Our Newest Addition!

How did I get so lucky to be able to work with the colony women at Youngstown State University?! I have had the most amazing week watching these ladies fall a little bit more in love with Alpha Omicron Pi every day. Liz has been here off and on all semester but I was the fortunate one to get to come to town and assist her for a week! Our job was to plan their Chapter Retreat, and needless to say, we have been looking forward to this all semester!

We started out Friday with a Pumpkin Patch Sisterhood! Melanie, Phi Lambda’s Chapter Adviser, was so gracious to invite all of us to her family’s farm. All of the women teamed up to carve a pumpkin and have snacks in their barn. Liz named me the “Official Judge” of the Pumpkin Carving Competition! Phi Lambda has some pretty talented and creative carvers, but the first place prize had to go to the team that carved AOII inside of a heart, it was a master piece! We continued the evening sharing different details about our lives based on the color Starbursts we picked around the bon fire, learning AOII songs and chants on the hay ride, and enjoying s’mores!

The winning team!

Here is all of the sisters around the camp fire!

Our Saturday leadership retreat was definitely one to remember. Liz and I planned several sisterhood and team building activities to get the day started. “I love my AOII sister who…”, This or That, Knots and Pat On the Back all set the tone for an afternoon of leadership assessment and chapter visions.

This is a picture of the women all tied up in ‘Knots’!

Here are the Phi Lambda sisters and their chain link ladder. Every link represents a colony member and her contributions to the well being and success of the chapter!

We spent the afternoon determining which ‘Color’ of leader we all were: Blue, Green, Gold or Orange. Even though most of the chapter (including Liz and myself) were all Gold’s, the Blue’s and Green’s definitely stood out! We ended the day by creating a Chapter Mission Statement and tying everything together with a string activity to figure out how each member can contribute to achieving that Mission. We couldn’t be more proud to announce the chapter’s mission statement for their first year as colony members of Alpha Omicron Pi:

“Phi Lambda Chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi will strive to maintain Happiness, Faith, Respect and Compassion amongst ourselves and for Youngstown State University, to hold true to our traditions and values while supporting individual growth and working cooperatively and harmoniously to uphold the character of the Chapter.”

Liz and I after the Saturday retreat was over, we like to call ourselves “Team LC” :)

The following day at chapter meeting was their Colony Twin Reveal! As each member arrived, they found their name and had to twist, turn, untangle and untie to find out which member was on the other end. Here are some pictures of all of the chaos and excitement!

As if the women could be busier, last week was Homecoming at Youngstown State University. The ladies of Phi Lambda were paired with the men of Sigma Tau Gamma, a very competitive duo if I do say so myself! The sisters use all of the songs and chants that they learned that week to help them win ‘Most Spirited Team’! Here is a picture of them with their float!

After an amazing week at Youngstown State University, I know that we will be so lucky to have these women as members of Alpha Omicron Pi. They are all individually unique but they are already living our ritual every day without even knowing it! The colony’s Installation date is set for December 10^th and I could not be more excited for the women of Phi Lambda to be initiated into our sisterhood!

Roses, Clarke