Sigma Alpha Iota

PAN PIPES • SPRING 2017 • sai-national.org 6 D E I J K N O P SAI Provinces Support Student Musician MUSIC EDUCATION CONFERENCES Dreams can come true – in this case with the generosity of Alpha A, B, and C SAI sisters! e eighteen Alpha A, B, and C chapters collected funds to provide a full 2-week scholarship at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp, a summer school of the arts located on a 1,600-acre campus in West Michigan's Manistee National Forest. Each summer its principal camp program serves more than 5,400 gied elementary, middle school, and high school students with two-week programs in music, dance, drama, and visual arts while offering more than 175 performances during its Summer Arts Festival. Blue Lake also operates a widely acclaimed International Exchange Program and two public radio stations: WBLU 88.9 in Grand Rapids and WBLV 90.3 in Muskegon. Based on the example of the Arens Art Colony in Door County, WI, Blue Lake celebrated its 50 th year last summer. Enthusiasm is contagious at Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp as students discover, learn, experience, and succeed in the beautiful natural setting that is West Michigan. e camp has been referred to as a gem in the "mitten" state! Our first recipient was Jada Loveberry, a current senior at Cass Technical High School and member of the Session 2 Symphonic Band trumpet section at camp. Cass Tech, as it is commonly known, is a four-year university preparatory high school in midtown Detroit. Entrance to Cass is based on test scores and middle school grades where the school offers Advanced Placement and International Baccalaureate classes. e strong academic performances of the students there draw college recruiters from across the country. Jada stated in her letter of appreciation: "To know that other people are willing to invest in my talent encourages me to be bold with my art." She plans to study business at Harvard or Vanderbilt and continue her music studies. e scholarship specified that it be given to a female music major at camp entering her senior year of high school. e Alpha Provinces Sigma Alpha Iota Scholarship was also mentioned in Blue Lake's Summer Arts Programs booklet in two separate places. It was a joy to meet Jada at camp, hear her ensemble perform, and present her with a red rose. So..."We are the girls of SAI and our fame spreads near and far!"* — Sally Roach, Alpha B Province Officer *from A Jolly Band, Ruth Brown, Nu Chapter Jada Loveberry, trumpet player and inaugural recipient of an SAI scholarship to Blue Lake Fine Arts Camp. happy memories of the SAI chapter at Illinois Wesleyan. It seemed like all of our traffic was from people who deliberately sought out the booth. Most of our traffic was on Thursday, day 1 of the exhibits. Our booth design was much the same as in previous years. We hung the banner from NH above the table, surrounded by a garland of roses. On the table, draped with an SAI flag, we displayed photos, brochures, information from NH and the local chapter, and items for sale. We also had a sheet where we collected contact information from those who wanted to be involved. We once again held a trivia contest, where sisters could win the pencils and stickers provided for correctly answering a question about SAI. We added two new elements to the booth this year. First was a large map of chapters in and around the state of Kentucky. Sisters were invited to place a small sticker on the map to represent themselves. The second new feature was a large paper with "I ♥ SAI because…", where sisters were invited to write in why SAI is meaningful to them. The ladies seemed to enjoy coming up with reasons, and several passersby were observed reading them. For supervision of the booth, we took volunteers from the Louisville Alumnae Chapter. Due to the timing of the convention volunteers were limited. Several sisters did help with setup and tear down, and many of them stopped by for shorter stints between rehearsals and clinics. Region VII Officer Carrie O'Connor was also at the booth for most of Friday afternoon. One thing in particular was especially exciting- the new colony at Western Kentucky University. We placed a star with "coming soon" over the city of Bowling Green on the map. Several of the WKU ladies, including their advisor, came by the booth and were almost moved to tears upon seeing that. Several other alumnae, who were unaware of this, were very excited and offered to help with the chapter. Their information has been forwarded to the Sigma A Province Officer. For next year, I plan to contact PMA in advance so that we can obtain adjoining booths, and perhaps work together. The rest of the booth will likely remain the same. I believe that having the booth at KMEA is important. It shows the collegiate women that SAI life continues beyond college, and allows us to reach alumnae who are not currently active. I see it as an outreach service and I hope that the LAC will continue it for many years. – Kathleen Bartels Louisville Alumnae Chapter President Missouri The SAI booth at the 76th Annual Missouri Music Educators Association Convention saw about 150 sisters this year. We assisted sisters in getting connected with both the St. Louis Alumnae and Columbia Alumnae Chapters. We also found four lost sisters. This year we tried to have sisters sign up in advance for slots to work the booth with Sign Up Genius, and the Columbia Alumnae Chapter helped us decorate our display. Member Roxanda Fenelon directed the SAI step sing, which had a good turn out this year. — Roxanda Fenelon, St. Louis Alumnae Chapter Members of the Wichita Alumnae Chapter hosted the SAI booth at the Kansas MEA Conference.

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