Epic Weekend

This last weekend was definitely a contender for best weekend of my college career. I was reminded how blessed I am with the friends and opportunities I have here at PSU. Friday capped off Sigma's week of sisterhood with our spring initiation ceremony. Saturday, I spent the morning participating in Hearts and Hammers. It is a community service project the technology department runs to help with building projects and fixing up houses in the community. My group helped a woman by painting her home and fixing her deck. That afternoon we celebrated our Founders Day with Tri Sigma. I was given the Golden Violet award for being a leader in Sigma and throughout campus. I was also given the honor of the Mabel Lee Walton award which is the Outstanding Tri Sigma Sister of the Year. After the Founders Day celebration, it was time to get ready for my last Sigma Formal as a collegiate member.
I must say, this was the best Sigma formal I have ever been to. Maybe because one of my best friends planned it, maybe because we had an awesome group of people in attendance, maybe because I had an incredible date, or maybe all of the above! I was so happy to be able to dress up and spend a fun night with my closest friends. Dinner was delicious, and the people at my table kept me laughing the whole night. Here we are posing for a picture with our dates.One of the things that made this formal extra special was that I did not find my dress in a department store or boutique. I actually designed my dress and my mom sewed it for me! I had to pose for a full dress shot with my fashionista friends Mandy and Sarah.Lucky for me, several of my friends who had graduated were invited back to join us for our special evening! I was super excited to see my friend Jordan back in town. All in all, I had an absolute blast.Sunday we had our last Crimson Club meeting of the year. We welcomed the new members for the 2010-2011 school year. We shared our favorite memories of Crimson Club and ate our last meal with Dr. Scott and his wife. Mandy and I posed with the Scotts before we left. This experience with Crimson Club has been a pleasure. Having the chance to spend time with the President and his family, and learn more about PSU has been unforgettable.

True Life: I am a Pitt State Greek

This last week was our annual Greek Week! The week is always filled with competitions and fun to the max. All of the Sororities and Fraternities compete on campus for the title of Greek Week Champions! Before Greek Week started, Sigmas won the intramural flag football championship! That was just the boost we needed going into this competitive week!During Greek Week we have several different competitions. First is Canned Art. For Canned Art, each house designs a sculpture out of canned goods and foods that can be donated to a shelter. The sculpture must go along with the them of Greek Week. This year's theme was True Life: I am a Pitt State Greek (TV theme.) The Sigmas got 1st place in canned art for our Survivor themed design. Next, the houses dasign a banner to be hung on campus to advertise Greek Week to the rest of campus. Sigma did a spin-off of The Real Housewives shows and our banner said "The Real Greeks of Crawford County." We got 3rd in banner. A new competition this year was house decorating. Each house had to decorate the front of their house in $30 or less. We did a Sesame Street theme. It said "This week is sponsored by the Greek alphabet." Each of the Sesame Street characters we painted was holding a sign with a name of one of our houses on campus. We got 1st! Later in the week we have Greek Games. The games consist of tug-of-war, pie eating contests, and relays. Sigmas took 1st in the games this year as well. My sigma family was at the Greek games, so we took a family picture!Thursday, I took a break from Greek Week to attend the Leadership and Awards banquet. This is where top honors for the school are announced. This year the Ali Kemp Fashion Show won PSU Program of the Year for the 2nd year in a row! Mandy, Tyler, Me, Michael, and Kait were there to accept the award.I also was awarded the PSU Outstanding Leader on Campus. It was an honor to be recognized for my involvement, and I got to share that moment with my parents which made it even more special.Back to Greek Week, Friday is the biggest competition and finale of the week, Airband. Airband is a huge lip-sync and dance competition. Sigmas got 2nd in Airband and 1st in Greek Goddess which determined that we were the Greek Week Champions! It was wonderful to see all of our hard work paid off when we got the championship trophy.The day after Greek Week was Sigma's annual Mom's day. Mom's day is when we invite all of our Moms to come to town. This year we made coaster sets and played some fun games to see how well we really knew our moms! The event was a total success and my mom won 2009-2010 Mom of the Year!

Taking It To The Streets

This last week was all about helping the community. Sigma Sigma Sigma's national philanthropy is the Robbie Page Memorial. The memorial was started in 1951 when our national president's son was diagnosed with polio. Originally the money raised was directed toward research to find a cure for polio. Since that has been found, the funds now help to build and maintain child play therapy rooms in hospitals. Ever seen the movie "Patch Adams"? That is a Sigma funded child play therapy room in that movie!

Each Spring, Tri Sigma at PSU raises money for the fund through an event we call "Rockin' for Robbie." We rock in rocking chairs for 72 hours to raise money. We started Monday off with our Rockin' For Robbie Kick off event. Jessica, Amanda, Courtney, Kelsey and Kelsey were a few of the 80+ people in attendance for the kick off event!

This year we teamed up with Lambda Chi Alpha. Each organization had 2 people rocking in the chairs at all times. 

Danielle and Sam were the first 2 to rock this year. I rocked from 10:00pm- Midnight that evening with my little sis, Lauren. Each person volunteered a minimum of 2 hours to rock.

After a week of rocking, we joined forces with other organizations on campus for The Big Event. The Big Event is a community wide service project that the campus participates in each year. We volunteer our time to the community to help families rake leaves, paint houses, clean and organize. If they need it done, we do it! I was the odd ball in my group for the event because everyone had a name that started with K except me. We were Melissa, Kacee, Kyla,

Kelsey, Kaylee and Kait. Team MKKKKK finished first and we were able to help in other yards.

Even though The Big Event is a lot of manual labor, we were blessed with great weather and we threw a little fun in the mix. Kait and I found ourselves in a "sword fight" at the first house after mulching the backyard! It was great to get out in the community and theank them for all they do for the university!

Spring is in the Air

Wow it is amazing how fast time has flown by since my last post. Lots has happened, and it is difficult to make myself sit down at the computer inside and blog when there is so much to do outside! So, be prepared for the novel of events I am about to provide insight for.
We last left off just before spring break. During my spring break I was able to spend time in my hometown with family and friends from high school. Halfway through the week, Erin and I went to visit our friend Kelly. She lives in Lawrence so we took a few days to catch up with her and we had a ball. We were able to see the St. Patrick's Day parade, watch some movies, and do what girls do best... shopping! We stayed up late into the night chatting and giggling like it was a slumber party from elementary school, but it made for a very successful and relaxing break!I then headed back to Kansas City for a few days, and while I was there, I got together with a few Sigmas and hit up Dave and Busters. We especially liked playing the jump rope game. It is basically a row of lights that is a virtual jump rope. We didn't earn many tickets playing, but the laughter and entertainment we got from the game were prize enough!After trying our luck at some other games, we did manage to reel in some tickets and when we traded them in, we all settled on these ridiculous furry ties. We actually wore them to our first Sigma meeting when we got back to school!After break I was refreshed and ready to get back to business to finish out the year. The first week I got back I attended Grad Finale. Here we finalize things for graduation, and I picked up my cap and gown. It boggles my mind that four years has already gone by here. That Saturday, University Student Ambassadors and the admissions office hosted Junior Jungle Day. This is a day that is catered specifically to high school seniors and their families to introduce them to Pitt and opportunities for education after high school.
Sunday was the annual Student Activities Council Easter Egg Hunt. It is one of the events we do each year to give back to the community and thank them for all of their support throughout the year. The hunt consists of games and prizes for children, as well as an Easter egg hunt and of course, a visit from the Easter bunny! The turn-out was great this year, and children were leaving with overflowing baskets. One of my favorite parts about this event is that we ask other organizations to join us and set up games for the kids. It is fun to meet all of the people from other organizations and interact with them while helping out the community!
Following the Easter egg hunt was Crimson Club. As the end of the year approaches, this is the last meeting we will have with Dr. Scott and his family before the new members for next year join us. This month we focused most of our conversation on alumni relations, and what we can do to help the university when we become alumni.
The weather has been clearing up and it has been far too beautiful out to stay inside. It is weather like this that makes it difficult to go to class because you would much rather be out taking in the fresh air! After class one day, Erin and I decided to use the breeze to our advantage and go kite flying! I had a blast, and once Erin gained control of her kite, she had a good time too! We then gave our kites to some kids that were playing in the park, and we had a little picnic complete with pb&j sandwiches, apples with caramel dip, and pudding cups! Operation in the park = success!The next weekend was Easter. I got to spend the entire weekend with family! It was so good to see my siblings and catch up with aunts, uncles, grandparents, and cousins. The first day I spent at my parents house. We feasted on delicious homemade meals and laughed about stories from when my siblings and I were younger. I have eight siblings, but two of them are 2-year-old twin girls. It is always good to see them every time I am home, and I am amazed at how much they have grown. I may be biased, but I am pretty sure they are the smartest, cutest 2-year-olds ever! Hannah even told me this weekend that my sunglasses made me look "distinguished." I don't know where she learned distinguished, but kids really do say the funniest things!The twins got to go hunt for eggs with my younger cousins and nieces. They are still grasping the concept, and they tend to get preoccupied with what is in the eggs rather than trying to find them all!My cousins and I, who are too old to hunt for eggs, got to hide all the eggs. We also were the only ones to take naps at Grandma and Grandpa's house. I think our full bellies, sun-drenched skin, and our grandparents comfy couches all factored into perfect napping conditions. My last Easter as a collegian was great. Now just one more month to see everything else fall into place, and I am beginning to realize it is going to be a very busy month!