AX Parents Newsletter

With lyres and pearls, well always be your little girls. Gamma Theta Ed. 1 Spring 2012

Sisters serve for Hera Day

Volunteers assist on campus and at womens shelters

arch 1 is Hera Day, a time donations on the national mall for They also organized the to work for our philanthropy the Childrens Miracle Network buildings community room and by volunteering and fundraising event TerpThon, Cottrell said. donation closet, assisting DASH for local womens shelters, according At the D.C. Rape Crisis Center, staff immensely in their elimination to the Alpha Chi Omega national of clutter, said Shaina Lamchick, website. Development Services and Hera is Alpha Chi Omegas Volunteer Coordinator at patron Greek goddess, the DASH. guardian of women, and an In-house sisters assembled integral part of our ritual and and decorated donation philanthropy, said Caroline boxes for SARPPs cell Cottrell, Vice President of Ritual phone and stuffed animal and Fraternity Relations. drives and created 50 bulletin Gamma Theta chapter celboard kits for resident hall ebrated Hera Day on Saturday, assistants to use during March 3, 2012, to allow for a Sophomore Sara Bleistein and senior sexual assault awareness full day of community service. Brittney Degler work on a flyer for the month in April. Alpha Chi Omega volunteers D.C. Rape Crisis Centers poetry slam-off. We would not have had served at the D.C. Rape Crisis Photo Credit: Kaylee Hillard the staffing to be able to acCenter and the District Alliance complish these tasks without for Safe Housing (DASH), orgayour support, said SAARP nized in-house efforts to benefit the volunteers designed flyers to advertise Coordinator Allison Bennett. universitys Sexual Assault Response upcoming awareness events. Alpha Chi Omegas touched and Prevention Program (SARPP), At DASH, some volunteers en- members of numerous organizations passed out flyers to advertise Relay tertained the children in the playroom with their generosity. Do you for Life, created motivational fly- while others sanitized and organized know where your daughter served ers for Run for Love, and collected the playrooms toys. on Hera Day?

Table of Contents: Find Us Online!

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 Headquarters Website: www.alphachiomega.org Gamma Theta Website: coming soon! Search: Alpha Chi Omega, University of Maryland @AlphaChi_UMD

AX Parents Newsletter

Run for Love: Take Two

Run For Loves second year proves successful and meaningful to participants

Facts from AXs Domestic Violence Vigil

n 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: Its not right, its not acceptable its 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 beautiful 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 cant believe it herself, Love said. For more information, visit www.runforloveachioandtheta.com.

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

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

Nearly three out of four Americans personally know someone who is or has been a victim of domestic violence.
By Kaylee Hillard Source: Domestic Violence Resource Center

Sisterhood Stretches Across Continents

After one of Gamma Thetas 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 dont 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

AX 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-ups theme was Clue!

Summary of Results:
Overall: 2nd Place Skit: 2nd Place Backdrop: 3rd place House Banner: 1st place Can-struction: 1st place Volleyball: 1st place Flag Football: 3rd place

Sisters cheer during Olympics on Fraternity Row. Photo credits: Alyse Feldman and Gab DeFranceschi

Greek Awards: AX Wins Most Improved Chapter

MyJourney: Coming Fall 2012

When Alpha Chi Omega Headquarters surveyed lifetime members about what they wished they had throughout their collegiate experience, an overwhelming amount of college graduates wanted educational programming that was relevant to their experiences in college. Next semester, Gamma Theta will implement MyJourney, a new educational program from Headquarters that separates members by class year to focus on each college years experiences and benefits. According to the Alpha Chi Omega website, This program will help each member transform and grow into the kind of woman

Gamma Theta will introduce MyJourney, a four-year collegiate experience program who can make a difference to herself, 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 lifestyles, communication skills, resumes 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 Membership Programming Kaylee Hillard said. I hope it encourages Gamma Theta sisters to be the best they can be. 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 Marylands Department 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 consistent progress, sophomore Gab DeFranceschi said. My time as president is dedicated to protecting our strength and pushing each individual and the chapter to grow stronger and to reach new heights.

AX Parents Newsletter

This is to be our Symphony

Sisters 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. 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 theyre 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 persons 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 Im 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

Welcome Spring 2012!

Congratulations Class of 2014!

Katie Breen Shannon Clancy Julia Cooch Jessie Dankos Brittney Degler Nicole St. Marie Stephanie Deisher Ali Giancarlo Hannah Glassman Christine Goetsch Alexis Gutter Rachel Pazornick Rachel Harting Liz Iannuzzelli Elizabeth Krauss Shannon Khrehbel Marie LaMonica Killian Lenahen Michelle McCrone Alex Mironenko Maria Navarro Rachael Neal Kristn Oakey Kasey Parr

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