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Alpha Zeta Newsletter Spring 2015, Volume 2

Thank you for viewing the Florida chapter’s spring newsletter! As always, this semester has proven to be a busy one for our brothers. Here are some of the highlights from this year, so far. We hope you enjoy!

Jennifer Glass Outreach Coordinator

Spring Initiation Monday, April 13

M2 Battle Sports Friday, April 17

For our end-of-the-year social, we will be heading to the

Waldo flea market for a laser tag war!

Yogurtology Fundraisers

Saturday, April 11 & May 2

All-day, at Archer Road Support us by telling the cashier you are

with AZ!

T H E F L O R I D A C H A P T E R

Congratulations, Gators!

Our representatives have recently returned from the 2015 National Agricultural

Leadership Conference, where our chapter was

named the ‘Chapter of the Year,’ and received the

Founder’s Cup!

Stay tuned, for the full report from NALC in our next

newsletter!

We will be honoring our new brothers that have

completed the pledging process.

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ALPHA ZETA NEWSLETTER SPRING 2015

North American Veterinary Community Conference In January, some of our brothers were lucky enough to attend the NAVC conference in Orlando, Florida. We helped out with door monitoring, badge scanning, and setting up for the opening ceremonies. All our hard work did not come without its perks! We were ecstatic to receive free weekend stay at the Marriott, seats at a hilarious standup act by comedian Jim Gaffigan, and the ability to listen in on a few veterinary workshops. To top it off, on our final day, several of our brothers decided to visit the Universal Orlando theme parks. It was a blast!

One of our chapter’s main traditions is the Valentine’s Day Rose Sale. Each year on this day, we can be found tabling in Turlington Plaza, with freshly cut red, white, and pink roses for sale. In addition, we make on- and off-campus deliveries for the faculty at UF. Despite Valentine’s Day occurring on a Saturday this year, we were still able to make it a successful fundraiser! Not only did we raise money for our chapter, but we also learned a little bit about how to market our goods to unsuspecting students passing by. Tip: It definitely helps to have adorable, friendly dogs to lure in the customers!

Rose Sale

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ALPHA ZETA NEWSLETTER SPRING 2015

Key West Service Trip

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Paul’s Episcopal Church, who was gracious enough to let us stay at a house on their property. After reflecting on our experiences this year, it was interesting to hear that the first-timers were amazed at how much trash there was, while returners to the trip were amazed at how little trash was left since last year! It was a great feeling to know that our efforts are truly having an impact, however there is still much more work to be done in regards to marine debris! On behalf of Alpha Zeta, we urge you to reduce your use of plastics and always dispose of your trash properly!

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Once again, fourteen of our brothers decided to spend their spring break working with the Florida Keys National Marine Sanctuary. We spent our mornings cleaning up marine debris from various locations in the Florida Keys and were free to spend our afternoons bonding with each other. Some highlights of the trip were snorkeling, kayaking, boating to clean up Boca Grande key, seeing the sunset at Mallory Square, relaxing on the beach at Fort Zachary Taylor, and going to the Hemmingway house. In addition, we spent one day doing service for St.

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ALPHA ZETA NEWSLETTER SPRING 2015

Spring ’15 Pledge Class Articles by Pledgemaster: Angely Jimenez

Last night the Florida Chapter of Alpha Zeta had their Big/Little reveal and potluck hosted by the pledge class. I assigned corresponding costumes to both the Big and their Little. For example, we had Nemo and Dory, Men in Black and an alien, Batman and Robin. It was a fun time for everyone, and the pledges finally get to know who their Big is! I chose their Bigs based on speed dating that we had 2 weeks ago. All of the Bigs had a minute to talk to a pledge before moving on to the next one. Each pledge also filled out a questionnaire. Once Littles were assigned, each Big got a plain white bag to decorate for their little and get them a gift to present them at the reveal. I got my little an old AZ t-shirt, an AZ keychain, and some hand sanitizer. I also had a contest for "best decorated bag". The winner, Promy Tobassum, hand drew her entire bag! All in all, it was a great evening filled with food, laughter, and memories to last a lifetime!

Scavenger Hunt

Big-Little Reveal Potluck

This semester I organized a scavenger hunt around campus for the pledges. At each station, they found brothers waiting to give them the next clue. The pledges split up into two teams, and the team that got back first got an extra hour to go in any category that they want (social, fundraising, or service). It was really fun organizing and seeing them all run around campus and working together to finish their hunt. Afterwards, we had a reflection time to discuss teamwork and some challenges they may have faced. This was a great event that brought out the strengths of the pledges and allowed them to bond together while achieving a goal.