DVA Gala & Family Weekend!

       Hello and welcome back!! We hope everyone is having a great week so far, and are so excited to share some of our experiences over the past one with you all. Just last weekend, Florida State celebrated its annual Family Weekend. Here at the 518 we joined in on the events of the weekend, along with throwing some of our own for our sisters and their families!
     
To kick off Family Weekend, we held our annual Domestic Violence Awareness Gala, benefiting Beta Eta's philanthropy, with funds going to the Tallahassee Refuge House and the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation. Alpha Chi Omega's and their families look forward to this event every year, taking part in fundraising leading up to the gala, sisters making themed gift baskets to have bids placed on them at the event, a cocktail hour with live music, a three course dinner, and speakers from the Refuge House. Beta Eta's Refuge House Liaison, Sara Dramis, spoke at the event, getting to personally meet speakers and hand deliver them the donation raised by our sisters. Being devoted to philanthropy throughout her whole life, Sara was honored to have such a big part in this event, stating "Stories like those we hear at the DVA Gala are what make being apart of Alpha Chi so special. It touches my heart to be involved in our philanthropy and have this position."
     
Following the Gala on Friday, a barbecue was held at the 518 for Alpha Chi's and their families. After enjoying lunch at the house, sisters took their families to tailgate, watch the football game, and adventure around Tallahassee. Game days are always a great time here at Florida State, but are even more special when spent with our loved ones! To conclude the weekend, a brunch was held at Alpha Chi before our families headed out of Tallahassee. Us Alpha Chi's were so grateful to not only engage in service during this weekend, but to have a great time with our families!

Bid Day 2019!!

     It's a party here at the 518 because the blog is BACK!!! Long time no see! Here at Alpha Chi Omega, it's been a hectic few weeks. Following summer, our sisters came back to Tallahassee to join in on all the craziness of Polish week, Recruitment week, and of course, back to school. After a long, yet fulfilling two weeks of our sisters' lives revolving around recruitment, we got to celebrate our amazing new member class with everyone's favorite event, BID DAY!! Here comes our 2019 Bid Day recap:

     This year, our Bid Day theme was 'Alpha Chi State of Mind', with the whole day consisting of fun, New York City themed activities. With the 518 decorated to the nines in city decor and the dining room full of city street food, including soft pretzels with beer cheese, apples dipped in caramel, and classic NYC thin-crust pizza, it really created an Alpha Chi state of mind. Not only did the trendy theme make bid day fun to participate in, but the main event, member class 19 running home, was so special and worth the wait. After asking some sisters about their experience with recruitment and bid day, here's what they had to say:

Natalie Alexander & Ally Columbus

     Natalie Alexander (MC '17) served as a Rho Gamma this year, helping lead a group of potential new members throughout all of recruitment week to help them in their search of finding their home here at FSU. After asking Natalie about ending one of the most rewarding weeks with bid day here at Alpha Chi, she said "I loved the opportunity to serve Panhellenic as a Rho Gamma this past year! It made my week even more special to come back to Alpha Chi with one of my amazing potential new members, Ally Columbus."

     When it comes to the planning that went into bid day and preparing to welcome home our new members, we turned to New Member Educator, Mallory Hartline, and her assistant, Jenna Cutrone. After asking Mallory about bid day, she exclaimed "It was such an honor getting to plan such a special event for all my sisters, and new sisters. It was nothing short of a day to remember!", with Jenna stating "It was such an awesome day getting to welcome our new member class, especially as new member educator assistant. This day got me even more excited for the time I'll be spending with our new members this semester to help integrate them into our chapter!"

     Every year bid day is the perfect end to recruitment week, and a way for our chapter to show the new members how excited we are to become their sisters. This year, all our sisters here at the 518 were in an Alpha Chi state of mind, and can't wait for all the memories to come with member class '19!!!

VP NME Mallory Hartline & VP Ritual Paris Thie

Audrey Contis & NME Assistant Jenna Cutrone

"Let's talk about it" event !!

      This past Tuesday, April 9th, our Beta Eta sister, Jaylene Sosa, hosted her very own event called "Let's talk about it"! Jaylene, having noticed that many Florida State students were unaware of the variety of resources that FSU offers to students on campus, along with the amount of students on campus struggling with mental health issues and in need of support, decided to take action and help students become aware of the helpful resources they are provided with. This inspired her to create her event "Let's talk about it", consisting of tabling on Landis Green from throughout the day.

      At Jaylene's table students were able to both write and read words of encouragement on poster boards, along with providing students with pamphlets from RENEW (Realizing Everyone's Need for Emotional Wellness), Florida State's University Counseling Center, about how to properly care for one's mental health and how to seek out help on campus. Jaylene, being aware of these resources herself, reached out to multiple mental health organizations, including RENEW, the National Alliance on mental illness on campus and in Tallahassee, and the Out of the Darkness, a suicide awareness walk organization, in order to share their resources with students at her event. Wanting to make students more aware of the opportunities that both FSU and the Tallahassee area provide to care for mental health, Jaylene made these resources easier for students to find by handing out pamphlets and spreading information. Along with this, executive members of Out of the Darkness tabled alongside Jaylene, raising awareness about suicide and its prevention, as well as getting students to register for their walk.

      During the event itself, one student in particular stuck out to Jaylene, leading her to making a connection with him. This student perused over majority of the pamphlets, taking a few for himself. The student then spoke with Jaylene, telling her what mental health meant to him and how much her efforts at the event touched him. According to Jaylene, "He didn't seem to believe that people out there actually wanted to sit and support him, and to make sure that had access to the correct resources," however, that is exactly what Jaylene set out to do. This interaction is what proved to Jaylene that her efforts to help were worthwhile, stating that "that meant a lot to me seeing as my reasoning for doing the event was right in front of me, fulfilling me."

      Not only is a tabling event such as this helpful to those that attend it, but to those that host it. Being aware of and caring for one's mental health is so important, and is something we should be aware of the resources for. The stigma of not talking about mental health issues should be a thing of the past, an issue Jaylene is working to eliminate. We are so proud of Jaylene for planning this event all on her own, and caring for her fellow students. Thank you to everyone who helped our sister put on such a success!!

The BIG Event

     This past weekend many of our sisters participated in the Big Event, the largest service event that Florida State takes part in. The Big Event is a day dedicated to volunteer service, consisting of different organizations being paired with various community service projects around Tallahassee in need of volunteer work, with volunteers coming from FSU, FAMU, and TCC. All volunteers for the Big Event gathered together in the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center, experiencing an opening ceremony with speakers and performers before setting off for their respective service projects.

     Our Beta Eta sisters were paired with Sowing Seeds Sewing Comfort Ministry, a non-profit organization dedicated to the growth and empowerment of the Tallahassee community by providing life skills. Skills taught by the ministry include sewing, culinary skills, gardening, marketing and budgeting, along with collecting and distributing food to members of the community. With the ministry currently in need of gardening supplies, yard work, and house work, our sisters set out to assist them in doing just that. Alpha Chi's spent the day helping those that run the ministry by organizing their home and ministry supplies to make the amenities of the facility more accessible and easier for the ministry to use. They did this by doing yard work and organizing supplies around the house, along with making connections with those that make Sowing Seeds Sewing Comfort possible.

     One of our volunteers, and our Community Service Chair, Anna Marie Parisi, said that the service they took part in at the Big Event was "A great experience because we not only were able to volunteer, but also had the chance to connect with those that run the ministry about the work they do for it." We are so thankful to have sisters dedicated to helping others, and are so proud of their participation in the Big Event 2019!!

Line Dance 2019!!

Hello & happy Sunday!

This past Thursday, March 28th, was Florida State's annual Line Dance: Showcase of the Arts event, in which all 17 sororities competed. Leading up to the actual event, Line Dance related events were hosted all over town, consisting of Share-It-Nights at different restaurants, fraternity cook-outs, and even a Carnival on College Ave!

Alpha Chi's Line Dance team began practicing about two to three times per week shortly after returning from winter break. Our team worked tirelessly to choreograph their dance routine and worked even harder to perfect it the week of the actual event, taking part in practice twice a day at 7 AM and 9 PM. These early mornings and late nights for our sisters showed their dedication to this cause, the chapter, and each other, being led by co-captains, Morgan Dake and Jess Stephens.

Morgan was not only one of Alpha Chi's Line Dance captains, but was a captain for her high school dance team as well, making this year on the Line Dance team an even more nostalgic experience for her. According to Morgan, being a captain was "...at times overwhelming and stressful, but thankfully I had Jess who was the real rock of the team!!" Thank you Jess and Morgan for all your hard work in bringing our sisters together by doing something you all love.

Along with captains Morgan and Jess, sister and team member, Emily Gordon, helped to choreograph the team's routine as well. When explaining her experience on the 2019 team, Emily said "We practiced a lot of long and early hours, but it was such a good bonding experience to go through with my sisters!" Emily went on to talk about how even more rewarding this experience was, considering it was for philanthropy, causing the funds raised from different events for Line Dance to go towards helping others. When discussing what the actual performance at the Donald L. Tucker Civic Center was like, Emily stated that the entire team was extremely positive and uplifting before going on stage to perform, "giving us energy to go out and do our best."

We are so grateful to have participated in Line Dance 2019 and for all the hard work and long hours our dedicated team members have put in over the past few months. To our team and everyone helped us along the way, THANK YOU!!! Until next year ↠

Jess Stephens, Emily Gordon, & Morgan Dake

Alpha Chi's Line Dance team '19!!

Emily Gordon & Tati Djordjevic

Sisterhood at Chapter

MyJourney* Beta Eta Style!
A great time to learn from sisters and have "real talk" time!
Thanks to all the facilitators for their preparation work.

This weekend Beta Eta enjoyed so much sisterhood time:  The Big Event, MyJourney, MC18 sleepover, senior brunch:  Lucky sisters!

Seniors - "Measuring Experiences":  Cellina Danvers, facilitator

Juniors - "Yes I Have an Opinion":  Tegan Campbell and Rachael Williams

Sophomores - "Goals:  School, Sisterhood, FSU, Personal":  Jordan Blitzer & Cameron Rotbart

Freshmen - "What You Want in Your Friends":  Victoria Cone & Ayva Oberman

MyJourney:  What is it?

As Alpha Chi Omega’s four-year membership program, MyJourney connects our core values of wisdom, devotion and achievement to the life experiences collegiate members face during each academic year of their college career. This program is peer- facilitated; sisters from the chapter facilitate discussions and conversations on everything from negotiation to leadership, philanthropy to relationships, finances and more.

The curriculum is intentionally divided into freshman, sophomore, junior and senior programs, recognizing that freshman women face different life issues than senior women. MyJourney also includes “Dedication,” Alpha Chi Omega’s new member education program, which teaches all new members the history, traditions and expectations of Alpha Chi Omega membership. 

-jsbh-

AXO is FTK!!!

Hello!! I hope everyone is doing well, and welcome back!

     This past weekend, 44 of our amazing sisters participated in Florida State's annual event, Dance Marathon. Not only did our sisters participate as first-time and repeat dancers, but as morale captains and Dance Marathon delegates. We are extremely proud to say that as a whole, our chapter raised over $39,300, including both generous donations from before and during the marathon. Throughout both 20 hour shifts, our sisters engaged in multiple activities, including learning a line dance, hitting the gong for every $100 they raised during the marathon, silent disco, getting to spend time dancing with their sisters, and listening to stories from the miracle families every hour. These activities and stories helped to increase dancers' passion for this cause and keep their moral high. Speaking of morale, our sister, Jill Kirkpatrick, was lucky enough to have the opportunity to be a morale captain this year for DM, allowing her to work with a team of almost 100 fellow captains to plan and prepare activities to keep dancers' energy high during DM. The captains did this by creating themes for dancers to dress up for and creating the line dance, along with many other activities. Jill said her main job was to "...make sure everyone was having the best time possible, especially during the late hours of the night...keeping a positive energy going through the civic center." To sum up her experience, Jill stated "I had the opportunity to meet so many amazing people through being an internal member for DM this year and would do it again in a heartbeat!" We are so proud of you, Jill!!
     All of our participants loved the experience they had at the marathon, Sara Dramis called it a humbling experience, being thankful that "Dance Marathon made standing for 20 hours feel like two" and that she was able to be surrounded be others passionate about the health and wellness other others, like Alpha Chi's miracle child, Sage. Joanna Savino stated that "Being a first year dancer at Dance Marathon was eye opening. Listening to miracle families tell their stories was truly inspirational and something I will never forget." We are so proud of our dancers for pushing through the marathon, and doing so passionately! Not only are we grateful for our dancers, but for our DM delegate, Abby Bolger.
     Abby has worked all year long towards Dance Marathon, helping to coordinate with dancers and make arrangements for the marathon itself. Abby said that she wanted to be the delegate for Beta Eta because of how moved she was by the miracle families stories at the marathon last year. She also stated that "This entire experience has made me so proud of the entire chapter for coming together and raising money for the families that spend long days and nights in the hospital while their children are fighting for their lives. I spent a total of 40 hours standing for these families [this past marathon] and have never felt so inspired," expressing her gratitude for this chapter, her position, and this cause. We are incredibly proud to have had so many sisters not only participate in Dance Marathon this year, but to give it their all and work so tirelessly for this cause. Thank you to everyone who dedicated their time and generously raised funds for Dance Marathon, we can't thank you enough for making all this possible!

Abby Bolger, Dance Marathon Delegate '18-'19

Garnet Shift!!!

Taylor Anderson & Kate Allen

Joanna Savino & Emily Gordon

Hannah Zimmerly and Sara Dramis

Jill Kirkpatrick & Savannah Sotomayor

Pizza Pie with Alpha Chi '19 !!

Hello & welcome back!!

     This week has been quite the eventful one for Alpha Chi, and it's not over just yet! With this week being Healthy Relationships Week, our sisters have been working to bring awareness to domestic violence even more than usual. This past Sunday some of our sisters made valentine's for Meals on Wheels recipients, including veterans and individuals with disabilities or suffering from illness, while on Monday our sisters delivered cookies to other members of Greek life here at Florida State, all in honor of Healthy Relationships Week. However, the main event took place on Tuesday, February 12th, when the Beta Eta chapter of Alpha Chi Omega held their annual Pizza Pie with Alpha Chi event.
     Pizza Pie with Alpha Chi is an event our sisters look forward to every year, making it even more special considering that it falls on Healthy Relationships Week. These hands don't hurt, but instead, they serve pizza!! The proceeds from Pizza Pie go towards both the Tallahassee Refuge House and the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation, with both organizations helping to bring awareness to domestic violence and help those in need. This year our sisters raised a whopping total of $4,904 to help benefit these organizations. Not only did our sisters advertise Pizza Pie on different social media platforms during the weeks leading up to the event, but they sold over 500 tickets during the pre-sale before the actual event alone. Along with this, different organizations within Greek life at Florida State purchased over 300 tickets as a whole, helping to show their support for other members of the Greek community. Along with the money that our sisters worked to raise, we sold many tickets at the event itself, along with receiving multiple, generous donations, which we are so grateful for.
     The planning and hard work that went into this event just goes to show how powerful dedication to a worthy cause can be! The success that came from Pizza Pie went beyond our expectations, personally bringing me so much joy to see the difference we are able to make, right in front of my eyes. A big shout-out goes out to our new VP of Philanthropy, Jessi Bonadurer, her philanthropy committee, the 70+ sisters that volunteered at Pizza Pie, our VP of PR & Marketing, Julianna Vargas, and our T-shirt Chair, Sabrina Loiacono, for collaborating to design such amazing shirts and advertisements for the event, and everyone else who helped to make Pizza Pie possible. Thank you all so much for helping us to bring awareness to domestic violence while celebrating Healthy Relationships Week.

All the love from the 518 !!!

 *SMH*

Sisters Reaching New Heights!

     Hello & welcome back!! This week I am so excited to share with you all about some of the internships our sisters have received for this upcoming summer. From New York City to Seattle, our Beta Eta's have set the bar high with these incredible, life-changing opportunities they have awaiting them across the nation.
      Katie Sluman will be interning in the Communications department of the MLB in NYC, with her main focus being the All-Star Game, prompting her to do projects for this event throughout the whole summer. Katie is a Finance major minoring in Hospitality here at Florida State. Her main interest falls in the sports department, which inspired her to apply for this prestigious internship. Congratulations, Katie!!
     Another one of our sisters, Emily Malfitano, will also be interning in New York City starting this summer. Emily has accepted a merchandising internship with the Hudson Bay Company's Saks 5th/Off 5th Ave. This position will teach Emily about the buying and planning that goes on within a fashion brand, with buying consisting of employees marketing and negotiating on merchandise for their store based on what customers are already buying and upcoming trends, along with planning consisting of the pricing for these items. Emily was inspired to apply to this internship after going on a marketing trip with Florida State, giving her the opportunity to speak with employees who work for Saks. This internship not only consists of amazing work, but provides interns with housing at the NYU dorms, providing an affordable alternative to living in the big apple. Emily has said that she has always loved this company, influencing her to apply for her "dream job". We are so excited to watch you succeed as your dream becomes a reality, Emily!
     Ashley Thomas will be heading over to the University of Washington in Seattle to intern at their Autism Center for the Apex Summer Camp! This camp works to help children with both Autism and ADHD on their social and communication skills. Ashley is currently majoring in Communication Science Disorders in order to fulfill her dream of becoming a speech pathologist, specializing in Autism. This position will not only give Ashley experience in her field, but will give her the opportunity to make a difference in the lives of these children. We can't wait to see what you do, Ashley!
     Mallory Wilvert will be interning at The Club at Cordillera in Edwards, Colorado alongside the events coordinator, working to plan and host events at the country club. These events will include golf tournaments at the three different courses located at the club, along with large brunches and gatherings for both members and guests. When Mallory is not helping plan events, she'll be working as both a server and bartender at the many restaurants found within the club. Mallory is currently majoring in global club management, leading her to pursue this incredible position at The Club. Make sure to send invites to brunch our way, Mallory!!

Jessi Bonadurer

     Finally, our VP of Philanthropy, Jessi Bonadurer, will be continuing her internship at Katten Muchin Rosenman LLP, a law firm in Chicago, which she has been asked back to for the past two summers. Just this past summer she was promoted to Supervisor, causing her to oversee the work of all the other interns. Jessi hopes to one day become either a litigator or to do advocacy work for both women and individuals with intellectual disabilities, and this experience will definitely help her get there! We are so proud of all the amazing opportunities our sisters are taking advantage of this summer and can't wait to see the other internships more sisters acquire in the upcoming months!

Emily Malfitano

*SMH*

Sister Spotlight: Sabrina Loiacono

     Welcome back everyone!! I hope you had a relaxing and safe holiday break! For our first blog post of 2019, we'll be featuring one of our Beta Eta sisters, Sabrina Loiacono. Over the break, Sabrina traveled to Ecuador for a service learning trip with the Medlife program here at Florida State to help individuals receive the health care that they deserve. Sabrina, hoping to work in the medical field, specifically with children, went on this trip to do just that. Often times we don't realize how lucky we have it here in America, however, Sabrina got to see firsthand what people in countries with such little health care have to deal with every day. During this trip, Sabrina got the opportunity to work alongside a general doctor in Ecuador. In doing this, she was able to help treat patients with muscle and abdominal pains, that couldn't walk, had loss of hearing, and infections by giving them the treatments and medications they were in need of. She also took both adult's and children's vitals while working alongside a dentist to help extract a child's tooth. Finally, Sabrina taught over 50 children how to brush their teeth. Having the ability to brush my teeth is something I know I take for granted everyday, and is something that was so special to these children. Sabrina was also given the opportunity to do fluoride treatments on most of the children, along with educating them, and many adults, about public health. Having the opportunity to engage in such a rewarding and life-touching trip like this one is something our sister was so lucky to have been able to take part in, and we are proud to share! 

  

    

*SMH*