alpha chi omega parents' newsletter

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M arch 1 is Hera Day, a time to work for our philanthropy by volunteering and fundraising for local women’s shelters, according to the Alpha Chi Omega national website. “Hera is Alpha Chi Omega’s patron Greek goddess, the guardian of women, and an integral part of our ritual and philanthropy,” said Caroline Cottrell, Vice President of Ritual and Fraternity Relations. Gamma Theta chapter cel- ebrated Hera Day on Saturday, March 3, 2012, to allow for a full day of community service. Alpha Chi Omega volunteers served at the D.C. Rape Crisis Center and the District Alliance for Safe Housing (DASH), orga- nized in-house efforts to benefit the university’s Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Program (SARPP), passed out flyers to advertise Relay for Life, created motivational fly- ers for Run for Love, and collected donations on the national mall for the Children’s Miracle Network event TerpThon, Cottrell said. At the D.C. Rape Crisis Center, volunteers designed flyers to advertise upcoming awareness events. At DASH, some volunteers en- tertained the children in the playroom while others sanitized and organized the playroom’s toys. “They also organized the building’s community room and donation closet, assisting DASH staff immensely in their elimination of clutter,” said Shaina Lamchick, Development Services and Volunteer Coordinator at DASH. In-house sisters assembled and decorated donation boxes for SARPP’s cell phone and stuffed animal drives and created 50 bulletin board kits for resident hall assistants to use during sexual assault awareness month in April. “We would not have had the staffing to be able to ac- complish these tasks without your support,” said SAARP Coordinator Allison Bennett. Alpha Chi Omegas touched members of numerous organizations with their generosity. Do you know where your daughter served on Hera Day? Sisters serve for Hera Day Volunteers assist on campus and at women’s shelters Sophomore Sara Bleistein and senior Brittney Degler work on a flyer for the D.C. Rape Crisis Center’s poetry slam-off. Photo Credit: Kaylee Hillard Table of Contents: Run for Love .............................2 Sisters Abroad...........................2 Greek Week 2012.......................3 MyJourney: Fall 2012................3 Most Improved Chapter Award..3 Ritual Appreciation Week...........4 Welcome Spring ‘12...................4 Graduating Seniors....................4 Find Us Online! Headquarters Website: www.alphachiomega.org Gamma Theta Website: coming soon! Search: Alpha Chi Omega, University of Maryland @AlphaChi_UMD AXΩ Parents’ Newsletter “With lyres and pearls, we’ll always be your little girls.” Gamma Theta Ed. 1 Spring 2012

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Page 1: Alpha Chi Omega Parents' Newsletter

March 1 is Hera Day, a time to work for our philanthropy

by volunteering and fundraising for local women’s shelters, according to the Alpha Chi Omega national website.

“Hera is Alpha Chi Omega’s patron Greek goddess, the guardian of women, and an integral part of our ritual and philanthropy,” said Caroline Cottrell, Vice President of Ritual and Fraternity Relations.

Gamma Theta chapter cel-ebrated Hera Day on Saturday, March 3, 2012, to allow for a full day of community service.

Alpha Chi Omega volunteers served at the D.C. Rape Crisis Center and the District Alliance for Safe Housing (DASH), orga-nized in-house efforts to benefit the university’s Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Program (SARPP), passed out flyers to advertise Relay for Life, created motivational fly-ers for Run for Love, and collected

donations on the national mall for the Children’s Miracle Network event TerpThon, Cottrell said.

At the D.C. Rape Crisis Center,

volunteers designed flyers to advertise upcoming awareness events.

At DASH, some volunteers en-tertained the children in the playroom while others sanitized and organized the playroom’s toys.

“They also organized the building’s community room and donation closet, assisting DASH staff immensely in their elimination of clutter,” said Shaina Lamchick,

Development Services and Volunteer Coordinator at DASH.

In-house sisters assembled and decorated donation boxes for SARPP’s cell phone and stuffed animal drives and created 50 bulletin board kits for resident hall assistants to use during sexual assault awareness

month in April. “We would not have had

the staffing to be able to ac-complish these tasks without your support,” said SAARP

Coordinator Allison Bennett. Alpha Chi Omegas touched

members of numerous organizations with their generosity. Do you know where your daughter served on Hera Day?

Sisters serve for Hera Day Volunteers assist on campus and at women’s shelters

Sophomore Sara Bleistein and senior Brittney Degler work on a flyer for the D.C. Rape Crisis Center’s poetry slam-off.Photo Credit: Kaylee Hillard

Table of Contents:Run for Love.............................2Sisters Abroad...........................2Greek Week 2012.......................3MyJourney: Fall 2012................3Most Improved Chapter Award..3Ritual Appreciation Week...........4Welcome Spring ‘12...................4Graduating Seniors....................4

Find Us Online!Headquarters Website: www.alphachiomega.org

Gamma Theta Website: coming soon!

Search: Alpha Chi Omega, University of Maryland

@AlphaChi_UMD

AXΩ Parents’ Newsletter“With lyres and pearls, we’ll always be your little girls.”

Gamma Theta Ed. 1 Spring 2012

Page 2: Alpha Chi Omega Parents' Newsletter

Run for Love: Take Two Run For Love’s second year proves successful and meaningful to participants

On April 15, Alpha Chi Omega and Kappa Alpha Theta

joined together for Run For Love, a 5K race in memory of Yeardley Reynolds Love.

Yeardley Love was a lacrosse player at the University of Virginia and a sister of Kappa Alpha Theta when her ex-boyfriend murdered her after a history of dating violence.

Before the race started, her mother, Sharon Love, spoke to participants. “We feel like the attitude toward violence against women is too dismissive,” Love said. “We want everyone to stand up and say no: It’s not right, it’s not acceptable – it’s wrong.”

The race started on fraternity

row and went through Paint Branch Stream Valley Park and around Lake Artemesia.

“It was fun spending time with my friends outside on such a beauti-ful day and supporting the cause,” participant Nahal Mottaghian said.

Last year, Theta and AChiO raised about $5,000 for The House of Ruth, a shelter for domestic violence victims, and The One Love Foundation, in memory of Yeardley Love. This year we raised about $7,000 and were a finalist for Greek Program of the Year.

“I know Yeardley is looking down and just can’t believe it herself,” Love said.

For more information, visit www.runforloveachioandtheta.com.

AXΩ Parents’ Newsletter

One in four women will experience domestic violence in her lifetime.

One in five female high school stu-dents reports being physically and/or sexually abused by a dating partner.

Nearly three out of four Ameri-cans personally know someone who is or has been a victim of domestic violence. By Kaylee HillardSource: Domestic Violence Resource Center

Sisterhood Stretches Across Continents After one of Gamma Theta’s informal meetings this spring, sisters walked around to laptop stations to

write messages to the 14 juniors studying abroad in Europe this semester. Junior Jill Elefante, who is studying abroad in Rome, was one of several sisters abroad who wrote an

email to the chapter the next day. “You seriously don’t know how much that meant to us!” she said. “I miss you guys so much, and I am always so proud to tell everyone here that I am an Alpha Chi.”

These 14 sisters studied in Barcelona, Rome, Vienna, Copenhagen, Nice and Madrid; while across the world, sisters in Maryland tried to stay in touch despite busy schedules and time zone differences.

“Renee is one of my best friends and I talk to her all of the time on Skype and Facebook,” junior Toral Parikh said. “I still feel like I can talk to her about anything even though she is so far away.”

This semester, Alpha Chi Omegas certainly showed how miles of ocean cannot break the bonds of sisterhood.

Juniors Bridget Furlong, Jill Elefante and Renee Anderson traveled from

Rome to visit the Louvre in Paris. Photo credit: Benjamin Martin

Junior Alyse Hopkins overlooks the Anndorran mountains.

Photo credit: Andrea Gaggioni

Junior Kathryn Powell poses with the gazebo from “The Sound of

Music” near Salzburg, Austria. Photo credit: Elsie Powell

Facts from AXΩ’s Domestic Violence Vigil

Page 3: Alpha Chi Omega Parents' Newsletter

Greek Week 2012: Get a Clue!Alpha Chi Omega teamed up with fraternities Sigma Nu, Theta Chi and Omega Nu Eta for Greek Week this spring. The overall theme was board games, and our match-up’s theme was Clue!

Summary of Results:

Overall: 2nd PlaceSkit: 2nd Place

Backdrop: 3rd placeHouse Banner: 1st placeCan-struction: 1st place

Volleyball: 1st placeFlag Football: 3rd place

Sisters cheer during Olympics on Fraternity Row.

Photo credits: Alyse Feldman and Gab DeFranceschi

AXΩ Parents’ Newsletter

MyJourney: Coming Fall 2012Gamma Theta will introduce MyJourney, a four-year collegiate experience program

When Alpha Chi Omega Headquarters surveyed lifetime members about what they wished they had throughout their colle-giate experience, an overwhelm-ing amount of college graduates wanted educational programming that was relevant to their experi-ences in college.

Next semester, Gamma Theta will implement MyJourney, a new educational program from Head-quarters that separates members by class year to focus on each col-lege year’s experiences and benefits.

According to the Alpha Chi Omega website, “This program will help each member transform and grow into the kind of woman

who can make a difference to her-self, her friends, her family, her community, her employers and her world.”

Two facilitators in each class year will introduce discussions about topics such as networking, finances, friendships, healthy life-styles, communication skills, re-sumes and interviews, and more. There will be three sessions per semester.

“This program will help our members succeed in college and life beyond,” Vice President Mem-bership Programming Kaylee Hillard said. “I hope it encourages Gamma Theta sisters to be the best they can be.”

Greek Awards: AXΩ Wins Most Improved Chapter

Gamma Theta President Gab DeFranceschi holds the award with former presidents Liz Krauss and Rachael Pazornick.Photo credit: Jimmy Gray

At the 2012 Greek Awards, the University of Maryland’s Depart-ment of Fraternity and Sorority Life awarded Alpha Chi Omega the Most Improved Chapter award.

“I would like to take our chapter in a direction of consis-tent progress,” sophomore Gab DeFranceschi said. “My time as president is dedicated to protect-ing our strength and pushing each individual and the chapter to grow stronger and to reach new heights.”

Page 4: Alpha Chi Omega Parents' Newsletter

“To see beauty even in the common things of life,”“This is my favorite line because if you see beauty in everything around you, you will lead a happy and full life.” - Cara LaMania “To shed the light of love and friendship round me,”“I love this part of our symphony because it captures the main characteristics that I want to embody as a sister of Alpha Chi Omega.” - Rebecca Railey“To keep my life in tune with the world that I shall make no discords in the harmony of life,”“It is so important to be aware of your surroundings, whether they’re within the campus community, the nation, or are global issues.” - Lauren Oppenheimer “To strike on the lyre of the universe only the notes of happiness, of joy, of peace,”“This line reminds me to always be positive about life and what it throws at you.” - Rachel Buniski “To appreciate every little service rendered,”“I like this line of our symphony because it reinforces how we should appreciate everything that happens to us – even the simple things. Life is too short not to take a minute out of every day to cherish what we are blessed with.” - Nicole LaGrega “To see and appreciate all that is noble in another, be her badge what it may,”“This line encourages sisters to look past a person’s affiliation, and to appreciate them for their positive attributes and qualities of their character.”- Madeline Prebil “And to let my lyre send forth the cords of love, unselfishness, sincerity,”“This line represents my experiences with Alpha Chi thus far because I do feel that I have love and friendship round me every time I’m with my sisters.” - Lesley Zhang“This is to be my symphony.”“This is an all-encompassing line that expresses our dedication to all statements in the symphony and to Alpha Chi Omega as a whole.” - Kayla Springer

This is to be our SymphonySisters reflect on the meaning of our open creed

As part of ritual appreciation week in March, sisters commented on their favorite lines of the Symphony of Alpha Chi Omega. Celia McClure, a member of Delta chapter at Allegheny College, wrote the Symphony in 1914.

AXΩ Parents’ Newsletter

Welcome Spring 2012!

Gamma Theta welcomes 40 new members.Photo credits: Kaylee Hillard and Hannah Glassman

Katie BreenShannon Clancy Julia CoochJessie DankosBrittney DeglerNicole St. MarieStephanie DeisherAli GiancarloHannah GlassmanChristine GoetschAlexis GutterRachel Pazornick

Rachel HartingLiz IannuzzelliElizabeth KraussShannon KhrehbelMarie LaMonicaKillian LenahenMichelle McCroneAlex MironenkoMaria NavarroRachael NealKristn OakeyKasey Parr

Congratulations Class of 2014!