On, Wisconsin!

Sigma, University of Wisconsin

I was very excited to return to Wisconsin in the warm weather and get the opportunity to see all the wonderful things about Madison in the beautiful weather this time! My favorite please, by far, was the terrace! It is the patio behind the student union that looks out onto the lake and it is a very popular spot for students and townies alike. Brittney, Wisconsin's advisor, took me out to the terrace for lunch on one of the most beautiful days. The terrace was filled with people hanging out, drinking and enjoying the weather. There was also no shortage of students sun bathing on the dock and paddle boarding in the lake!

The other amazing part about being out on the terrace was that this is where I tried cheese curds for the first time! Even though I was told these weren't the best ones, I enjoyed this Wisconsin speciality to no end. Cheese curds are basically little chunks of deep fried cheese and they are amazing. They also usually come with some sort of cheesy or mustardy dipping sauce, so how could that be bad.

The most fun I had during my visit was definitely during the practices at the phi house. Wisconsin has some really fun songs and their entrances and exits for formal recruitment are so energetic! My favorite song they did was written to Spice Up Your Life and it was so catchy; a great recruitment song!

My last night was a Friday and on Fridays in Madison every restaurant does a fish fry. So that night I went to Quivey's Grove Stable Grill for the all you can eat fried fish. I obviously also got the cheese curds and it was all so amazing. It's a good thing I don't live in Wisconsin because I would try to eat this stuff for every meal!

On Wisconsin is from the State Song and University fight song

Deep Down in Arizona

Alpha Lambda, University of Arizona

After two straight weeks of formal recruitment, I have to say that I am utterly exhausted. It was the first time I went right from a week long recruitment and into another and, while it was definitely draining, it has been an amazing couple of weeks!

U of A's recruitment week is structured almost identically to UCF's so I was already feeling good about it when I arrived in Tucson. After seventeen flight delays and a twelve hour travel day, I finally made it to AEPhi at the end of the first day of Set 1, or the Open House rounds. Set 1 and Set 2 (Philanthropy Days) went well and I spent the long days with the behind the scenes recruitment team.

Set 3 was fun because Arizona had a new skit this year! They adapted the Bring It On skit that both our chapters at Texas and Indiana have used. After seeing pictures from Texas and watching Indiana's skit about fifteen times back in January, I was excited to see Arizona's take on one of my favorite late 90s/early 00s chick flicks. I have to say that the script was so great and every woman was wonderful. All the great parts were included and Andrea, chapter President, even made a cameo as the guy who accidentally auditions for Pippen; hilarious!

Friday was a day off between Skits and Pref, so once we got all our recruitment business out of the way, I had a nice afternoon with a few great juniors. First we spent some time lounging in the courtyard soaking up the sun. We ended up only being out there for about twenty minutes before we started dripping sweat and feeling our skin begin to fry. But I was so happy to finally see some sun and enjoy the Tucson weather! I was beginning to forget that it was still summer after being inside for almost two whole weeks!

After that we had a great lunch at a sushi and Korean BBQ place, called Azian. Sushi was ridiculously cheap and the crunch roll I got was a pretty pink and blue.

Preference was on Saturday and during voting that night we collected phones from everyone. I found it pretty funny that out of the entire bin, there was literally one Android phone.

On Sunday it was finally Bid Day! Everyone was so excited to welcome home the next new member class. All of the merchandise (tanks, headbands, backpacks, beach balls) were adorable and made for some wonderful pictures! Bid day was held at a place called Kon Tiki, which matched the paradise theme perfectly.

Anxiously awaiting the new members' arrival!!

I am so happy I got to spend such a great week with the Arizona Phis! I had so much fun and I am SO  proud of their hard work all week long!

Readymade by Red Hot Chili Peppers

I love you, Orlando

Beta Zeta, University of Central Florida

I was beyond thrilled to return to UCF for a third time and for my second formal recruitment with Beta Zeta! I already knew the executive board and so many seniors and I was really looking forward to meeting the women that joined the chapter last year during my first TEC visit!

I got to Orlando the day before recruitment started so I jumped right in! The first two days of recruitment are the open house rounds, or UCF Days. This was the first year UCF Panhellenic did uniform shirts for the chapters and they also gave out PNM shirts for both days of the first round.

Sydney, chapter President, and I on UCF Day

After the second UCF day we got the list in early enough that we had time to go out for dinner. Alana had been telling me I had to try the new barbecue place near campus called 4 Rivers, so Sydney and I went. Everything I had was actually amazing. I was told I would need to be rolled out the door afterwards and I definitely felt that way.

Brisket, corn, green beans, mac n cheese, fried pickles and corn bread

On Philanthropy Day, everyone wore mint or white dresses. They also tried out a new craft that came from the new Recruitment Recipe Book on how to create a successful philanthropy round of recruitment. It is a great resource that gives lot of ideas on Sharsheret and Elizabeth Glazer Pediatric AIDS Foundation. Beta Zeta chose to make giraffes as part of EGPAF's Up 4 The Fight campaign. Below, Morgan attempted to draw the giraffe mascot by tracing her hand.

On Video Day every sorority at UCF shows a video they make about themselves. Beta Zeta was so incredibly proud of their video this year and I even got a sneak preview the day I arrived. It is so cute and really shows what it is like to be in the Beta Zeta chapter! Here is the video link, if you want to watch!

http://vimeo.com/98860548

Me with the executive board on Video Day

I was really excited for preference rounds because Alana was coming to surprise her sister and I love the songs that Beta Zeta sings at pref. I even got to do a little review in the morning with the chapter about pref and sealing the deal, so I had fun putting together that little workshop. Everything went so well through the rounds! There were some great surprise paddle reveals and I cried when Alana came out and hugged her sister, Casey.

Bid day was also a huge success! Everyone was incredibly happy with the new member class and so excited to welcome them all home. "Running home" is a big event at the end of UCF recruitment where the new members literally run down Greek Park to their new sorority's house. The chapters are all dressed for bid day and they stand in the street screaming for their new women. The fraternity men also made an appearance and apparently have their own name for the event; suffice to say that part did not make me happy. Other than that one small detail, it was a fabulous afternoon. Everyone took lots of great pictures and we had a great lunch at Margaritaville in Universal Orlando CityWalk.  

Bid day was so fun and I had such a great time with all of Beta Zeta. It was very hard to leave the chapter after such a great week but I know they will do wonderful things this year and that their newest members will add so much to the sorority!


Two By Two from The Book of Mormon soundtrack

Summer in the Life of a Second Year TEC

The summer may seem like a slow time for someone who works with college students, since school is not in session. And while I have been had plenty of boring days this summer, I have also had many fun and exciting events to attend. Here are some of the major highlights!

Back in June, AEPhi held our Summer Leadership program in Peachtree City, GA. This event is held in non-Convention years and is made up of educational programming for collegians and alumnae. This summer every chapter sent their vp-programming and an emerging leader. The outgoing TECs (Talia and Cheyenne) and incoming TECs (Alison and Alana) all staff the conference so I had a really good time with everyone together! It was really sad to say goodbye to Talia and Cheyenne when they left but it was also very exciting to begin this year with the new staff.

New and Old TECs

Ally is the new Director of Chapter Services!

My girls, the 2013-2014 TECs

In the second week of July, I had the pleasure of attending the Fraternal Executives Association Annual Meeting (FEA). This conference is for the executives of all the member fraternities and sororities. There are different programming tracks and a huge trade show of businesses that contract with sororities and fraternities. Bonnie, AEPhi Executive Director, is the sponsor chair so she is in charge of the trade show. I got to come along to FEA mainly to help Bonnie but I was also able to attend some great sessions and enjoy the beautiful Waldorf-Astoria in Naples, FL. Ally and I spent the week side by side, meeting lots of new professional friends and learning more about what it is like to work for our sorority's headquarters. At the end of the week neither one of us wanted to leave (and we still want to go back)!

Bonnie noticed that Ally and I were dressed in opposites by accident

The adult pool (the main pool had a water slide!)

Ally, Grant (AEPi Director of Chapter Services) and myself ready for the FEA banquet

Just a few short days after returning home from FEA it was time to travel to headquarters in Connecticut for TEC training. I was very excited to road trip with the TECs and to catch up with Ally and Bonnie after FEA. We spent the days in CT working in the office with Ally and Bonnie to prepare for our year on the road. It was a lot of fun to all work together and to start getting a feel for the year ahead. We had some really fun days in Danbury!

TECs road trip from Boston to Danbury

Annual TEC trip to Stew Leonard's

We went to play with puppies after our last day of training!

Directly from CT we all traveled to Indianapolis, IN for the FEA Field Staff conference. It is put on by the FEA for all of the traveling consultants. I attended last year and really enjoyed it so I was looking forward to going back to Indy for the program. Alison, Alana and I had an amazing time meeting other consultants and making friends to stay connected with over the year. There were some good sessions and the social aspect of the conference was also really great.

Because we needed a picture of us everyday of the conference

On our last day in Indy, we had a day-long program with Phired Up at Alpha Sigma Alpha's headquarters. It was a packed day, full of more recruitment guidance than you could ever imagine. I felt so inspired when we left to go out and help every chapter that is struggling. It got me thinking about specific chapters I visited last year and how my new knowledge could help them and I am so excited to begin recruitment visits in a couple of weeks!

On our last day we also had the pleasure of visiting Alpha Epsilon Pi headquarters. The executive director gave us a nice tour of the whole building, including some very cool Judaica and fraternity artifacts. We got to see where our new friends work and get a feel for what the Indy life is like.

I have had a really amazing, AEPhi-filled summer! I am so thankful to have all these professional resources and to immerse myself in the fraternity and sorority world. I cannot believe that the summer is already winding down for the early-recruiting chapters and that I will be on the road shortly (within 2 or 3 weeks)! I am so excited to begin my second year with sisters across the country and to use my new skills to make this the best fall recruitment season ever!

But for now I will be taking advantage of my last weeks of summer! Thank you all for reading and enjoy the rest of summer!

School's Out For the Summer

Year one of traveling is done! I am very excited to be home for the summer but it is definitely weird to be home for more than a week and have so much time on my hands. I have found plenty of things to keep me busy for the past week (like going down to UConn for Senior Sendoff and having dinner with Talia, Lynna and Leslie!) but I have also had lots of time to think about my first year on the road and to reflect on my experiences. I've learned so much about myself this year and it is great to think about all the amazing chapters I worked with, and hopefully made an impact on!

I made a little list that briefly sums up my year:

39 visits
30 schools
17 states (+Washington DC)
11 chapter houses
6 philanthropy events

And I made an even shorter one for some of the fun stuff I did:

8+ sushi restaurants
7 shopping malls
5 (California) beaches
1 urgent care visit

Check out the map I made from cork board at the beginning of the year! It now has 30 pins in it representing all the AEPhi chapters I have visited. I am very excited to see what next year will bring and which pins I will get to add!

Thank you for following my travels all year!! Happy summer!



School's Out by Alice Cooper

Down San Diego Way

Epsilon Nu, San Diego State University

SDSU was my last visit of the year! I was pretty excited to come back to a place I already knew so well for my last one, and the fact that it was only a drive from UCSD was a plus too! It was a pretty short visit because it was the week before finals, since they are on the semester schedule, unlike all our other west coast chapters.

The heat wave that started while I was at UC San Diego continued on for the rest of my time there. But it was even hotter at SDSU because we didn't have the ocean breeze. I really enjoyed wearing tank tops and shorts; getting tan just from sitting out for a few minutes; and that there was no humidity. But that weather comes with a price: I could not sit outside for more than twenty minutes without feeling like I needed a shower. That is to say I sweat a lot, just from sitting. But it was beautiful out and I didn't let that bother me!

The highlight of this visit was definitely dinner on Friday. Rebecca and her roommate, Hannah, took me to this tiny hole in the wall place called Sushi Diner. The whole inside is Bob Marley themed and there are only about ten tables, but it was well worth the wait! I created my own roll for the first time ever (seen below) and we all ate so much sushi. Our server definitely knew Rebecca and Hannah from how much they come to eat and she made a few jokes about it so we had a lot of laughs over diner.

On my flight out of San Diego, the pilot pointed out that we were flying over the Grand Canyon. I didn't take a picture over the man next to me be it was such a cool view. That is another place I want to visit in my lifetime, but I bet that's a view they don't show you often!


Rosalita by Bruce Springsteen

All Over La Jolla

Beta Eta, University of California San Diego

I had visited UCSD for one evening back in February during a visit with SDSU so I was excited to have a few familiar faces. It was a fun visit and I even had a few more firsts!

One of the fun things I did was attend Kappa Karnival. AEPhi's booth was hair-wraps, which they did for quite a few girls. I thought it was a great idea for a booth because even the Kappa's wanted hair-wraps. It was fun to see them all get involved and to have the Kappa women organize the booth and help us out.

On Sunday the chapter held their annual parents brunch. It was on campus in a great little space and it was catered with food from Whole Foods- great bagels and other breakfast foods. It was also a beautiful day outside and a great excuse to wear the Lilly Pulitzer dress I had packed!

Eliza V-Neck T-Shirt Dress in "A Little Tipsy"

Hannah, the chapter president, took me to see the Glider Point one evening. The campus is right on the Pacific in La Jolla and the glider point is a cliff that drops down to the water where people paraglide and hang glide. It was really cool to sit and watch these things take off and fly around. I also got to see the sun set over the ocean, which is not something I see often, being from the east coast.

Another first on this visit was trying udon noodles. They are the big spherical noodles in Japanese soup, which usually also has a lot of tofu. I am not a huge fan of tofu but I really like Vietnamese soup, pho, so when Hannah ordered it I decided to try it as well. The broth was similar to pho so I ended up eating most of the noodles and broth and leaving all the tofu in the bowl. I'm glad I tried something new but pho is still way better in my books!

A first I was hesitant and excited for at the same time was line dancing. When Hannah asked if I wanted to go line dancing with some sisters I was a little intimidated because I'm not a good dancer nor do I pick things up quickly (and Hannah is both) but I decided to give it a try- why not! I really like country music so I knew at the least that would be a good part. The place was not very crowded and there were definitely quite a few people that struck me as regulars, since they seemed to know every choreographed dance and how to two-step. Sarah knew a lot of the dances and Hannah seemed to have some sort of idea about a least a handful of them. I danced for two different line dances but that was about all I could handle. But I did have a great time watching the dancing and singing a long to some country music!

On campus every Tuesday there is a farmers market, full of ethnic food stands and assorted retailers. On Tuesday Natalie took me to lunch there and we both had burritos from the Mexican vendor. It was really good and the walkway was full of students and staff also enjoying the market.

On my last day we went to a restaurant on campus, call the Bistro. It was a very nice-looking, free standing place that was mainly a sushi bar, but also had a menu of other items. The thing that amazed me was that they could use dining dollars at such a nice restaurant. It was a delicious meal and a great way to end my visit!


Surfin' USA by the Beach Boys