Senior Farewell

The fact that I’m a Zeta alumnus is unfathomable! PC09 was officially welcomed into the alumni world at our senior dinner on April 29th, and we graduated from UT on May 18th. These are epic moments which I never thought would actually happen to me. As a baby faced, chocolate milk loving kid at heart, I never accepted the fact that I would eventually have to leave this university utopia. After living at the Zeta house the past two years, I took a grown up step by signing an apartment lease in Dallas this week, all while dragging my feet. 

The senior dinner took place on the last Monday of the school year. Everyone was overwhelmed with projects and tests, but we made the event a priority. Our pledge class has always been particularly close, so this was a special occasion we looked forward to celebrating. We had a delicious entrée per usual, followed by a scrumptious dessert. Next, the last few senior grams were read. These letters are written by the parents of seniors as their final sendoff. I had the pleasure of reading Emma Weiss’s letter. She has been one of my best friends since the summer after freshman year, and was one of my roommates in the Zeta house this past year. Not only is she a brilliant, pre-med/business major, but she’s also one of the most caring, hilarious people you'll ever meet. I’m not much of a crier, but the thought of leaving her actually made me shed a few tears while reading her sweet letter.

Finally, the alumni led us in an oath as we committed to joining them in the alumni world. As I gazed around the room, I saw the bright beautiful faces of all the people I’m so proud to call my sisters. Women who are going to teach our future generations (Anna, Jordan, Kelli, Mallory, and Megan), our future business/technology leaders (Alex, Bailey, Bonnie, Chelsea, Gabi, Hollie, Kate, Katie, Kim, and Stacey), those who will redefine the future of medicine (Allison, Elena, Elizabeth, Emma, Heather, Jessica, Kayla, and Melissa), our future lawyers (Amanda, Ashley, Emily and Leah), our future leaders in politics (Audrey, Hilary, and Madi), and women like Anna and Erika who will eventually have their own book or TV show. I could go on forever, but blog posts are supposed to be brief from what I'm told. I am incredibly proud to enter the alumni world with these lovely ladies by my side. The memories have just begun. I have no doubt that we will all remain close friends until we’re on our rocking chairs reminiscing on how we truly did change the world….

Zeta Love Forever,

Bekah Thayer PC '09

Sigma Chi Derby Days 2013

It’s that time of year again! As spring semester comes to a close, it doesn’t mean that the fun has to end. From April 22^nd to the 27^th, the Zetas put on their game faces and participated in some friendly competition during Sigma Chi’s 3^rd Annual Derby Days.

Derby Days is a philanthropy event put on by many Sigma Chi chapters across the country to raise money for the specific chapter’s charity of choice. The event originated at the University of California – Berkeley (Alma mater of our very own university president Bill Powers) and it soon spread to other campuses. This year, there were many events laid out for 13 Panhellenic sororities to participate in to work towards the ultimate goal of being Derby Days champions.

To kick off the competition, each sorority was given a wooden board to paint on a design that incorporated the theme of Derby Days while also promoting the Paul Wall charity concert that was being put on at the end of the week. Even though we got off to a late start, the Zetas were still able to pull off an eye-catching board that featured Paul Wall wearing a crown and representing Zeta and Sigma Chi across his knuckles. Competition was tough but we pulled through and we were awarded 3^rd place for our board. That didn’t get the girls down because by the time Saturday rolled around Paul Wall had caught a glimpse of the board and requested it to be on stage with him while he performed! Go Zetas and special shout out to Sam McClendon and Alex Flowers the awesome artists who designed and worked hard on the board!

The events continued in the week with a picture taking contest where points were awarded to those with the best overall picture, most Sigma Chi’s in a picture, most girls in a picture, craziest photo, and any picture that really stood out. Zeta pulled off that last one by scoring a picture with The University of Texas’s president, Bill Powers! Wednesday’s event got the competitive juices flowing for many girls when the task was to steal as many hats possible from the Sigma Chi’s. Our girls pulled through again receiving third place in the event. The first round of volleyball was also on Wednesday and our players shined and proved their skills, letting us move on to the Friday tournament.

Thursday night brought on the brother auction. The Derby daddies, other brothers, and some special guests including UT basketball player going to the NBA, Myck Kabongo, were auctioned off to the various sororities, which gained the girls points along with it being the night that raised the most money during the whole week. The boys put on their best moves while strutting down the catwalk while the crowd hooped and hollered for all the guys. On Friday, the Zetas wrapped up volleyball by winning their first sets but playing back-to-back games tired us out. There was no time to nap though, because it was formal night! As the next morning rolled along, even with our fun formal the night before, the Zetas still showed up to play on the decathlon day. From the obstacle course to the Tahoe pull, the girls did not back down and fought until the very end. The day wrapped up with Paul Wall performing and the crowd going crazy to “Grillz” and enjoying the end of all the fun events.

Although we came in 10^th place, we still had a great time and cannot wait to participate again next year. In the end Sigma Chi raised over $30,000 throughout the whole week, which was a huge jump from last year’s raised funds of $12,000. The money is split where $15,000 goes to Sigma Chi’s national philanthropy, The Huntsman Cancer Institute and the remaining get’s divided amongst the winning sororities. Derby Days is a fun-filled week that raises money for a good cause while getting so many people involved. Thanks Sigma Chi for including us and we can’t wait to bring our A-game next year! 

Color Run

This past weekend my big, Lauren Fugitt, and I decided to do the color run. It had always been something that we have wanted to do but now we finally got the chance. We drove to the Austin Rodeo grounds and were in awe at how many people were there. Tons of people drove in from cities all around and everyone was so energetic and lively even at 8:00 in the morning! The atmosphere was so fun and we were so excited for the run to begin! We picked up our shirts and bibs and lined up in the huge crowd at the starting line. The buzzer went off and it was time to run! The fun thing about this race is that it is not very serious and everyone does it just to have fun but also it raises money for cancer. It was a 5K but it did not feel long at all because at every kilometer or so you would run through different tunnels where people covered you in color and it was always exciting to see what color was next. The race was tons of fun but after there was a DJ playing music and a huge crowd where everyone threw their colors and danced. Lauren and I had so much fun and hope to start going every year. We want to make it a tradition where we take our littles.

ZL, Aubrey Crenshaw PC'12