Zeta Tau Alpha

A special highlight of this past week would be initiation of our new member class Gamma Alpha! This has been the biggest new member class that the Theta Delta chapter has ever had. As new members, the girls learn about the responsibilities of membership and our emphasis on loyalty, responsibility, service, leadership and commitment. The new members also have a big sister to help guide them through the membership process and initiation.

Being initiated into Zeta Tau Alpha is a beautiful service that has remained unchanged since written by the founders. The service explains all of the symbolism of the fraternity. Everything that is the new members are told about the symbolism of the fraternity is secret.

Once being initiated there are many opportunities to hold leadership positions in the chapter, either as a member of the Executive Committee or the Program Council. ZTA members are also encouraged to participate in other campus activities and organizations as well. The national fraternity also has many scholarships that anyone in ZTA can apply to.

College only lasts a few years, but a membership in ZTA lasts a lifetime. The dream of having a sisterhood does not end when you graduate. There are so many ZTA alumni chapters to be come apart of where countless opportunities could arise.

This past spring semester the ZTA sisters set up a weekly pink out table on campus to pass out shower chairs and ribbons to raise breast cancer awareness. Along with this the sisters promote two major events they plan which are, the pigs for pink Fundraiser and pink out game with one of Salisbury Universities varsity sports team.

On April 11th the pigs for pink fundraiser began. Ten people from several organizations volunteered to participate. For one week each individual will have a jar at the ZTA pink out table where people can donate money towards who they want to see kiss a pig.

Yesterday marked the last day anyone could contribute to the jars. Then today at 3pm in Red Square Mr. Mike Vessels, from the fraternity Alpha Sigma Epsilon, was announced first winner. He then proudly puckered up and kissed the baby pig!

A total of $250 dollars was raised from the pigs for pink fundraiser. Sister Emily gubish was in second place for having most amount of money in her jar. Overall the fundraiser was a great turn out and many people enjoyed the excitement of who was going to kiss a pig.

Mike Vessels

Each month the Zeta Tau Alpha promotes Breast Cancer awareness around campus by hosting a Pink-Out table. The Pink-Out table is a fun way for the ZTA sisters to promote awareness and education by handing out shower cards and pink ribbons to those passing by. Many students on campus love rocking the ZTA pink ribbon on their backpacks and clothing.

Pink-Out tables are also another great way for the ZTA sisters to promote their charity and fundraiser events. Each semester the chapter holds several fundraising events planned, along with 1-2 major charity events. All the proceeds and donations earned from these events go to the Susan G. Komen foundation.

At one of this month’s Pink-Out tables, the sisters promoted their new fundraiser, Pigs for Pink. This fundraiser consists of one person from each organization on campus, who will each have a jar that people can choose from to put money into. For one week the jar will collect donations, and at the end whoever has the most money will have to kiss a pig!

So far there are ten participants who are in the running to kiss a pig. There will be a Pink-Out table next week where it will be the last opportunity to make donations. Stay tuned for more updates on the Pigs For Pink fundraiser and make sure to check out the Facebook event!

On April 10th Sigma Pi hosted their second annual charity event, Sigma Cutie Pi to raise money for the American Cancer Society. The winner wins a gift basket and has the honor of calling herself Sigma Pi’s ‘Cutie Pie”. Thirteen girls were chosen to participate in the contest, including sisters Hannah Wood, Danielle Sampson, and Sarah Navin.

Sarah, Danielle, Hannah

On the day of the event all participants received free makeovers from a local hair salon, Designers Edge. The girls also were assigned coaches to help them prepare a talent. In order to prepare for the contest each girl had to come up with a rejection line, talent, and be prepared to answer a variety of questions.

The sisters of Zeta Tau Alpha came up with their each unique talents. Hannah Wood preformed a cheer that she made up about the brothers of Sigma Pi, Danielle Sampson preformed a baseball comedy skit with her younger brother, and Sarah Navins showed off her athletic ability by jumping rope.

After all the rounds the judges tallied up their scores only to find out there was a tie for first place between Danielle Sampson and Lauren Melnick from the organization Phi Mu. The tiebreaker consisted of two additional informative questions asked by the judges and a dance off. Once all the final scoring was complete, it was announced that sister Danielle Sampson had won the title of Sig Pi Cutie Pi!

The brothers of Sigma Pi and Danielle

Spring time is always a busy semester for all of Greek life at Salisbury University. This past week the sisters of Alpha Sigma Tau hosted their annual lip-synching competition called Mock Rock. The competition took place on April 3rd, 2012 at 7pm in Holloway Hall with a $10 dollar entry fee, where all the proceeds will go to their philanthropy, Habitat for Humanity.

The ZTA sisters love showing support to other organizations on campus so they took it upon themselves to enter into the competition. ZTAs new pledge class, gamma alpha, even wanted to help participate. A total of 40 girls worked over the course of 3 weeks to put the best lip-synching dance together. Their main inspiration when creating the dance was to make the dance with diverse soundtrack of music using pop, rap, hip-hop and rock.

As the sisters took stage in front of the sold out auditorium no one knew what to expect, since the girls kept their routine a secret. As the music started the sisters started to dance with their black pants with bight colored shirts on. There was a variety of many songs from different decades and the sisters would change some of their outfits to fit in with the song. To end their dance all the sisters gathered together on stage with glow sticks and had all the lights turn off and they danced around until they formed AST letters and their anchor symbol out of glow sticks.

After many great performances AST proudly announced that the Zeta Tau Alpha chapter won first place in the lip-synching competition. The sisters were so excited to here this that all social networks were exploding that ZTA had won first place in Mock Rock. Many sisters were tweeting and uploading videos about the good news. For more details about what was being said check out,[“Mock Rock Recap” on Storify]

Overall the ZTA sisters are very happy with supporting other organizations on campus. They are excited to have won Mock Rock. The sisters are now looking forward in preparing to participate other events on campus this spring as well as preparing for Greek Week.

With any organization, general meeting is very important. It is a time where everyone gets together to go over weekly and monthly information that the chapter needs to know about. The executive board sits in the front of the room and each person on the board goes over important information. For example the Panhellenic Representative goes over dates that the sisters need to know about other organizations events so sisters can help in participating and supporting them.

Once a week the Theta Delta chapter meets. In the general meetings the chapter goes over upcoming events within the chapter and around campus, any new national Zeta Tau Alpha news, and reminders of anything that is happening within the coming week. Sisters also share any news about themselves, good or bad.

General Meeting is also a time where the sisters plan fun activities that bring the chapter closer together. For example, at the beginning of the semester each sister writes down three facts about themselves on a piece of paper and puts the paper in a box. At the beginning of each meeting the president pulls out of the box and says the three facts and sisters can guess who that person is.

In tonight’s general meeting there was a lot to go over since Salisbury University had spring break last week and there was no meeting. The sisters mainly went over details of the Pink Out lacrosse game and what needs to be done. In addition to this, the sisters went over details of Greek Week and planning for Spring Formal.

Each week the sisters of the Theta Delta chapter try to get together and have a sister hood. Some of these sisterhoods include going to the movies, shopping, getting food together, or even volunteering. Some sisterhoods even include the ladies planning a potluck dinner where everyone brings over a dish made with Yoplait yogurt. The yogurt is used help collect lids for breast cancer.

This past week Theta Delta had two sisterhoods. When having over 100 girls in your chapter each week there is always someone celebrating their birthday. This past week sisters Stephanie Marrow and Sam Godwin both celebrated their birthday.

Stephanie Marrow tuned 21 on March 28^th.  Her and a group of girls went out to one of her favorite restaurants here at Salisbury. She also had her family from Baltimore come down to celebrate.

Sam Godwin turned 22 on March 29^th. She celebrated her birthday by inviting everyone over to her house to have dinner. Later that night her and a few girls went to the movies to see the Hunger Games.

2012 Spring Pledge Class of Zeta Tau Alpha at Salisbury University

The sisters of the Theta Delta chapter of Zeta Tau Alpha recently had formal recruitment at Salisbury University.  During this week the sisters had over 100 girls come out to see what their chapter did on a national and personal level of philanthropy and sisterhood. At the end of the week the Theta Delta chapter welcomed 30 girls with a bid to join their chapter. These 30 girls will make up the new pledge class called gamma alpha.

During this semester gamma alpha will learn and participate in activities that the sorority does as a whole. Some major highlights that the Zeta Tau Alpha sisters do in the spring is they team up with the men’s lacrosse team and hold a pink out game. The sisters also in the past teamed up with the fashion club on campus to hold a pink out fashion show. On a more personal level gamma alpha and the sisters have weekly sisterhoods where everyone gets together whether it be going out to dinner or having a movie night at someone’s house.

Gamma Alpha will also have weekly meetings with the new member chair where they will learn about Zeta Tau Alphas history and what makes our sorority so special. Each week they girls will be filling out a new member book filled with information about the chapter’s philanthropy, history, symbols, and songs.

At the end of 8 weeks gamma alpha will have learned what makes Zeta Tau Alpha such a great organization on a national level and local level here at Salisbury University. The girls will also have participated and understood all of our rituals that the founders of Zeta Tau Alpha started. In addition, what gamma alpha will grasp the most is learned about Zeta Tau Alpha’s philanthropy and how much effort Theta Delta chapter does nationally and locally on breast cancer awareness and education.