So, we're done with rush and we've been inducted. I have to say that my favorite part is that I don't feel as different as I thought I would. During rush, I felt like the sorority had already accepted me and the other new members into the family, and the events were just a way for us to hang out. I knew joining Phi Rho would be fun, but it's even greater than I anticipated.
Thanks you guys, you just made Case a much happier place!
=) PRL
Monday, September 13, 2010
Saturday, September 11, 2010
Fall 2010 Informal Rush
We just finished up two busy, yet awesome weeks of informal rush and are inducting five new associates tomorrow! Jenn did a great job with planning and running all the events this year and the enthusiasm among the sisters was awesome. We started off the first Monday with the traditional fall rush barbecue and were thrilled by the large number of PNMs who showed up. Tuesday night was balloon animals and friendship bracelets. Several sisters (myself included) were none too thrilled about the balloon animals because of our great dislike of balloon-related noises. Fortunately, the friendship bracelet table was enough of a distraction because it was my first time making a friendship bracelet and it took a lot more concentration than I anticipated. However, many sisters (and PNMs) really seemed to be having a good time with the balloons, as evidenced by Jenn and Colleen's epic sword fight to wrap up the event and Jenn being so fond of her balloon hat that she wore it to the grocery store. Thursday was Yoga/Jazzercise and Dessert night. Amanda and I watched the yoga part from afar while chowing down on cookies and were highly amused as Meaghan fell over approximately 87 times. Friday was karaoke night, and we had a great time belting out our song requests with the help of the karaoke machine that Jenn rented out. I didn't sing much because I wasn't familiar with a lot of the song choices (which is probably a good thing since my singing leaves much to be desired), but I did creep everyone out with my rendition of "Every Breath You Take" by The Police.
As if there wasn't enough fun in the first week, we still had another full week of events in front of us. I didn't partake in the Labor Day trip to the beach, but Tuesday we had Phi Rho fishing and we got to hear all sorts of fun stories. Wednesday we got to learn some swing dance moves with Case's swing club, which was super fun. I had a great time looking ridiculous and learning dance moves with names like "the mess around" and "the shimmy." Then we wrapped up the week with invite dinner on Thursday. I'm not sure why I decided it would be a good idea to eat both a huge piece of cheesecake and a brownie. While they were delicious, I did not feel so great immediately afterward.
All in all, I had a fantastic time at rush this fall and I can't wait until inductions tomorrow!
Kristen
Monday, August 30, 2010
Risky Business and a Gas Menagerie
Boy, it's been a busy week! This past one was my first as official Phi Rho Risk Manager, and I am so excited to hold the position! Our bylaws dictate that PSR Risk Managers should compile a presentation once per semester to the chapter, but don't specify what the presentations should contain. Because there's such a freedom in choosing presentation material, I am going to bring the oft silent and forgotten Risk Manager position to a whole new level. This week I spoke in our chapter meeting about some health-related managerial topics and will continue to tell everyone at least one Risky Business Tip each week. I even talked with a representative of the Tae Kwon Do club about partnering to teach the sisters some self-defense, so I know the Risk Manager presentation this year is going to literally KICK BUTT! I hope that instead of sitting through a litany of facts this year at the presentation, the Phi Rhos will be asking for more, more, more!
I've also been busy this week in supporting Jenn and her role of informal recruitment chair. Before we flyer'd the middle of campus this weekend, we discussed event ideas, witty titles, and explanations to put on flyers to get the campus revved up for our rush. I'm most looking forward to our Balloon Animal Blowout event (because who doesn't want to learn how to make balloon animals???), but I'm pretty pumped for our Jazzercise/Yoga/Dessert Night, too ("Happy body. Happy mind. Happy stomach." My oh my, what a clever slogan, don'tcha think?). Phi Rho is one of only two sororities this year who are eligible to present a fall semester rush, and only in Phi Rho can you have your dessert and eat it, too....beside a gas menagerie!
Colleen
Wednesday, August 25, 2010
Tattoos and Pudding and Toilets, Oh My!
Temporary tattoos + cool freshman = a top notch Welcome Days event.
So things got off to a bit of a slow start at the Greek Carnival (as seems to be the norm) as freshmen wandered around but refused to commit to actually participating in any of the activities. But before long girls and guys were crowding around the table to pick their tattoos. We had several male tramp-stamp recipients. I proved what a great big I am by abandoning Chen to put a sparkly butterfly on some guy's VERY lower back... it was quite amusing to watch her hold the wet paper towel there for 30 seconds while turned in the COMPLETE other direction so as not to have to look at him. Good times. But more importantly, we had quite a few freshman engineering girls show interest in who we are and what we do.
Following the Carnival some of us returned to the house to begin preparing for Taste of Greek Life. Nicole had the excellent idea of making cups of dirt for the freshmen. This idea proved somewhat more challenging due to the fact that Target had only Cook and Serve pudding. What the heck Target!?!?!?! Another hurdle occurred when I failed to read the instructions on the side of the box and missed the part where you have to boil over MEDIUM heat. Fortunately, we caught this mistake, only ruining a few boxes of pudding in the meantime. But boiling milk and pudding mix over medium heat takes a LONG time. So almost 150 servings of pudding were made, ladled into cups, cookied and gummy wormed by midnight... However, the whole ordeal had a very amusing ending. Anna decided it would be a bad idea to pour burnt liquid pudding (from those initial batches) in the sink, so we instead had to flush it. At midnight, flushing pudding is a VERY entertaining ordeal...
So things got off to a bit of a slow start at the Greek Carnival (as seems to be the norm) as freshmen wandered around but refused to commit to actually participating in any of the activities. But before long girls and guys were crowding around the table to pick their tattoos. We had several male tramp-stamp recipients. I proved what a great big I am by abandoning Chen to put a sparkly butterfly on some guy's VERY lower back... it was quite amusing to watch her hold the wet paper towel there for 30 seconds while turned in the COMPLETE other direction so as not to have to look at him. Good times. But more importantly, we had quite a few freshman engineering girls show interest in who we are and what we do.
Following the Carnival some of us returned to the house to begin preparing for Taste of Greek Life. Nicole had the excellent idea of making cups of dirt for the freshmen. This idea proved somewhat more challenging due to the fact that Target had only Cook and Serve pudding. What the heck Target!?!?!?! Another hurdle occurred when I failed to read the instructions on the side of the box and missed the part where you have to boil over MEDIUM heat. Fortunately, we caught this mistake, only ruining a few boxes of pudding in the meantime. But boiling milk and pudding mix over medium heat takes a LONG time. So almost 150 servings of pudding were made, ladled into cups, cookied and gummy wormed by midnight... However, the whole ordeal had a very amusing ending. Anna decided it would be a bad idea to pour burnt liquid pudding (from those initial batches) in the sink, so we instead had to flush it. At midnight, flushing pudding is a VERY entertaining ordeal...
Monday, July 26, 2010
Being the Hostess with the Most-est!
Let me just say that I was looking forward to Phi Rho's National Conference 2010 since sisters came back from Convention 2009. And I was even more enthused when I heard that the Omicron Chapter would be hosting it. I've waited about a year for this. And believe me, my expectations were not dashed.
I was so excited in the weeks leading up to conference that some people may have thought I was going mad (just ask the other sisters living in the house - it has even been reported that I was seen jumping up and down flapping my arms and exclaming in a high squeaky voice several times in the week preceeding conference). I was super worried about chores that week and went on a mad cleaning spree the night before, making sure the house was spotless. I even made a sign welcoming the conference go-ers to our house. Now, I didn't have to do all this, but I did because I had all of this excited energy I needed to expend.
After all of the anticipation I was definitely not disappointed. Conference was the best combo of meeting new friends, reconnecting with old ones, and sorority talk. I think the best part about conference was getting to share ideas between chapters. I learned that not all phi rho chapters have it easy like us. We may worry about how we are going to fill the house this year or what strategy makes a good formal recruitment, but other chapters have much larger worries. They have to figure out where their ritual stuff gets stored because they don't have a house. They have to worry about getting the word out about Phi Rho on a campus of thousands where typical sororities are the norm, and they aren't accepted as Greek life. We worry about who is going to Panhel meetings and they worry about IF they can go to Panhel meetings.
This weekend really opened my eyes to how good we have it and how well we are doing as a chapter of Phi Rho. Yeah, we have our problems, our numbers are down, but we aren't like some chapters who only have 15 members and each one has 3 or 4 officer positions. Think of how burnt out you would get if you were holding 4 officer positions...that's intense.
And think about all of the wonderful things we DO have. Good-quality members who work hard and produce AMAZING results. An eager, new class with enough energy to infect all of us. A welcoming Panhel who accepts us and helps us when we need it. A supportive Greek Life Office and Staff who are always willing to meet with us. A strong sisterhood evident in those late night study parties, random IHOP runs, and alumnae who stick around.
I love Phi Rho and I am proud to be a sister to each and every one of you. Wear those letters proudly because we are a special group of women.
PRL,
Nicole
I was so excited in the weeks leading up to conference that some people may have thought I was going mad (just ask the other sisters living in the house - it has even been reported that I was seen jumping up and down flapping my arms and exclaming in a high squeaky voice several times in the week preceeding conference). I was super worried about chores that week and went on a mad cleaning spree the night before, making sure the house was spotless. I even made a sign welcoming the conference go-ers to our house. Now, I didn't have to do all this, but I did because I had all of this excited energy I needed to expend.
After all of the anticipation I was definitely not disappointed. Conference was the best combo of meeting new friends, reconnecting with old ones, and sorority talk. I think the best part about conference was getting to share ideas between chapters. I learned that not all phi rho chapters have it easy like us. We may worry about how we are going to fill the house this year or what strategy makes a good formal recruitment, but other chapters have much larger worries. They have to figure out where their ritual stuff gets stored because they don't have a house. They have to worry about getting the word out about Phi Rho on a campus of thousands where typical sororities are the norm, and they aren't accepted as Greek life. We worry about who is going to Panhel meetings and they worry about IF they can go to Panhel meetings.
This weekend really opened my eyes to how good we have it and how well we are doing as a chapter of Phi Rho. Yeah, we have our problems, our numbers are down, but we aren't like some chapters who only have 15 members and each one has 3 or 4 officer positions. Think of how burnt out you would get if you were holding 4 officer positions...that's intense.
And think about all of the wonderful things we DO have. Good-quality members who work hard and produce AMAZING results. An eager, new class with enough energy to infect all of us. A welcoming Panhel who accepts us and helps us when we need it. A supportive Greek Life Office and Staff who are always willing to meet with us. A strong sisterhood evident in those late night study parties, random IHOP runs, and alumnae who stick around.
I love Phi Rho and I am proud to be a sister to each and every one of you. Wear those letters proudly because we are a special group of women.
PRL,
Nicole
Saturday, February 6, 2010
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