Hey folks! So you may remember a few months ago, the SSA hired someone new to work on the Richard Dawkins "Magic of Reality" tour, and then nothing was heard from her again...UNTIL NOW!
Now that the tour's over, I'm going to be sending some This Week emails, working on tours and large events (and helping you plan them), acting as a liason for student groups and Volunteers Beyond Belief, and lots of other things as they come up. I'll be sharing some tour experiences and letting you know about some upcoming events in this email, so stay tuned! If you have any questions, don't hesitate to contact me.
Reasonably yours,
Sarah
Richard Dawkins' "Magic of Reality" Tour Experiences
So for almost all of October, I was travelling with Richard Dawkins to promote his new book, "The Magic of Reality." It was a really great experience, and I had so much fun, getting to see how pumped people were about Richard visiting their area and getting to work with awesome student leaders.
We travelled to several states, including Florida, Virginia, Texas, Kentucky, and Michigan. It was really cool seeing student leaders step up when Richard was in town to help rally their group. The UM SHAARKS (Secular Humanists, Atheists, Agnostics for Reason, Knowledge, and Science) hosted a table and sold merchandise from the Richard Dawkins Foundation store and made over $100 for their group-- plus got the word out about their group! The University of Virginia Atheists and Agnostics went out to lunch with the new Director of Strategy and Policy at the Richard Dawkins Foundation, Sean Faircloth, and talked about separation of church and state in American politics. The Eastern Kentucky University had over 2,000 people attend (helped by the SSA at EKU's advertising on Facebook). On the event page for Richard's lecture at EKU, some people thought the event was a prank and that Richard Dawkins wasn't coming (he did show up though!). The event at Oakland University was handled very well by the Atheists at OU group, and they sold lots of "Magic of Reality" shirts and helped get the word out about their group as well. Finally, the Wayne State SSA came to help out at the Richard Dawkins lecture hosted by Camp Quest. They ran science experiments for the kids and got to enjoy ice cream after the lecture.
The tour was a great success for everyone involved, and I am so happy I got to be a part of it. Photos of the event will be up on the
SSA Facebook page soon! If you were at one of the events, share your pictures on the Facebook page as well!
Upcoming Webinar: Working with Off Campus Groups
We are continuing our *free* webinar series with a presentation from our new Alumni Director, Sharon Moss, about How to Work With Off-Campus Groups. Sharon is the former director of the Humanist Community of Central Ohio, so she has a lot of experience working with off-campus groups! If you'd like some advice from an expert, sign up here!
Last Call for Affiliation Renewal!
Has your group renewed their affiliation with the SSA yet? Are you sure?? The deadline is tonight!
Better check to see if your group still needs to renew! You can renew
here if you haven't already.
Hey all! I hope you’ve had a great and successful week since my last email. Last week we talked about using the SSA brand. This week I’d like to talk a little bit about one of our specific focus areas: service. Service is a great way to not only to improve your campus and community but it is also a good way to strengthen your group and bond together. Service projects can be big or small, can involve just your group or can involve several, and can focus on many different things. So, having said that, let us dive into some of the more specific aspects of service.
One of the biggest pieces of forming a new campus group is choosing a name. After all, the name of your group is going to be the one thing that most people see, hear, say, and identify with. It's important! SSA affiliate groups use all kinds of names, from the clever (Freethinkers, Atheists and Questioners - FAQ) to the umbrella (Secular Humanists, Atheists and Agnostics for Reason, Knowledge and Science) to the simple (Freethinkers Club). 
