Look back at it: February Edition

What a month February has been for the Tri Delta’s at Elon University! From Bid Day to running half marathons, sisters have participated in numerous events around Elon’s campus, the surrounding community, and even the world!

To start off the month, the sisters of Epsilon Delta participated in Elon University’s delayed recruitment, hoping to find the sweetest of girls to join our home on Elon’s campus. Like Willy Wonka, we sent out 59 “golden tickets”, and welcomed them to our world of imagination! February has brought these girls with opportunities to learn more about Tri Delta’s history, receiving their sponsor (a.k.a. bigs), and come together as a pledge class. We love our new pledge class so much, and cannot wait to see what they will do for the future of our chapter! Here’s our bid day video if you want to experience our excitement (https://vimeo.com/201960875)!

The sweetness of bid day was fun while it lasted, but before we knew it spring semester was on the rise. Our schedules became full to the brim with schoolwork, group projects, meetings for organizations, research and also travels to conferences! The spring semester is always a fun one but seems to go by so quickly with the amount of opportunities we have on our agendas, . but we’re making sure that we make each moment last!

Our group of senior sisters who are education majors started their student teaching for the spring! They have been placed at schools across Alamance County to put all of their hard work for the past four years into action! Tori Murphy spends her days hanging out with kindergarteners. Caroline Hoffman is teaching 2nd graders. Jenna Burniston, Grace Robertson, Taryn Gaffney and Katie Quick are working with students in the special education program. Next week, Taryn will be working with 5th graders, Katie and Grace will be in 1st grade, and Jenna will be working with 3rd graders. As much as we miss seeing their beautiful faces on campus throughout the day, we know that they need to be in the classroom in order to bring the Tri Delta values and spirit to the students of Alamance County!

Our past president, Jen Gehrin, had an amazing opportunity to present her research at the Southeast Chapter of the American College of Sports. She has been conducting research for the past two years on the effects of resveratrol supplementation on balance and stability. She used college students and faculty members of Elon University to create her population pool. Jen has finalized all of the data collection and is looking forward to publish her findings. The conference was very beneficial for her because she was able to “share my research with a variety of audiences: undergrads, grad students, professors, and doctors, as well as learn more about the research process, and make amazing connections.” We are so proud of you Jen!

Gabby Vance, Christine Lane, and Kristen Bellini were inducted into Omicron Delta Kappa, otherwise know as The Circle or ODK, which is a national leadership honor society in the United States. Our sisters are leaders that are not only involved in our chapter, but also other organizations on campus. Our sisters are so happy they have been recognized for their talents and we cannot wait to see how their leadership skills will carry them into the future!

Our current president, Keely Collins, had a very busy month! From balancing Exec Meetings, Officer Council Meetings, Officer Training Council,  classes and labs, she also traveled to two amazing conferences! The first she attended was Association of Fraternal Leadership and Values in Indianapolis, IN with one of other sisters, Morgan Oldham, the president of the Panhellenic Association on Elon’s Campus, along with other Fraternity and Sorority Life leaders. She was able to learn how to deal with high risk situations, how to have effective Public Relations, how to get more involvement in philanthropy events, and how to hold the chapter and individuals accountable. How cool is it that our sisters are so involved?

Keely also traveled with Gabby Vance (Vice President of Chapter Development), Andrea Summa (Philanthropy) and Caroline Madden (Vice President of Membership) to the Collegiate Leadership Conference in Dallas, Texas. This conference allowed each member to focus on their unique and influential roles within the chapter. Each position had a personal and specific track throughout the weekend, where new ideas and potential issues were discussed and shared. They have already begun implementing a new academic plan, where individuals within the chapter are broken up into teams based on majors, minors, and available time to help study habits. We are so excited to see how they will implement what they learned at this conference to help further our chapter!

While we have our sisters who are traveling all over the United States, we currently have 6 sisters abroad all over the world. Rachel Cole and Anna Linsz are in London, Kristin Lober and Nicole Balas are traveling around Germany, Laura Krishfield is down under (Australia) and Minnie Lane is studying in Israel. Past sisters who have traveled abroad have had life changing experiences and we are so happy these sisters are able to experience the world! We miss them so much though, and are hoping they’ll come back home to us soon.

No matter where we are, the sisters of Tri Delta are living their life with adventure around every corner. Rachel Hobbs, with the help of SGA (Student Government Association) has implemented a bike rental system on Elon’s campus that is free for students by using the app Zagster! To use the program, just download the Zagster app & make an account or visit: bike.zagster….com/Elon.  Liv Sorbo and Morgan Wainwright traveled to Wilmington to run a half marathon. Brooke Greenberg and Alexis Petnuch, sisters of Tri Delta and the a cappella group Sweet Signatures, sang their hearts out at the “Make-a-Wish” Benefit concert that Vital Signs, another accapella group on campus, was holding!

February was a month of full schedules, wanderlust and quality time. February was great but we know March is going to be even better!

What will March bring for the Epsilon Delta chapter of Delta Delta Delta? Stay tuned for Look Back at It: March Edition!

Delta love to all

Our 59 sweetest girlies and pledge mom Taylor Pomroy & Assistant Pledge Mom Emily Frizzell

Missing our sisters abroad!

Tri Delta Keely Collins and Panhellnic president & Tri Delta sister Morgan Oldham at Association of Fraternal Leadership and Values Conference!

Andrea Summa, Gabby Vance, Keely Collins and Caroline Madden at the CLDC!

Sisters Morgan Wainwright and Liv Sorbo run a half-marathon together!

Sister Rachel Hobbs spreading awareness about the new bike system she worked hard to bring to Elon’s campus!

Sisters Brooke Greenberg and Alexis Petnuch together before Acapella formal: a night to celebrate all of the acapella music successes!

Sister and past president Jen Gehrin presenting her research at the Southeast Chapter of the American College of Sports

Sisters Kristen Bellini, Christine Lane and Gabby Vance at their induction to Omicron Delta Kappa!

Meaningful Men Weekend!

It was a busy weekend for Epsilon Delta! On Friday we had out spring philanthropy event, Dunkin’ Deltas. This basketball tournament raised $2,409.00 for St. Jude! There was a great turnout for the exciting games and food from a waffle truck that gave a portion of the profits to St. Jude as well.

We also had our Meaningful Men Weekend, where we invited fathers, brothers, uncles, and more to come down to Elon. We were lucky to have a group of these men make a team for Dunkin’ Deltas! There were different activities everyday to show them a good time, including a BBQ, golf game, and a Delta Sponsored baseball game. We are so glad they came down and got to spend the weekend with our chapter!

Special shout out to Anna Claire Hughes and Lauren McAllister for making this weekend a success!

 

 

Initiation Celebration!

This weekend was Initiation for the lovely new members of Epsilon Delta. We are so excited to welcome these girls into our chapter! To celebrate there was a carnival held after the ritual, with games, eating contests, snow cones, and more. A big thank you goes out to everyone that helped put on such a fun event!

Welcome to ParaDDDise: Bid Day 2016

After a long week of recruitment, we welcomed 56 new members to our chapter! We are so excited to get to know all of them. It’s also great to have all of our Pi Chi”s back home! Shout out to Katie Klochany for making an incredible bid day video.

 

Dunkin’ Deltas 2015

What gets better than some basketball, snow cones and lots of St. Jude love? We had so much fun ballin’ out for a cause this past Sunday at our annual Dunkin’ Deltas philanthropy event. A big thank you to all of the other campus organizations who participated and helped us raise money for St. Jude! 

2015 Spring Abroad Spotlight

Delta Week 2015

In honor of Initiation this past weekend, we remembered all of our favorite parts of Tri Delta by celebrating Delta Week! 

We asked sisters to Instagram photos of their favorite Delta memories using the hashtag #DeltaWeek2015. Check out all of the many reasons why we love our sisterhood as we officially welcome the Pi Class to Epsilon Delta! 

Sincerely Yours 2015

One letter. One cause. 50 letters. 

Last night, our chapter participated in our annual “Sincerely Yours” philanthropy event to support our national philanthropy, St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Each sister wrote a minimum of 50 personalized letters to our family and friends, informing them of the amazing work that goes on at St. Jude and asking for support to reach our latest national goal of raising $60 million in 10 years. This commitment marks the biggest commitment by any partner in the hospital’s history and will contribute to ongoing patient support as well as funding Tri Delta Place.

“I am honored to be organizing this event for our chapter this year. This is the way that we raise the most money for St. Jude and so to see everyone supporting St. Jude by writing letters and enjoying each others company is so exciting! Hopefully we can support St. Jude even more this year!” ~Alaina Schukraft, Philanthropy Chair

In the past, this event has proven to be a large success. Last year, we raised over $70,000 from this event, and hope to only increase that number this year.

The event was also a great sisterhood bonding event. We loved being able to spend time together, all whilesupporting a cause close to our hearts. Throughout the event we were reminded of why we were writing each letter, including an encouraging presentation from a St. Jude representative.

So be on the lookout for a letter in your mailbox. The support of our family and friends makes all the difference!

Sponsor Reveal 2015

It’s the most wonderful time of the year! After a week of secrets and surprises, it was finally time for the bigs to reveal their identity and welcome the newest members of Epsilon Delta into their Greek families.

The new members were surprised when what they thought to be another new member meeting turned into the highly-anticipated reveal. Each little was told to find a wrapped box with her name on it and wait. At the count of three, the bigs popped out of their creatively decorated boxes and into the arms of their new littles. Talk about the best present to unwrap!

The Valentine’s Day-themed celebration was full of photo ops, hugs, and lots of family love. Check out all of the fun we had sharing one of our favorite Tri Delta traditions with the new Pi class yesterday!

Sisters Visit St. Jude

In 2014, Tri Delta committed to raising $60 million in 10 years to name Tri Delta Place, the on-campus, short-term housing facility at St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. Last weekend, two of our sisters, Alaina Schukraft and Carolyn Wright, had the opportunity to travel to Memphis to attend the formal dedication of Tri Delta Place alongside over 400 sisters from chapters across the country. Check out what Alaina and Carolyn had to say about their visit to St. Jude!

St. Jude is an absolutely incredible place. This past weekend has left us in awe of the work that not only the hospital does, but also what we as a Greek organization have been able to accomplish for such an amazing cause. The dedication of Tri Delta Place really put into perspective what an amazing contribution we have been able to make for such a great cause. Triangles, pearls, and pansies can be seen all over this remarkable building that creates a home away from home for many of the patients and families that come to St. Jude.

Over the course of the weekend, not only did we get the chance to visit the amazing hospital and Tri Delta Place, but we also got to spend time with some of our sisters from around the country and learn about how we could relay the excitement we were feeling about St. Jude back to our own chapters. We sat through brainstorming sessions, information sessions, and were privileged to listen and learn from other chapters across the nation. Not only were we able to learn from other sisters, we also had the chance to learn from patients and families when they came and spoke about their experiences and how Tri Delta has had an impact on their family and their journey with St. Jude. The effect that Tri Delta has had on the organization as a whole, can be seen from the hallways and the rooms of the hospital to the smiles on the faces of the patients and their families.  Throughout these sessions, not once did the patients or families talk about the treatment, they focused on all of the positive things that St. Jude has provided for them. The patients referred to the doctors, childhood specialists, and staff at the hospital as their family.

This weekend has left us re-inspired and motivated to get out chapter involved in as many ways possible. The gratitude from every family and employee of St. Jude for all that Tri-Delta does is truly moving and we feel so fortunate that we were able to represent our chapter there. We’ve come back with a reignited passion for St. Jude and the work that we can do as a chapter to support our philanthropy. We have so many ideas for new events and ways to revamp events that we already have. We can’t wait to share all of the things we learned with our chapter and get started with planning an amazing year!