In addition to this past weekend being Commencement weekend (CONGRATS GRADUATES!), alumni leaders from around the world met at CMU’s Pittsburgh campus for this year’s Volunteer Forum. There was a mix of local Chapter leaders as well as Interest group leaders who all got a chance to talk to each other exchanging ideas and experiences. We of course had our own contingent of attendees representing the BAA and learning about all the opportunities that are available to us and areas where we might be able to do a little better.

Here just a few of the takeaways that I got from the weekend:

• We have a big opportunity of pairing with local chapter events around the US and beyond. Not only do we have strong alumni clusters in several cities in the Nation, local leaders were seeking us out looking for an excuse to have a buggy themed/related event.
• There are many Freshman welcome events that happen around the globe and we have an opportunity to reach out to those incoming Freshmen over the summer and show them what buggy is. There is nothing definitive yet, but we will hopefully get some help sending buggies to these gatherings for the new students to look and feel, and maybe even ride.
• Aside from the chapter groups, we also have an opportunity to help more than CMU by joining forces with groups like 1000plus to give back and help our regions be a better place.
• While we have amassed a good amount of funds thanks to your contributions, CMU has opportunities for additional grants to help support specific initiatives. These could be something like sending someone or something to an event or a special project that our group might want to work on.

As one of the larger and more “loyal” alumni groups, CMU wants to help us in any way they can and for us to take advantage of that interest we are going to need some help and potentially some new positions.  Below are outlined several positions some new, some existing, in no particular order, a few of which may be combined based on interest, but ideally split to lessen time-involvement needs from individual persons.

• Greek/Independent Student Outreach (2 people): It’s high time that we add some new teams to the mix and we believe that the interest is there, but the knowledge isn’t. We would like to have someone to reach out to existing Greek and Independent organizations to help them start their own program or help educate them on what they have to gain.
• Regional Coordinator (1 person): With all the interest from chapter groups, it would make sense for us to have someone dedicated to finding local alumni in areas around the US and the globe to attend local events that are looking for some buggy representation. This position may also involve coordinating local leaders in dense buggy areas to take part in local chapter meetings.
• Website Curator/Head Mechanic (2-3 people): As we all know there are many things that this site does well, but there are also many things that haven’t been updated and several features that would really help make this site become what it should be. We need someone to head up that effort and pull in extra hands when needed. There has also been talk of a cmubuggy 2.0 site that has yet to make much progress.
• Auction/Fundraising Lead (1 person): Our biggest fundraising event is currently the Lead Truck Auction that happens over Carnival. We need someone to take the lead on that effort and look into possible other opportunities.
• Special Projects Lead (2 people): There are dozens of projects that we have talked about working on, but only a few that have actually gone anywhere. It would be great to have a couple people take point on these projects which may involve anything from finding vendors for new equipment, to writing special reports on the state of the sport.
• Rolls Reports Organizer (2 people): One of our longest standing contributions to the sport and one of the things that takes the most effort. We need someone to take point on getting notes and photos from weekend Rolls and getting the Reports out every week. There is a large contingent of local Pittsburgh alumni, some of whom already attend the practices regularly. There is no reason that one person needs to go out every morning and this job could easily be split up between several people such that no one person would need to attend more than a weekend of rolls each semester.
• Raceday Preview Lead (1 person): As probably the biggest reason to be a BAA member, the Raceday Preview goes out every year before Carnival and often spills out over a few dedicated people. Ideally we would have one person to take on the task of organizing the production of this yearly summary piece.
• Treasurer (1 person): A traditional role, but one that is no less needed. This role would be for someone to receive our monthly statement, and summarize it to the rest of the group telling us where our money is coming in and going out.
• President/Chairman (1 person): Another traditional role that is pretty handy. This person would keep up with all the leads and make sure things are on track and oversee the general direction of the group and fill any gaps as needed. This is also a role that would involve a lot of communication with Alumni Relations and coordinating raceday/ceilidh events.

The good news is that very few if any of these roles are location dependent. While it might certainly help to be in Pittsburgh for something like Rolls Reports or Student outreach, someone to coordinate note-takers and photographers would not need to be there, and students all have email and several means of contact for outreach.

If any of this sounds interesting to you, we would love to hear from you. Please feel free to post any questions or thoughts below or in the forum. So far the BAA has only been represented by a few teams and it’s time to broaden our inclusion. This is a great opportunity for new alums to get involved or stay involved and make a lasting change on our great sport. This is the best way to stay close to the action and up to date with all the insider knowledge.