Good luck on finals from Gamma Phi!

Passing out candy canes! Good luck on finals VT!

The sisters of Gamma Phi Beta wrapped up a great semester by passing out candy canes in front of the library on the Monday before reading day!  Who doesn't enjoy a little holiday treat while stressing over finals?

Two weeks ago, on December 4th, the girls got together for two very exciting sisterhood events at the house in Oak Lane.  Earlier in the evening was a Christmas ornament and cookie decorating event where the sisters were encouraged to wear their ugliest Christmas sweaters.  We all put our ornaments on the Gamma Phi tree, along with the ornaments made from the charter class last winter; hopefully the tradition continues and every year we can add more colorful ornaments!

Sisters posing by our tree! you can see some of our handmade Christmas ornaments!

Later in the evening, after the girls were all stuffed from the cookies at the Christmas party- our very own Shannon Collins, Victorias Secret PINK representative at Virginia Tech, threw a Victorias Secret fashion show viewing party for sisters at the house.  There were tons of freebies and it was a blast bonding with sisters and watching the fashion show.   

Eta Epsilon also welcomed in the new exec for the 2013 school year, all of the sisters are excited and ready to go.  It's been a great fall semester, though it's always bittersweet to see another semester go, but now it's time to prepare for formal recruitment in just a month!!! SO exciting!

October Recap: Gamma Phi Beta!!

Another busy fall month for the sisters of Gamma Phi Beta!  The girls wrapped up their Vote for Mellen homecoming campaign, which was a great experience sponsoring their first homecoming candidate since the chapter launched just about a year and a half ago.

On October 6th, Gamma Phi Beta participated in Greeks Giving Back which is similar to Big Event, where groups went out to participate in service projects throughout Blacksburg, Christiansburg, and Roanoke.  Most projects included raking, gardening, and other activities that required yard work.

The sisters also participated in Pi Kapp War of the Roses which consisted of dime wars, twitter challenges, flag football, a brother auction, and cycling in Spin City in McCommas. Together they helped the brothers (along with several other fraternities and sororities) raise over $2,000 for Push America.

Sisters pumpkin picking at Sinkland Farms

Halloween Weekend, the sisters had their own Halloween Date party at Sycamore Deli where the sisters and their dates wore their best halloween costumes.  Sisters voted on who had the best costume and enjoyed a great night with their dates.

Then next day, Friday the 26th, the girls participated in Trick-or-Treating around Oak Lane.  They also dressed up in Halloween costumes and trick-or-treated with the little kids.

Cold weather didn't keep the sisters in with cabin fever, they went out to Sinkland Farms to pick their own pumpkins to participate in the chapters pumpkin carving contest- there would be winners in the categories: best gamma phi themed, scariest, and best VT themed. 

 Crescent Hug at Color Me Rad 5k- Blacksburg

Gamma Phi Beta ended their "rad" October by participating in the Color Me Rad 5k on October 28th.  The girls had a ton of fun getting paint thrown on them at each mile checkpoint and loved the giant celebration at the end!

The sisters are excited for the rest of the semester, and are gearing up for recruitment in a few months!!

Gamma Phi Beta's Crescent Classic!

Sisters at Camp Gamma Phi!

The week of September 24th, the lovely ladies of Gamma Phi Beta threw their 2nd Annual Crescent Classic here at Virginia Tech!

Crescent Classic was a three day event, in which 12 teams participated.  The philanthropy is thrown to support Girls on the Run and Campfire USA, organizations that focus on building strong girls.

The opening event was Monday night and was called Camp Gamma Phi, where the teams were able to participate in camp-like activities.  The activities included sleeping bag relay races, a corn-hole toss competition, a smore-stacking competition, and finally a tent pitching competition.  Tuesday night was Gamma Phi Live in the GLC on campus, where each team participated in a skit that was to be judged by members of the Virginia Tech basketball team.  On Wednesday the 26th, the final competition, Moonball, was held.  Moonball is a glow in the dark volleyball tournament.  The volleyball nets were strung with lights, the volleyballs were painted in glow in the dark paint, and all of the sisters were wearing neon and decked out in glow sticks.

Trying to detangle lights at Moonball!

The Thursday night after Crescent Classic, the sisters of Gamma Phi Beta had a sisterhood sleepover at the house to relax after a week of philanthropy and to celebrate a successful Crescent Classic.  Bigs made "sleepover baskets" for their littles and everyone enjoyed a night in with the sisters.   Overall, $2,000 was raised to support Girls on the Run and Campfire USA.  The teams had a great time and the sisters of Gamma Phi Beta had a ton of fun cheering on the participants!

The next two weeks, the sisters of Gamma Phi Beta are busy at work to prepare for Homecoming by supporting their sister Alex Mellen in her run for Homecoming Queen!!!! "With a name like Mellen, it's gotta be good"!!

Gamma Phi Beta is Wild for Fall Semster

On Saturday, September 15th, the sisters of Gamma Phi Beta, Eta Epsilon chapter went on their annual fall retreat to Mill Mountain Zoo in Roanoke. While on the retreat, sisters were able to see over 175 animals, including 7 endangered species (the adorable sea otters were a big hit!).  They were able to go into a small reptile house, and come within feet of some exotic birds. After eating lunch at the pavilion, they participated in a few fun team-bonding activities and created some new goals for the fall semester!  

Sisters Crescent Hug on tiger statue at Mill Mountain Zoo in Roanoke. 

The chapter is hard at work to prepare for their philanthropy this month. This upcoming week the sisters of Eta Epsilon are looking forward to the start of their 2nd Annual Crescent Classic to help support their international philanthropy, Campfire USA.  The aim for this program is to build resiliency in young girls to help shape them to be strong, confident leaders in the future.  Before school resumed last month, Gamma Phi Beta sisters from 5 chapters travelled to visit Campfire Patuxent in Maryland to work and play games with the campers.  The sisters loved being able to spend the day with the kids that their philanthropy goes towards.  Memories were made that will last a life time with the campers, and they are looking forward to and will hopefully be returning to the camp.

The sisters have a busy fall semester filled with football games, their philanthropy Crescent Classic, recruitment workshops, and sisterhood dinners, but they're starting off strong and excited for the start of a new school year!  

Chapter Portrait in front of Burruss Hall.

Sisterhood Spotlight: Kelly Miles

After a long and exhausting year of planning, recruitment went off without a hitch. The days were long and planning was endless but at the end of each day, it was all completely worth it. If it weren’t for Kelly Miles, our Membership Vice President, recruitment and all that goes with it wouldn’t have been as spectacular as it was. Kelly devoted endless hours to planning, meetings, set-up, practice, workshops, etc. She put the sorority before many of her own wants and needs to make sure that Gamma Phi Beta’s first formal recruitment was a memorable one, and that it truly was. Kelly, and her team, truly demonstrated each and every one our four core values of love, labor, learning, and loyalty. All of their efforts have helped our chapter to grow in numbers and become stronger and stronger each day. They solved problems and helped each and every one of our members make sure they felt comfortable and excited for the events to come. You did a fantastic job Kelly and we couldn’t be more proud of you. We, as a chapter, thank you for your hard work and determination. A special shout out also goes to the entire recruitment team who helped Kelly pull off such a spectacular week for our chapter. 

Sisterhood Spotlight: Megan Weber

“When your letters are in front of you, your sisters are behind you.” When it comes to support and understanding, you won’t get any better than Megan Weber. Megan Weber was last years Administrative Vice President and is the newly elected 2012 President of Gamma Phi Beta. As our newly elected executive council takes on their newfound roles, Megan’s title may have changed but her heart has not. She is the perfect example of what a sister should be. She puts the needs of the sorority and all of it’s members before herself, takes up the slack whenever it is deemed necessary and devotes her heart and soul into our chapter. She spends endless nights helping sisters out with whatever necessary and is always there for anyone in need. She does a lot of the behind the scenes work for our sorority and doesn't get half of the recognition she deserves sometimes. Her titles are not what make Megan an outstanding sister though, it’s the devotion and loyalty she gives to each of the 150 women she can call her sisters. There is not a doubt in any of our minds that she will do fantastic in her new position. We love you very much Megan! From the late night McDonald’s runs to the sisterhood we’ve shared, we as chapter cannot thank you enough for all of your hardwork, and that is why you are more than deserving of this Sisterhood Spotlight! 

Megan Weber, 2012 President of Gamma Phi Beta

Bringing Some Luck to Founder's Day

On November 11, 2011 (11-11-11), Gamma Phi Beta celebrated their first Founder’s Day Celebration here at Virginia Tech. Many alumnae came into the area from all over to celebrate our sororities’ achievements and to pay tribute to our four founders who are the reason for the existence of Gamma Phi and why we are all here today. All members came together to share a nice meal and to reflect on our sisterhood. We all came together on what seemed to be the “luckiest day”.  It’s such a coincidence that our founders day fell on this date because we have been a chapter for 137 years which also adds up to be 11, weird? The weekend didn’t stop with just our Founder’s Day celebration. Gamma Phi Beta also held a recruitment workshop and our semi-formals the next day. With the perfect venue, German Club Manor, and a weekend full of sisterhood, nothing could have made the weekend any better. The manor couldn’t have been anymore gorgeous and everyone really enjoyed dancing the night away under the lights. All of the girls and their dates had a fantastic time and said it was good to have a nice break and event with their sisters before Thanksgiving break. 

Gamma Phi Beta Gets Spooky

This week, in celebration of Halloween, the girls of Gamma Phi Beta participated in the Oak Lane Trick-or-Treat on Friday, October 28, 2011. Despite the frigid weather Blacksburg likes to surprise us all with, the girls sent a team out to walk the children around to each house while a few others stayed back at the house to entertain the children on their journey. The girls gave candy and helped the kids color a cute Halloween picture for someone special in their life. Everyone dressed up in things like Ms. America, girl scout, ballerina, and cowgirls which really got the kids more excited to hangout with us. After the Trick-or-Treat was over, Gamma Phi Beta had a fun and exciting sisterhood event at the house. There was candy apple making, a costume contest, food, dancing, and good bonding time with sisters. Gamma Phi Beta is still new to this campus and is enjoying participating in everything the Greek community has to offer. Seeing those kids in their adorable costumes so happy to just be a part of what the community was doing for them really hit close to home. Everyone is ready for that break to go home and see family and being able to help out the families that participated in the trick-or-treat gave us a little touch of home.  

Gamma Phi Beta is Crazy for Recruitment

October 14-16 was a Recruitment filled weekend for Gamma Phi Beta. Two of our favorite CLC’s, collegiate leadership consultants, Rachael and Anna flew in from International Headquarters to spend time with us discussing our roll in recruitment this year and what all to expect in the Spring. Gamma Phi Beta is a new sorority here on campus and this will technically be our first year going through formal recruitment and we want to make sure it goes off without a hitch! Everyone is so excited to be a part of this community and this process in general. On Saturday, October 15, all 150 members came together for a 4 hour workshop to discuss the importance of recruitment in general and to become aware of the rules and role Gamma Phi Beta and each member will play. There were many events during this workshop, all of which brought each and every sister that much closer together. Our sisterhood truly has skyrocketed since this workshop! Gamma Phi Beta has had a busy, busy semester and it was good to reconnect and re-focus on the upcoming semester, which is just a few weeks away, and what makes us who we are as a sorority! To finish off the weekend, Gamma Phi Beta took a trip to Sinkland Farms for a group pumpkin patch trip followed by a pumpkin carving contest at the house. The weekend couldn’t have gone better and led to a great start this week for Homecoming!

Members of Gamma Phi Beta: Eta Epsilon at Sinkland Farms

Crescent Classic Starts Big!

Gamma Phi Beta held our first ever Crescent Classic at Virginia Tech September 14-16, 2011. This year was Gamma Phi Beta’s first ever philanthropy after being installed as a new chapter in Spring 2011. Our philanthropy is with Camp Fire USA and we work to help build resiliency in young woman all over the country. 
Crescent Classic was a blast and involved three different days of activities: The first day was a camping relay competition held on the drillfield including a s’more tower building competition, sleeping bag relay race and a competition to pitch a tent the fastest while fitting ALL members inside of it, along with a few other fun activities. Watching members from each team try and cram themselves into a tiny tent provided some great entertainment for all of the spectators. Juxtaposition serenaded all of the participants before the events started to get everyone pumped and ready to compete. 

The second day was a fundraiser at Substation where they allowed for a percentage of the proceeds throughout the night to be donated to our philanthropy. Despite the cold sneak attack of the cold weather, Crescent Classic came to a close with a volleyball tournament that was more intense than anyone expected. Who knew we had so many talented players on campus The tournament was set up bracket style until the final two teams were determined for the finale game. Along with each day's events, those participating had the opportunity to win points for “Moon Walk by a G-Phi”, which literally meant that you had to moonwalk for a chapter woman to receive bonus points for the week. 

Each Gamma Phi Beta member also had one crescent to give away to an individual that did something outstanding for her. These crescents were also bonus points for those that received them and I can’t tell you how many performances, coffees, and baked good’s we received in those three days. 

Overall, the philanthropy went well and everyone said how much fun it was and that they couldn’t wait for next year’s. A total of $4,000 was raised which is a huge accomplishment for a first year. A total of 16 organizations participated and came out hard for all three days. Hopefully, next year will be even better and go off without a hitch. Nationals couldn’t be happier with all of the hard work, dedication, and participation we received from the Greek community. Gamma Phi Beta as a whole wants to thank everyone for coming out and supporting our philanthropy and us as an organization. It truly means a lot to be so welcomed by Virginia Tech, as well as Panhellenic and the Greek community!