Beta Psi Wins the Founders Cup
Written by Andrew Hufford (Beta Psi, ’18), Former Prior
When our executive council met in December 2019, we looked at one another and said our goal is the Founders’ Cup. With this goal in mind, we ironed out the edges of the Beta Psi Chapter. We wanted to prove that we could be the top Sammy chapter in the country.
We started by analyzing our current operations identifying our strengths and weaknesses. As a council, we met with each member with a leadership position to set monthly and semester-long goals. Sharing our aspirations empowered each person to take pride in their position.
In our first semester, we hosted our philanthropic event with our partners The Judy Fund completing an Alzheimer’s Walk raising $5,000. During the second semester our event, Hoops20, was canceled called Hoops2O, due to the pandemic. We changed plans and virtually began raising funds for COVID relief efforts in the Charlottesville community. Due to our brotherhood’s successful marketing, we raised $4000 for healthcare professionals’ personal protective equipment. Our chapter members also became impassioned by our country’s racial issues. We organized a charitable esports match in partnership with UVA’s Chi Phi chapter raising $1,000 for the ACLU.
Over the past year, we released two newsletters to update alumni. We also hosted two events, one for our young alumni, and a homecoming event for our alumni at-large. In the spring, we connected our active members with alumni who helped professionally mentor. Our database is divided by job functions and has helped the brotherhood create dozens of professional networking connections with Beta Psi alumni.
In addition to these targeted efforts in areas of strength, we utilized in-depth transition documentation and an increased effort throughout the chapter to improve our academics. We increased our chapter GPA up to an average of 3.82.
Our executive board attended the virtual Convention this summer. At the end of the business session, they introduced the winner and read the description. When we realized our chapter won the Founders Cup, we were elated, relieved, and proud to be members of the Beta Psi chapter. All our hard work had been recognized.
Since winning the Founder’s Cup, our brotherhood has been closer than ever. Our last Founders Cup win was in 1976. The recognition brought us all together in a time when it is so hard to do so. Dozens of alumni reached out over email and social media to congratulate us and share their Beta Psi pride. We held virtual zoom celebrations where alumni of all ages could connect with current brothers.
This semester, the Beta Psi Chapter focused on resiliency to maintain our level of operations. To continue our success, every person in a leadership role wrote an in-depth transitional document to pass down to the next member. We approached this semester by setting accountable goals for each position in our chapter.
We will continue to strengthen our alumni connections and improve our community relations. We have adapted to our virtual setting by holding online brotherhood events weekly, connecting in person for socially distanced meetings, and planning a virtual charity drive. Each week, a different brother gets to hold the Founder’s Cup, serving as a reminder to all to keep working and driving towards our chapter goals. We want to see the cup back in Charlottesville again, very soon. We believe we are in the first steps of making this a reality.
