Homecoming Week at SMU!

I arrived at the beginning of Homecoming Week at SMU! The Alpha Upsilon chapter had great spirit throughout the week, and gave support to their Homecoming candidate, Taylor Torcellini. It all paid off in the end, because Taylor and Delta Gamma won Homecoming at the end of the week! They were first out of 8 other chapters!

The theme for float building during Homecoming was musicals! The Alpha Upsilon chapter had Hairspray as their musical, so they build a float that looked like a car, and had a huge hairspray bottle sitting on it! Instead of "good morning Baltimore", it said "good morning SMU" on the back! I learned what "pomping" was when they took me to the float building. Amazing what they can create out of chicken wire, spray glue and tissue paper!

The chapter also held an alumnae event the morning of the big football game!

Eta Xi-University of Texas at Tyler!

Greeks and other campus organizations participated in a dodgeball tournament! The Delta Gammas got creative with their outfits!

Eta Xi chapter members support the East Texas Lighthouse for the Blind, and during my visit volunteered at the White Cane Walk, in honor of the blind and visually impaired. Yet another chapter, doing good in the community!

Washington University-St. Louis, MO!

I had the opportunity to tour of one of the four schools funded by the Delta Gamma Foundation! The Delta Gamma School for Children with Visual Impairments in St. Louis was recently completed, and has been such a blessing for families in the area. The director of the program showed me the different materials and imprints that were put on each of the walls so that children could feel their way around the hallways and know which direction they were going in. They have an area outdoors where the children can practice walking down a normal street-they have a parking meter, fire hydrant, street drains, curbs and so much more for the children to feel and practice with. They are simple things that we forget could become obstacles for someone who has a visual impairment. I was truly inspired by the amazing facilities that have been built and what a gift they have been for children and families in the area. The director also told me they would not be able to do their work without the support of the local collegiate Delta Gamma chapters. The women of Alpha Epsilon are truly doing good as they volunteer at the Delta Gamma Center on a regular basis!

American University, still in DC!

Beta Epsilon had their annual Anchor Games fundraiser while I was there! Teams participated in games and relay competitions while dressed up in 80's gear!

I was amazed by the incredible scrapbooks the chapter has all the way back to the 1960's! There are some incredible photos, newspaper articles and descriptions of their events and sisterhood. It is fulfilling to know that Delta Gammas have had the same vision, dreams and passions for sisterhood and doing good for decades!

I also had the privalege of having dinner and touring some of the monuments with Beth Searcy! It was amazing to see the monuments at night and to spend time with such an inspiring leader!

Recruitment in DC!!

I had my first full recruitment visit at George Washington University in Washington, DC. Lots of work and late nights, but I was glad I could be there to help! The women of Beta Rho did a wonderful job, and received 49 new members on Bid Day, with 50% of their legacies! They had a beautiful preference ceremony, and had Georgetown Cupcakes which I was able to try for the first time! Although I've never seen it, there is a tv show about the making of Georgetown Cupcakes. Rumor has it they were filming for the show on the day they were making the chapter's anchor cupcakes!

Welcome to Furman University in South Carolina!

Zeta Upsilon has members who are determined to go above and beyond to strive for excellence! The second day I was there, the chapter had a retreat up in the mountains. Luckily we were in cabins with bathrooms and running water, so we weren't roughing it too much! We spent the day doing team building activities, making cards for their friends from the Golden Anchor Program, recruitment practice, senior and sophomore pursuits and just having fun playing board games in the cabins! The women are doing a great job of creating positive PR for themselves on campus, and they just recently won homecoming! While I was there, they were planning for their upcoming fundraiser "Eye Love Art", where they auctioned artwork from kids and adults with visual impairements. The art was incredible! They invited local politicians, businesses, school administrators, students, and it was parents weekend! I hear it was an amazingly successful event!

Recruitment in Tennessee!

I was able to attend one night of recruitment at Tennessee Tech in the small city of Cookville, TN. The women of the Epsilon Epsilon chapter put a lot of time in effort into preparing for recruitment! They had an incredibly positive attitude and fabulous DG spirit going into their first night of recruitment. Not to mention, everyone was excited about their brand new chapter suite! A helpful alumnae member helped them decorate it, and it looked beautiful! The chapter also made sure that I learned a few Delta Gamma cheers their chapter created. We said them right before the first night of recruitment began, to get everyone pumped up!

Delta Nu-Northern Illinois University

The Delta Gammas at Northern Illinois University have a large, beautiful house! The women of Delta Nu have a strong sisterhood and I had a blast with them! Although it was a short visit, I

was able to meet with all officers, help with a recruitment practice and attend a "tugs" practice, which I had never heard of. Tugs is a very intense form of tug of war, which is a philanthropy competition put on by one of the fraternities each year. Many people come to watch the event, and the teams practice for several months! I was there in late August, and the competition wasn't until October! All organiziations on campus are very supportive of each other's philanthropy events!