first Wednesday of the month, to discuss upcoming events and new members, etc.
Recruitment:
A week of marketing to new members through a series of hosted events on campus, at the end of the week the fraternity decides who will be pledged in at the end of the semester and what their new names will be while in the fraternity. (Early September and late January events.)
Initiation Week:
When we prepare new member to be initiated through a week of education for testing and for preparation for whatever ceremonies need to take place on initiation night. (Early November and early April events.)
Bigs and Littles Week, ending in Revelation Night:
This is a week that we allow for Littles to be welcomed into their new families through a series of clues and surprises sent to them all week by their Bigs, Grand Bigs and Great Grand Bigs, the last night of this clue week not only will their Big be revealed to them through a social event with the whole fraternity, but also they will have a whole new family to be adopted into. (Early November and early April, the weeks after Initiation Weeks.)
All other events:
To be already handled by theatre organizations on the Virginia Tech campus, ad the Theatre Department, but Alpha Psi Omega members are more than welcome to participate in different organizations for producation and social event. The Executive Board may recommend any organization to members if they are intereted in doing more theatre work throughout the year.
Upcoming amendments: Naming of the Mascots, Faculty Advising...
