The Student Alumni Associateion (SAA) launched their membership year on Sept. 5 with their Fall Kickoff, which brought in over 1,500 new members.
“It’s kind of been a tradition now of big kickoffs—lots of members and lots of fun,” said Ryan Fork, previous President of SAA and current SAA Advisory Board member.
Joining SAA for the school year costs $10.
“Each student member [of SAA] is also a donor to Georgia Tech. When you join SAA for ten dollars, all that money is going straight back to Tech…the student body is learning why it is important to give back to Tech.” said Catie McCoy, the Director of Student Outreach for the Alumni Association.
The five event locations were spread around campus and included a spirit event, a mentors jackets event, a philanthropy event, a traditions event and a networking event.
“Each location is treated as a separate event. So we have to plan like we’re planning for one event but we have five on the same day. We’re making events sheets, we’re working with our vendors,” McCoy said.
The kickoff was organized by the SAA leadership board but over 150 volunteers helped work the event.
“All kinds of work goes [into the kickoff]. We’ve been working since about April on the marketing scheme, on the logistics, coming up with a good plan etc,” McCoy explained.
Many aspects of the kickoff were donated by sponsors such as Coca Cola and Waffle House, two of this year’s lead sponsors.
“We’re trying to increase the number of offerings we have for alumni connections as well as the spirit side of SAA. This year, we will try to grow on Spirit days and traditions,” said Chad Sims, President of SAA.