mid-semester update!

it's so hard to believe that it is already the end of march, where did the semester go!? over the past few weeks i have been extremely busy managing my time between sorority and greek life things, personal issues, and of course..school work. blah! over the past few weeks my sorority has been extremely busy helping to initiate and get our new members ready to finally become sisters. our new member class was initiated two weeks ago and needless to say they are loving every minute of being a part of greek life! sigma delta tau was extremely lucky to have such a great group of girls become interested this semester and im so happy to have 5 new girls in my life whom i can call my sisters. i look forward to watching them grow and become more active on our campus. my sorority also took part in Relay for Life which is truly an amazing event and I was so proud to be involved with it. Staying up for 12 hours with my sisters and some other close friends was an amazing experience and honestly, a lot of fun! we found various things to do throughout the night to keep us awake and it was a great time for everyone to bond with one another. the event was especially touching for me since the day of the event marked the one-year anniversary of my grandma passing away from cancer. the time spent with my sisters and friends helped make the day easier for me but it was still really emotional, especially since i couldn't be home with my family. events like relay for life are the perfect example as to why joining a recognized organization can be so beneficial. being able to get involved with such an important event with your sisters is a once in a lifetime experience. the past few weeks have been extremely emotional and busy for various reasons and i hope the next few weeks keep me busy as well. my sorority has a ton of events planned to help better us as a sorority and as sisters and i am looking forward to it all :-)

xoxo
dee

Enjoying break!

So, as promised, I am back home and ready to talk about my AWESOME weekend at the SDT Leadership School! I was honestly really surprised at how much fun the weekend was in Baltimore. I expected to sit in conference after conference drawing really artistic (haha) pictures on my paper...boreddd. Well, to my surprise, my weekend was nothing of the sort. The National Office made the weekend really eventful and definitely not boring whatsoever. The days at leadership school was booked from morning to night, literally, I had something to do as of 8am to midnight each day. It was pretty tiring but they kept everyones morale up by having motivating speakers and tons of opportunities for everyone to interact with one another. I think that was definitely byfar my favorite part. It is pretty amazing meeting some sisters of mine who attend school in places like Alabama, Florida, North Carolina, and even other parts of New York and bonding with them by talking about shared traditions we have and even learning about things they do differently. It was also interesting learning about the differences between everyones Inter Greek Council and Panhellenic Councils and how different everyones Greek system and programs in general can be. Nonetheless, everyone was so friendly and outgoing and I have never met so many people in one weekend! Exchanging various ideas and even creating new ones was a great experience for me as a President and sister of SDT. Meeting our National President and several National VPs was also pretty exciting, it was nice to meet the lovely ladies who run the show from coast to coast. Overall, the weekend was extremely beneficial for me and I hope to bring back some of the many ideas that I've collected from Baltimore to my Sig Delts back in Oneonta. I also wanna try my best to keep in touch with the many many sisters that I met over the weekend and even try to plan a trip to visit some of them at their respective schools. The SDT Leadership School truly gave me the opportunity to further develop my skills as a leader and how to help better my chapter. My weekend in Baltimore was great, I wish I could have stayed a little bit longer!!

Well, until next time...have a great break!

National Leadership School!

Hey! I'm currently in the Washington D.C area waiting to travel over to Baltimore, Maryland for my very first SDT National Leadership School! I'm pretty excited, and a little nervous, about it. I'm really excited to have the opportunity to meet sisters from other SDT chapters from all around the country. This is the first time that I've ever had an opportunity like this and as a President, I'm hoping to do my best to represent the SUNY Oneonta chapter. The Leadership School is supposed to consist of 3 days of intense activity workshops and meetings with how to better yourself and better your chapter. I'm looking forward to seeing what things are planned for us. I'm here with one of my sisters and she said that when she attended the National Convention last year in Florida that she was busy doing things till as late as midnight and was expected to be ready to go for another round of activities the following day as early at 9am! So lets just say I'm hoping that this Leadership School isn't like that! haha. Nonetheless, this should be an interesting experience. Before heading over to Baltimore this afternoon we are hoping to do some site seeing and I really hope that I get to drive past the White House. I've never seen it before so I'm really looking forward to it. Definitely expect another blog from me once I get home on Monday to tell you all about the Leadership School. Have a good weekend everyone :-)

First Blog!

Blogging...what is it? Where does it come from? I wish I knew the answer myself before I tell all my friends that I just created a blog for my sorority for the IGC website haha.

Anyway, Sigma Delta Tau...what is it? Where does it come from? What's a "sig delt"? Well, now that you ask, allow me to explain! Sigma Delta Tau is a Nationally Recognized Panhellenic Sorority, established at Cornell University on March 25th, 1917. We were re-colonized at SUCO in October of 2003 and nationally chartered as the Gamma Epsilon Chapter of SDT on April 25th, 2004. We currently have 28 Active sisters and are continually looking to grow on campus. My sorority works closely with PCAA, Prevent Child Abuse America, and we are currently planning and organizing our first annual PCAA Charity Walk, tentatively scheduled for April! The thing that sets SDT apart from the other organizations here at Oneonta is the diversity amongst our members. Setting aside the differences in the places we like to call home, SDT can proudly say that we certainly don’t fit the stereotypical mold for most sororities. Our sisters are all from very different backgrounds and these differences are what unites as a sorority. We take our academics very seriously and currently have a chapter gpa average of over a 3.0. During our new member process we follow a very strict 100% no-hazing policy and put academics first.

Since being a member of SDT for about two years now, I can proudly say that it has been the best decision I’ve made since coming into college and it something that I will never regret. Making the decision to join a Greek organization is a choice that only you can make and it is extremely important to make sure you are joining the organization which is the best fit for you. Finding your niche in Greek life can often be intimidating but I can truthfully say that I never felt that way with Sigma Delta Tau. After meeting several sisters I knew that SDT was the one for me. This organization is filled with intelligent, caring, and passionate girls who continually strive to do better in their academics, get more involved in the community, and have the desire to excel in every aspect of their life. Being the President of Sigma Delta Tau is something that I am extremely proud of and I feel lucky to have an amazing group of girls whom I can call my sisters.

I hope that over the new few weeks I can get a real feel for what “blogging” is really like. Definitely look forward to seeing some awesome pictures and updates on what is going on in my life and with SDT! :-)

Until next time,

xoxo
Dee