Unt Alumni Assoc. Event

[KRAM1]

Last evening I had the distinct pleasure of attending and helping with the UNT Alumni Association's Ring ceremony for UNT students eligible to wear class rings. The event was very well staged at the Gateway Center and included both a reception for those being awarded their rings and for the recipient's' guests. The food was excellent, but the best part was the Ring ceremony itself. While not all students receiving their rings attend the ceremony (help twice each year), those that did attend were treated a very special evening. It is done much like a "graduation" ceremony, with the recipient's name being called as they cross a stage to receive their class ring from the Alumni Association's Executive Director, Derrick Morgan.

In addition, and prior to receiving their rings, the students and guests receive congratulatory remarks and a presentation on the history and meaning of the symbols on their rings. After all recipients receive their rings they are instructed as to the proper wearing of the ring before and after graduation, and all place the rings on their fingers at the same time.

After all recipients have received their rings and have placed them on their fingers, the ceremony ends with the singing of "Glory to the Green".

What a great evening it was! About 500 people attended and the place was packed. Parents and friends were cheering and clapping for their "student", photos were taken and a great time was had by all.

This is a great event and one the Alumni Association presents twice each year. It is quite significant that attendees and guests continue to grow in number. You can be very proud of the work the Alumni Association is doing, and in how they are trying to connect with students while they are still "on campus" and attending UNT. If you get and invitation to attend, I would highly recommend that you do so. You will enjoy yourself a great deal and you will witness first-hand what YOUR Alumni Association is doing to help strengthen ties with its members and potential members.

OK, on a different note...I want to say that the Alumni Association has a little over 8,000 active members at this time. And, while that number has grown every year for the past few years, it is still painfully low for a University as great as UNT. We can all speculate and discuss "why" this is so, but I can assure you that YOUR Alumni Association is doing all it can with a very limited number of staff and an even more limited budget to make you proud of YOUR Alumni Association. It does not cost much at all to become a member of the UNT Alumni Association. I really cannot see any valid reason for any graduate of this great nation of ours to not be a member of the UNT Alumni Association.

With the new Alumni Pavilion being built near the new stadium, with communications with Alumni and prospective Alumni at all time highs, with many more local events and activities being planned and held (not to mention more out of area and state events than ever before), and with such premiere events at the UNT Alumni Association Ring ceremony, there has NEVER been a better time to join for the first time or to renew your membership with the Alumni Association. It takes member numbers and dollars to do what the Association has plans to do, so how much it can do is pretty much up to its Alumni.

If you are not a member, please consider joining. If you are a member, consider the best financial deal going and that is the Lifetime membership. Please consider that one of the things that makes a great university great is the strength of its Alumni as directly measured by the membership in that Association.

Any member of the UNT Alumni staff or UNT Alumni Association Board would be more than happy to talk with you about membership, and listen to why you may have not considered membership in the past. The "past" is behind us, and the future is looking brighter and brighter. Please take some time to consider this very inexpensive, but very beneficial way to help YOUR UNIVERSITY continue to move forward.

Were you aware that one of the biggest factors in corporate donations is the size of a university's Alumni Association membership? True fact....Having hundreds of thousands of alumni in the state is great and that definitely helps, but when you then tell and AT&T, ExxonMobil or even "Joe's Shoe Shack" that active supporters of the Alumni Association number as little as the number of yearly graduates from the university, well, let's just say it can make for a less than pleasant few minutes of conversation.

Think about it...give the Alumni Association a call, PM me, talk to any member of the UNT Alumni Association Board, but please give it serious consideration. You will probably spend on entertainment this weekend far more than an annual membership would cost. Why not consider a membership as a Christmas or Holiday gift to a fellow graduate? That would make a great present and would do a lot of good for you university as well. Ho-Ho-Ho and Go Mean Green!