ON CAMPUS: COLLEGIATE UPDATES

ALPHA Eastern Michigan

The Alpha Chapter was really excited about this semester! We recruited by tabling almost every week and hosting on-campus Starbucks meetups. We also hosted a potential new member movie night, and it was a lot of fun! We voted to watch the original Top Gun in our PJs together, with lots of laughs and snacks.

We also welcomed two new members after a successful Bid Day in February, during which we had dinner together and played campstyle games. It was a really nice way for all of us to just hang out and get to know the new members in a more relaxed setting, and the new members absolutely loved it. They said it was so much easier for them to really get to know all of us and solidified their decision to stay with AΣT!

This semester marked our very first Initiation after reinstalling as a chapter, so we were all eager to give the new members the best experience possible. We aimed to create the same bonding experience for them that Jamie (and the other beautiful ladies from HQ!) created for us in Fall 2022: one for the memory books!

The Alpha Chapter had a great first year, and we’re all so thrilled to be able to be a part of the organization’s history. Truly, everyone is working so hard, and we are proud of each other. This is an amazing group of people. We can’t wait to see what next semester brings!

PHI Southeastern Louisiana

After an extremely successful recruitment in the fall, Phi ranked the largest chapter on Southeastern’s campus. Going into spring recruitment, sisters of the Phi Chapter were fired up and eager to recruit more women into this amazing Sisterhood. Phi welcomed six incredible new women to our Krewe with a Mardi Gras-themed Spring Bid Day!

Members of the Phi Chapter attended Sigma Sigma Sigma’s Pasta for Preemies here at Southeastern! Pasta for Preemies is a philanthropic event Sigma Sigma Sigma hosts to support their National Philanthropy, March of Dimes. We talked over pasta and made new connections within our Panhellenic community!

Project Prom is our philanthropic event where we help deserving girls have a beautiful prom experience by giving them the opportunity to pick out everything they need for the prom completely free. On February 11, we had 14 beautiful girls come to our house to enjoy this amazing experience. These girls were chosen by their counselors for demonstrating GRICE* inside and outside of the classroom. These girls truly allowed us to demonstrate our core values and share them with others! We had a blast!

* Our collegians acronym for our core values: Graciousness, Respect, Intellect, Connections, and Excellene.

PSI James Madison

Between March 5 through March 11, the Psi Chapter hosted our annual Philanthropy Week called International Women’s Week. International Women’s Week offers several different events throughout the week that work towards fundraising to support Dress for Success and connecting with the community at James Madison University. The Psi Chapter hosted our annual Send a Tau a Flower fundraiser, where friends and family can buy Alpha Sigma Tau Sisters flowers with encouraging messages to support Dress for Success. We sold over 550 flowers in one week through this fundraiser!

Another key event we hosted during this week was having Lauren Hackett of Unfinished Apparel come to speak to the JMU community, during which she spoke about mental health, finding your purpose, and the intersection of the two during your twenties. This week was a success in terms of connecting Sisters as well as the JMU community, and giving back to support Dress for Success!

ALPHA GAMMA Henderson

We had a Valentine’s Day sisterhood event and hosted our Love Yourself campaign as a philanthropic event! We also extended four bids and met with several potential new members as well!

ALPHA LAMBDA Radford

After going through recruitment this semester, we brought home 15 new members! This is one of the biggest new member classes we’ve had since the pandemic began!

ALPHA PI Slippery Rock

This semester we added a lot of new things within our chapter. One thing we implemented was biweekly sisterhood dates, which pair two random Sisters together to hang out within a two-week period. This activity has resulted in many coffee dates, dinners, and even axe throwing, and a fun photo together is always a must (which also helps us create more content for the chapter’s Instagram!). The two Sisters would discuss the most recent question that was assigned at our meeting, such as “What class are you the most excited about this semester?” or “Which one of our values do you hold closest to your heart?” At our chapter meeting, each pair shared what they learned about the other Sister.

We held our first sisterhood retreat last summer in a cabin down the street from our university. We did self-empowerment and group-strengthening activities during this retreat. We also focused on recruitment practice and goal setting for this semester. By the end of the retreat, it was like we were ten-year-old girls at camp again, sitting in the cabin’s bunks, braiding each other’s hair and talking about everything. After this sisterhood retreat, our ties had never felt stronger, and we went into recruitment as a prepared, solid unit.

During formal recruitment this semester, we had a pink disco theme night with pink shirts our Panhellenic Council gave us. At the end of recruitment, we achieved total and brought home 11 new Sisters. All 11 of them were initiated and became full members of our chapter in March. They also received shirts with their Alpha Pi Chapter Initiation number on them!

We also introduced a new and very successful philanthropic fundraiser this semester: “Real Men Wear Pink.” One member from each fraternity tried to raise as much money as possible on behalf of AΣT. The fraternity man with the most money raised dyed his hair pink. This fundraiser brought in almost $250 for Girls Who Code and was one of our most successful philanthropic events in the last few years. We also adopted a new local philanthropy this semester called VOICE, which is a survivors’ shelter in Butler, PA. We had our first fundraiser for VOICE on March 29.

ALPHA PSI Northern Iowa

We hosted our Philanthropy Week in April. We had a sisterhood event at least once a month. We consistently contacted women on campus during our recruitment process. Our spring retreat coincided with our Family Weekend the last weekend in March.

The Alpha Psi Chapter held a spring retreat on March 25. It was an amazing event where our families could come visit, and we had a potluck and fun activities such as painting tote bags, painting canvases, lawn darts, and bowling. It was so fun to see everyone’s family come to campus for a day and get to know sorority life a little better!

Beta Rho

Arkansas Tech

We had an amazing philanthropy week in February that was so much fun. All week, we had great events to raise awareness – one of our most popular events was Pie A President!

Gamma Lambda

Kutztown

We have been very busy here at AΣT Kutztown! We elected our new Executive Committee and accomplished so much. We started off the semester by holding a countdown photoshoot for our Spring Recruitment. We also attended and participated in our school’s involvement fair! On February 11, after a successful recruitment, we welcomed home eight amazing new members! We planned out our philanthropic events and fundraisers for the rest of the semester. We were so excited!

We recently held our Mr. Kutztown pageant which was our biggest event of the spring semester and raised over $500! All of the proceeds go towards our local philanthropy partner, Women2Women Berks County.

From March 20-24, we hosted our first-ever Emerald Week! Events included a bake sale, a coffee sale, a trivia night, painting with the Taus, and a basketball tournament. We raised a little over $600 for our chapter to organize a retreat!

Gamma Xi

Grand Valley

This winter semester, our chapter accomplished a lot for the community around us. We spent so much time with our local philanthropy, Boys and Girls Clubs of Grand Rapids. We also raised money for the American Cancer Society and participated in Relay for Life.

We welcomed home two amazing girls this recruitment and our bid day theme was “Fall in Love with Alpha Tau.” As far as sisterhood events go, we had a movie night event and a wellness yoga night. It was a great finish to the year with Formal, and we send our best wishes to our amazing seniors who graduated this semester.

Gamma Tau

Lebanon Valley

In February we held a fun spring recruitment week which was filled with such amazing women! Our theme was “AΣT Comin’ In Hot!” We welcomed 11 new members to the Gamma Tau Chapter on February 11! On March 24, our new members were welcomed into their family lines! Alumnae came to campus, and we introduced different generations of AΣT. The new members were initiated on March 29 with warm, welcoming smiles.

Our spring retreat was so much fun. We went to Sky Zone to let out our inner child jumping on trampolines, and spent time together afterward at Rita’s, laughing and smiling! We had many amazing events this semester, including Formal, where we couldn’t wait to hang out with Sisters, and our Dress for Success Clothing Drive, which was so exciting to do!

Delta Alpha

Gannon

We had a fundraiser for the Guide Dog for the Blind Foundation which raised $600. We did highway cleanup and Relay for Life this semester as well.

Delta Sigma

Saint Joseph’s

Our chapter has been given an amazing chance to grow! With the merger of the previous University of the Sciences and Saint Joseph’s University, we have been able to meet so many more women and really expand our influence and connections. We have met amazing women who just absolutely exemplify what it means to be a Sister of Alpha Sigma Tau!

There were lots of fun events for our new members and active Sisters that range from speed dating to anchor painting and more. One of our best nights was most definitely Bid Day! It was so much fun to welcome in the new members and really get to know them through different fun games and activities. Another fun sisterhood event we hosted was creating mosaic picture frames. It was such a fun and relaxing activity where all Sisters, new and active, came together to take a break and really spend time with each other. We had a ton of activities planned for the semester!

Delta Tau

Oakland

We held our Bid Day and recruited seven new members! We hosted a Galentine’s Day Photoshoot sisterhood event where we decorated cookies, listened to music, and took pictures. Our chapter also had an ice skating sisterhood event, and we hosted Study Nights at the library.

Our chapter hosted our first annual philanthropic event, Kickin’ It with the Taus Kickball Tournament, on October 14, 2022. We raised over $1,500 for our local philanthropy, HAVEN, which is Oakland County’s only comprehensive program for victims of domestic violence and sexual assault. HAVEN provides shelter, counseling, advocacy, and educational programming to nearly 30,000 people annually.

We held our chapter Retreat on April 1st.

Epsilon Kappa

Trine

In February, we had formal recruitment. Through formal recruitment and continuous open bidding, we gained 14 new members. We were so excited to welcome them and get to know them better!

Epsilon Mu

Buffalo

We had a very successful recruitment and focused on getting to know our 20 new Sisters this semester!

Epsilon Sigma

Bridgewater State

We extended two bids through continuous opening bidding and completed our new member education program. We partnered with Girl Scouts, a local food pantry, and completed a Relay for Life fundraiser. We hosted several sisterhood events.

Epsilon Chi

Minnesota Duluth

Our chapter recently hosted our very first Philanthropy Banquet in an effort to raise money for Safe Haven, our local domestic violence shelter and local philanthropy partner. We invited alumnae, other fraternity/sorority organizations, family, and friends to attend the event. Overall, we raised over $2,800 to donate directly to Safe Haven. The money raised went toward remodeling their domestic violence shelter and providing basic necessities to shelter residents. We hope to host the event again and raise even more money in the coming years.