Meet
Executive Council 2013!
The girls answered why
they chose to be a member of Exec, their plans for their new position, and a
little bit about how it is going so far. Take the time to get to know our
chapter’s amazing leaders and read on!
Lauren Kraut, President
Hometown: Plano, Texas
Major: Nutritional Sciences/Pre-Med
After being on
recruitment team I realized my desire to lead our chapter and be highly
involved in Zeta. Most of my friends were on Exec last year and they all said
how it has helped shape their leadership, time management and organization
skills. A combination of these few aspects, and my passion to lead our chapter
into a new year of success and excellence, made me REALLY want to be on Exec!
As President
this year, few of my goals for the year include better organization during
chapter meetings on Monday, stricter re-enforcement of the standards policies,
increased visibility of Exec's decision making progress, and improving the
senior retention rate and involvement.
As a team, our Exec board has
successfully accomplished these goals, and we still have one more semester to
make meaningful changes and progress! Being on Exec
and serving as the president has been an incredible experience so far. I have
learned that it is impossible to make everyone happy, so you have to follow the
most diplomatic path when making big decisions. I think our entire Exec board
is extremely cohesive and has made
an excellence team thus far!
Jan
Winkelman, Vice President
Hometown:
Brenham,
Texas
Major: Business (Marketing)
I have always enjoyed being in a leadership
position and wanted to do my part in helping Zeta continue to be the best that
we can be! I am always looking for options to help out and with being an
executive officer and I am able to do so in many ways! I also believe that
being on Exec will further grow my leadership, responsibility and communication
skills much more which will help me out in my future career after I graduate.
I serve on Executive Council as the chapter’s
vice president. My job is to oversee Program Council (PC). Our PC members
actively plan all of Zetas programs and events including socials, sisterhood
events and much more, along with assisting Executive Council as well. My goals
as Vice President are to make sure all events that PC plans are the best that
they can be and to make sure every PC members gets recognized for all the hard
work they put into making all these fun events for our chapter to enjoy
throughout the year!
PC was great this spring semester!
We had great events planned, like our Mom's Weekend and our Dad's Weekend, a Spring
break bootcamp at the Zeta house, an Easter egg hunt for our alumnae and some
really fun socials as well! I am looking forward to this Fall because PC has
some great and fun ideas for each of their positions and I am excited to be
there to help lead and make them happen.
Sloane Schaumburger, VP Recruitment
Hometown: League City, Texas
Major: Public Relations
with Business Foundations
I ran for Exec
because I wanted to have a leadership position in ZTA and give back to the
organization that's given so much to me!
My goal for the
year is to work closely with recruitment team and the chapter to get the best
possible women for our 2013 pledge class.
Working with EC
has been a great experience thus far. With the help of Exec and Recruitment Team,
we've accomplished so much in a short amount of time -- I'm looking forward to
what next semester brings!
Sophia
Vickers, Treasurer
Hometown:
Mclean, Virginia
Major:
Business (Marketing)
I chose to run
for Exec because over these past two years, the girls in Zeta have truly
changed my life for the better. I applied to be on Exec in order to give back to the chapter.
I knew that both my organizational skills, as well as my ongoing determination
would enable me to become a good representative of the chapter as a whole.
My main goal for my position is to ensure that
the chapter's budget is properly managed, so that we, as Exec and PC, can provide
the chapter with their wants. Whether it be socials, sisterhoods, or parents
weekends, I want to make sure there is always enough money in the given budgets
to make sure all these events are as great as possible!
So far, I absolutely love being on Exec!
I cannot stress enough how awesome of an experience it is to serve and represent
the chapter. The other girls on Exec are amazing and we have all formed a great
team thus far!
Michelle Hecht, Philanthropy
Hometown: Houston, Texas
Major: Nutrition Honors
One of my goals in college was to
get involved in an organization that I enjoy, and Zeta was the perfect place
for this! Being on Exec would allow me to make a difference and let me get more
out of being in this sorority.
I recently planned our annual Crown
Cook-off, and although we had to cancel the event because of the rain, we still
managed to have a make shift Crown Cook-off. The salsa teams brought their
salsa to the house, and throughout the day, girls could taste all the salsas
and vote on their favorite! Although I was disappointed that the event was
cancelled, we still raised almost $12,000!
In October, I will be planning
"Think Pink" week, organizing the Zeta team for Race for the Cure,
and planning the Think Pink brunch following the race!
Ashley Allison, New Member
Hometown: Spring, Texas
Major: Nursing
I decided to apply for Exec
after serving on Program Council as Assistant Database for Rush Team. I enjoyed
having a role in our chapter and placing those responsibilities on myself. As a
member of Exec, we are able to give back to the Chapter and address what our
members would like keep and/or change.
As New Member Coordinator for the
upcoming year, our goal is to really get the new members to mesh well with
their pledge class as well as the rest of the chapter. We are planning most of
the same events that have occurred in the past for the new members, with the
addition of one, surprise new event complete with plenty of treats and fun
activities! We are looking forward to everything in this upcoming year and are
excited to welcome our new members!
So far, everything is going
excellent! We have planned Bid Day, New Member Retreat, Surprise Pledge Class
Party, and more! Other events are being revised and tweaked to ensure everything
runs smoothly when our new members arrive on August 27th.
Rachel
Robillard, Historian
Hometown:
Flower Mound, Texas
Major:
Broadcast Journalism with Business Foundations
Once I attended my first ZTA
Chapter Meeting my freshman year, I knew I wanted to be on the ZTA Executive Council.
Since my freshman year, my favorite part about chapter meetings is watching the
thirteen Exec members make their announcements and encouraging everyone to
"Have a wonderful week". Chapter meetings are a great way to start
off my week!
I knew right away that the Exec
ladies are the leaders of our chapter. I decided to apply for Exec because I
wanted to be an ambassador for our chapter and create a positive ambiance
within the chapter. I am grateful to have been selected as a member of the
Executive Council.
I plan to promote Zeta Tau Alpha and
Texas Greek Life though Social Media. In addition to Facebook and Twitter, Zeta
should be acknowledged over another form of social media: Instagram. Since
social media is thriving, Texas Zeta needs to be up to date on all types of
social media. A vast majority of Texas Zetas have an Instagram, which is an
online photo-sharing and social networking service that enables its users
to take a picture, apply a digital filter to it, and share it on a variety of
social networking services, including its own. Creating a @TexasZTA Instagram
is a great way to show involvement and sisterhood in Zeta. I am glad Zeta is
not up to date on our social media!
Everyone on Exec is doing wonderful so far! I
am blessed and fortunate to be a member of the Zeta Tau Alpha Kappa Chapter’s Executive
Council. The 2013-2014 Executive Council has and will continue to do great
things for our chapter.
Emily
Hansen, Scholastics
Hometown:
Houston, Texas
Major:
Nursing
I wanted to be a part of this year’s
Exec because I enjoyed getting to be a part of it last year. I love getting to
implement what the chapter wants and come up with new and fun things for us to
do!
As Scholastics, my main goal is to
offer help and resources to the chapter to help them improve academically. I
want everyone to excel academically and I want to help in any way I can, from
hosting study hours (with snacks!), Professor Dinner and Meet Your Major, to
improving resources such as test files and our new professor database!
So far this semester is going great!
We have a new professor database with over 100 professors, we've added over 50
new tests and quizzes to our test files, and we have the best study snacks!
Last fall Zeta ranked 4th in highest Panhellenic GPA, with a 3.39 overall GPA!
Juliet
Mullins, Panhellenic
Hometown:
Bethesda, Maryland
Major:
Corporate Communications
I knew I wanted to be on EC ever since my
first chapter meeting as a Zeta! I looked up at the girls leading the meetings
and knew that I really wanted to become involved in my chapter and eventually
become a leader in it!
As the Panhellenic Voting Delegate
for ZTA, I aim to make Zeta's presence in Panhellenic as large as possible. I
encourage our chapter to get out to other chapter's philanthropies and always
support the University Panhellenic Council.
Exec is going great so far and is
such a rewarding experience. It has been amazing to become closer with the
other members on EC and help with the important decisions we have to make about
our chapter!
Liz
Flury, House Manager
Hometown:
Southlake, Texas
Major:
Business (Accounting)
I always saw those Exec girls
sitting in front of meeting as a freshman and I always had so much respect for
them and wanted to be like them. I knew that they were involved and even as a
first semester freshman I knew their names, and I wanted to be involved in the
chapter and have people look up to me.
I am House Manager, so I am in
charge of communication in the house, working with Mom Marge and Chef Holly to
keep things running smoothly, and other fun things like Mexican Dinner and
Chicken Finger Friday. My goal is to keep everyone happy as best I can!
It has been a really good experience
being on exec so far, I love knowing what is going on in the chapter and being
able to help make decisions. It has taught me a lot about working in a team and
communication. I would recommend my position and being Exec to everyone who is
considering applying next year!
Sofia Silver, Risk Reduction and Education
Hometown:
Dallas, Texas
Major:
Neurobiology, Pre-Medical
The reason I wanted to be a part of
Exec is because I wanted to learn more about leadership and become more
involved in chapter decisions. I want to become a doctor in the future, so
being a good leader is very important. I knew that becoming a member of Exec
would give me great experience as a leader, and would teach me a lot about good
communication.
My position is Risk Reduction and
Education, and my goals are to make sure that all of the girls are abiding by
the National policies, and to make sure that Zetas represent themselves in a
positive manner to others.
So far, it has been a great
experience to work with the other girls of Zeta. I really enjoy having a
position of leadership and working with the rest of Exec important decisions
regarding the rest of the chapter.
Maddy
McGlamery, Rituals Chair
Hometown:
Houston, Texas
Major:
Business (Accounting)
Zeta has done so much for me in my
past two years here at UT, so I wanted to do something to give back to the
organization. I also believe that if I’m going to be part of an organization, I
should make sure that I am a relevant part that contributes to the well-being
and does my part to make it better.
My goal for my position is to
instill a greater respect for and understanding of our zeta rituals and to make
initiation night run more efficiently.
It’s going well so far! Post-Initiation
Education (PIE) went successfully. I am currently coordinating with the alumni,
who will be performing our senior initiation into the alumni world ceremony! As
soon as that dinner is finished, I will begin planning for initiation in
October. I will be putting together a team of extra reliable girls to help me
run things on the day of initiation when I am busy with the ceremonies. I plan
to spend the summer planning out all of the details for initiation and look
forward to meeting the new pledge class that we will initiate in the fall!
Tori Pell, Recording Secretary
Hometown: Spring, Texas
Major: Advertising
Exec is a great way to give back to
Zeta. I love being able to have the opportunity to help our chapter grow. It
has also been a great way to get to know girls in Zeta outside of my pledge
class.
My goal is to improve chapter
communication, between members and between Executive council and chapter
members. I also would like to make checking into chapter meeting a more
efficient process.
So far we have an awesome new
Strawberry Patch where members can post any information they want to relay to
the chapter. I am also looking into technology that will make managing
attendance more manageable and accessible for members.
