Chicken LITTLE

On Wednesday night, Tri Delta had its BIG/LITTLE reveal. Nationals ensure that every Tri Delta member is given a “Big” 12 days after Bid Day—which fell on September 5^th. This is rather early, but thankfully I was given a little that I absolutely adore. In the first week of the semester, we are given temp littles in order to get to know all of the new girls much better. On Sunday, we preffed our littles and the new deltas preffed their bigs. We matched them all up on Sunday night, and I happened to be a perfect match with the one and only Janie Tekell. This was one of my DG babies and my Star Baby during recruitment. The moment I found out she was a Tri Delt, I knew I had to be her big. It is unfortunate that all of the clues leading up to tonight fell during recruitment week for MSC FISH. I have been going non-stop and wish I could have spent more time crafting for my little like the rest of the house. However, I knew she would understand my busy schedule. The first clue was given on Monday and I placed a giant poster board on her dorm door. The rest of the clues were little riddles along with a few presents. It all led up to Wednesday night and I couldn’t have been more excited!!! Everyone gathered at the house wearing ridiculous costumes. There were babies, pumpkins, hot air balloons, reindeer, grandmas, thugs, and so much more. I borrowed a chicken suit from Steven Baker and forced Janie to be my perfect “Chicken LITTLE.” I dressed as a farmer and forced her to scream, “The sky is falling, the sky is falling.” It was pretty epic and dressing up is always fun—especially when you get to laugh at her in that ridiculous costume. It is still unreal to me that I met her at Fish Camp. Janie is incredible and I feel so blessed to have her as a part of my life. From my DG baby to becoming my LITTLE in Tri Delta… She is such a big part of my life. I know she will do incredible things at A&M and I am so thankful to be a part of her journey. I am so happy for all of the new Tri Delta families and can’t wait for us to start our own dynasty!

New Member Retreat

This weekend was the New Member Retreat for PC ’12. Lauren Paine and I have been planning our new member program for quite a while and this retreat was a huge part of it. Between Bid Day and the Retreat within the span of one week—we have been BUSY around here. This weekend wasn't possible without our incredible new member team and additional officers that came along. We left the Tri Delta house on Friday afternoon and headed towards Lake Travis. We ate Jason’s Deli for dinner on the way there and played plenty of bus games. Speed Dating, “Delta” Hot Seat, Original Tunes, and so many more. It was an awfully long ride there—due to a few delays, but everything fell into place once we arrived. We began by dividing the girls into their Pearl Pal groups and settling into our cabins. The Pearl Pal Group’s consist of approximately 8-10 girls from their pledge class led by two older Tri Delts. It is a neat opportunity for them to get to know additional people in our chapter and bond with each other. Once we introduced ourselves, we grabbed our color coordinating bandanas and headed to the field for some activities. These girls were rather competitive—which made the games super fun! They each came up with a team name and cheer—and performed for everybody. I can’t lie… I was rather impressed by the final outcomes. However, Team OJ forever has my heart. We also had a dance competition to some classic songs in the conference room. These girls got some pretty sweet dance moves! The night continued on with advice from our senior officers and a unique opportunity for each girl to share something of importance. Even though this isn’t my first year in Tri Delta, I learned a ton of valuable lessons from listening to the seniors as well. Everyone brought their thing of importance—some goofy and some serious. Regardless, we shared laughs, tears, and countless stories with the group. The night came to a close in the wee hours of the morning and we headed back to our assigned cabins. When the morning rolled around, we all woke up and ate breakfast together near Lake Travis. Becca and Callie led us in a morning devotional about the four essential pillars for life and balancing them. We broke into small groups and discussed several other questions, goals, fears, and more stories. The rest of the morning, the girls had free time around camp. They could hike, swim, swing, or just hang out with their new sisters. We headed back to College Station around noon and I don’t think our retreat could have ran more smoothly. PC ’12 is incredible. They are funny, outspoken, and absolutely precious. They don’t care about what people think about them and each of them had a great attitude all weekend. I PRAY that they had fun- because I know all of the officers enjoyed getting to know them!!! I couldn’t be more excited for the remainder of our New Member Program. Lauren and I have countless more things in store for these girls. Our hope is that they begin forming lifelong friendships with each other and feel beyond welcome to Tri Delta. I know the next eight weeks will fly by, but I pray these girls cherish each and every moment.

“She is clothed with strength and dignity, and she laughs without fear of the future.” –Proverbs 31:25

Recruitment Week 2012

Welcome to the Delta Shelta

ΔΔΔ

I moved into the Tri Delta house almost three weeks ago and I can’t believe this is the first time I am able to blog. Life has been crazy to say the very least. As soon as I arrived home from Fish Camp, I have barely had a moment to catch my breath. This year I experienced my first Work Week and Rush Week as a Tri Delt. It had its ups and downs, but I loved spending time with all of those beautiful ladies. Work Week started out for PC ’11 the day after we moved into the house. Every single second was filled with loud cheers, posters, slogans, and lots of girls. It was a neat opportunity for our entire chapter to come together and discover all of the girls coming through recruitment this year. I was able to get to know older girls and girls in my own pledge class so much better. The days were long (really long), but somehow we all survived. The following week was recruitment—what we had all been waiting for. The first two days started out EARLY and all 900+ girls came into our house throughout the day. It was filled with varied conversations and inevitable laughter. After the second day, Lucy Margaret Singleton was born in Sugar Land, TX. This was the fourth and last addition to the Singleton family. She was 7 lbs 11 ounces and 20 inches of pure perfection. As soon as recruitment ended on Tuesday, I went to check my phone. I saw pictures of this beautiful baby and broke into tears. I was ecstatic that she was born, but I wanted to be in the hospital with Maggie more than anything in the world. So, I did just that. I headed home that evening and visited the entire Singleton clan in the hospital room. That family means everything to me and there was no where I would have rather been. The following morning, I drove back to College Station just in time for roll call on Philanthropy Day. All of the Tri Deltas wore blue, yellow, and white dresses. Everyone looked precious as we started the longest day of the week. There were nine parties where we decorated “No-Mo-Chemo” hats for St. Jude, watched a short video, and chatted with the girls. I am so proud that we have philanthropy like St. Jude that we’re so passionate about nationwide. The day was a total success and Tri Delta’s mission for St. Jude filled sorority row. Then there was Skit Night—and this was by far my most favorite day of rush. We welcomed all of the PNM’s to Delta Rock Cafe—complete with motorcycles, a stage, and plenty of talented ladies. They performed their dances, sang all of their songs— and everyone simply loved it. I was filled with so much Delta pride and wished more than anything that I was as talented as the girls on stage. They brought their “A” game to Skit Night—and Taylor Al-Saigh did a phenomenal job leading our chapter. The last day of official recruitment was Preference Night. This can be an emotional night for many girls and an exciting night for many others. The girls were invited back to three houses and by the end of the night they choose the one where they felt the most at home. I was lucky enough to be able to speak at Tri Delta’s preference night and I hope I brought comfort to many girls. I introduced myself and reassured them that I was in their exact seats only one short year ago. I told them about the exciting new chapter of their lives that is starting—and that I couldn’t be happier for them. I knew God had a plan for each girl and everything would fall perfectly into place. I shared advice with them and encouraged them to choose the house where they felt the happiest—just like I did one year ago. Once preference night was complete—the entire house went CRAZY. Recruitment 2012 was OVER and we couldn’t have been more pumped. Our Rush Team, led by Sarah Hosea, was incredible. We can’t say thank you enough to each of them for being so patient, understanding, and dedicated to their officer roles. They worked all summer long and non-stop for the past two weeks—and their hard work paid off. The next day was the day we had all been looking forward to…. BID DAY. Lauren Paine and I have been planning this day since January, so to say we were excited was definitely an understatement. Our theme was “Every Lady Wants to Live in the White House.” Since we are the only white house on sorority row and the election is right around the corner… We thought it was perfect! Everyone was decked out in their red, white, and blue tanks. They announced our Bid List around 3:30pm and yells filled the house. We got an incredible pledge class this year and every single girl is a total rock star. During Bid Day, music was blaring from our house. We had a bounce house, catered BBQ, and a photo booth—plenty of desserts, decorations, and dance moves as well. We started out by greeting all of our new members as they got off the bus and taking a million pictures. We then went inside and watched the Welcome PC ’12 Video and opening slideshow. Bid Day was an absolute blast. Our girls spent the night at the house—and our hope was that they felt at home. Work week combined with recruitment week was exhausting, long, tiring, but incredibly rewarding!!!  ΔΔΔ PC ’12 has just entered one of the BEST chapters on the row and we are beyond blessed to call each of them our new Delta sisters.

WORK WEEK: 

Here is the Story of Janie Tekell: At Fish Camp, I had the sweetest and most sarcastic girl in my DG. I absolutely fell in love with her and when she told me she was rushing… I freaked out a bit. I always knew that I wanted her to be a Delta. Her joy was contagious and her smile could instantly brighten up any room. During Work Week, I made Janie Tekell my Star Baby. Throughout the week, I would scream: “FISH CAMP… Where I fell for Janie Tekell.” There were huge posters with her face everywhere and the whole chapter knew all about Janie. However, I never wanted her to feel pressured to be in a certain sorority on campus. I told her to enter recruitment with an open mind and go wherever she felt the happiest. I was confident that she would be an incredible addition to any chapter on the row. On Saturday, I discovered that she was OUR BID LIST. I almost passed out I was so excited. Janie Tekell will be the perfect Delta and I can’t wait to see how the rest of her journey at Texas A&M unfolds.

Day 1 & 2: GO GREEK

Day 3: PHILANTHROPY DAY

Day 3: Lucy Margaret Singleton

Day 4: Skit Night

Day 5: Preference Night

Day 6: BID DAY!!!