Omega Phi Alpha Alumnae Newsletter Today’s Friends. Tomorrow’s Leaders. Forever in Service.

Sisterhood of the Traveling Yoga Mats Story by Rebecca Riley, Sisterhood Committee (Iota Class); Photo by Rachel Janssen (Eta Class)

While the driving purpose of Omega Phi Alpha is service, it is our sisterhood that brings us together to bond and share our laughter, passions and dreams with one another. This semester, the Alpha Kappa chapter of Omega Phi Alpha has taken part in several sisterhood activities to strengthen our ties within our sorority and grow together as friends and sisters in service. Our semester kicked off with our Sisterhood Retreat. Each girl was asked to bring five of the same items that represented her. These items were later discussed and distributed amongst the other members so that we could each learn something new about one another. While taking part in this, we enjoyed ice cream and decorated letters with positive messages for our fellow sisters. Throughout the semester, the sisterhood committee has put on other smaller events including a decoupage party, a plotted plant party, Frozen Yoga (yoga and frozen yogurt) and a day at the zoo. As our chapter continues to grow and thrive, sisterhood activities will continue to be just as important so that each member can connect with others and make our service projects, weekly chapters and other events more fun and meaningful.

Alpha Kappa Chapter | Spring 2015

This spring the social committee arranged a few fun events including our annual formal, a park clean-up event with Triangle, and a watch party for the basketball championship game with the brothers of ATO. Formal was held on April 11th at the W Event Hall where our sisters gathered in cocktail attire to enjoy cake, punch, and lots of dancing! We had a great time bonding and posing for silly pictures at the photo booth. Our second park clean-up event with the engineering fraternity, Triangle, was a blast! The event started with collecting trash around Clinton Lake and ended with a yummy cookout and a few sport activities including volleyball and soccer. We always love getting together with Triangle and adding service made it the best of both worlds! While we may have been sad our Jayhawks didn't make it to the National Championship, we made the best of it by joining the brothers of ATO for dinner, desserts, and SPORTS! We enjoyed mingling with some new friends and continue to build relationships with other Greek organizations on campus.

Socially Awesome Story and Photos from Kim Young, Social Committee (Zeta Class)

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Alpha Kappa Chapter Spring 2015

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After a busy semester of service and sisterhood, the Alpha Kappa chapter welcomed 34 new members of Omega Phi Alpha at activation on April 24. The Kappa class, a group of incredibly diverse and talented women, holds the title as the largest pledge class this chapter has seen. Because of this, a lot of work went on behind the scenes to ensure that everyone could participate in the four required service projects.

For the service to the university community, the pledge service committee made Relay for Life a mandatory event, which also allowed for more interaction with the actives. For service to the members of the sorority, the girls gathered in the Union for a workout day, complete with headbands crafted out of old t-shirts and a session of yoga and Pilates. One of the unique ways the service committee was able to plan around all 34 different class and activities schedules was by hosting donation drives and, thus, having a large number of time slots for the volunteers. One such drive was for books benefitting Room to Read, which pushes for literacy and gender equality in the educational environment, which also fulfilled service to the nations of the world. As with any undertaking, there were unique challenges, however. “The biggest challenge with [Room to Read] is that people don't generally carry books that they're trying to get rid of,” Kappa class service committee member Helena Buchmann said. “We didn't collect enough books during that week, so we as a pledge class rallied our families to make up the difference.” The pledges also coordinated a donation drive for the Willow Domestic Violence Shelter in Lawrence, collecting anything from personal hygiene products to journals for the recovering women and children.

Another way the recently-activated new members went out into the community was by organizing a scavenger hunt on Mass Street for the Big/Little event through the work of the social/sisterhood committee. Members separated into groups with Big/Little pairs and frantically searched for items ranging from a K-State Wildcat to Raggedy Ann, promoting teamwork and communication. “I thought that it was a good bonding activity as you had an excuse to get together, make friends, and be silly,” new active Kirsten Bell said. “[Getting a Big] gave me someone to ask questions to when I wasn’t sure about what was going on.”

The pledges were also extremely active in fundraising for the Alpha Kappa chapter, through both Ever Onward and a profit share night at Fuzzy’s. They worked to boost awareness of the fundraising campaign on social media, gaining several donors, and raised over $300 at the percentage night. This money will go towards an elegant, personalized table cloth for the chapter with either the coat of arms or the letters.

Finally, all of their hard work culminated in the rituals of Activation and the dinner that followed. Activation is an event that is special to every member of the sorority, from the new actives to the alum that return every year for it. “I loved the togetherness I felt as we all became sisters. It was really nice to watch the lighting of the candles to represent the pillars of our sisterhood,” new active Marcy Cuestas said. “I am looking forward to participating in events and recruiting new members.”

Kappa Service and Sisterhood By Brianna Leyden, Membership Committee (Iota Class)

Looking Ahead… 2015-2016 Executive Board and Committee Chairs

President: Alex Welch Vice President: Claire MacLachlan Service Director: Rachel Watson Membership Directors: Caitlin Szlenk and Allie Wiethop Sisterhood Director: Monisha Randhawa Treasurer: Jeni Allison Secretary: Rebekah Burgweger

Fundraising Chair: Mallory Sconzert Traditions Chair: Dallas Sims

Active District Officer: Gabby Whitmore Social Chair: Neyda Venzor

Communications Chair: Amie Just Historian: Brittney Beckham

Insignia Chair: Hannah Rupprecht Alumnae Relations Chair: Kellie Hopp

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Alpha Kappa Chapter Spring 2015

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A Semester of Traditions By Dallas Sims, Traditions Co-Chair (Eta Class) and Clarissa Negrete, Traditions Co-Chair (Eta Class)

Founder’s Day was a success in March. Our designated theme of black, white, and pearls gave the event the perfect amount of elegance. We would also like to thank the alumnae who were able to make it to the event, we really enjoyed seeing you. We also recently held a candle passing for our lovely sister, Victoria Hendren, who revealed her engagement to Michael Wilson. Michael asked Traditions directly for a ceremony for Vicky, and he surprised her by proposing again in front of her sisters. It was a wonderful bonding experience for all of us and we wish the couple a happy future life together.

As the end of the year approaches, we will be wrapping up the semester with preparation of the senior ceremony as well as the ceremonial passing of officer duties to the newly elected executive board.

Happy spring! Boy, this year has flown by so quickly! And soon we will be losing at least 22 beautiful people because they are either graduating, moving onto to nursing school, going home to Britain, or they are moving onto bigger and greater things. Traditions has the job of making sure that they are sent off in the best way. And this year, Traditions is not only getting the seniors their embroidered stoles, but we are also getting ALL leaving members a little parting gift. This year we came up with the idea of making them shadowboxes to remind them of their time here at KU and in OPhiA. We have recruited their bigs, littles, and friends to make these gifts as personal and heartfelt as possible. And the best part is that we have managed to keep them a secret. Our goal is to make this a yearly tradition. Not only should those graduating receive their stoles, but those leaving OPhiA should receive a little something. But that doesn’t mean that next year’s nursing students or study abroad students or seniors should expect a shadowbox too. I’m planning on creating a long, long list of possible parting gifts to rotate between so each year everyone is surprised and there is no chance that gifts will be repeated for a couple years. Traditions is about maintaining past traditions and creating new ones, and I

The service committee has continued to make a positive impact on the community through various events. We had a group of about 10 girls in March go on an Alternative Weekend Break to Midnight Farms. Here, they helped out with much needed garden maintenance in front of the main building. They were also able to tour the facility and learn more about how Midnight Farms is using their resources to impact special needs children. We also continued to help the local community through Jubilee Café as well as the Blood Drive and CASA Bags. Omega Phi Alpha also continued to help the Community at Large through Relay for Life by having one of the largest groups in attendance. Many of our members stayed the entire 12 hours and participated in hourly events such as pie eating contests and a Kick Boxing course. As for Nations of the World, we composed Care Packages for soldiers overseas, many who have friends or family in OPA. These consisted of items such as non-perishable foods, toiletries and cards. To assist more closely, OPA decided to hand out letters of encouragement to KU students for both finals and midterms to give students a much needed boost in those tough weeks. As an organization, we are also working on continually learning how to support one another as well by completing a How to Be a Good Sister seminar so we can better learn how to relate to one another.

Forever in Service By Abby Clem, Service Committee (Iota Class)

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Alpha Kappa Chapter Spring 2015

From the Alumnae Relations Committee… By Taylor Hanna, Alumnae Relations Chair (Iota Class) Hello Alumnae!

Thank you all for a great semester! It was wonderful to meet some of you at events or to converse with you over email or social media!

Please take the time this summer (if you haven’t already!) to email the new Alumnae Relations Chair, Kellie, with your information so you can stay in the loop with all things OPA! Her email is:

alphakappa.alumnaerelations@gmail.com

Thank you to Vanna and Amy for all their hard work this semester, and best of luck to Kellie and her team!

And best of luck to the women on my right who became Alumnae this semester! We love you and always remember to pass it on…

Forever in Service,

Taylor

Edited and Compiled by Taylor Hanna (Iota Class)

Graduating is no excuse for losing touch with your sisters! It doesn’t matter if you’re still in Lawrence, in Kansas City, or halfway across the world—keep up to date with all the workings of the Alpha Kappa chapter of Omega Phi Alpha through our social media accounts! Follow us on Twitter at @AKOmegaPhiAlpha and Instagram at @AKOmegaPhiAlpha, like our page on Facebook, “Alpha Kappa Chapter of Omega Phi Alpha.” Also, check out the Facebook group specifically for alumnae of the Alpha Kappa Chapter, “Alpha Kappa Chapter of ΩΦΑ Alumna,” where you can find a calendar with events such as initiation, activation, and Founder’s Day. Even if you couldn’t make it to an event, order the T-shirt at our Rose Shop, https://squareup.com/market/AlphaKappaOPA! Currently a work in progress is our website, https://akomegaphialpha.wordpress.com; there you can find a concentrated history of Omega Phi Alpha as well as the Alpha Kappa chapter, a list of alumnae and current actives and leadership positions, and more information about our local chapter. We look forward to hearing from you!

How to Stay in Touch with OPA By Claire MacLachlan, Communications Chair (Theta Class)

During this semester Kansas’ very own Alpha Kappa chapter of Omega Phi Alpha has been fortunate enough to compete in an amazing fundraising opportunity! All thanks to the hard work of Caitlin Marie and Rachel Watson, who have inspired and driven our sorority to greater heights! Everyone worked hard all semester to raise money and awareness to our donors; and in the past week, all of our hard work has paid off. Omega Phi Alpha won first place in the EverOnward competition! Raising over eight thousand dollars for our chapter to go towards the greater good! We won due to our hard work and greatest number of donors. EverOnward was not only an awesome fundraising opportunity, but a great way to spread our name around campus and the community; Omega Phi Alpha is not just a sorority, we are a service based leadership organization that has been producing amazing, kind, and service oriented leaders since we were first founded. Omega Phi Alpha has had an amazing semester and I look forward to seeing all of the great things we will do next year.

EverOnward Victory By Allie Wiethop, Fundraising Committee (Iota Class)