Alpha Chi Omega
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Alpha Chi Omega
Alpha Chi Omega was founded March 15, 1915 in DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. There were seven original founders: Anna Allen, Olive Burnett, Bertha Deniston, Amy DuBois, Nellie Gamble, Bessie Grooms and Estelle Leonard. The official flower is the red carnation, and the colors are scarlet red and olive green. Alpha Chi Omega's symbol is the liar and the sororities gem is the pearl. The sororities open motto is "Together let us seek the heights." Alpha Chi Omega was the first musical fraternity. The sorority's altruism is the Alpha Chi Omega Foundation. There are 133 collegiate chapters with 117 houses nation wide. There are over 12,000 collegiate members and more than 120,000 alumnae. Official Alpha Chi Omega website
Chi Chapter
Alpha Chi Omega, Chi Chapter was the first sorority at Oregon State, founded March 15, 1915. The house is located at 26th and VanBuren. Nicknames at Oregon State include the "a chi o's" "a x o" and "alpha chi's." The Chapters philanthropy is the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence (CARDVA). Philanthropies are events and activities that help raise money for charities. Every fall term the sorority hosts a 5k run. Alpha Chis receive donations from local companies and in turn get their logo put on the backs of T-shirts that are then given to the runners. Runners who sign up donate $10 and receive a shirt upon completing the race. In the spring the sorority hosts a softball tournament that other Greek houses, OSU teams, and community member participate in. All the money attainted from each event is given to the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence in Len-Benton County.The sorority excels in grades, receiving the honor of first in grades among sororities in the 05-06 school year. Chi Chapter hosts several social events through out the year. In the fall there is a barn dance which is an informal date dance. The girls and their dates dress in southwester style and go to a dance that takes place in an actual barn. The winter's dance is called Red Carnation which is formal. Usually the girls wear short dresses and the men attend in dress pants and a nice shirt. This is the dance that celebrates th hisroty of our chapter. During the spring the chapter either has a spring luau or a campout, depending on what the chapter votes on.
Living at Alpha Chi Omega
Living in a sorority has many perks. The house is only one block off the West side of campus so you can walk to almost any class in 10 minutes or less. Alpha Chi Omega has one of the largest parking lots, in "Greek Row" ,twenty-two parking spots. We have a cook that comes by daily, and a house cleaner (that comes 5 days a week), a landscaping maintenance crew, and house boys (they serve Monday night formal dinners and do the dishes the rest of the week). This staff frees up a lot of time to study or hangout. There are weekly chores for members that takes 5 min, but is a lot less time consuming compared to an apartment or house. Another time saver is not having to worry about paying the electric or water bill every month, one Exec member is in charge of that. There are two sleeping porches (with 24 hours quiet hours) where members sleep, and rooms to keep members "stuff" in. Live-in capacity is 56 girls. The house has a large TV room with leveled seating. One of the best features of the house is the large porch called "pebble beach." Back when it was first added to the house, the porch used to contain pebbles, hence the name. Pebble beach is a great place to lie out and catch some sun.
Grades
Grades at Alpha Chi Omega are quite important. To participate in any event in our Chapter you have to have a three point accumulative GPA. If for one term you do not receive a three point you are put on study tables. The lower your grade the more hours a week you have. To count your hours you are supposed to do a week there are proctors. A Proctor is someone who is somewhat like a “tutor” for studying. They will study with you and sign off your hours each week for you. This system is great especially for people who have a hard time studying.
Meal Time At Alpha Chi
Recently at Alpha Chi Omegas we just received an amazing cook named Shelly. To help her decide what we will eat each week for dinner and lunch there is a sister in the house who was elected into a position of food management. Each Monday she will sit down with our cook and the house mom and inform them of the type of food the girls are wanting and how we can achieve a happy medium for everyone to enjoy their meals. Each Monday night because we have formal dinner, we usually get desert along with our dinner. For most girls this is their favorite day of the week, and deserts are one of our cook’s specialties. During finals week because many are up studying for finals all night, our cook will place goodies out around eight o'clock. So we have something to munch on while we are cramming our brains.
Social Events
Alpha Chi Omega is a social house. We put on three dances a year. In the fall we have barn dance. This dance usually takes place sometime in November. This dance is a themed cowboy/girl dance. Each girl asks a date and then our house makes up a song that we sing to the boys when we formally ask them to the dance. Usually the song is funny and shows our personality. Then once the boys are asked, you get cowgirl gear and get all cowboy spiffy. Then you attend the dance! The dance usually takes place in a barn so you feel like a cowboy dancing in some hay! Our second dance is Red Carnation. This dance is a formal dance and it takes place during winter term. As with the Barn Dance we go around and sing to the boys. For this dance we make up another song which everyone has a great time doing. Our third dance is in the spring time; usually we have either a campout or a Luau. To decide on which event the girls want we take a vote through the house. This is a date dance as well.We also participate in Functions with other houses in the Greek Community. Every Wednesday night our house and the other girl chapters have exchange dinners. Half of our house goes to another house and the half of that house goes to ours. This is a great way to meet more girls within the Greek Community. We also have these types of dinners with Fraternities along with functions. Functions are lots of fun for everyone. This is a fantastic way to meet many people inside the Greek Community as well.
New Online Alpha Chi Chapter Room
Starting this Fall term 2006, Alpha Chi implemented a new system online which provides dates, times, events, contact information, alumnae information, house rules and forums. All of this information is very important to the house and this new system allows all sorority sisters to stay informed about any changes on the calendar, upcoming events, sisterhoods, philanthropies, or other activities.
In addition, there is a place to submit excuses online for women who are unable to attend an event. Attendances are generally mandatory for most events and this system allows women to send there excuses directly to the Chapter President. The excuses are emailed directly to the Chapter President which will then keep a tally of who has an excuse and who does not. Another unique feature to this website is that allows you to see what classes and at what times other women in the house are taking. This helps promote study groups and is very beneficial as it helps create a support system.
There is a section dedicated to posting messages to sisters called, "appreciate a sister." Here women can write comments acknowledging fellow on achievements, thanking them for helping them with homework, wish them a Happy Birthday or any other positive announcements one might make. This feature is most commonly used by the Chapter, as women love to appreciate "good deeds" performed by other sisters.
One very important aspect of the website is that it lists house rules. These rules are often forgot about or ignored by some members. Having the house rules and bylaws posted on the website allows women not to be able to make excuses about not fulling understand what is acceptable. For instance there is information on eligiblity (i.e. grades,live in priority), house cocntracts, live in costs, fire drills, all-house meetings, boy hours, quiet hours, dress code, and many more important aspects of Alpha Chi Omega.
As a student, the most valuable part of our online chapter room is the access to be able to see who may also be in your classes with you. All you have to do is simply list your classes with the designated weekly meeting times. In return, you are given a list of your classes along with other sorority sisters also registered in your class, whether it be at the same time or not. In an easy-to-read list format, you are given each girls’ email addresses and cell phone numbers they provided to the server. This is a very helpful tool for staying on top of your academic workload in case a fellow chapter member is in need of some assistance.
One of the greatest advantages with our new online chapter room is the viewing of our total points for the term. Without at least eighty-percent participation in all Angel (mandatory) events, you are unable to participate in our house dances. As one of the most anticipated events of every term, it is a privilege to be able to attend our house dances. We try to emphasize the fact that we are involved in Alpha Chi Omega to better our chapter, not to strictly socialize. You have to work hard to have fun!
Sisterhoods
Sisterhoods at Alpha Chi Omega are informal events that are designed to help sisters bond with one another. Especially new freshman coming into Alpha Chi it is important that they bond with their new class as well as the rest of the house. Sisterhoods include activities such as bowling, carving pumpkins, getting ice cream, sleepovers, games, and community service. The activities are mandatory and generally happen two or three times a term. Sisterhoods are a time when all of the girls get together and leave school, work, and other stressors behind. They are a lot of fun and allow girls to hang out and get to know other girls that they might not have gotten to know.
Games are often the most common types of sisterhoods. They range from playing monopoly, charades, kick the can, water balloon fights, to scavenger hunts. Recently, Alpha Chi members played capture the flag in the MU and Library quads. One team was stationed in the MU quad and one in the Library quad. Teams were split into 30 members and were dressed in matching attire. The game was a hit, all of the girls had a blast and it was a great bonding experience as well.
Although Alpha Chi’s love to play games, drink coffee, and eat ice cream, they also enjoy helping out the community. Sisterhoods often do just that. An example of this is when Alpha Chi made stockings for the Army Troops. The event took place at Reser Stadium and all of the girls joined together, listened to music, ate snacks and packed stockings that were shipped off to soldiers that were fighting in Iraq. Not only was the event a lot of fun, but it also left the girls with a rewarding feeling.
IFC Sing
Every spring all of the sororities and fraternities match up and put together a singing performance. The performance is then rehearsed for several months and performed at Gill Coliseum on Mom’s weekend. Each pair of sororities and fraternities picks a theme or movie that they want to sing and dance to. Generally, the groups sing for approximately ten minutes and sing about three or four songs. At the end of the event, judges score each act and rank the top three performers. Over the years Alpha Chi has performed Westside Story, Aladdin, Grease and many others. The event is a great opportunity to get to know fraternity men and also bond with fellow sisters.
Our Philanthropy
One of the many advantages of being involved in a sorority here at Oregon State University is the privilege to be involved in numerous community service campaigns. Every year, my sorority, Alpha Chi Omega, puts on a softball tournament for the fraternities as well as various other groups of males put together, such as the football team or our Houseboys, to participate in to help donate money to our philanthropy, the Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence (CARDV). We begin our softball tournament with a double-elimination policy; therefore, each group may return the following day because each team only plays one game the first day, this way everyone can play at least twice! All day, the guys play softball and the team that wins the tournament also wins a celebratory barbeque with us back at our house. To initially inform the fraternities and other groups of our softball tournament, we go around promoting our philanthropy while informing them of what CARDV does for battered women. Each team donates $50 to play and I truly believe they do it to support a good cause and to have some fun while doing it! Not to mention domestic violence is prevalent among many U.S. households, where most violence occurs. Even within numerous high school and college relationships, with nearly 5.3 million intimate partner victimizations occurring annually for women over eighteen. The Center Against Rape and Domestic Violence consists of two main objectives, to offer services and support to those affected by rape and domestic violence and to offer education and leadership within the community, thus changing the societal conditions that are the source of these forms of violence. CARDV formed as a result of the merging of Corvallis Women Against Rape, which began in 1977, and the Linn Benton Association for the Prevention of Domestic Violence, which began in 1978. In an attempt to gain adherence, CARDV would speak to just about any civic group that would listen. To remember those victims of domestic violence, CARDV marched at Take Back the Night and held candlelight vigils, among many other campaigns. The program has hotlines available twenty-four hours a day, 365 days a year. Oregon was actually the first state to make marital rape illegal in 1978. On CARDV’s official website, they even have a link to establish what domestic violence looks like, refer to the cycle of violence, what to do if you are a survivor and how to help one, and of course, various facts concerning domestic violence in the United States. I think that CARDV’s statement concerning unity in the community is especially important, “We believe classism, racism, ableism, heterosexism, ageism and other forms of elitism are systems and attitudes separating from one another and interfere with the full use of our collective power base. CARDV does not condone these attitudes either in our policies or in our individual practices. Our membership is open to individuals of all backgrounds. We further recognize that survivors of violence represent an essential constituency in our movement. We strongly encourage full participation by survivors, particularly by those women CARDV has sheltered.” CARDV I commend CARDV for what they do, and I am especially fond of their insistence towards survivors to come through and help pull others through as survivors.
Our Philanthropy Events
Every year Alpha Chi Omega puts on two events for our Philanthropies that anyone can participate in. In the fall we host a 5k run supporting CARDV (center against race and domestic violence). For this event everyone meets at the Alpha Chi Omega house on the date the race is being hosted. Then we start the run and the end is in the MU Quad. For the people who come in first second and third place there are rewards. Also at the end of the race there are refreshments and sometimes food is a restaurant is donating. The second event we put on is in spring time. This is the bigger of the two philanthropies. This philanthropy is called Swingers. It is a Softball Tournament. Anyone in and outside the Greek community can participate. This tournament takes place over a weekend. And each day the girls of Alpha Chi Omega host, ump, and coach the teams. In the end of the tournament whoever wins gets to enjoy a BBQ made by our fantastic cook. This philanthropy also supports CARDV.
