Baker University’s sororities and fraternities will be hosting their annual Staying Together After Graduation events on May 20.

During Staying Together After Graduation, or STAG, each sorority and fraternity invites their alumni back for a day of reunions, house tours, dinners and donations. The day ends with a large party at the Mine.

The specific festivities differ for each chapter due to different rituals.

Sophomore Kristen Shaw is the ritual chair for Alpha Chi Omega sorority. She said that she participates in organizing and planning the event by “filling out a planning pack for it and telling the chapter when the roll calls are.”

Shaw said other aspects, such as the dinner preparation and organization of other events, are organized by the chapters’ alumni.

STAG allows active members of each chapter hear stories about their chapters and chapter members of the past. Shaw said that is one of Shaw’s favorite parts of the event.

Senior and Zeta Chi fraternity member Luke Miltz shares similar feelings as Shaw. He said that he enjoys “reconnecting with the alumni and seeing them be proud of the progress.”

During STAG, active members are given the chance to see another side of their fraternity or sorority.

“It gives us sort of a bigger picture of what fraternity life is all about.” Miltz said. “I like to describe it as an iceberg, so what we see right now at Baker is the active chapter, but that is only a small fraction of what is poking out above the water of the real organization. The generations of alumni that form the other portion that is underneath the water is supporting us, so it’s a really cool time for them to see what we’ve done.”

In addition to STAG being an important day for the sororities and fraternities, it is also a day that boosts local businesses because of the influx of people into Baldwin City.

“People look forward to STAG all year-round, and businesses like the Lodge, the Mine and the restaurants downtown definitely have a big boost in business for the weekend because alumni will come from far and stay overnight and people are in the mood to celebrate, so it’s pretty cool for the town,” Miltz said.

Senior Ali Glascoigne is a bartender at the Mine and has an unusual perspective of the event.

“From a bartender’s perspective, it’s fun to see all of your friends at the bar and be able to allow them to have a good time, so I really am excited to see a lot of faces that are coming back that I’ve recently missed in the last couple of years,” Glascoigne said

Glascoigne said STAG is a night when Baldwin City transforms into a “college town,” mainly because of the number of people the event brings in.

STAG offers current chapter members the opportunity to meet the previous generations and offers the previous generations the opportunity to reunite and meet the active members.

“It brings in a lot of people that have loved this city as much as the people who still live in it, so it’s just a big community event,” Gascoigne said.