Let it snow, let it snow, let it snow! Well, after having to postpone twice after multiple snow days, the Student Alumni Association (SAA) finally had our Open House. It was an extremely successful event and a great start to the semester! You might be wondering, “What even is an Open House?” It’s a great question.

Essentially, all throughout last semester and the first few weeks of this semester, the Recruitment team has been busy telling people about SAA—what we do, why it’s awesome, and why everyone should join. Open House is an informal meeting for anyone interested in joining SAA to come in and see what we do! We set up stations for people to rotate between to get an interactive overview of the SAA, with this semester’s stations including I Love UMASS day, Commencement Ball, Dining with the Stars/Alumni Relations, and Community Service/Leadership Opportunities. Prospective members spend about 10 minutes at each table where our e-board and cabinet members explain what each event is all about.

This format is different than years past, where we mainly relied on a powerpoint presentation. This interactive format really showcases the variety of activities SAA is involved in and new members could get a better feel for what we have to offer. Everyone seemed engaged in this refreshed format, and we look forward to seeing the new members at our next meeting, which will be Tuesday, February 17^th (pending no more snow days!).

Camille Liederman

VP Recruitment and Engagement

Student Alumni Association

Welcome back SAA! After a successful fall semester and winter break, the SAA is gearing up to start the new year next week. We look forward to welcoming back current members, as well as any new recruits who would like to join the organization. There are also a few SAA members studying abroad this semester, and we can’t wait to hear about their adventures!

Last semester, the SAA started out by planning the Nearly Naked Mile, and later on raised awareness for the Bears That Care Initiative. Both events were a success! Many of our members partook in our annual Fall retreat. The retreat included a “heads-up” type of word game to kick off the day, a colors personality quiz which helped us understand more about our leadership styles, and a team “building” activity, where we actually tried to build the tallest tower out of spaghetti. To this day there is still a dispute as to which team built the tallest pasta tower! In addition, we began planning for the 2015 Commencement Ball this spring, which always promises to be a great time for graduating seniors.

These next few months are a busy time for the SAA! We have many different events right around the corner, including I Love UMass Day, the CASE ASAP Conference, and of course Commencement Ball. As always, SAA members will participate in various community service projects this semester throughout the UMass and Greater Amherst/Northampton Community.

In addition to our events and charitable efforts, we look forward to continuing our Minuteman Mentors program, a great resource that allows current students to contact UMass alums, or “mentors”, on LinkedIn to gain networking experience and career advice.

Last but not least, we’ll be working to promote the new Alumni Association license plate. This is a perfect way to show your UMass pride and give back to students, alumni, and the university.

If you’re interested in getting involved with SAA and the Alumni Association, send us an email at saa@stuaf.umass.edu.

We’ll provide more information on these events and more throughout the semester, but for now thanks for reading, and go UMass!