President’s Message: 4/2023
It all begins with an idea.
Here we are in the final quarter of the school year. The days are getting longer and lighter, spring break is upon us and the summer is right around the corner. There’s nothing like deferred maintenance to make the heart pumping. While the rest of the headquarters’ staff is winding down their year, those of us in housing are just beginning to gear up for a season of repairs, renovations and reimagining. Making less go farther is a popular mantra these days. With less students coming through recruitment in many areas of the country and just as many beds to fill our aging properties need some strategic planning.
We’re thankful in FHA to have so many amazing business partners who are constantly bringing us the latest trends and products to assist in our projects as well as our fellow housing colleagues who share their own solutions to common struggles. Whether it’s fundraising, selling or leasing property, new technologies or good old documentation please be sure to reach out to the folks on our list serv to network and share best practices and housing tips. We want to continue to be a resource that brings news and information as well as the experts in all areas of Greek housing together to benefit all of us. Thanks for all you do to make living in a fraternity or sorority house a truly memorable experience!
Mandy Reymann, Delta Gamma FHC
President’s Message: 1/2023
It all begins with an idea.
As we welcome in a new year, it is always good to reflect on the past and set our sights on the future. FHA has been a source of great friends and colleagues a like for me. I look back on past conferences and all the amazing connections I have made that have helped me both professionally and personally over the years. It is still a rarity to find that many professionals in one place all dedicated in one way or another to Greek housing. I think the theme for 2023 is not new necessarily but is one that can be taken to the next level; we are stronger together than apart.
Sharing information regarding who is on a campus and their housing situation, alerting each other to possible obstacles in a state or municipality, providing resources for building, designing, and servicing our memberships, creating documents and marketing materials that further our mutual goals of increasing our numbers and selling the benefits of Greek life are all things that we can do even better in the coming year. FHA is unique in that we love to share best practices knowing we are all different in our approach and process, but we champion and welcome others’ success.
I’ve seen the power of getting many involved through the committee system, but it is important to share the work that each of you are doing to the greater body. So, we will be inviting everyone to more zoom lunch and learns, board meetings, and general brainstorming sessions to keep the creative juices flowing. Look for more opportunities as we continue to build out the calendar and our FHA website. Thanks to all of you that serve the housing world whether staff or business partners. Again, we are stronger with you amongst us!
Mandy Reymann, Delta Gamma FHC
President’s Message: 11/2022
It all begins with an idea.
It is amazing a month has passed since we were together in Lexington, KY for the annual FHA conference. What a great time of presentations, networking, and brainstorming. There is such value in bringing all housing professionals from both men’s and women’s groups together to discuss trends, challenges, and ways to do all things housing better. I’m always in awe of the talent and expertise that is in the room. Some themes that came out of the week were creating better marketing by telling our story with current data and statistics to show how Greek housing enhances the student experience. Pivoting to meet the needs of the next generation of students both financially and spatially and finding ways for our alumni/alumnae to give tax-deductible gifts to our housing efforts. Our goals this next year are to engage more groups and welcome them into the FHA family and to provide more resources such as a more robust website and ways to share properties that need renting, buying, or selling. Another big endeavor is to populate a database that lets all our members know who is on a given campus and some basic facts about their housing. More than ever, we know that together we are stronger than we are apart. Utilizing all our best practices and creating tools to assist us in providing the best housing experience we can, only makes living in our facilities something to be desired. Thanks to all our strategic business partners who give of their time and talent to make the conference a success. Please let us know if there are speakers that you would like us to include in our conference content. I am excited about the committees that were formed, and the goals set for this year. Thanks to all who signed up to be part of the work we do at FHA. We look forward to an awesome year!
Mandy Reymann, Delta Gamma FHC