NY Epsilon Welcomes Thirteen New Sisters!!

NY Epsilon is proud to welcome thirteen new ladies into our sisterhood.  The weekend was full of sweet memories and friendship shared.  Their names clockwise from the top left are  Mattie Rosi-Schumacher, Jess Wilson, Casey Olsen, Liz Powell, Liz McCarthy, Amber Gansz, Cristina Bush, Sarah Brady, Alaina Borst, Brooke Ruggiero, Lauren Cross, Izzy Beido and Okki Berendschot.  Thank you to the alumnae that attended and Donna Butterworth from Region I for joining us for the weekend.  Our new angels can't wait to start contributing to our sisterhood and their enthusiasm for Pi Phi has refreshed the entire house.  

Our First Arrowbowl

NY Epsilon held their first ArrowBowl, a flag football tournament to raise money for First Book and the Pi Phi Foundation.  Ten teams participated and Pi Phi's served as referees and coaches as well as forming our own team.  The single elimination tournament was held at ECAV and raised $450 dollars.  Teams from all over campus were recruited to participate and foam footballs were handed out as invitations.  

Sisters cheered on all of the teams and kept the games running smoothly.  The Pie a Pi Phi board was also out and Gatorade for competitors.  The championship was played  between Pi Kappa Alpha (PIKES) and Phi Kappa Theta (Ski Lodge).  The first RPI Arrowbowl Champions were Phi Kappa Theta (Ski Lodge).

Super Late but here it is!

Finally, here's the video of our California Gurls recruitment skit.  I hope everyone likes it.  Thanks to Minnesota Alpha for the idea.  It turned out so cute and the PNM's really loved it.  Featuring our resident songstresses, Katy Trembley, Monica Ricci, Kasey Francia, Lauren Fellers and Dianne Gan.

Alumnae Weekend was a huge success!

For reunion & homecoming weekend, the sisters of Pi Beta Phi hosted a brunch and cookie shine at the chapter house.  We were so excited to see that so many alumnae came back and shared their Pi Phi memories with us.  

The Class of  1986 returned to celebrate their 25 year reunion and we enjoyed spending time with some of our chapter's first members.  The cookie shine was open to families and friends of the fraternity.

  

After the cookie shine, the group headed over to Fan Fest at ECAV and the homecoming football game.  

We're on a BOAT!!

On Saturday, the sisters of Pi Beta Phi celebrated their sisterhood at our Fall Formal.  Organized by VP Event Planning, Courtney Ann Stakutis and her committee, it was nautical themed party held on a boat on the Hudson River.  

Sisters and their dates traveled on buses into downtown Troy and boarded the boat for the evening.  The dance floor was bumping all night and dinner was served buffet style on board.  Everyone had an amazing time dancing and partying like it's 1867.  

Fall 2011 gets their bigs!!

The Fall 2011 NM class is half way through their new member period and it's gift week!!

The entire Fall 2011 new member class (except for one) on their first day of Gift Week

The girls come to the house on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday to receive their present and another clue to who their big is.  The week ended with BSR on Thursday.

Meet our Fall 2011 New Member Class!!

We Picked the Phinest!!

NY Epsilon welcomed nine new baby angels into our house on Bid Day.  It was a blast and we were so happy to finally find out who our new angels were.  The girls are super excited and can't wait to start their new member program.

The house gathered outside with music blaring to welcome our new class into our house.  The festivities continued with a cookie shine, presentation of their bid cards and Picked the Phinest t-shirts.  We can't wait to call them our sisters!!

Haley becomes a Pi Phi!!

Congratulations to our newly initiated sister, Haley Haskins.  She's super excited to start contributing to Pi Phi in a positive way and we are so happy to finally call her one of our sisters!!  She's pictured below with her big, Megan Corrales.

The Angel's Day Trip at Grafton Lake

Philanthropy Day was so much fun we learned even more about literacy and did a speed read to get everyone excited about this semester's philanthropy projects.  A Speed Read is a competition that pins two readers against each other to see who can read the most words from a Dr. Seuss book in the allotted amount of time.  As a fundraiser, readers solicit donations per word they read.  First Book, Champions Are Readers (CAR), Read With Me, and Mr. RPI were all covered as well as the new service projects we have planned for this year.

To celebrate a super successful work week and say goodbye to LDC Kasey (pictured to the right) the chapter traveled to a local state park for a day of sisterhood bonding.  Some sisters rented kayaks and canoes to explore the lake.  Lunch was served and sisters had a chance to relax and decompress before classes start on Tuesday.  It was a lot of fun and sisters really enjoyed just hanging out together. 

Thanks to all of the sisters that made Work Week this year so much fun.  

Congrats to Bridget and Samhita!

Our sisters Bridget and Samhita are studying abroad in Signapore this semester.  Even though we miss them, we wish them the best of luck!!



Work Week Gets Off to a Great Start!!

It's so nice to see old friends!!  Everyone has moved back into the Pi Phi house and the halls are full of new faces.  Over the summer, Chapter House Corporation was hard at work improving the house and grounds.  The parking lot was expanded to accommodate more sisters and spots were assigned.  No more parking on Tom Phelan Road because you couldn't find a spot.  The landscaping in front of the house was also improved to create a more aesthetically pleasing facade.  New lofts were purchased and the doorbells were fixed.   

Work Week started with the arrival of our visitor for the week, LDC Kasey from headquarters.  She's been a huge help and has tons of great ideas about recruitment. 

After a day and a half of workshops, it was great to relax as a sisterhood with yoga on the front lawn.

 

Check out the University of Minnesota Chapter of Pi Beta Phi doing their version of Katy Perry's "California Girls".

Pi Beta Phi's 68th Biennial Convention

Pi Beta Phi has taken over the Hilton at Walt Disney World.  Over 1,000 collegians and alumnae traveled to Orlando for four days of songs, seminars, awards and sisterhood.  Upon arrival in Orlando, attendees were paired with roommates from other chapters and settled in.

The convention started with a performance by Katelyn Epperly (Illinois Eta), American Idol Season 9 Top 8 female.   

An exhibit called A Legacy of Literacy was set up during the term of convention that featured artifacts, pictures and a movie presentation about Pi Beta Phi's literacy work starting with the Pi Beta Phi School in Gatlinburg, Tennessee.   

Keynote Speakers were brought in to talk about issues pertaining to Greek Life now.  Dr. Mari Ann Callais got delegates up and moving with her lively performance full of laughs, smiles and greek pride. The creator of Response Ability, Mike Dilbeck did a talk on the bystander effect as it relates to hazing and motivation.  A spokesperson for Campus Speak,  David Stollman did a talk titles "Buy It or Get Out" on stereotypes in the greek community and ways to break them by living our values.  

 

During the four days of convention more than 55,000 dollars was raised for the Pi Beta Phi Foundation, thanks to generous donations from alumnae and collegians.  70,000 dollars was also spent at the Pi Phi express store, the proceeds from which go directly to the fraternity.    



Chapter members Kait Signor, Kim Rockwell and Jackie Mattick attended as well as the CHC president, Margaret Harvey and AAC member, Liz DeRosa.  RPI graduate Jessica Wiggs also attended representing the Honolulu, Hawaii alumnae club.

During Saturday dinner, each chapter participated in the Parade of Banners.  The chapter president from each chapter presented their banner and the Chapter name, host institution and year of establishment was announced for each chapter.  Pictured above is our chapter's representatives with our banner (soon to be redesigned).

5,000 Angels in One Ballroom

Many awards were presented to individuals, chapters and alumnae clubs including the member of distinction awards, top 10 in academics, lifetime commitment awards, top 3 alumnae clubs and the Balfour Cup was presented to MO Alpha, University of Missouri