Stepping Stones

by Caitlyn Pellegrini Eta Sigma - ΚΚΨ University of Central Florida

Following the pandemic, the Fall 2021 semester was a stepping stone for a more active brotherhood in the spring. In December, our chapter joined with the other musical Greeks and hosted a joint holiday concert. This was a turning point for our organization’s social activities because it was the first in-person joint event where we celebrated the holidays through music. Following winter break, our chapter has had many fundraisers and social events that provided a safe and fun environment for our community. On February 11, 2022, our chapter hosted the first ever “Knight at the Carnival” event. This fundraiser was proposed and planned by our service committee to raise money for future service projects. This was our first major event coming out of the pandemic, where we not only invited students and faculty from the University of Central Florida, but also members of the Orlando and Oviedo community. We advertised to local middle and high schools, social media, and around campus. Some of the booths included musical bingo, bowling, live juke box, balloon animals, paper airplane toss, balloon wall, and ring toss. One of the most popular booths was the live juke box. Because we are a musical fraternity, we planned to incorporate the greatest art, music, into this fundraiser. The juke box included brothers in our fraternity

who played stand tunes from the Marching Knights Armory and welcomed guests to participate. We plan on making “A Knight at the Carnival” an annual event where people in our community can gather to play games, socialize, and learn more about our Fraternity’s values. Over the past few months, our chapter has hosted many social events. Some of these events include a Pop-Tart Potluck, Murder Mystery Dinner, Four-Way Game Knight, and our semesterly retreat. Most of our social events are for brothers only, but occasionally we work with the other musical Greeks to organize a joint social. One of these events was the Four-Way Game Knight. Our social committee strove to host many unique events this semester to encourage brother participation and strengthen our bonds. Eta Sigma's first ever "A Knight at the Carnival" event where we created carnival games to raise money for our service committee. Another event that our chapter has been working towards is our annual chapter concert. We host a concert yearly to promote the importance of music. About half of our 25 active brothers are a part of this ensemble. We also welcomed brothers/sisters from the other musical Greeks, students in the UCF music program, and two alumni brothers to direct and play in the ensemble. The theme for our concert is One of our social events, a Murder Mystery Dinner. This event was planned and executed by our social committee. “A Knight at the Movies.” The

repertoire consists of The Marches of John Williams by John Williams/Johnnie Vinson, How to Train Your Dragon by John Powell/Sean O’loughlin, and Avatar Soundtrack by James Horner/Jay Bocook. These songs were chosen by our brothers to cultivate interest from our audience. This was our first chapter concert following the pandemic, and was the next stepping stone for our return to normalcy.

Eta Sigma has been striving for normalcy ever since the return to campus. After many Zoom events, our chapter planned and executed many distinct social events and fundraisers. We wanted these events to be memorable because we were unable to fully participate online. Brotherhood is a bond like no other, which is why each event we host is another step towards strengthening those connections. Our Chapter Concert was hosted by Eta Sigma brothers, where we performed works from famous movies. This was a memorable concert for our fraternity because it was held on the 40th anniversary of our chapter, and was conducted by an alumni of Eta Sigma, Scott Mullen.

CONGRATULATIONS

Edgar Canales Lambda

Jordan Javier Gamma

Jonathan Sadler Delta Upsilon

Providence Cantalamisa Delta Upsilon

Logan Parker Alpha Omicron