Overview Of The Young Alum Organization

Young Alum is an organization composed of outstanding students who wish to create an atmosphere that fosters loyalty, tradition and unity by encouraging every student to become an intentional and active member of the Union University family. The council is driven to: develop leaders who aspire to stay connected with the University; instill an abiding appreciation for the value of a Union University education; ant to nurture a natural continuum from "students to alumni" where appreciation and loyalty translate into support following graduation. This will be accomplished by developing programs and activities for students that foster leadership abilities, academic excellence, tradition, pride and loyalty to Union University.

Young Alums help connect students with alumni, helping them to realize their involvement with Union University can and should be a lifetime experience. The council stives to enhance the overall experience of all students. Young Alums is a multi-faceted council designed to get in to the culture of Union University and deepen the roots of "connectedness" to the University. Yound Alums is sponsored by the National Alumni Association.

Eligibility for Young Alum membership consists of:

• Sing a committment for active membership
• Members commit to achieve and maintain a minimum of a 2.5 GPA
• Members are selected from an application procedure followed by interviews led by the advisor of the group, student leaders, or members of the Office of University Relations

Requirements of each member:

• Be availalbe to plan and implement all Young Alum general meetings
• Be responsible in carrying through with all Young Alum projects
• Be able to articulate the goals, mission, and purpose of Young Alums
• Be able to work in a team-oriented environment

Young Alums host Turkey Bowl

The Young Alums really out did themselves this week with the annual Turkey Bowl. Now if you have never been to a Turkey Bowl, you just might not know what this is!!

At the annual Turkey Bowl, students play flag football with a frozen turkey. It may sound easy, but that is one cold slippery bird when you throw it across a field! Students were divided into teams of 10 and the playoffs began!!

The Chi Omega/Alpha Tau Omega team were the overall winners. They were given $20 gift cards to Wal-Mart. The food for the event consisted of gigantic turkey legs that were grilled to perfection and chips and drinks.

Young Alums Host Senior Send Off

The Young Alums hosted a Senior Send Off party at the home of Union University President, Dr. David Dockery. There was an ice cream buffet for everyone to make their own banana split creation. Some students were very creative!

The Dockery's back yard was the perfect setting for the beautiful spring day. There was a volley ball court in the side yard. Horse shoes and crochet were also set up to play. A christian band provided the music to make the event very festive and fun.

Dr. Dockery spoke briefly about many of the graduates and how they had made an impact on the university and on his life personally. Students that had made this 4-5 year journey together were acknowledging that their time together was coming to an end. Dr. Dockery encouraged them to stay connected to each other and to Union as alumni. It was a special time of reflection and christian fellowship.

Young Alums Host Midnight Mudness at UU

On April 16, Young Alums hosted an all campus event at Union University. It was the annual Midnight Mudness for the Junior class.

A huge mud pit was created by the campus facilities team on the site that will soon be the School of Pharmacy Building. Over 90 students came to participate in the goofy olympic style event played in the mud pit. Students were divided into teams and each team was assigned a color. Some of the games were Tug of War, wheel barrel races, obstacle course, three legged races, hula hoop race, soccer ball kick, and mud leap frog.

As you see from the pictures, it was a fun time for all. The Red team was the overall winner and were awarded a "Night on the Town" that included dinner, movie tickets and a tank of gas - - every college student's ideal prize!!!

Recruitment Week For Young Alums

This has been a busy week for Young Alums at Union University. It is recruitment week and there has been much interest from students about joining the Young Alum organization. Interviews were conducted on Thursday and Friday. After an executive committee meeting, it was determined that the number of Young Alums for the 2009-2010 school year will be increased from 20 to 30 Young Alum members. With 8 Young Alums graduating, there was space available for 18 new Young Alum members to be selected from the 27 that were interviewed. After much consideration, the 18 slots were filled and the students were notified of their selection via e-mail. A trip has been planned to Texas De Brazil restaurant in Memphis on May 5th to welcome the new Young Alums into our organization as well as to bid farewell to our graduating seniors. The executive committee selected a Bible from Life Way to present to the outgoing seniors at the dinner.