COLUMNS

February Issue

The University of Maryland, College Park

Spring 2015

New Year, New Changes to

Recruitment and Bid Day
By Caroline Cummings,
A
On Feb. 10, Fraternity Row,
College Avenue, and Knox
Road were as vibrant as ever
as all fifteen Panhellenic
chapters anxiously awaited
the arrival of their new members to their new homes. It
was a perfect day, unseasonably warm and sunny
for mid-winter, not that
anyone would complain.
Festive and thrilled, sisters everywhere cheered
and danced as their spring
2015 member classes
reached their final destinations, hugging and embracing them lovingly as
new additions to their sisterhoods. In just one day,
the PHA community got a
little bigger.
Bid Day had a bit of a
makeover this year, but in a
good way. In previous years,
Bid Day was the Monday
after the second weekend
of recruitment. Women received their bids throughout
the day whenever they could

catch a break from class and

then the celebrations began
that night. This year, however, Bid Day was moved to a
Sunday afternoon so girls all
gathered in Stamp to open
their bids together, making
Bid Day more of a unified

One. The Bid Day changes

affected the recruitment
schedule as well. In the past,
there was usually a day in between skits and preference
rounds, with skits being on a
Friday and preference on the
Sunday before Bid Day. This

Photo from UMD Sigma Kappa

Panhellenic
community event. Instead of
running to their respective
houses from the Memorial
Chapel, new members took
buses, cheering and singing with a couple of older
members during their short
ride from Stamp down Route

made some
people anxious, as they were
used to having a whole day
to prepare for preference.
Tensions might have been
high, but the whole community embraced the change
and things ran smoothly.
Though this was my first

time on the other side of

Bid Day as a sister, I think
having Bid Day on a Sunday
this year was a success. Having it in the afternoon as opposed to the evening made it
more exciting, in my opinion,
because you could really see
your new sisters embracing and excited for
you (last year I got to my
house and it was dark
outside). Bid Day truly is
the best gift we could receive after all of the hard
work and long hours put
into formal recruitment.
After the stress of preference round, being able
to celebrate with your
sisters and welcome
the new members really makes you feel like
your last minute Target runs
and lack of sleep all paid off,
said Amanda Lefkowitz, Vice
President of Membership at
Alpha Xi Delta. She and all
of our sisters had a wonderful experience on Bid Day
and are looking forward to
whats in store for next year.

AEPhi Raises More Than $1,500 With Cupcakes

By Rose Propp, AE
This past Sunday, Feb. 22, Alpha Epsilon Phi and Maryland Hillel hosted the first annual Cupcake Wars at Hillel. The
event supported the Sharsheret, a Jewish non-profit organization aiming to support breast cancer survivors and those
who have been newly diagnosed. Participants were invited to sign up with their friends to create teams of five. Over thirty
teams signed up and represented various groups on campus, the majority of which were sororities and fraternities. These
teams took part in a cupcake decorating competition in which they were given a theme, a variety of materials, 5 minutes
for planning and fifteen minutes for decorating. The overall theme of the event was superheroes because every survivor or
patient diagnosed with breast cancer is strong and powerful. After each round, Alpha Epsilon Phis house mom and two of
her friends judged the cupcakes based on overall style and creativity. AEPhi raised more than $1,500 for Sharsharet after
ticket sales and additional donations and is looking forward to hosting this event for years to come.
Questions? Comments? Email Sara at umdvppublicrelations@gmail.com

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2014-2015 Panhellenic Executive Board

President - Vikk Shepelev
Vice President of Judicial Affairs - Olivia Collins
Vice President of External Affairs - Kaley Smith
Vice President of Recruitment - Meaghan Pfeiffer
Vice President of Administrative Affairs - Lauren Keyes

Vice President of Social Responsibility - Noelle Roy

Vice President of Community Excellence - Lauren Watson
Vice President of Public Relations -Sara Goodwin
Vice President of Membership Development -Cara McNellis

Bringing the Values Home

By Angelica Giuliani, ZTA
Members of PHA, IFC,
NPHC and MGC attended
the Association of Fraternal Leadership & Values in
Indianapolis in early February. The conference focused
on bettering Greek communities all over the nation by
promoting innovative and
creative ways to solving
problems that many universities face. Advisers and students alike gathered to discuss issues regarding hazing,
alcohol abuse, values-based

recruitment and council integration.

Each of the days offered
hour-long workshops and
seminars about various
topics lead by professionals in particular fields. Acclaimed speakers, such as
Jess Gendron Williams, CEO
of Phired Up, spoke to the
more 3,000 attendees. David Stollman, a University of
Maryland alumni, delivered
his acclaimed Buy in or GET
OUT speech, which he also
presented to the universitys

new member classes in February.

The trip also served as a
great bonding experience to
the four newly elected councils. In traveling to Indiana
and learning together they
were given the opportunity
to get to know each other
and brainstorm ideas to improve our community during
their terms. The trip was a
blast and it was so much fun
hanging out with the kids
on the other councils, said
Noelle Roy, PHA VP of Social

Responsibility. It was really

great to see everyone so excited about their positions,
brainstorming ideas and
talking about their goals. It
got us all really pumped up
to get started.
Overall, AFLV was a great
opportunity for Greek leaders and the council members
look forward to sharing their
ideas with the community
over the next two semesters
they are in office.

NPHC & UGC Chapter Spotlight

P

By Meghan Moriarty,
Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority,
Inc. is an international service
organization. They work to develop and enhance the quality
of the community here at the
University of Maryland. Although their chapter is small,
they make a big impact.
Unlike most sororities that
host events to raise money for
a cause, they additionally have
events just to raise spirits. For
those who do not know, their
mascot is the poodle. This past
month they had their annual
Poodle Love event at North
Campus Diner. They handed
out free Valentines Day treats
to spread positive love around
campus.
On a national level, P has
85,000+ members. Their service channel even reaches
overseas to places like Germa-

Editor: Sara Goodwin

Adviser: Kahlin McKeown
umdpha.com

ny and Korea. Their national

commitment to service promises to offer service wherever
a chapter exists. One charity
that they provide, according
to their nationals website,
is BigBookBag. BigBookBag
is a program that addresses
the challenges and problems
that children, who are educationally at-risk. This includes
children in homeless shelters,
hospitals, etc., who may not be
able to get the education that
they need. They provide them
with educational supplies to
help them build a better future.
The women of P host multiple events each month, including dinners, service projects, or just cute Valentines
candy. To keep updated with
their events follow them on
Twitter at @HBprettypoodles
or friend them on Facebook!

K
By Hayley Joy, A
On March 9, 1995 at Binghamton University Kappa Phi
Lambda Sorority, Inc. was
founded by seven women.
These founding mothers created a vision of providing women to take their pride in their
heritage and utilize it towards
becoming leaders in their community. has 28 chapters,
including the Chi Chapter here,
at the University of Maryland.
The Chi Chapter of was
founded in 2004 by four women and links the Greater Washington D.C. area with both
Maryland and Virginia. ,
being a member of the Multicultural Greek Council, teaches
its members about strength
and ambition as well as discovering their own identities and
representing Pan-Asian culture.
Kappa Phi Lambda Sorority,
Inc. centers its membership

on three instrumental pillars:

sisterhood, service, and cultural diversity. The Kappa sisterhood stretches further than
just the University of Maryland
and the United States; it has
sisters worldwide. Additionally, is actively involved
in supporting its philanthropies. Its national philanthropy
is the National Asian Pacific
American Womens Forum and
their local philanthropy is the
National Osteoporosis Foundation, which works to prevent
osteoporosis and promote
strong bone growth.
This past month the sisters
of hosted a fundraiser at
Blaze Pizza to actively raise
money for both of the organizations philantrhopies. In addition, the Chi chapter holds
an annual signature cultural
event, its Dedicated show, to
demonstrate their loyalty to
both leadership and service.

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