Alpha Annual Meeting
September 27, 2025

• The annual meeting was held at UMD in Kirby’s Griggs Center on Saturday morning with a Zoom connection conducted by president Jeff Gaylord
• Tailgating was held in the UMD athletic parking lot with actives grilling before the game
• UMD vs. Mn Moorhead football game started at noon. 

• Active Chapter Report – President Noah Kevan
  • The Active currently have 17 member with 9 pledges which is the largest group for many years
  • They have a great diversity of members
  • The Actives are well represented on campus with involvement in campus activities, government, Greek Life, the community, fundraising and of course social activities
  • Feedback to the Alumni Assn is that our scholarships and wearing their Alpha blazers sets them above other organizations in recruiting.
  • They still maintain a focus on character and scholarship
     
• Alumni Report –  Jeff Gaylord
  • The Alumni had a successful 65th reunion last year
  • A scholarship banquet was held in April at which $16,000 was presented
  • This summer Jason Golde again opened his beautiful cabin on Gull Lake to the Alumni and active members
  • The Alumni thanked Jeff for his six great years of service
     
• Treasurer’s Report
  • We have $307,000 in our scholarship fund held by the University of Minnesota Foundation
  • We still have barriers in getting helpful information about who is donating to our Fund and updates on its total
     
• Scholarship – Isaac Winter
  • $16,000 in scholarships were presented to five well deserving active members
     
• The Alumni paid respects to recently departed Huck Andresen, a long supportive member of Alpha
  • A service will be held on October 11 at 11 AM at Pilgrim Congregational Church in Duluth 
     
• Tailgating
  • Chariot Race
    • The actives again participated in the campus chariot race but were unable to defend their previous title but still had fun
      
  • Actives and alumni shared some great conversation, grilling and beverages
     
• Football Game
  • Actives and alumni sat together at the football game
  • UMD beat a talented Moorhead State team 28-14.
  • UMD has not lost this year and is now highly ranked nationally in D2.

 

 

 

Alpha 65th Reunion
October 3-6, 2024 
Duluth, MN 

Alpha 65th Reunion Weekend Slideshow

A summary of events:

• Thursday
  • A meet and greet was held Thursday night at the Blacklist Brewing Co. with alumni, actives and pledges attending
• Friday
  • A morning cribbage tournament at the Sheraton Hotel
  • A golf tournament at Enger golf course in the afternoon. 
  • In the evening there were era parties held at various locations.
• Saturday
  • The annual meeting was held at UMD in the Griggs Center on Saturday morning.
  • A catered lunch with a “Seven Wonders of Ancient Duluth” presentation by Al Fahden
  • China Wall in the afternoon.
  • The Reunion Banquet at the Kitchi Gammi Club in the evening 
    • Cocktail hour
    • Dinner
    • Silent auction end
    • Program with Al Fahden emcee
      • Words by Alumni president Jeff Gaylord and Active president Dylan Elliott
      • Recognition of the Founders, Hall of Famers, Blue and White Forever Donors, Reunion sponsors and Alpha Scholarship recipients
      • In Memoriam produced by Greg Hinds and narrated by Les Nelson
      • Sweetheart and Fraternity songs
    • Group Photo
    • Music and dancing with Tim McEvoy and his band
      

Video of the Banquet Program

• Sunday
  • Farewell brunch at the Sheraton Hotel

 

The Annual Meeting –  Griggs Center at UMD

• Status of the active chapter and introduction of the pledges attending by president Dylan Elliot
  • 7 actives
  • 5 pledges
  • Plan to pledge again in the spring
  • No one is graduating this year
  • Focused on academics and service
  • The actives have resolved a Title IX issue to not allow anyone to join the organization by securing a 501c3 status
  • 4 fraternities on campus and 5 sororities
• Alumni Association status presented by president Jeff Gaylord
  • • Focus was on the 65th reunion with a review of the upcoming events
    • The Scholarship Fund sits at about $280k
    • Difficulty with getting information on our scholarship fund with a new Development Officer
      • Infrequent updates on Fund status
      • No information on donors
      • No plaque updates
      • A number of approaches will be made to correct the situation
    • Greg Hinds reviewed the vast amount of work he has done to coordinate the photos collected over the years
      • He has used facial recognition software to log a member’s name to photos in the collection (~4000)
      • Greg is looking for a different site to store our photos because Amazon has changed its structure
      • He has prepared an In Memoriam for the banquet to be conducted by Les Nelson
    • Jason Golde presented the treasurer’s report
      
      

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• After the meeting and a catered Chinese lunch, Al Fahden presented a nostalgia program of the things we did in Duluth during our times at UMD.  Click to play the video below.
  
  

  Seven Wonders of Ancient Duluth

  
  
  
• Special thanks for the reunion events go to president Jeff Gaylord for arranging events and conducting our meeting, and to the Reunion Committee and Actives
  • Al Fahden – Creative Planning
  • Jeff Gaylord – Marketing and Leadership
  • Jason Golde – Financial Planning
  • Jordan Herzog – Event App Planning
  • Jim Klang – Promotions and Recruiting
  • Greg Hinds – Artifacts and Photos
  • Tim McEvoy – Golf and Music
  • Ben Staub – Merchandise and Recruitment
  • John Erickson – Recruiting
  • Bryan Kirkes – Recruiting
  • Scott Schnuckle – Recruiting
  • Dave McMillan – Recruiting
  • Isaac Winter – Recruiting
  • Huck Andresen – Banquet Dinner Planning
     
• And a special thank you goes to John Erickson who recruited so many people to come to the reunion and unfortunately could not make it himself 

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Alpha Scholarship Banquet – April 20, 2024 in Duluth

This is a special occasion each year when scholarship recipients selected for their special accomplishments are honored and awarded their scholarships in a formal ceremony and social event open to Alphas and significant others.  The following members were selected this year:

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Ben Churchill singing “God Bless America” at Twins Game

(Need to Unmute)

 

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Michael Dean Memorial Service

Video of Mike Dean’s Memorial Service

 

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