<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: arial, sans-serif; font-size: 13px; border-collapse: collapse; "><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">To ALL members of FAST,</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">Good afternoon.<span> </span>I hope that this email finds each of you well on this breezy Autumn weekend. It's come to my attention that there was some problems with the new family tree system that was implemented earlier this week.<span> </span><span> </span>FAST has been, and always will be, an organization that looks out for the best interest of its members, so if a concern is raised, the powers that be will try and address it.<span> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">I understand that not everyone knew our objectives for a new tree, so before I address the new changes that have been made, please allow me to clarify the reasons behind the change in the first place.<span> </span>The purpose of making this new tree was to "fix" the issues of the original tree.<span> </span>At the time, the S family was down to around 3 active members while the F family was well in their 20's. <span> </span>Some members had significantly more littles than others and some branches within the families were dying out.<span> </span>The new tree was an attempt to address these issues. The new tree also had rules-- no more than 2 bigs per member, only active members received littles, and priority of littles went to the youngest generation of active members. To be clear, <b>the new tree was never meant to replace the original tree</b>. The original tree would simply be a Legacy tree to be viewed in the archives.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">After talking with some alumni and older members of FAST, those who were behind making the new tree realized that this may not have been the best way to address the issues.<span> </span>We made a mistake.<span> </span>It wasn't the best decision, but we are prepared to take ownership of it. <span> </span>We realize that, though it wasn't intentional, we did not do justice to many alumni and veterans of FAST.<span> </span>I think we were so caught up with organizing the tree that we forgot the whole point of the tree.<span> </span>The purpose is to be able to trace your roots as far back as you can and no matter how you try and spin it, the new system simply could not do that.</p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span><span style="color: black; "><br></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">
<span><span style="color: black; ">With all that said, <b>we have decided to go back to the original tree</b>, the FAST tree, and it's original system. Given that we will no longer be implementing a <i>max of two little per</i> rule, <b>some littles will be reassigned to new bigs</b>.<span> Richard will be following up with an email to those affected. </span>Also, to avoid the dying of families, particularly the S family, we will be abolishing the lettering of the families.<span> </span>Since we are all <b>ONE family</b>, we will be connecting the original heads of each family.<span> </span>There will only be one rule for assigning littles now: members will only be eligible to receive littles if they have at least 2 years remaining (i.e. senior will not receive littles). Also, to keep the competitive spirit from karaoke night we will loosely reuse</span></span><span style="color: black; "> <span>the "new families" and recycle them into a concept known as "teams.". This would mean that</span><span>there are 4 teams, F, A, S, and T that can be used if Richard would</span> <span>like to do some type of organized event in the spring.</span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span><span style="color: black; "><br></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">
<span><span style="color: black; ">For anyone who still does not understand, all of this will be explained again at the General Body Meeting this Tuesday (10/19).<span> </span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">
<span><span style="color: black; "><br></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span><span style="color: black; ">I truly apologize for any inconvenience that this has caused anyone and hope that this will not affect anyone's feelings toward this organization.<span> </span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span><span style="color: black; "><br></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; ">
<span><span style="color: black; ">Keep safe, keep warm, and enjoy the rest of you weekends!</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin-top: 0px; margin-right: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px; margin-left: 0px; "><span><span style="color: black; ">-Armand </span></span></p>
<div><span><span style="color: black; "><br></span></span></div></span><br clear="all"><br>-- <br>Armand Rook Reyes <div>Stevens Institute of Technology<br>Engineering Management 2013<br>FAST President 2010-2011 <div>Five Elements Social Chair 2010-2011 </div>
<div>Alpha Phi Omega</div><div><a href="mailto:areyes@stevens.edu" target="_blank">areyes@stevens.edu</a></div><div><a href="mailto:areyes@stevens.edu" target="_blank"></a><br></div><div><div><div><div><div>>be the change<</div>
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