KKPsiAA: The Tempo
WCM 2025: Elections and Reflections.
Hello and welcome to another episode of The Tempo, the official podcast of Kappa Kappa Sai. We are your host, Marina, Miranda, and Dina. Well, we're not your usual host. We're excited to bring you this episode from the site of the 2025 National Convention in Lexington, Kentucky. So first we want to give a huge shout out to our incredible pot squad for their ongoing dedication to this podcast. Your hard work does not go unnoticed and we truly appreciate everything you do. We hope you're enjoying your break during January and we can't wait to hear you. The remainder of the biennium. In today's episode, we'll dive into elections and reflections. We'll answer your questions about the election process and sit down with each AABOD member to hear their reflections on the biennium. We'll also discuss their goals for the remainder of the term. At some point, you'll stop hearing our voices and Brother Duncan, Chair of the AA Communications Committee, will take over. Please note, at the time of this recording, we are still in the Winter Council process. A big thank you to everyone who submitted the questions for this episode. Your input helps make this conversation even more meaningful. Let's get started. Can you walk us through the timeline of the AABOD elections? Yeah, of course. We actually just passed the first major deadline of January 15th when AABOD candidate packets were due. We plan to share their names and packets at the beginning of February, publish a short video introducing all of the candidates, and then our pot squad will conduct interview sessions for each candidate, which will then be published on the tempo throughout April. After that, elections will be live from May 1st through the 15th. A new AABOD will be announced a few days later. Marina, how many members submitting applications for the election? I'm really excited about this. We actually have 13 candidates this time, and so it's really exciting that we have that many alumni who are interested and ready to serve. One of our favorite questions is always to ask who is eligible to vote for the AABOD elections? All members of the KK psi AA who have a live membership and/or AA membership before a specific day are eligible to vote. Do voters have to select candidates from all eight positions? It's important to note that you can vote for up to eight candidates, but you don't necessarily feel that there are eight candidates who are fit for leadership. You can choose fewer than eight. While we encourage voting for all eight positions so that we can avoid leaving with vacancies, it's ultimately up to each voter. When will the new board officially take over of the biennium? For this upcoming NACON, it'll be on July 18th, which is the last day of national convention, so that's when the new leadership takes the oath of office. Have you decided on the process to determine which board members will serve two years versus four years? This will actually be decided by the newly elected board. When they first meet as a new elected board, after the election results are announced, they'll decide amongst themselves who would like to serve two or four years. If they can't come to a consensus, then we'll do the whole pulling a number out of the hat process where each of them will have a number and then we'll basically go into draw numbers out of a hat and depending on what number they pulled, they'll pick two or four years. At this point, Brother Duncan will be leading the Q&A session with each AABOD member. Before we begin, we want to acknowledge that Brother Donald Lee, music outreach director, was unable to attend Winter Council and you will not hear from him this episode. Up next, you'll hear from Marina, chair of the AABOD. Are there any specific moments or events that stand out as highlights from the past two years in your position? I think that some of the top three moments were, it actually really started right after National Convention. It was right after we had posted the new committee sign-up list and just seeing, basically, most of the overwhelming number of people signing up for committees, it felt like it was three times as much as it was last by an event, so that was really exciting to see those numbers. I saw names on there that don't recall them having participated in the committee recently, so that was really exciting to be able to see all of that. I am grateful to have served as an even non-voting member on National Council. It's one of those things, you know that National Council does a lot of work, but it gave me a bigger sense of appreciation and understanding of what all they have to discuss and deal with throughout a biennium, and it's much more than I think most people will know or really give them credit for, because it's things that usually have to stay behind those National Council doors, and so I'm really appreciative of that opportunity, and especially because I had Miranda cook there with me as moral support, and so, which leads to being thankful to Bong for allowing her to come to those council meetings as well. I think the more recent one would be when I had to go away on maternity leave, and it was, I'd say it was a highlight because I saw how much the other board members stepped up while I was absent for those few months, and so I'm very deeply appreciative of all the work they put into that, even when they were dividing the work among themselves, or which is Miranda stepping up and taking care of my role while also having to do her responsibilities, so I'm very appreciative of them. What personal goals do you hope to achieve during the remainder of this biennium? I think one of the main things would be to make sure that we're finishing off the biennium strong, and by that I mean whatever projects each of the directors are working on, I want to make sure that I'm supporting them and make sure that their programs or projects are, that we're slowly working on tidying them up so that we're setting up the next group of board directors for success and not leaving them with anything that's too unfinished or unpolished or just kind of a mess, and so for the most part we're starting to work on that process now, and ultimately as we finish up the biennium, we are working closely also with council and working on making sure that what work we're finishing up now, heading into the next biennium with the new board directors is that we're working to fit what we're doing, our work with our president-elect's vision as well. Last question. So a few episodes ago we interviewed Bonco and we asked him what his favorite condiment is and why it's ranch, what is your favorite condiment and why? I think I'm going to say I really really love sweet barbecue sauce, and man because I love barbecue in general where I'm still having a hard time finding some good barbecue places around Pichy Corners, Georgia, and so I hear there's usually a lot of good stuff there, so even when we go out of town to that area it's, you know, if anyone out there is listening and you live in Atlanta around 285, particularly north north east, please let me know where all the good barbecue places are, especially if they have the sweet barbecue options available. Are there any specific moments or events that stand out as highlights from the past two years in your position? Oh yeah, there is a bunch that come to mind. I know for this biennium a lot has happened that I didn't expect. As vice chair I was, I actually was given the opportunity to sit on National Council meetings with the ABOD chair, so it was kind of nice to get all the information and serve as one of the voices for the Alumni Association. I know for me one of the highlights I would say is any time that we hosted an event that included lots of brothers, for example, we had a New Year celebration for 2024 and we just got to, you know, get to hang out, talk, enjoy this brotherhood and gang to celebrate the New Year and it honestly feels, you know, any time that we're united together that's whenever we can make those connections, that's when I feel at home and I know a lot of people also feel at home too, so those moments kind of stand out. Another moment that also stands out is the New Year New Bros card exchange, so we have brothers across the nation that sign up to receive a New Year's card and this is a great opportunity for brothers to meet each other from different districts and different age groups and just getting to see different pictures and the creativity that people have. I've seen some people send stickers of, I know this past year I actually received an amazing card basically saying thank you for helping with this event and he did such a wonderful job of kind of introducing himself, showing me his dogs, his family, what his job is and it's really amazing just to see how far this project has gone through, so those are some of the highlights that I would say has been over this past biennium. Personal goals do you hope to achieve during the remainder of this biennium? Personal goals at least for me I would say try to help increase membership as this is a national convention year, which if you haven't decided you're going you should definitely go, it's going to be a very exciting time. We actually have a personal goal of having 150 alumni attend, so getting those membership numbers up and to increase membership engagement, that is one of my personal goals. I also want to try to increase different membership engagement activities. We hosted a Jackbox Games night this past January this month and it was a great time getting to play some games with brothers and having fun, different conversations and it could be something nice to expand upon and kind of reach into different genres and niches that everyone can kind of hang out and have some fun with. Last question, Bonco equals Branch, what is your favorite condiment and why? Oh my gosh, well there's so many different condiments and I feel like I have to choose one, I can't like choose, but like if I had to just choose one, I feel like ketchup. It's sweet, it's very simple, ketchup goes with everything and plus like right now I'm thinking of a hot dog and having a hot dog on the 4th of July is one of the best foods that you can have. Are there any specific moments or events that stand out as highlights from the past two years in your position? I would say highlights, sitting down and working with some of the newly activated LAAs, getting the chance to meet with them multiple times, honestly all seven of them, just seeing their growth in the sparks from different brothers that want to continue serving the fraternity past alumni. What personal goals do you hope to achieve during the remainder of this biennium? So my personal goals is to complete the last round of our LA renewals and feedback. I ran this platform with the hopes of seeing each LAA become stronger within themselves and having challenged each one with different, I get challenges I guess, but I've been really proud of seeing the different LAAs either going above and beyond those challenges and even some taking a step back and becoming stronger LAAs within themselves. So I'm excited for the renewal portion of the remainder of the biennium just to see what they've done over this past year and how we can continue to create stronger LAAs for the next biennium. So last question. You've already entered the ranch question in a previous episode. So this time we'd like to ask what are some things that people can do in Lexington that you've discovered during a winter council? So of course the two biggest things that Lexington are known for is bourbon and horse racing. I did actually take a peek into the horse racing. If anyone wants to stay into the Sunday, Red Mile is hosting their first horse race at the season. July 18th through the 20th, the Kentucky Dressage Association is going to be in town. For those of you who don't know, Dressage is essentially just like dancing with your horse. And it is, I think Snoop Dogg watching the horse do the Cryptwalk live laugh love. So I would recommend that. And there is also the Briar Fest from July 11th through the 13th for those who want to get in a little bit early. The Briar Fest is essentially just like a horse girl's dream where it is just everything equine that you can learn about history, see some actual horses up close, just have a good fun time. Are there any specific moments or events that stand out as highlights from the past two years in your position? It's been a very interesting position, two years, this biennium for the finance director with all the issues we've had and concerns with the financials. However, I think one of the big highlights for me was the giving program member participants Town Hall with the chair of the Board of Trustees and the national president. It was a great two-hour conversation about the fraternity, where we're going, what's good, what's bad, and we're getting ready to do that again hopefully in the next month or two. What personal goals do you hope to achieve during the remainder of this biennium? Continue to solidify our financial position and financial reporting, asking the tough questions to headquarters, ensuring that our financials are correct. We have a better idea of where we are, our sources of income, our expenses, and then be able to provide that financial transparency hopefully to the membership. Last question, Barnco equals ranch, what is your favorite condiment and why? I'm not a big condiment person, but I love a good hot pretzel, so beer cheeses or good mustard with the pretzel is a definite go for me. Are there any specific moments or events that stand out as highlights from the past two years in your position? That's a great question. I am really excited that in the past two years so far, we've been able to not only relaunch the mentorship program which had been dormant for a couple of years, but also to launch the brand new Botox series for professional development. I think between both of those, that's two really exciting programs that fill in the gaps that might have been missing in the building bridges, building brothers professional development program that make it a really well-rounded program now as we're celebrating five years of our true consistent focus on professional development within the CapCap Asylum Association. What personal goals do you hope to achieve during the remainder of this biennium? I would love to finish off the biennium strong, have a good, successful transition with our next alumni association board of directors. I think we've got some great folks who are going to be running for that, and really for me, it's about having a great national convention. I can't give away all of the secrets yet because that will be the topic of a future tempo podcast episode, but here at Winter Council, we've had the great opportunity to see the spaces that we're going to be in, start talking about the workshop, see the proposals that have been submitted for that. The programs and professional development committee is hard at work to make sure that we've got a great suite of options from the professional to the social, and I cannot wait to have a great time at National Convention, have a lot of very fulfilling programming, also just have a wonderful opportunity to see, to meet, and to socialize with all of the great brothers who are going to be here in Lexington. Last question. Bonco equals ranch. What is your favorite condiment and why? I think I'm going to have to go with a Rimmelod sauce there. There's a little seafood restaurant in where I live in Macon that's just down the road for me, you can get some really good fried seafood there, and they've got this Rimmelod sauce, you dip those fried shrimp in, and those fried grouper hits the spot with that nice bit of richness, spiciness, perfect combo. Are there any specific moments or events that stand out as highlights from the past two years in your position? I truly believe that one of the bigger highlights for this biennium is the hard work that the committee has been doing from enhancing our social media, making sure that everybody is being informed, as well as putting out the Encore monthly and actually making that document more accessible for all of the brothers. Our numbers have actually gone up since the start of the biennium, so it's always fun to get those numbers up and whatnot. Something that still is on the works where we're doing the logo and rebranding of Cap Capacile and Association working with Robert Ratcherd to get that done, and that will come out super soon that we're working with the finance director to make sure that we get some merch out for you guys to get anything that has the logo on it so you can be representing ticket site AA, but there's a lot of good work that has happened this biennium, but I do want to make sure that we give the shout out to the committee where all the people have been working, so shout out to the communications committee on all the work they've been putting. What personal goals do you hope to achieve during the remainder of this biennium? Personal goals I feel like the biggest thing is to make sure that we're training the next person that's going to be communications director, to make sure that the transition happens smoothly. We do have some great candidates already that want to be part of this committee and take over the position itself, but that's my main goal, make sure that we have a smooth transition, make sure that the work that we did this biennium is being pushed forward as well as leading good charges for the upcoming communications director, but also make sure that everything that we started this biennium is finished. I don't want to leave anything undone for the next communications director, and that's just my personal goal, but make sure that everything that we started is finished and done to the best that we can. Last question. Bonco equals ranch. What is your favorite condiment and why? Well ranch is good, so ranch, ranch, ranch goes with everything, but barbecue, you know, I think barbecue is where it's at, imagine like a good like, I don't know, some ribs with barbecue and then a Dr. Pepper right next to it, I mean I could say Dr. Pepper was my sauce because it has all the flavors in it, but I'ma go with barbecue sauce, sweet and spicy barbecue sauce dude, but just yeah that's what it is. Dr. Pepper is barbecue water confirmed. Thank you water, yep, so your question will be a bit different since you were just elected this past October, so while you can't reflect on the past two years, can you share some of the accomplishments you've achieved in your role over the past few months? Since I have been appointed to the board in October, I have been working on various different aspects of the awards and activities, position that I am responsible for such as the seeing the jazz composition competition being implemented and set up ready to go. For those that are interested in that, please apply as the winning composition will be played by the inaugural in IJB at NatCon, so this is something that we're looking forward to and it's been in the works for a while, another thing that I've been working on is making sure all the awards are updated and getting the proper attention that they need to make sure that everybody has equal opportunity to nominate those that are deserving of those awards as well as getting things structured and ready for the biennial solo competition. What personal goals do you hope to achieve during the remainder of this biennium? For the remainder of this biennium, I want to set up the next awards director with the tools that they will need to continue the work that has been done, such as making sure that the jazz composition competition is viable and successful going forward, as well as making sure the biennial solo competition is done as well, and we're also in the process of introducing awards centered around our LAAs for those to be established and hopefully given out starting with the 25-27 biennium. Last question, Bonco equals Ranch, what is your favorite condiment and why? If I had to pick a favorite condiment, I would go with mustard. That is my go-to for anything special when it comes to burgers. I love me some burgers and a good burger for me includes mustard, gotta have that mustard. That wraps up our Winter Council and marks the first episode of 2025. We hope this provides clarity about the election season and offers insight into what each AABOD member has accomplished this biennium. As always, we'd like to extend a special thanks to all of you for your continued support of this podcast and the work of our AABOD. A special thank you to Tory Wilkinson for taking the time during this break to edit the podcast. We hope you're having a fantastic start to the year and look forward to seeing all of you at National Convention. Have a wonderful day and, as always, A-E-A. [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music] [Music]