"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!!

Kathryn Hatfield- Hometown News Writer!

Kathryn Hatfield just recently had her first article published in the Hometown News Newspaper! She started there as an intern, but the editor liked her writing so much that she was hired as a freelance writer and is now responsible for producing 1 to 2 articles a week.

Hometown News is a newspaper that covers the eastern coast of Florida from Volusia County to Martin County. It is split up into 15 different newspapers for each local area in the regions. Kathryn writes mostly for the Brevard County publication!

Check out her first published article below! Keep up the good work, Kat!

Kat in NYC with the FSU AD club! 

Kat's first published article in the Hometown News Newspaper.

Senior Spotlight

Senior Taylor Kerns has earned Senior Spotlight this week for the amazing job she did during initiation last week. Taylor and her assistant, Madison Cappeller, organized and delivered a beautiful initiation ceremony with a record number of new sisters being initiated. 

Not only did Taylor put on an initiation ceremony that our new members will remember forever, but she devoted hours of her time rehearsing ritual with chapter members throughout the semester thus far. She did all of this while studying for an extremely important test, the FTCE Content Exam. 

Taylor aspires to be a first grade teacher, a position for which passing this exam is necessary. As we all know she could, Taylor passed her exam with flying colors. 

We could not be more proud of you Taylor. Congratulations on getting one step closer to your dreams.


Written by Megan Mollan, Publications Chair 2015

Sister of the Week

This weeks Sister of the Week is Junior, Jenn Coats for being admitted into Tallahassee's Guardian ad Litem program! 

In October Jenn will begin training to become one of the many powerful voices advocating on behalf abused and neglected children in the state of Florida. Jenn will be protecting the interest of children as they go through court proceedings in the Second Judicial Circuit. While specific duties may vary from child to child, she will be participating in all stages of each case and will make recommendations to the court according to each child's unique circumstance.  

Jenn is beyond excited to start this journey and can't see what wonderful experiences it will bring. Congratulations, Jenn. You will undoubtedly change many children's lives for the better.

Written by Megan Mollan, Publications Chair 2015

Sister Jenn Coates wins Panhell Scholarship to attend SEPC

Congratulations to sister Jenn Coates for receiving a FSU Panhellenic Scholarship to attend SEPC.

 

SEPC is short for the South Eastern Panhellenic Conference. The conference will be held March 26-29, 2015, in Atlanta, GA. Alpha Chi Omega will have 4 delegates attending the conference including Jenn. 

History of SEPC

On February 25, 1955, the Panhellenic Councils of the Alabama Polytechnic Institute, now Auburn University, and the University of Alabama entertained the first Southeastern Panhellenic Conference. The gathering of representatives from various Panhellenic Councils in the Southeast was an idea of the Auburn Panhellenic Council. The response at the first meeting was overwhelming, especially to the Auburn Panhellenic members who were particularly excited when the conference delegates voted to make the meeting an annual affair.

nvitations to the conference were sent to all schools in Alabama, Georgia, Florida, Mississippi, Louisiana and Tennessee. Representatives were sent from: Birmingham Southern Florida State Howard University LA Polytechnic Institute Mercer University Mississippi Southern College Southwestern at Memphis University of Alabama University of Chattanooga University of Georgia University of Miami The conference began with registration on Friday afternoon, a buffet supper for the conference delegates and Auburn Panhellenic Council members, and a business session immediately following the supper. After dinner, the women of Kappa Delta at an Open House provided entertainment for their National President. Lucy Roy, Treasurer of the Auburn Panhellenic Council, acted as chairperson of the conference, while Beth Calovitz, President of the Auburn Panhellenic Council, presided at all business sessions. Workshops were held on campus service projects, formal rushing, Panhellenic training programs for chapter officers, sorority relationships to college and other groups, open rush and pledge quotas, Panhellenic Workshops, and Greek Weeks. The keynote speaker of the conference was Mrs. Julia Ober, Kappa Delta's National President, who gave her presentation to approximately 300 sorority members at a luncheon on Saturday. The conference was a student-conceived, student-executed project. The efforts to educate women and share ideas and concerns continued annually at various campuses. In 1975, members voted to divide the conference participants into large and small school divisions. However, the following year, they replaced this vote, deciding to favor one large group rather than two smaller ones. In the following years, the number of participating women and schools continued to grow and is still growing, with several different schools hosting the conference over the years. In 1993, members voted to stop housing conference attendees in host chapter's houses and to establish a central meeting place for all future conferences large enough to accommodate the continuously growing number of attendees. The place named was the Sheraton Colony Square Hotel in Atlanta, Georgia, where the conference is still being held today. In 1998, delegates voted to omit the host school and elect a conference committee consisting of one delegate from each state. In an effort to plan strategically for the future of SEPC, a thorough review of the Constitution was conducted. Through this review, the Constitution was updated and the following decisions were made at the 2005 Annual Conference Business Meeting: Removed state delineations and enabled all those who pay dues to participate in a Conference Committee application selection process. Enabled all those who pay dues to participate as a voting member of the Conference. Differentiated the Southeastern Panhellenic Conference as the annual meeting of the Southeastern Panhellenic Association. The name change of the conference from the Southeastern Panhellenic Conference (SEPC) to the Southeastern Panhellenic Association (SEPA) allowed for the organization to become an association and continue to grow and offer additional services and experiences for members. 2010 marked a new initiative for SEPA with the addition of the Southeastern Greek Leadership Summit (SEGLS).  SEGLS exists to create awareness regarding prevalent realities existing within culturally based Greek organizations nationwide.  SEGLS is an auxiliary program of SEPA and therefore stands as an independent organization.  Additional information is available at http://www.segls.com. learn more about SEPC by clicking here SEPC

Beta Eta Love and Loyalty Scholarship Winner!

Congratulations to Diana Davenport- the recipient of the 2013 Beta Eta Love and Loyalty Scholarship. Below is a an informal progress report of her studies and activities. She is truly a model of a Real, Strong. Woman....

-Human Resources Management and Business Management double major
-Leadership Certificate through FSU (as many credits as a minor)
- Chapter Relations and Standards Board Executive Member
-FSU Greek Conduct Board Member
-FSU Student Conduct Board Member
-2 Year Dancer in Dance Marathon
-70 hours to the community last semester with the Leadership certificate, volunteering in an urban garden with underprivileged children in Frenchtown, a "food desert" community
-Study Abroad Participant London Summer 2013
-3.45 GPA

She is now entering her major area of study for the School of Business and will be taking Marketing, Business Law, and Organizational behavior to name a few classes she will be enrolled in in the fall. She hopes to enter the business world after graduation and pursue her MBA shortly after.

In her own words

" the scholarship has allowed me to focus on my studies this semester and less on how I am going to afford school. Because I plan to partake in further studies after my undergraduate degree, I aim to be as frugal as possible during my undergraduate years so that I will go into my MBA debt-free. I am so blessed to have Alpha Chi Omega sisters who understand this need and have given me the opportunity to receive assistance from the organization who has already given me so much. My sisters at Florida State are my support system, my family, and my strength; this scholarship has shown me there are sisters who I have never had the opportunity to meet who are giving me even more support than I could imagine. The bond of Alpha Chi Omega extends far past your chapter, college, or state. It is seen in across the country in every generation and in every heart it touches. The love and bond of our sisters enables us to extend helping hands to those in need and I cannot wait to be able to extend the same opportunity to sisters in the future. "

Thank you to all of the alumnae and Alpha Chi Omegas that have contributed to the Beta Eta Love and Loyalty fund.

What Alpha Chi Means to Me

As mentioned before, I have the privilege of interning this summer in Connecticut with ESPN Inc. I have been here in New England for nearly five weeks, and it has been one of the most rewarding experiences of my entire life. There is one very important group however, that has provided me with the means to succeed even further than I anticipated. Alpha Chi Omega has instilled many valuable traits in me, that I don't think many realize until they are truly in the work force. Leaving home, though just several hours away from Tallahassee, and arriving to college would not have been the same without my sisters being there for me 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. The constant sleepovers with sisters, the glorious food at the house, the endless daily chatter, and the amazing nights together are just a few of the easy-to-see perks of being in such great company, such as Alpha Chi. The one thing that might not be as easy to see however, is the work ethic, determination, optimistic thinking, and self-confidence our sorority inspires us to belief in ourselves. I truly believe I would have not been as successful if it were not for my sisters and the bond of Alpha Chi Omega. Everyday, I realize what an impact this sorority has made on my life, just via the simple tasks of creating an extremely long excel spreadsheet that dates back to 1979. That even though, sometimes I want to throw my computer against the wall and give up, I take a deep breath and remember what Alpha Chi has taught me....

P A T I E N C E :)

I cannot wait to be back in Tallahassee to see all of my beautiful sisters, as well as the wonderful alumnae! I thank Alpha Chi Omega for focusing their sisterhood on love, kindness, academic success, determination, patience, and virtue, because it has helped me throughout my entire internship. If you have Alpha Chi in your mind, and in heart....... the possibilities are endless.

LITB LADIES
Julianna Corso
Fall 2011 Blog Chair
Current Intern for ESPN 

Challenging Ourselves Daily

Over the past week we have had a lot of events in which we are challenging ourselves to do better for ourselves and our community. One such event that we participated in was the Krispy Kreme Challenge which benefitted the Student United Way. In this event, participants ran two miles then ate between one(slacker) or a dozen (challenger) donuts and then ran another two miles. It was a great bonding experience for me and my fellow sisters as well as a great workout. Another event was DEANS LIST DESSERT! Roughly half of our chapter made the deans list this past semester and we celebrated with a delicious dessert of chocolate covered strawberries and dessert pizza :) It was great to see how many of my sisters were striving for perfection academically.
below i have some pictures from both events :) ENJOY!

Are you ready for a PAR-TEE?!

Hey Ladies,

So last week was a pretty relaxed week. We had the first degree of initiation which went well. The new spring members are very excited to become Alpha Chi's and their second degree of initiation has been scheduled for March 20th. Yay! Also last week we had profiles due to live in the house, the exciting news about this is that we had over 70 girls apply to live in the house!!! It made me so happy to see that so many girls want to be actively involved in the chapter.

This week we have a lot going on. We have a Dance Marathon fundraiser tonight at Ghengis Grill on Appallachee Parkway so if you are in the area feel free to stop by. :) Also our VP Philathropy, Stacia Dudley, approached me last night at chapter and told me that she had received some donations from alumnae in the last week after my last post and I just wanted to say thank you. Your support is very encouraging and we all really appreciate it.

On that note, Stacia asked me to mention that our annual event PAR-TEE is going to be on April 9th :) If any alumnae or your significant others would like to play in the golf tournament or you are in the area and would like to help out please let me know and I can get you all the information! Also we are doing something a little special this year. we realized that over the last few years we haven't been fully utilizing all the people who want to help out but can't make it to Tallahassee to participate due to work and other obligations so this year we are a virtual golfer experience for all those individuals. If you would like to be a virtual golfer to support the womens refuge house please let me know!
Well that's all I have for this blog but I do have a serious question for all my amazing alumnae out there... Do any of you play the piano that would be interested/ able to come and participate in the preference round of recruitment in the fall?!?!?! Let me know :) THANK YOU

LITB

Spring Has Sprung

Hello to all my lovely sisters,
This last week was a busy week with all the new Spring Members and individual activities on throughout the house.
Monday- Martin Luther King Holiday
Tuesday- We had a mini bid day for our new spring members. This was a blast! We had dessert pizza and sparkling cider. The new girls really felt welcomed as their Alpha's led them around the house and helped them with some of the basics such as meals and forum information.
Wednesday, Thursday and Friday- We didn't have any specified events for these days but we have been hard at work with Dance Marathon right around the corner. If you would like to donate to our team i posted the link below along with step by step directions to donating.(http://dm.fsu.edu/?page_id=6
-Step 1: Scroll down to Get Involved
-Step 2: Click on Donate to an Individual/Team
-Step 3: Click on the tab that says Team Search
-Step 4: Type in Alpha Chi Omega
-Step 5: In the upper left hand corner click on Make a donation and donate whatever amount you would like :)
*even if its just a dollar :) Every dollar helps.
Saturday- We did a Dance Marathon Fundraiser where we were assigned a corner to stand and collect funds in giant tubs from all the cars going by and it was a great success.
Sunday- Today we had a Chi Connection where the seniors talked to the chapter about personal development and how to present ourselves to the Greek community and other fellow students. It was great way for our seniors to interact with some of the new members since they are so busy with graduation details at this time of the year. We also had a risk management meeting which was a informative presentation about the affiliation of alcohol with the Greek community and the power we have to change that negative connotation.
It was a really great week and with a busy week ahead of us i will have a lot to update you on next week!! Until then LITB <3
**If you have any questions about DM or anything in general feel free to email me at Erica.Heinrichs@fsu.edu

Executive Retreat 2011!!

Hello to my beautiful sisters!

Hi! My name is Erica Heinrichs and i was recently elected our Vice President of Fraternity Relations. So I will post a blog weekly on Monday mornings to update all the followers on what the chapter has done in the previous week and any upcoming events that we may have (possibly a couple just for fun too). I have never blogged before so this will be an all new and fun experience for me. :) So this past week for Alpha Chi was a cluster of fun, excitement and anticipation. We have been having our Spring Recruitment due to the increase in total for Florida State's campus so our VP Recruitment, Rachel Richards, and her committee have been hard at work finding amazing girls who exemplify all 5 criteria to join our sisterhood. We have already had 8 girls accept their bids and they are looking forward to their upcoming education and initiation. Here was last weeks breakdown...(I'm a list kind of person lol) 

Monday & Tuesday -

We had girls over for lunches and dinners for Spring Recruitment.(YAY!) Also, We had our first executive meeting for the new Executive Board 2011. Additionally, Our Education Committee held a meeting for all future mystagogues/bigs for the new Spring new members. This was a really good opportunity for some of our seniors to get involved with the new pledge class coming so they can teach them how the ladies of Alpha Chi present themselves and participate in events.

Wednesday-

This was a big night for us because it was the night of Winterfest which was the Greek communities formal way of allowing girls going thru spring recruitment to interact with all of the sororities on campus instead of a select few where they may previously know someone. We met some great girls and got positive feedback on our house.

 Saturday Thru Monday-

This weekend was actually our annual Executive Board retreat!!! We spent the weekend on St. George Island at an amazing beach house called Beach Fever. We spent the weekend learning in depth about our individual responsibilities for our positions as well as discussing out goals for the future. We also made the calendar for the upcoming months which included planning social events, sisterhood activities, chapters, recruitment workshops, ritual workshops, chi connections, academic study groups, senior appreciation activities,initiation, education for new members, Pahellenic activities,Par- tee, and the list goes on. It was a very productive weekend. I think we have a very solid executive board that has a lot of fresh idea for the future which with a little time and effort are not unattainable. We have a lot of work ahead of us but we would be lost without our advisors, Britain Dwyre, Jennifer Butler & Amy Zoldak. They are the glue that holds us together. So below is a link so you can see the amazing property and then i added some pictures from the retreat.

That's all i have for now but feel free to contact me anytime! My email is Erica.Heinrichs@gmail.com so if you have any questions or would like more information on anything I mention just let me know because I'd be glad to share whatever I have. HAVE A GREAT MARIN LUTHER KING DAY! LITB

• Link to Beach house- Beach Fever

Chapter Helps Paint It Purple with Cupcakes

Friday, some of our advisors from Epsilon Tau Epsilon alumnae chapter came over to the AXO House and together we all decorated cupcakes for Refuge House for the start of Domestic Violence Awareness Month!

Congratulations to Beta Eta's Scholarship Winner! Part 2

On April 23rd, we announced Jenna G as the winner of a Clearwater Alumnae Panhellenic Scholarship. Today we're excited to share photos from the event!

Clearwater Alumnae Panhellenic held their annual Scholarship Brunch at the Dunedin Country Club on Saturday, May 8th. Here an officer introduces Jenna:

Jenna accepts her scholarship:

Alpha Chi Omegas in attendance to support Jenna. What a great group we have in Clearwater! They had the best attendance of all the Panhellenic member organizations!

Here are all five young women who were awarded scholarships at the event:

Special thanks to AXO alumna Susan E (Zeta Upsilon, CWRU) for the photos!

Congratulations to Beta Eta's Scholarship Winner!

Congratulations to Beta Eta collegian, Jenna G., pictured at left, winner of a $1,100 scholarship from Clearwater Alumnae Panhellenic!

She'll officially receive the award at the Clearwater Alumnae Panhellenic Brunch on Saturday, May 8th at the Dunedin Country Club. If you'd like to attend and cheer Jenna on, here is the information:

Saturday, May 8, 2010
10 a.m.
Panhellenic Achievement Award, scholarship presentation, and installation of officers.
Dunedin Country Club
Tickets are $20 and can be purchased by sending checks made out to Clearwater Alumnae Panhellenic to the Panhellenic Treasurer, Pat Moriarty, 2975 Whisper Lane N, Clearwater FL 33762. Pat's email is tmoriart@tampabay.rr.com if you want to email to let her know your check is on its way.

Beta Eta Collegian on FSU Blackboard...

We're so proud of FSU Alpha Chi Omega senior, Cheyenne Overby, who is featured on the Florida State University website! See the full profile by clicking here

As a member of the Alpha Chi Omega sorority, she served as  the 2008 VP of Education, and was recognized for chapter awards such as Devotion Award and the Symphony Award. She was also recognized as the 2008 Panhellenic Woman of the Year.

FSU, Alpha Chi Omega Collegian showcased on Blackboard

  

Katherine Hayden is passionate about getting the word out to college women about the "inequalities we face here at home, in the composition of the legislatures, and in the workplace." To help with this, she started the FSU chapter of the National Organization for Women to help spread awareness and start action for equal pay and the equal rights amendment. Additionally, in the community she works as the Equal Rights Alliance Regional Coordinator to help educate women about the equal rights amendment in Florida and to help lobby legislators on the subject.

View the full article here