Maywood - Wheaton Alumni Chapter
Chapter Committees
MWAC is involved in many activities throughout the year. We are able to effectively manage and plan these activitis through various chapter committees. Below are some of the key committees that allow us to interact with our society.
Guide Right
Guide Right is the is the national service program of the Fraternity. Guide Right is a program for the educational and occupational guidance of youth, primarily inspirational and informational in character. Its reach extends to high schools and colleges alike. In the latter, giving due attention to the needs of undergraduate Brothers. The MWAC Guide right program focuses on not only high school Seniors but it includes Juniors, Sophomores, and Freshman. Guide Right encompasses many of our youth oriented programs such as mentoring, college preparatory programs, and tutoring. Our program is active in four West Suburban high schools (Bartlett, Bolingbrook, East Aurora, and South Elgin High) Our Guide Right program work in lock step with the Diamond Youth Foundation which supports these schools with mentors and scholarship opportunities.
The Diamond Youth Foundation (DYF) is MWAC's philanthropic arm of the chapter. For more information on MWAC's activity with the DYF click here
Senior Kappas
The primary purpose of this committee is to spearhead the Chapter’s efforts to ensure and enhance the well-being of the senior members of the chapter. The have charge to facilitate the participation of senior brothers in all chapter activities and appropriate program. They focus on retaining and/or reclaiming financial and non-financial Brothers of our Bond 60+ years of age.
Another aim of this Committee’s purposes is to be aware of what is happening within the Chapter, and other programs that impact our senior members and all the Brothers within the chapter and our Bond of Brotherhood.
Civic Action
MWAC is serious abot being active in the communities in which we reside. We have taken an active roll in making sure our community is free of roadside debris and garbage. We serve as deputy registrars for voter registration in Dupage, Kane, and Will counties. We also support local food banks, toy, blood, and clothing drives.
Social
The Fraternity held its first Grand Chapter meeting on May 19-21, 1911. Guests came from throughout Indiana as well as Ohio, Kentucky and Missouri to attend its social activities. At the conclusion of the festivities, several of the guests proclaimed the house party as “the most extraordinary entertainment ever held in the Middle West.” An article about the affair appeared in the May 22, 1911 issue of the Daily Student – the campus newspaper.
Today, our chapter has carried on this long and storied tradition of providing entertainment for our friends and neighbors in the Western suburbs of Chicago. These activities not only include parties but other events such as bowling events, skate parties, Sweetheart Affairs, and the Annual Family Picnic.
Kappa Alpha Psi, formerly called Kappa Alpha Nu, was the first African-American fraternity at IU, founded in 1911. This photo shows a May 1911 party on Kirkwood Avenue in Bloomington. [from the Indiana University Alumni Association internet site].