One Hundred and Fifty-Five.

Fifteen Days: Officer Elections, Pillars Week, Diamond Dash, Last Colony Meeting, Sports Week, Officer Training, Diamond Days, Initiation, Installation, Officer Transition Workshop, Two Recruitment Workshops & First/Last Chapter Meeting.

Needless to say, it’s been a busy last half of May in Riverside! The colony elected their first officer class, and those women have been working hard on their training before the summer months start. The colony also participated in their first Pillars Week and Sports Week within the Fraternity Sorority Community.

Perhaps the most exciting (and the busiest) week was Diamond Days. The charter members took time on the night before their Initiation to do a Sister Share, where they each shared their favorite ADPi memory. I loved hearing what mean the most to them in the past eight weeks.

Saturday, May 30th was Initiation and Installation Day! We welcome 107 sisters into Delta membership and the 155th active chapter of Alpha Delta Pi was installed as the Theta Omega chapter. The weekend brought lots of friendly faces back to Riverside, including our fabulous installation team! At times it was chaotic, but it was one of my favorite Alpha Delta Pi memories to date. The realization (and the waterworks) hit when our charter members were singing two of the most perfect ADPi Song: “Pass It On” and “Home” by Phillip Phillips. It was incredible to see how far this colony, and now chapter, has come in eight weeks and how it has brought the most incredible new sisters into my life. I thank my lucky stars that I was choose to help colonize at UCR!

After the excitment of the night, we still weren’t quite finished for the quarter! We held Officer Transition Workshop the morning after, along with a Recruitment Workshop facilitated by the Remarkable Rebecca Gentry that night. The jam-packed schedule was worth it to end the quarter talking about who this chapter is, where they are and where they are going!

I also loved having my fellow consultant sisters close throughout these crazy two weeks! I am so thankful for their constant love and support, along with all the amazing things that they have done for Theta Omega!

It’s not quite goodbye to Riverside! I will be here until I fly to Arizonia for Grand Convention. For now, it’s wrap-up officer meetings and recruitment prep for the next few weeks (along with enjoying my remaining time in Sunny California!).

The Last Leg

It’s been another month since I last posted, and I am now officially heading into my last month as a Leadership Consultant! It’s amazing how fast this journey has gone by – it’s literally taken me from coast to coast over the past ten months!

So what’s been happening in California? I returned to Riverside after my break in South Carolina (full of family, friends and sleep!) and came back in the midst of election preparations. Lots of hours of one-on-ones talking about officer roles filled my second half of April. The colony also had their first mixer at the mini-golf course (planned by pseudo-Director of Social Enrichment/fabulous support consultant Paola) and completed Alpha Education sessions!

At the beginning of May, we got a much-needed reunion at 1386 Ponce when the Leadership Consultants returned to Executive Office for wrap-up meetings. Lots of talking, lots of laughter and lots of eating filled these days in Atlanta as we slowly begin to say our goodbyes to LC Life. We also got to tape our LC Convention Skit…Stay tuned!

Last week, we jammed in another mixer at the trampoline park (planned biasedly by yours truly who was dying to go), completing their International Exam, celebrating their first Founders’ Day as Alpha Delta Pi women AND competing in their first Anchor Splash in support of their Delta Gamma friends.

I continue to be overwhelmed and very grateful for the many, many Panhellenic women who support our colony! Our new members have been paired with a “Panhellenic Pal” who have been able to show them the ropes of what it means to live out the Panhellenic Creed at UCR!

So what’s next/what’s left? Immediately, I’m about to head into Pitch Perfect 2, a perfect sisterhood event to see a movie that opened on our Founders’ Day! This week brings elections and Pillars Week, along with the return of my consultant sisters Paola and Meg for the rest of the month! Then next week, we head into Sports Week, Diamond Days, Initiation, Installation and Officer Transition Workshop. Whew! It’s going to be a crazy two weeks, but I’m excited for our Alphas to officially become Delta members on May 30^th, AND for the Theta Omega Chapter to be officially installed as Alpha Delta Pi’s 155^th active chapter!

After those two crazy weeks, it’s time for more officer training, wrap-up, pack-up and then on to Grand Convention in Arizona (with maybe another trip to Disneyland thrown in there!).

July 1^st will be my official end to this Life From My Pi Phone since I am flying back to South Carolina that day! As bittersweet as it is to end this year, I am very excited to be starting my next chapter in Greenville, SC as a new account coordinator with Flourish!

From Palm Trees to the Palmetto State

March has flown by in a whirl of activity leading up to Colony Recruitment at the University of California, Riverside! We spent the first three weeks of the month marketing, tabling on campus and meeting with potential new members. I continued to be amazed at the caliber of women who make up this campus, and I cannot wait to meet our new members in early April! The Panhellenic women have continued to support our colonization efforts in a way that truly lives out the National Panhellenic Creed, which states, “Cooperation for furthering fraternity life, in harmony with its best possibilities, is the ideal that shall guide our fraternity activities.”

I’ve also taken a little bit of time to enjoy Riverside, from a couple hours laying by the pool to checking out some local stores to watching the new Cinderella movie (I highly recommend it if you haven’t seen it yet!). I even checked “Hike the C” off my Riverside list. The rumor is if you hike up to the C and kiss it, you’ll get A’s for that quarter. The added bonus is that you get an incredible view of Riverside!

This past weekend, I packed my bags and headed east! It was great to be home in South Carolina to see family and friends. In true LC fashion, I wasn’t in one place for very long: I drove up to Charlotte to reunite with fellow traveler Kathryn. Nothing beats sushi, shopping and life talk with a best friend!

The next day, I drove down to Atlanta to grab Hannah before we trekked to Mussel Shoals, Alabama for our chapter sister and best friend Molly’s wedding. I can’t describe how wonderful it is to be back together in the same city with the friends that are each pursuing their own life paths. I am ever so grateful for Alpha Delta Pi on these days because without ADPi, I would have never met these and so many other sisters who play a crucial role in my life. From there, it was back to Greenville to enjoy one last day of break!

What’s next? I’m anxious to get back to the west coast and to welcome home those new Alpha members at UCR.

From Starkville to Southern California

After my February break in Charleston, I headed back to Mississippi State University for my last regular chapter visit of the year. During my fourth and final visit to Starkville, I was able to meet with officers who have been settling into their new positions in Epsilon Eta Chapter. I also got the chance to experience my first actual snow days as a consultant!

I rounded out the week with the chapter’s spring sisterhood retreat where I facilitated a workshop on branding and image! Afterwards, I went with a couple sisters to help prepare for a gala event benefitting a local orphanage. The next day I said my goodbyes to Mississippi and hopped on my plane en route to California!

My first week in town at the University of California Riverside has been wonderful! I have started settling into my apartment and have met some of the most fantastic Panhellenic women that I have come across during my travels. They have been invaluable to our marketing and recruitment efforts this week and are so supportive of Alpha Delta Pi colonizing at UCR! The Panhellenic, IFC, FSIC and campus community as a whole have been so welcoming to ADPi. My consultant sister Paola arrived mid-week, and we have been tabling and meeting women on campus each day in anticipation of colony recruitment week at the end of March.

I closed out my first week by celebrating my 23rd birthday! Thank you to all my family, friends, Alpha Delta Pi sisters and new UCR friends who made March 6th an incredible day. I have been beyond blessed for an unbeatable support system and an incredible life thus far!

Goodbye Oxford, Callin’ Baton Rouge and Carolina On My Mind

Since I started my year as a Leadership Consultant, I have spent 98 days with our new chapter at the University of Mississippi. In that time the chapter has grown tremendously, both in size (Delta Sigma has more than 350 members!) and development. I cannot begin to describe how special this chapter and these sisters are to me – I am so proud of everything you accomplished in your first year as a chapter!

I spent my last couple weeks with Delta Sigma helping with officer transition and goal-setting for 2015. I think some of my favorite members of this chapter (besides all those fun first formal recruitment stories J) is the time that I have spent in the library Starbucks meeting with officers and members. These women can attest to the fact that I have spent many, many hours, and consumed ridiculous amounts of caffeine, at the Starbucks since it is a central location on campus. I love when sisters will randomly stop by the chat when I’m sitting working on reports, but I absolutely adore the times where there have been large groups of ADPi women in there working on chapter business, school work or just catching up with friends. I am SO EXCITED for you to move into your new house in the fall. Some of my favorite members of college were meal times or sitting in the TV room in our house, so that’s why I think I love hanging out at the Starbucks since it reminds me of those times.

It’s a very bittersweet goodbye to my Delta Sigma sisters: I’m excited to be doing something new with our colony at UCR, but I hate to leave all the sisters that I have gotten to know so well over the past couple months. I know that this chapter has great things in store in the months and years to come!

After wrapping up in Oxford, I headed south to Baton Rouge for an expansion presentation at LSU. Although the SEC Rival is still in me, I must say I had a wonderful day learning about the campus, seeing Mike the Tiger and meeting the exceptional Panhellenic women, and other staff and administrators who support LSU’s Greek Life! I also enjoyed spending time with International Officers, seeing collegians from my own chapter at Alabama and Ole Miss and meeting our alumnae from LSU.

It was a quick trip, and before long I was back on the road again heading to Charleston, SC, for break! After a not-so-fun travel day due to the ferocious winter storm Octavia (Irony at its finest since that is the name of one of Alpha Delta Pi’s founders), I made it home to Greenville and drove the rest of the way down to Charleston. I was greeted by beautiful weather and family and friends for an early birthday celebration weekend!

What’s next? One last go-around in Mississippi! I’m traveling back to Starkville to see my sisters at Mississippi State. I think it’s only fitting to have my last chapter visit where I kicked off this wild journey back in August.

Double the DLCs, Double the Fun

After finishing up a break weekend in Atlanta and Nashville, I returned to Oxford to spend a couple weeks with my Delta Sigma sisters! The chapter was gearing up for their first officer transition since their recolonization, so there was lots of work to be done. I have enjoyed working with this first officer class over the fall and will definitely miss spending time in meetings with them, but I am so excited to see how the next officers will build on their work!

I got an unexpected opportunity to work our first District Leadership Conference of the year with our District II chapters! I hopped on a plane and traveled to the Tri-Cities to spend the weekend in Kingsport, Tennessee. It was great to see my consultant sister Nicole and other International Officers that I had met on the road. I also was able to surprise the officers of the four chapters I had visited in North Carolina. I can’t tell you how much I enjoyed seeing the women of Eta Upsilon, Zeta Beta, Zeta Mu and Zeta Psi!

After a quick trip, I returned to Ole Miss for a week full of officer transition workshop, officer installation and meetings before heading back to the airport to travel to District I DLC in Atlanta. This was my fourth time at DLC I, since my home chapter is in District I, but my first time experiencing this DLC as an alumna! Again, the weekend was full of seeing chapters I’ve visited and IOs and advisors I’ve met on the road or while I was a chapter officer. I also had four glorious days with my consultant sister Rachel, hang out time with my Violet Sister Haley and a mini-reunion with my Eta sisters. I love having the chance to see so many people I love and who have shaped my Alpha Delta Pi experience!

What’s next? I’m heading back to spending my last couple weeks with my Delta Sigma sisters! If you haven’t already seen my big news, I will be spending the last months of my consultant year in Riverside, CA, helping with our next colony at University of California, Riverside. I am looking forward to experiencing West Coast life and being a colony consultant, as well as, another opportunity to work with our New Chapter Development Team, which has become quite a passion for me!

By Living This Motto

November kicked off with a trip to the University of North Florida, where Alpha Delta Pi was invited give a presentation on colonizing this fall. The university, located in Jacksonville, has a picturesque campus, strong academic and flagship programs, and a thriving Greek life.

Before our campus visit, the team got to enjoy the Jacksonville beaches in the morning! One of our Grand Council Members offered her beach home to stay in during our visit, so this Leadership Consultant hit the jackpot with this visit. The UNF expansion presentation team spent the afternoon and evening on campus participating in tours and meetings, and polishing our presentation. I enjoyed getting to know the many Panhellenic women who attended our meetings and presentations in the search of the perfect fit for their community. I also loved getting to spend time with the International Officers and Expansion Team members who were on the visit!

From Jacksonville, I flew to Lafayette, Louisiana, for a reunion with my two consultant sisters, Savannah and Nicole, and more importantly, for the Installation activities for the Alpha Delta Pi colony at the University of Louisiana! The weekend was spent preparing for Diamond Days, Initiation and the Installation banquet. The Theta Phi Chapter was installed on Saturday, November 8^th as the 152^nd active chapter of Alpha Delta Pi! I was able to attend an installation banquet as a collegian, but this installation was even more special. It’s a one-of-a-kind experience that clearly shows the dedication of advancing of our sisterhood – it’s when you can see the partnership between Grand Council, International Officers, Executive Office Staff, advisors, campus administrators, campus leaders andthe new collegian members. Not everyone gets to be a charter member of their chapter, so this is a distinct honor bestowed upon exceptional young women who rise to the challenge to create and mold a sisterhood.

I was incredibly proud to be an Alpha Delta Pi that night, and every day of the year. I was proud of the support that our alumnae give to our collegian members, often volunteering their time on top of professional and other commitments. I was proud of my two consultant sisters, Savannah and Nicole, for their hard work this semester – marketing to colony recruitment, bid day to Diamond Days. How wonderful it is to work with them and to be a part of a program that is dedicated to leadership and development of our members. I was proud of the campus support from administrators, student affairs leaders and members of the Greek community. But most of all, I am proud of the newly installed officers of Theta Phi Chapter and their charter members.

After Installation Weekend was over, we helped with the new officers’ training workshop and finished up some odds and ends. Our last day in Lafayette including a little pampering, movie time and, of course, attending Chipotle’s Grand Opening in Lafayette.

In all, it was a wild, crazy busy, exciting ten days in Florida and Louisiana working to expand and strengthen Alpha Delta Pi! As sad as I was to say goodbye to UL and Savannah, I know that she is going to do an amazing job bringing this new chapter into its next phase of development! Nicole and I arrived back in Oxford for Delta Sigma’s Diamond Days on Wednesday, and we started the countdown to Thanksgiving Break, to our return to Executive Office in December and to Christmas Break!