Texas Eta (Pi Beta Phi at Texas A&M) Angel News

Pi Phi’s Firedance is our semi-formal held each fall semester where girls are encouraged to wear flaming red dresses. We dance the night away with our friends and dates and of course, the girls take TONS of pictures

        As February came to an end, 71 teams of 8-10 students came to participate in Pi Phi’s annual Dodge the Arrow Dodgeball Tournament. The games started at 10am and each team fought for a spot in the playoffs later on in the afternoon.

        The event was SUCH a success and we raised about $21,000 to donate to our local philanthropy, Barbara Bush Parent Center, as well as First Book, the national organization that works closely with Pi Phis all around the country! The BBPC serves adults in the Brazos Valley in multiple ways through different levels of education as well as parenting classes to better serve their families. ESL classes or GED prep classes are also offered, to name a few. This foundation was established in 1997 by former first lady, Barbara Bush, and continues to thrive solely based on the contributions and physical volunteer work by the Pi Phi chapter here at Texas A&M.

       First Book was started in 1992 and has a simple goal: to provide children of low-income families with their first book. Since the beginning of our partnership, Pi Phi has donated roughly 2 million books to communities nationwide!

       The day was full of friendly competition and the players agree that they cannot WAIT until next year!

http://www.piphidta.com/#

On November 5th, we celebrated Pi Phi’s outstanding academic achievements at our annual Scholarship Banquet! This year’s banquet was held at the MSC Ballroom and in attendance were professors from all departments, nominated by Pi Phis for their dedication to teaching and outstanding service to our school. Our speaker was LaRhesa Moon, current President of the Womens’ Former Students Network, who entertained us with her life stories and encouraged us to pursue with excellence even the seemingly random classes in college because you never know when the knowledge you gain will be valuable to you. In addition, every Pi Phi with a 3.0 GPA and above was honored for her academic successes and rewarded with a Starbucks giftcard, including the 41 girls who made 4.0s and received pearls for their arrow pins! Finally, the Texas Eta scholarship was awarded to Senior Julie Scoggins, a very worthy recipient recognized for her outstanding dedication to academics!

Trick or Treat on Sorority Row is one of our favorite events and this year was no different! On Halloween night, each sorority prepares a Halloween-themed activity and hands out candy to Trick-or-Treaters from the Bryan/College Station community. It is a really fun way to give back to the community and celebrate Halloween with one another! 

Photos from our Halloween Date party with Tri-Delt! Special guests included: Scooby and the Gang, the Spice Girls, Blue and Steve, and the band KISS! WOW ;)

On October 29th, Texas Eta had the wonderful opportunity to host Kisses For Troops, our second time to hold this fun event! After a delicious chapter dinner cooked by our favorite Chef Sue, the Pi Phi girls donned their lipstick and best “kissy” faces and started writing and kissing postcards for our active troops. Cosmopolitan Magazine, who sponsors this event, donates $1 to the USO for each postcard signed and kissed. The postcards are then given to the troops on New Years’ Eve as a way of encouraging them and thanking them for their service with kind words and a New Years’ kiss! After writing their postcards and taking pictures with Reveille at the Kisses For Troops photobooth, the girls lined up to get a makeover from the Maybelline makeup artists present at the event. It was a fun way to celebrate sisterhood while also showing gratitude to our troops for their selfless service! Thank you to Cosmopolitan for choosing us to host this event again!

On October 26, PC ‘12 celebrated the end of their new member program with family and their Pi Phi sisters at our annual New Member Presentation! Our lovely New Member Coordinator, Shannon Castille, and her fantastic committee of New Member Educators gave a wonderful overview of the new member experience, reflecting over how much the girls have learned and have grown throughout this time. A few of the girls also came up and shared stories of their favorite moments in their new member period from New Member Retreat to mixers to Big/Little Reveal week! Throughout their time as a new member, each girl is educated about the history, purpose, mission, and values of the sorority. Pi Phi strives to instill in each of its members the 8 Pearls which represent our core values: Love, Patience, Self-Control, Charity & Service, Purity, Unselfishness, Sympathy, and Friendship. During the ceremony, 8 of the new members were nominated by their peers and awarded with one of the 8 Pearl awards for showing one of these Pi Phi values throughout the semester. Our 8 Pearl winners this year were: Helengrey Simpson, Samantha Duffey, Elisabeth High, Caity Tarabocchia, Shelby Edmiston, Laurelyn Kelly, Mary Claire Pollard, and Mary Allison Ethridge! Each girl was then presented to the chapter by her father and Big Sis! It was a fun way to celebrate the end of pledgeship and the start of each girl’s journey as an official Pi Phi member! Congratulations PC 12!

CONGRATULATIONS TO MISS OCTOBER: Shannon Castille!

1. Where are you from?

Midland, Texas!!!

2. What PC are you in?

PC’10

3. What is your major?

Community Health (Psych minor)

4. Outside of Pi Phi, what are you involved in?

This very moment: SCHOOL!

However, last semester I babysat for a WONDERFUL little girl with Autism who just recently had her 8^th birthday party (glow-in-the-dark balloons and homemade donuts made for a special day)!!! I have so missed seeing her after school the first half of this semester but planning on starting back up with her very soon “BIG YAY!”

5.Inside of Pi Phi, what have you been involved in?

New Member program has just come to a close! The whole experience was great! PC’12 is SO AWESOME & I have learned so so much from the position. 

I was on DTA committee last year… (coral comfort colors!)

6. What is your favorite of Pi Phi value and Why?

Sincere Friendship.  I feel that genuine friends make such a difference in every aspect of life. Pi Phi not only brings together so many incredible girls but also puts such an emphasis on this value and THAT’S why it is my favorite.

7. What is your favorite Pi Phi memory?

EASILY road-tripping with Beth P & Brooke H across America!!! Straight from finals to the Fort, Lake Palo Pinto, MITLAN, alien museum at Roswell (ha!), Grand Canyon, and then BEAUTIFUL CALIFORNIA. Awesome Pi Phi road trip :)

8. What is something that you will take away from your college experience?

The importance of quiet times! These wonderful four years can be easy, fun, enjoyable days but college is unavoidably sprinkled with days that are stressful, scary, or push me out of my comfort zone.  I think that (even more than the academic knowledge, experiences, friends, and challenges) the lesson of making time to be still and in the Word daily will be what is relevant to EVERY day of the rest of my life, no matter the circumstances.

9. What are you passionate about?

My family!!! I aspire to be the spitting image of my mother & my dad is my most treasured friend. I have two older brothers (such gentlemen) and a simply wonderful, classy younger sister. I LOVE THEM each so so dearly. 

Making people know that they are important & loved no matter what.  Working at Hope Pregnancy Center (as well as babysitting Alena) have been the greatest opportunities of my college experience & have shaped this passion.

10. What is something random/funny fact about yourself?

I don’t like to watch movie previews… Scuba certified? (But NOT as cool as Sarah Joy!)

11.What are your plans for after graduation?

THAT I couldn’t tell ya… Maybe dental hygiene? 

Congratulations to the lovely Miss Morgan Greco, our very own Vice President of Member Development, and…Texas A&M’s Sorority Woman of the Year!!! Morgan was nominated for the award by a fellow Greek and chosen out of a pool of incredibly well-qualified applicants. She was recognized for her service to Pi Phi in various ways and the Greek community as a whole for the academic precedents set through her work as VPMD. She has been a true leader in the chapter and in every way deserves this prestigious recognition. We are so thankful for you and could not be more proud of you Morgan!

Photos from Pi Phight, our very first date party of the year!