Class Coordinators

Class Coordinators and why does Delta Psi Alumni have them?

A class coordinator is a Delta Psi alumnus who has stepped forward and
volunteered to be the alumni class leader for his particular class.
There are 45 Class Coordinators for 64 classes since the founding of
Delta Psi in 1950.  Four classes have no Class Coordinator and several
Class Coordinators represent multiple years.  The purpose for a class
coordinator from each class came from the need to ensure that Sigma
Chi is truly a lifelong experience and not one that ends upon
graduation from RPI.  Keeping the bonds of brotherhood alive is best
done through class coordinators who have a personal relationship with
their classmates and with Sigma Chi’s in adjacent classes.

Communication is the key to most if not all relationships, friendship
and marriage.  We are all given certain gifts and talents [and
convictions].  The key gift of a Class Coordinator is their spirit of
love of Sigma Chi and specifically loyalty to Delta Psi and a
willingness to continually share this love and loyalty with others by
communicating their friendship and brotherhood with their fellow Delta
Psi classmates.  While each Class Coordinator should be on general
good terms with his classmates, it is not necessary that he be fast
and furious friends with each and everyone of them because we do all
have different temperament, talents, and convictions.  However, the
Class Coordinator has the ability to remember that the bonds of Sigma
Chi are stronger than individual likes and dislikes and that in the
end, all Sigma Chi’s are his brothers, and like family, it is for
better or for worse.

The Class Coordinator’s primary objective is to keep the lines of
communication open and active with their classmates.  Life, as we all
have learned, is a journey and each of our journeys is unique. The
Class Coordinator should always try to keep communication open to all
his classmates so that wherever each Sigma Chi’s journey takes him, he
always knows that he can find true brotherhood with his Sigma Chi
brothers.

To foster this brotherhood, Class Coordinators need to keep in touch
with their classmates.  How they go about this is up to them.  With
the digital age upon us, the quickest way to maintain communication is
electronically through whatever medium the Class Coordinator and their
classmates are most likely to use.  The older Class Coordinators may
use Christmas cards and telephone messages to contact each other.
Younger alumni may use email.  Youngest alumni may use Facebook,
Linkedin, or texting.  Depending on logistics and geographical placement
of alumni, it is also advantageous, if possible, for Class
Coordinators to have personal, face-to-face  contact with their
classmates as often as possible. This may be accomplished by visits
with fellow alumni during business trips or vacations.  Some Class
Coordinators have annual get-togethers, like picnics, dinners, or
attending sporting events.  Whatever one does is not important. What
is important is to connect with one another periodically and to
promote the spirit of brotherhood – the same brotherhood that was
present during our undergraduate days.

Class Coordinators should not limit themselves to just their
classmates.  Sigma Chi Delta Psi upperclassmen from their
undergraduate days and brothers whom they later initiated should be
part of their active alumni communication.

In order to promote and foster a close brotherhood of Delta Psi Sigma
Chi’s, alumni and underclassmen have worked together to plan and
coordinate the return of alumni classes to RPI for major Delta Psi
celebrations and for their anniversary milestones.  In 2000 and again
in 2010, Delta Psi held huge anniversary celebrations for the 50th and
60th year founding of Delta Psi where nearly 200 Delta Psi alumni
returned. In 2011, Delta Psi held its first large Homecoming
Celebration, honoring several alumni anniversary classes and nearly 50
alumni returned for festivities.  This strong alumni presence at Delta
Psi will continue in 2013 when the Delta Psi undergraduates and alumni
dedicate the $2.8 million Bill Pomeroy Chapter House on October 5,
2013, during Homecoming festivities.  The House Band from the ‘60s,
Oedipus and the Mothers, will be playing at the first subterranean
Band Party in the new party room.

Delta Psi is now the Number One house on the RPI Campus.  This is not
an accident. The undergraduate brothers’ hard work augmented by the
financial and  physical help of alumni, have worked together to make
Delta Psi THE place to be at RPI to live, work, and play, and most
importantly, to be part of a Fraternity  that believes that Sigma Chi
is a life-long experience and that our brothers will bleed the blue
and gold of our fraternity until their entrance into the Chapter
Eternal.   The Class Coordinator’s role is to remind their fellow
classmates of this life-long responsibility by action and not just
words.  And like many other things, the beauty of being a Class
Coordinator is that you get out much more out of it than you put into
it.

If you are not sure who your class coordinator is, drop me a line at
BobHutnick@gmail.com.  If you’d like to volunteer as one, let me know
that too.  If you’re interested in getting involved in other aspects,
for example, the rush undergraduate-alumni dinner, or you have some
other “talent” that Delta Psi could use, contact me through email and
we can “discuss.”  I can assure you that we never have enough active
alumni!  It is amazing that Delta Psi Sigma Chi alumni have pledged
over $1.5 million for our new Bill Pomeroy Chapter House.  It is even
more amazing to me that so many alumni, 30, 40, or 50 years after
graduation, still feel that special love for Sigma Chi.  It is
precisely this love of Sigma Chi that the alumni want the present
undergraduates at Delta Psi to experience so that they too may be
better men and live their lives with fairness, decency, and good
manners, always being a credit to Sigma Chi and the White Cross, which
we wear so proudly.  I hope to see ALL of you on October 5, 2013, for
the dedication of the new Bill Pomeroy Chapter House.  Until then . .