90 YEARS
KAPPAVERSARY
Alpha Gamma Celebrates
90 YEARS
AΓ
By M.A. Gardner
®
T he Alpha Gamma Chapter of Kappa Alpha Psi ® also better known as The Mother Chapter of Virginia (1927) celebrated its 90 th anniversary with the theme being called 90 for 90. The chapter had a very strong committee that brainstormed on how they actually could spearhead such a big occasion, but the two visionaries who had the plan to actually reach out to older brothers on hav- ing such an awesome event were brothers Phillippe P. Cunningham (’16) and Rickey F. Parker Jr. (’05). The 90 th anniversary brought back brothers from pledge classes ranging from the 1950’s and 1960’s and that was the main focus of the committee, to get the senior brothers involved and it was a suc- cess. Brother Rondle E. Edwards (’52) was the oldest chapter brother in attendance, with 65 years of service while the 2017 pledge class (“UnexpeKted OutKome”) were the youngest. The anniversary was kicked off with a healthy brunch and fellowship along with a chapter slide show of pictures that ranged from the 1950’s through the 2000’s which took most brothers down memory lane and uplifted them with that kappa spirit. Also the anniversary had guest speakers Brother Antony Ghee, Esquire (’90) that talked about motivational speaking, Brother Michael A. Newsome (’83) President of the Virginia Union University National Alumni Association spoke about the importance of getting brothers to get more involved with
the University, Brothers Keenan Caldwell (’83) and Jerry Dey (’84) discussed the future of the Alpha Gamma Alumni Association where brothers would become more business savvy and donate to the chapter so that the chap- ter would continue to flourish on the mon- etary level, and Brother Steven E. Hairston (’83) mentioned the proper way to get 501c3 certified, and not to mention a powerful Invocation and Benediction by Brothers Rever- end Craig Ester(’92) and Vernon Howard Sr. (’86). Once the brunch was over brothers took chapter pictures and made their way to the homecoming football game and tailgate par- ty where more fellowship continued. As the evening came to a close brothers assembled around the chapter plot and sang “1911”, but before the brothers sang a count was done and it was exactly ninety brothers on post and how fitting was that as the 90 for 90 actually turned out to be 90. This event was a first for the chapter as far as big an- niversaries and it turned out to be a glorious occasion for the Alpha Gamma chapter. As the committee begins to plan for the chapter’s centennial they first must enjoy this one because it was stated as a glorious occasion. In closing the chapter is proud to mention one of our Alpha Gamma brothers that had the privilege to be the 23 rd Grand Polemarch of Kappa Alpha Psi Fraternity, Incorporated, Brother Oliver S. Gumbs, M.D. (’36). Achievement is our goal.
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