Feature: The Student Alumni Foundation Emerges as National Leader

            In only two decades, MSU’s Student Alumni Foundation has emerged as the Big Ten’s largest voluntary student organization and as a national leader.

            It hasn’t made banner headlines (yet), but a dynamic student group associated with the MSU Alumni Association is quietly having a tsunami-like impact across the MSU campus. 

            Formed in 1986, the Student Alumni Foundation has just surpassed 7,000 members, making it a larger organization than several hundred colleges in the nation.  More importantly, the reach of its programs are highly visible on campus and even around the country.

            “We’re the largest, voluntary student organization in the Big Ten,” says SAF president Frankie Orlando, a senior from Grand Ledge, who joined the SAF in 2003 when it only had 2,000 members.  “We believe we might well be the biggest in the country as well.” 

            Indeed, the Association of Student Advancement Programs, which is a part of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education, lists MSU’s SAF as the nation’s largest student organization with 7,200 members.

            Size matters, but that alone is not what distinguishes the SAF.  Its recent growth has been explosive, with membership more than tripling since 2003.  But along with numbers has come great student leadership.  Two signature SAF programs—the national champion Sparty mascot and the Izzone—have blossomed into iconic entities that others in the country emulate as models.

            If imitation is the sincerest form of flattery, then Beverly VandenBerg, assistant director of the MSU Alumni Association, should feel very flattered.  She has served as SAF adviser this past decade and has overseen much of SAF’s phenomenal growth.

            “This has been a very rewarding job,” says VandenBerg, who will step down from her role as SAF adviser this year and serve as interim associate director of the MSU Alumni Association.  “It’s a 24/7 commitment, but the best part is working with students.  Every year, we have a whole new group coming in and they bring new ideas because they want to leave their mark.

            “That’s very exciting.  The students make all the decisions, and that’s what makes the SAF work.”

            After VandenBerg leaves, Susie Hamilton, assistant director for student outreach at Iowa State University, will take over as SAF adviser.  A native of Chariton, IA, she is a graduate of Northern Iowa University and has worked five years as an adviser for student programs. 

            SAF programs seem to work well and student leaders have thrived within the organization.  “A lot of people know our programs, but they don’t necessarily know the SAF is the organization that runs it,” notes SAF marketing vice president Cheryl Brodowski, a senior from Shelby Township.  Even fewer people know the SAF operates under the aegis of the alumni association.  The SAF president, for example, occupies a seat on the MSUAA’s national alumni board.

            Here some of the major programs run by the SAF: 

• Parents Weekend, held during Homecoming Weekend, sells out every year and draws about 1,300 MSU parents and siblings to campus.
• Every year, SAF students give campus tours to more than 22,000 visitors—including prospective students, alumni, visitors and special groups.
• SAF has pioneered the rising popularity of student spirit groups, with Corner Blitz surpassing 3,200, the Izzone at 2,200, and Slap Shots at 163—a significant increase from last year.  Both the Izzone and the Corner Blitz are national trendsetters.
• Sparty, which is run by the SAF’s mascot program, has just won its third national championship in the past four years and remains the only Big Ten mascot to have won a national championship.
• Every fall, the SAF and the MSUAA stage Spartan Spirit, the largest Welcome Week event where new students learn the Fight Song from the Spartan Marching Band and the MSU Cheerleaders and where they get to meet coaches and star Spartan athletes.  Formerly the event was held in Spartan Stadium, but henceforth it will be at the Breslin Center.
• The SAF runs assorted programs, such as Students for State, Dinner for 12 Spartans, Sparty’s Spring Party, and the Winter Formal.  It also gets involved with special efforts, such as spearheading the student fundraising for the Sparty Project (see cover story, Winter 2003)

            To run these programs, the SAF boasts an annual budget well in excess of $100,000—most of which it raises via memberships, sales of merchandise, and income generated from the mascot program.  “Also, we receive financial support from University Development and the MSU Alumni Association,” says Orlando.  “We really appreciate this.”

            Orlando joined the SAF as a freshman and has played a role in its steady recent growth.  SAF recruits members at Academic Orientation Programs and also markets to parents of new students.  It costs $15, and the benefits include discounts at 31 stores frequented by students, including area bookstores, restaurants, and the like.  “It pays for itself right away,” notes Brodowski.

            SAF two signature programs are the Izzone and the Sparty mascot program.

            “Everybody wants Sparty,” notes Orlando.  “Sparty does tons of events—weddings, bar mitzvahs, parades, anniversaries, you name it.  We are happy to accommodate fans and alums, especially in the summer.”

            The mascot program began in 1989 and became an instant hit.  Since then the costume, created by a company in Georgia, has been refined to allow for more movement and animation.  As a result, Sparty has been able to project some personality and is now the only Big Ten mascot to have been crowned national champion by the Universal Cheerleading Association.  Sparty has won many other awards and is often featured in ESPN Sportscenter commercials.  As Kermit the Frog announced on Spartan Stadium’s Diamond Vision during the Homecoming game, “Sparty (is) the No. 1 mascot in the country!”

            Explains Brodowski, “Some of the mascots we see are nothing more than a person inside a rug.  They don’t do much.  Sparty is very animated.  He interacts with the crowd and you think of him as a living, breathing entity.”

            A key component of the mascot competition is a videotape presentation. To view the current one, where ESPN sportscaster Lee Corso introduces Sparty, visit saf.msu.edu.  Alumni can request Sparty appearances at the same web site, or call the SAF office at 517-355-4458.

            The SAF also runs the spirit sections for football, men’s basketball and hockey.  The Izzone has garnered the most national attention, especially during MSU’s three-year Final Four runs, although the Corner Blitz has recently undergone meteoric growth. 

            The Izzone began in 1995 as a small section of about 100 rabid fans, basically “Jud’s Jungle” with a new name.  But the section has grown steadily with Tom Izzo’s success—and, according to Tom, helped take MSU basketball’s home court advantage to a new level. 

            Today’s Izzone is a game-impacting, loud and boisterous bloc of around 2,200 fans, a blinding agglomeration of jumping white t-shirts occupying most courtside seats in the lower bowl and sprouting out into the top rows of Breslin Center’s upper level, the so-called “Ozzone.”  SAF now requires students who want the coveted courtside Izzone seats to first be members of the Ozzone.

            “The Izzone has led the way in the Big 10,” says Orlando.  “Look at the Orange Crush (Illinois), the Hawk’s Nest (Iowa), the Grateful Red (Wisconsin) or the Maize Rage (Michigan)—they were all organized in response to the Izzone.”

            One thing is sure—students want to get into the Izzone.  Every year, they camp out in mid-September at Munn Field for the privilege of signing up. 

            “It’s a lot of fun,” says Orlando.  “Last year 1,800 students camped out.  We have a live band.  This year Tom Izzo camped out with us and all 13 team members came and met with the students. Our players are really classy people.”

            Though intimidating, the Izzone tries to be clever and witty, rather than simply loud and vulgar, says adviser VandenBerg.  If it gets even a bit out of line, a few gestures by Izzo usually suffice to get it promptly back in line. 

            In recent years, the Corner Blitz, the football spirit section, has grown to more than 3,200, making it the largest on campus.  Members stay in the stadium win or lose, and when players celebrate after the game, they do so in the general vicinity of the section. 

            One program run by SAF that is critical to MSU is the campus tour program, where the SAF and the admissions work cooperatively.  SAF conducts daily tours and special tours, including tours for prospective students and for admitted students.  “We do it on every day except for holidays,” says VandenBerg.  “What we strive to do is to put MSU’s best foot forward for people who want to get to know us.”

            For a long time, MSU had no dedicated room from which to assemble people for a pre-tour admissions presentation.  Visitors would be sent to rooms in Bessey Hall or even Olds Hall.  Now, on the third floor of the MSU Union, across the hall from SAF headquarters, is the Admissions Presentation Room.

            “This is a state-of-the-art presentation room,” says VandenBerg.  “I give the credit to (director of admissions) Pam Horne (who recently left MSU for Purdue).” 

            During Homecoming Weekend, the SAF organizes Family Weekend, a series of events for parents and siblings of MSU students.  The activities revolve around a tailgate brunch under a huge tent erected near the Rock, just north of the Red Cedar and just east of Farm Lane. 

            “We usually sell out a month in advance,” notes Orlando.  “Our location by the Rock is a great location.  We’re under a gigantic tent and it’s like one, giant pregame pep rally.”

            The SAF always sponsors a float in the Homecoming Parade, and their float often wins the “Best Float” award.  In partnership with the Union Activities Board, the SAF also sponsors Sparty’s Spring Party—a large outdoor festival centered around a men’s and women’s three-on-three basketball competition.  The Students for State, an SAF subgroup, performs ambassadorial services for MSU on many occasions. 

            “You’d think with all the programs we have we’d be 50 years old, but we’ve only been around for 20 years,” says Orlando.  “The growth has been astronomical.”

            Beyond their programs, the SAF remains an excellent training ground for student leaders, who can become alumni leaders in the future.

            “That’s definitely yet another great value of having an organization like the SAF,” says Bill Beekman, acting executive director of the MSU Alumni Association.  “Besides all the programs they run, in many cases very successfully, I might add, the leadership experiences that students enjoy with the SAF can translate into leadership roles they may seek as alumni, whether with regional clubs or constituent associations or special interest groups.”

            The SAF is currently run by an executive council consisting of a president and four vice presidents.  By the time a student is named to one of those posts, he or she has probably served in many leadership roles, running one of the many programs. 

            It will be interesting to see how the SAF evolves in next two decades.