The Hype

Texas awarded Best Young Chapter plus two more Conclave awards

by Andrew Chew and Jacob Sloan

In 2004, the Texas Chapter sent just two brothers, Jacob Sloan and Brian Mayo of the re-founding father pledge class, to Conclave since the colony was only nine actives strong. Our colony worked hard for the next two years to ensure that their presence at the next conclave would be noticed. Now two years later in St. Louis at the 54th Acacia Fraternity Biennial Conclave. Seven men represented the newly re-chartered chapter of Acacia out of the now 29-man organization.

The events began on September 9 afternoon with the Pre-Conclave session after which we attended a Missouri Grizzlies baseball game at the ballpark. There we met brothers and alumni from across the United States and Canada. The next morning began with the opening of business. The highlight was an afternoon program on approachability by “The Nametag Guy.”

After this presentation, the undergraduates were separated into round table discussion groups and presented with the newly proposed Membership Development Program—a program constructed by outside consultants and committees of both alumni and undergraduates to better the men of Acacia Fraternity. This program, once implemented this spring, will be an incredible advantage to Acacians as we graduate and go out into our first jobs. Throughout the program, undergraduates complete various tasks that increase their field of experience and make them a more well-rounded individual, and the program makes them head and shoulders above their fellow undergraduates when walking into their first job interviews and first days on the job. The Texas Chapter has already used many of the suggested events to enrich our own pledge program and brotherhood. We are also proud to have been chosen as a pilot chapter to implement the program under the supervision of Director of Membership Development Patrick McGovern and mold it before it is expanded to all Acacia chapters.

At the Acacia Fraternity Foundation Scholarship Luncheon the next day, attendees got to hear keynote speaker Edward Knight, an alumni of the Texas Chapter, and Jacob Sloan (Texas ’03) received both an AFF Scholarship and an Emma C. Allen Memorial Scholarship.

This year, in the chapter awards, Texas was able to reap the rewards of our hard work over the past two years. Texas took home the award in Communication Technology for our Web site and active Wiki used for communication within the chapter. After the festivities at the luncheon concluded, the attendees viewed the Missouri Chapter’s initiation ceremony.

At the final business session, the delegates voted to implement the newly-developed Membership Development Program, and the Syracuse Colony was granted its charter. A moment of silence was dedicated to the late George F. Patterson before the session concluded.

In the evening prior to the banquet, we had our chapter meeting with Executive Director Darold Larson and International Council Treasurer Rob Roberson to discuss the progress of the Texas Chapter. We received mostly praise for our accomplishments thus far but also received encouragement to go out there and keep the Texas Chapter going strong for years to come. We went directly to the ballroom for the final banquet after this meeting.

At this banquet, the individual awards were presented, and our own Robert Mickam received the award for Chapter Advisor of the Biennium Award. Texas also received the Best Young Chapter award, which all of our actives strongly desired to receive. Needless to say, that night’s outings were a celebration of our accomplishments, but we hope to surpass the achievements and accolades we have received at the 2006 Conclave to come back even stronger in 2008.

See more photos from Conclave here.