First semester of the 2013-2014 school-year at Coe College started on August 26, 2014. We started the semester off with a bang by beginning to practice, plan, and set up our formal recruitment. Our Vice President of Membership, Savanah Schott, had come up with an amazing theme- Egyptian. Immediately our dorm wing, center pieces, and decorations consisted of all gold, everything. We truly brought the Delta Dynasty to campus! Formal recruitment was a success as we gained 20 amazing new minis and eventually initiated members! Running of the stairs, or bid day, was full of chanting, laughing, smiles, and plenty of gold glitter as our new minis ran down the stairs into our arms. We couldn’t have been happier with them, and immediately we saw the potential our new member class would have. They have proved to be a great asset to our Delta Eta chapter.
On top of gaining new members, our chapter was able to have a great experience by going to Memphis, Tennessee and visiting the St. Jude Children’s Hospital. It was truly a life-changing trip that consisted of touring the St. Jude Hospital, visiting Elvis Presley’s Graceland, attending the Civil Rights Museum, toured the historical Beale Street, and overall enjoyed bonding time with our sisters. It was a good 9 hour drive from Cedar Rapids, IA to Memphis- and it was completely worth it.
A new tradition was started this year when we had a great family weekend set up by our Social Chair, Cinnamon Moore. Many parents, siblings, friends, and other relatives attended this weekend event full of pot-luck tailgating before a football game, afternoon brunch, and a showcase of skits we did during Formal Recruitment. It was a great opportunity for our sister’s to not only get to know the new members better, but also the people that mean the most to us! Parents were hitting it off, friends coming over to play bags, and there was surely enough food to go around. This weekend truly introduced a new realm of the term “sisterhood” to our chapter.
Homecoming week quickly crept up on us as the semester started to hit high gear. We were fortunate enough to have our lovely senior Delta, student body president, and Vice President of Chapter Administration, Anna Barton, on this year’s Homecoming court! Although she didn’t win overall, she will always be our Queen!
Fall of 2013 was a big semester for a couple of our sisters! One night we had our first candle lighting of the semester- not for one girl, but three! Senior Jillian Reynolds, junior Kortney Paustian, and sophomore Maddy Fangman were all happy to announce and show us their promise rings. They kept their secrets well, because the rest of the chapter grew with excitement as we discovered each girl’s beautiful rings!
Our Philanthropy Chairman, Megan Hurlbert, was on top of planning our biggest fundraising event of the semester- letter writing. One night we all met in the Voorhees lobby, a dorm on campus, and started filling out and personalizing letters to send to friends and family asking them to donate to St. Jude Hospital. This event usually lasts all night, but we turned it into a great night to bond with sisters and pig out on pizza. We also had the opportunity to sit and listen to our St. Jude representative talk about certain children at St. Jude fighting, and also some facts and present day numbers of how our Delta Eta chapter is affecting and helping the children of St. Jude. Letter writing is usually where most of our donations and fundraising comes from, so we make sure that every girl takes their time and sends out a total of 50 letters a piece. We all are excited to see what this year’s letter writing event has raised for our philanthropy!
Being Continuing Education, I had help from Loxley Grafe, our Alumni Relations Chairman, and help from Anna Barton, our Vice President of Chapter Administration with planning this year’s Founders’ Day! It was a big year for Delta Delta Delta as we celebrated 125 years of sisterhood. We reserved our Alumni House and served hot cocoa, coffee, and several sweet desserts. We had some amazing Delta’s from all around the Cedar Rapids area of all ages come and spend the night socializing, writing a pearl, or a kind note, to a sister in another chapter, and listening to our President, Sarah Thielen, give a speech. We had almost every member attend this formal event! Our chapter enjoyed reading the fun facts about the history of Tri Delta and looking through old scrap books that had been put together in previous years.
After gaining our new members, our New Member Educator, Molly Wickam, made it apparent that they were all up to something. They spent the first half of the semester brainstorming themes for the new member dance that they throw for the entire chapter. The catch is, the dance is a secret to everyone but the new members and educator. The only information that the rest of the chapter received was an invitation that was given in the mail with a riddle on it, and each grade had a different riddle to decipher. Their theme turned out to be good ol’ Miley Cyrus! New members had “Party in the USA” Miley, sophomores had “Best of Both Worlds” Miley, and juniors/seniors had new and improved “Wrecking Ball” Miley. This deemed to be fitting since Miley’s new album had just come out! We had a great time dancing and singing to Hannah Montana/ Miley Cyrus songs all night and dressing up appropriate to the theme.
This semester was also filled with some great socials with other Greek chapters on campus. One night we had game night social with Lambda Chi Alpha consisting of several minute to win it games. Who knew they could be so hard!? We had an amazing turn out of girls showing up. We also had a social with ΑΣΑ, ΣΝ & ΦΚΤ where we met on the quad between the dorm buildings and had a giant colored water balloon fight. Our clothes we’re dyed blue, green, pink, and yellow by the time the water balloon fight was over!
I couldn’t have asked for a better fall semester of my sophomore year then by spending it with my sisters. The past year has been dedicated to sisterhood and I believe that this past semester showed how strong our Delta Eta chapter can truly be. The support and encouragement I see from all of my sisters is what sisterhood is about. This fall semester many memories were made, friendships developed, and doors of opportunity opened. I can’t wait to see how much our chapter grows.
Kohawk Love,
Alexis
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