Search results matching tag 'Pi Beta Phi'

80s Prom!

ChristinaL — Sun, 27 Sep 2009 15:08:00 GMT

One of the things that the juniors and seniors at Butler are most proud of is our status as children of the 1980s. Yes, we are the babies of the decade, and we really don't have too many coherent memories from it, but it still makes us feel way more retro and cool to say we lived in such a ridiculous and out-of-date era.

We celebrated this cultural golden age last night at my sorority's 80s Prom.

Dances, usually called formals or informals, are another long-standing tradition of Greek life. We rent out a space at a hotel or restaurant to host a dance, and then we all take buses over there together. If you were on the Homecoming decoration committee or if you went to prom four times in high school, then you would love this aspect of being Greek. I, on the other hand, went to precisely three dances in all of high school: two Homecomings and a Disco Dance. I left the Disco Dance early to see Harry Potter in the theatre at midnight. A lot of my friends went to dances, but that just wasn't my thing at the time.

By the time I got to college, I was a bit more of a dancer but formals were not a priority in my schedule. In my sorority, we typically have a formal and an informal dance each semester. The informal ones are the best, in my opinion, because they usually have a fun theme that involves dressing up. However, up until now, the ONLY dance I've been able to attend was a formal two years ago when I was a sophomore. I usually have a super busy schedule in the spring where I'm traveling for different conferences and am out of town on a lot of weekends, and last fall I studied abroad so I obviously couldn't go. However, here I am, a senior, now finally ready to go to my first informal. Thank goodness we picked such an amazing theme as 80s prom.

My little sister happens to be a Goodwill guru, so I asked her if she had anything she could lend me for an 80s prom. She, of course, just happened to have a bright purple, full-length, vintage 80s dress hanging in her closet. HUGE poufy sleeves? check. Bow the size of a small child on the back? check. My cousin lent me big gold hoops earrings, and I was ready to go.

Working the 80s with my old roommate, Kim!

I decided to bring my friend Jared as my date, because he was one of the 17 Butler kids in my study abroad group in Spain last fall. I love my Alcala family to pieces, and Jared and I are especially good friends because we lived across the street from each other in Spain and our host parents were close. We spent our first day in Spain exploring Alcala together with my host dad; we would walk together when we went out at night; one time, Jared even lived with my family for a week when his mama had a family emergency.

Here we are together with Don Quijote on Day 1 in Spain:

But the most epic bonding experience that Jared and I ever had was when we decided to try the gym just down the street from where we lived. We got passes for a free trial, and I convinced Jared that we should go to a group fitness class. The one we happened to pick turned out to be a mix of hip hop striptease aerobics led by a young man wearing women's workout clothing. The class was entirely populated by middle-aged Spanish women. We were definitely the only Americans AND the only ones under 30. However, the situation was so funny that we just had to get into it and dance like fools! Jared is a great dancer and not afraid of anything, so we ended up having a really fun time. After that, we would always laugh and try to recreate our aerobics moves when we went out dancing with our friends. Since the 80s were a time of aerobics and bad prom dresses, I thought I would combine the two by bringing my good old study abroad buddy.

Mini reunion at the Prom! Jared and I with our friend Chelsea who also went to Spain with us.

Although we couldn't remember any of our Spanish aerobics, we still had a great time, and it was so much fun to catch up with an old friend and hang out with all my sisters for my very first informal. Somewhere along my college career, I have become a person who actually likes dancing. I learned a lot about looking like a fool in Spain and, of course, being a Student Orientation Guide this year was all about letting loose and looking silly to help the freshmen lighten up.

If the 1980s taught us anything at all, it's that looking ridiculous is cool - as long as you're having fun!

When in Rome

BUTaylorM — Sun, 20 Sep 2009 20:20:00 GMT

It's a Sunday. It's 4:20 and I just visited all the sororities with some girls from my unit, 1E (except Alpha Phi. We were too late.) and, before, I was total skeptic about sororities and greek life. I had heard from friends about hazing and drinking and such at different schools and I did NOT want to be a part of that. However, after visiting all the houses (except Alpha Phi), my mind has been changed.

First House= Alpha Chi Omega

Second House= Delta Gamma

Third House= Delta Delta Delta (or Tri-Delta)

Fourth House= Kappa Kappa Gamma

Fifth House= Kappa Alpha Theta

Last House= Pi Beta Phi

You can't really know until you get to know the girls and it's tough. At least for me. I have been trying to get involved but... it's been hard to get into some organizations. I never got a call back for BUSF which I think is kind of rude. I wanted to get in, sure, but at least tell me that I didn't make it instead of not calling. Plus, I have been working so hard at school and such that I haven't been going out to the greek events which makes it hard to get to know the girls. I'm really glad Butler doesn't make us decide until the end of our semester rather than rushing right at the beginning. It helps you to get assimilated to Butler. I just hope that, if I do end up rushing, that I get bids based on my personality and work ethic... not my looks or ability to party. Well, I think I better finish this thing up. I have work up to my ears that I must attend to. However, I leave you with a picture of old Butler. It's pretty crazy how much it has changed over the years.

The Office and Glee

BUTaylorM — Fri, 18 Sep 2009 01:04:00 GMT

Despite being a busy bee here at Butler, I am finding time to fit in some of my favorite shows. At this very moment, my roommate is hysterically laughing at The Office. Steve Carrell is so ridiculously funny. Also, my unit-friend Bethany (how weird is it that there are 2 Bethany's and 3 Brittany's in my unit?) and I have a slight obsession with Glee. It's about show choir, something I never had the guts to do but should of, so how could it not be great?

I just had my BUSF interview. I was super nervous but I think it went well. We had a 30 minute individual interview that went really well. The girl who interviewed me was an absolute sweetheart and it turns out that she is from Alpha Chi Omega and emailed me to come for lunch. Small world, huh? Anyway, the group interview was intimidating but ONLY because Stephanie Flint, a fellow blogger, and basically perfect human being was in the same group as me. Are you kidding me? Seriously, Steph has EVERYTHING going for her. I kind of look up to her for that reason.

Thursday's are such tough days. They always give me a little taste of the weekend (which is delicious, by the way) but then I get slammed at about 8:00 PM when I realize that I have work to do and classes tomorrow. All will be well, though. Next week, I am having lunch at Alpha Chi Omega and possibly Pi Beta Phi which I am pretty excited about. The more I meet the girls from the sororities, the more I want to get involved. Also, next week I am going to start babysitting for a family. Gosh! I am getting so involved. AHH.

On another note, I am missing my babies and NO, I do not have children. I miss my pets at home! During breaks and in high school, I worked at a vet's office so I was used to be around animals all the time. Now, well, now I miss animals. Every time I see anyone with a dog I freak out. Anyway... here are some cute pictures of my babies:

This is my handsome man, Charlie. We call him Charles, Charlie, or Chubby Chuck. :)

This is my kitty cat Sophie. She went missing a week before I moved in. We still haven't found her. :(

This is my puppy dog Chance. Isn't she a sweetheart?

Oh! We have a new kitten. His name is Weasley. Can you say CUTE?

I don't have a picture of my old man cat Trigger. I hope to get one soon. Anyway, there they are.

Let's do lunch soon, Dawgs.

Butler's Best Dance Crews

ChristinaL — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 06:06:00 GMT

One interesting college phenomenon is the lipsync. At Butler, we use this term on practically a weekly basis, and yet lipsyncs do not involve any singing or even mouthing the words. Butler's term "lipsync" is just another word for "group dance competition"- usually one that provides free weekend entertainment at events that raise money for a charity.

When I was a freshman, some of the fraternities hosted lipsyncs where the sororities would compete. In the last three years, this campus has gone lipsync crazy, and now nearly all the fraternities have a lipsync and the sororities have started adding their own lipsyncs for the men to duke it out. Sticking to gender stereotype, the women with the most intense, intricate, synchronized dance win, while all the guys need for a victory are some silly costumes and ridiculously humorous dance moves. Another change in the last three years is that the non Greek members of campus have joined in on the lipsync craze - Ross Hall and the Independent Council have also participated.

This weekend we had the first two lipsyncs of the year: Alpha Phi's Bounce for Beats Hearthrob competition and Lambda Chi Alpha's Watermelon Bust.

Bounce for Beats raises money for women's cardiac health. The Phi ladies jump on trampolines all day and ask for donations. For the Hearthrob competition, they give the guys a turn - they have to have at least one guy on the trampoline bouncing and they have to use heart-related music... which often = boy bands. This year, the men of Tau Kappa Epsilon won with a pretty ridiculous performance that included fireworks... that was a first. Unfortunately I didn't get any photos of that, but here are some of the other guys dancing, and you can see the big crowd of people that showed up to supoort Alpha Phi's philanthropy.

On Saturday, Lambda hosted their annual watermelon-themed event to raise money for the North American Food Drive. I didn't get to stay for all the lipsyncs, but I did enjoy the humor of Pi Phi's dance, choreographed entirely to Biggie music to bring out the inner gangsta in all of us, I guess. My sisters crack me up. I applaud them for taking down the gender stereotypes and showing that women can be just as silly and fun as the guys!

Oh lipsyncs... They are definitely one of those Butler traditions that seem like a such a normal part of life until you stop to think and realize how weird they are.

Hello... for the third time!

ChristinaL — Thu, 10 Sep 2009 23:01:00 GMT

I am very excited to introduce myself as a Butler Blogger for the third time! I am, in fact, the longest-running blogger in the very long history of Butler Blogging (three years...haha) Now I am a senior, but I started this wonderful job when I was a sophomore, so if you want to know what is like to become an upperclassmen at Butler, become more involved at Butler than I could ever imagine, move away from Butler (to study abroad), come back to Butler, add a major, spend summer in Indy interning and then become a senior, then think of my blog archives as one long epic novel about a Butler career. I also tell stories sometimes on my blog about being a freshman, so you really get my whole Butler experience! It's like having all 10 seasons of Friends on DVD : ) To see all my archived blog posts, click here.

So far being a senior has been exciting and scary. Being an orientation guide for the new students and being one of only 3 seniors who still lives in my sorority house means I am around younger Butler students a LOT. That makes me feel really old because many of them (and probably many of you reading this blog) were born in the 90s. I think it is a symbol that I'm officially old when the children of the 80s are no longer the kids! The younger ones also make me a little jealous that I don't get to have all the annual college rituals ever again! I will never have another Welcome Week or undergrad Homecoming or move back into my sorority house, and that's hard when these and so many other things at BU are traditions I have grown to love so much.

Old people have to hang out together. I am on the far right, in the middle is another old senior - my friend Erikaa, and on the left is another old person we met while in Grapevine, Texas for Pi Phi national convention. : )

The nice thing about being a senior surrounded by younger students is that people actually seem to think I know what's going on! ; ) Really, I love being a resource for my younger friends as they start or continue their college journeys. I know my older friends meant SO much to me when I was starting college. It is because of the people that were seniors and juniors and sophomores when I got here that I grew to love Butler so much. They made me feel so welcome and immediately like part of the family, so I'm glad to be that older friend for someone else and pay it forward.

Well, that's enough musing about being old for one blog post. (My advisor is about to turn 70 so he always makes fun of me when I complain about my age.)

I guess I will do a little introduction in case you are just joining us here at the wonderful Butler Blogs. You already know that I'm a senior, but you might not know that I am a double major in English and Spanish with a minor in Gender Studies. I am in the Honors Program and I will begin research on my thesis any day now. I am very involved with Greek Life - I hold exec positions for Pi Beta Phi, the Order of Omega (Greek honors society) and the Panhellenic Association which oversees the sororities. I also play clarinet in the band and am in a music fraternity, work with alumni through the Student Foundation and dabble in other clubs and committees as much as I can. I work for NUVO Newsweekly, which is an independent newspaper in town... and thus supports one of my million potential post-grad plans: journalism. I am from the Chicago suburbs (I went to Naperville North HS - GO HUSKIES!), but I've also lived around the Midwest and in Tokyo, Japan, and I studied abroad last year in Madrid, Spain. Traveling is pretty much my favorite thing to do. I also love volunteering, riding my bike, meeting new people, reading, dancing, recycling, and color coding my calendar. Is that enough for now? I write infamously lengthy blogs, so I'm sure you'll get to know me, but if you ever have questions, feel free to comment or email me. The only thing I love almost as much as traveling is TALKING ABOUT BUTLER! : )

Deep in the Heart of Friendship

ChristinaL — Fri, 03 Jul 2009 00:38:00 GMT

Well, I am back in Indiana... temporarily! We finished up with the conference on Monday night and spent Tuesday sightseeing and traveling home... I already wasn't feeling too good, and when I woke up in my own bed on Wednesday morning, I was definitely sick! I had to take a day off and rest up, because I have just been doing too much traveling recently. But, now that I'm feeling better, let me give you a recap:

The last day of the convention was so much fun and full of surprises and special guests.

We had tons of great speakers that day!

In the morning, US Senator Kay Bailey Hutchinson - a Pi Beta Phi alum from University of Texas - came to speak to us! She is the only female senator ever to be from Texas, and when she joined the Senate, was one of only seven women. She talked about the importance of having women well represented in every aspect of society. Her speech was a great introduction to the two other Pi Phi alumnae who received member of distinction awards - one is a noted journalist who is the editor of an African American newspaper in NYC, and the other is a doctor at Johns Hopkins.

The day also had a strong focus on philanthropy. Pi Phi supports literacy, and we partner with First Book, a national non-profit that donates books to low-income children and schools. Kyle Zimmer, president of First Book, came to speak to us at the convention. She talked about all the excuses that people give for why they can't make a difference... and then gave examples of women throughout history who have proven those excuses wrong! She is such an intelligent, funny and passionate woman - I really admire her and LOVE her organization! I am so glad that we support it and I was thrilled to see Pi Beta Phi present First Book with $240,000 on Monday!!

We also gave $10,000 to The Ali Kemp Educational Foundation (TAKE), which was very emotional. Ali Kemp was a Pi Phi from Kansas who was murdered a few years ago. Her parents started a foundation that teaches women and girls self-defense techniques so that deaths like Ali's can be prevented in the future. We had the chance to go through the TAKE training on Monday and learn some moves! It was definitely a great experience and something that I think all women should go through... not to mention it was fun practicing my defense moves on my friend Erikaa! : )

The last part of the evening was the Wine Carnation Banquet, when the fraternity awards are given out and the outgoing national officers speak about one another. It was so sweet to hear about the friendship that our national officers have shared together. All in all, the day showed that Pi Phi is about making a sincere difference in society with our volunteer work and our fundraising... but it's also about the connections and friendships we create with one another along that jouney.

On Tuesday, the convention was all over and so we had some time to get out of the bubble of our hotel. The Gaylord Texan, where we stayed, was massive and included its own versions of some Texas highlights including the facade of the Alamo and a faux San-Antonio-style riverwalk!

But, we wanted to see some of the "real" Texas, so we ventured to the nearby downtown of Grapevine. I think some of its historical Texas charm has been amped up for tourism, but it was so stereotypically Texan that we had fun with it!

Of course, every cowboy town's gotta have a jail for the outlaws:

Overall, it was an amazing trip. I learned so much and feel inspired and ready to help lead my chapter in my last year at Butler. I am so proud to wear the Golden Arrow of Pi Beta Phi!

IN Gamma <3

Pi Phis Take Over Texas

ChristinaL — Mon, 29 Jun 2009 06:13:00 GMT

Howdy ya'll! ; ) I am writing to you from DALLAS, TEXAS where I am on location for the 67th convention of the Pi Beta Phi fraternity for women!

I'm not sure exactly how many Pi Phis are here, but there are 134 active collegiate chapters with at least one representative (most have two or more), and there are even more than 150 (I think!) alumnae clubs represented by at least one woman. Okay, so my by-the-numbers approach is lacking some substance but let me just say that there are A TON of Pi Phi women and we have taken over the Gaylord Texan Hotel & Convention Center in full force!

On Friday morning, our chapter president Erikaa, one of our alumnae advisors Kristi, and I all flew down from Indianapolis. It was a long day because we had to take two flights and the only thing on tv while we sat around on our layover was Michael Jackson tributes, so I had "Billy Jean," "Thriller," and that "The Way You Make Me Feel" song that's in Center Stage stuck in my head all day.

But, it was all worth it when we arrived at this HUGE convention center in Texas with *insert very large number* of our fraternity sisters! They don't lie - everything is bigger in Texas. This resort is like a small city with everything you could possibly need; until Erikaa and I took a walk this afternoon (Sunday), we hadn't been outside since Friday afternoon... crazy. There are also a LOT of Pi Phis, so everything is en masse this week.

So what have we been up to?

meeting sisters from other colleges! The best thing ever is learning how many amazing women are part of the larger sisterhood that we share. I love hearing about all the cool things they do personally... and stealing ideas from the awesome things they do in their chapters at home.

meeting alumnae!* It is a common misconception that a Greek organization is something for college students. College is only the beginning, and with so many alumnae of all ages here (literally! there are a lot of "Golden Arrows" here, which means women who were initiated 50 years ago!!), it is so inspiring to see how many women are able to stay involved in Pi Phi activities long after their graduation day. Not only do alumnae clubs support the Pi Phi chapters at colleges, but they also do their own community service and philanthropy and provide a network of friends to support any Pi Phi. If I ever move to a new city, I know that I can look up the nearest Pi Phi alumnae club and meet some passionate, intelligent, engaged women in that community. That's a great network to have wherever I go. I especially loved getting to meet alumnae from our chapter at Butler. I got to hear about what BU was like in the 60s, 70s and 80s. Some traditions like Geneva Stunts have been around FOREVER at Butler...and they're still going strong.

learning about our values. Greek organizations are different from other clubs because they are based on values. Pi Beta Phi's values are Intergrity, Lifelong Commitment, Honor & Respect, Philanthropic Service to Others, Personal and Intellectual Growth and Sincere Friendship.

voting on legislation and electing new leaders for the fraternity.

learning how to create more effective and meaningful programs for our chapter members. Greek life is about developing yourself as a whole, well-rounded person, and at our convention we've talked about the ways that we can help our members to grow as students, women, friends, etc. while upholding and reinforcing our values. It is a huge responsibility to put on programming that educates our chapter, but that's one of the things I love about sorority life - college women take on this great challenge to teach their peers about ideals and qualities they value.

discussing some of the challenges facing college students, like binge drinking and hazing, and how Pi Phis can be a force of positive change on our campuses when it comes to these kind of issues.

learning more about our initiation ritual and discussing why it is so important to us.

eating a lot of really tasty food. mmmm!

singing Pi Phi songs, most of which are meaningful and beautiful... and some of which are really old and silly and have ridiculous lyrics about how Pi Phis won't hold men's hands because they are angels (and thus not promiscuous enough to *gasp* hold hands) ; )

hanging out, having fun and enjoying the fellowship!

It is such a cool experience to see the larger picture of what the fraternity is all about and how it works. We also have the chance to give input into our organization and learn from its top leaders.

At dinner tonight, I sat next to the Grand Vice President of Membership! Luellen is a really big deal... and I got to pick her brain for an hour about how to really recruit the most quality members who live up to our values and will be committed to the chapter. Awesome! While she was there, the former Grand President (aka the leader of the entire fraternity), who also happens to be the most adorable little old (and feisty, intelligent, well-spoken and loving) Southern woman came up to talk to Luellen and gave me a hug. The former Grand President! Highlight of my day, for sure. Her name is Sis Mullis, and she is on my short list of very inspiring women.

I also had a great experience tonight talking to the Risk Management Officer for Pi Phi. We watched a documentary about hazing and binge drinking, and I shared with her an idea I had about a discussion that chapters could have that would be honest and open and try to get to the real issues of why college students sometimes drink excessively. Sarah was really interested in what I had to say, and we're going to stay in touch via email and our discussion might lead to new programming for the whole fraternity!

I guess I say all this to emphasize how great it is to be surrounded by the leaders that are making amazing things happen for a community of over 200,000 fabulous women. I am learning so much, but I'm not just here as an observer, and it is exciting to take an active role in my fraternity family.

More updates - and pictures - will come soon. Tomorrow is the last day of business... I'm not ready to go home!

*Christina's Grammar Public Service Announcement regarding Words That Describe People Who Graduated From An Institution:

Alumnus = singular male

Alumna = singular female

Alum = short, slang version of singular

Alumni = plural verson of alumnus - can describe a group of all males, or a mixed gender group)

Alumnae = plural version of alumna - describes a group of females

I say this because these can be very confusing for people to keep straight and as someone who works in the Alumni Office and with many alumni through campus organizations... this drives me slightly crazy. But, I will chalk it up to a lack of awareness and rectify that situation by explaining the right terminology and trust you to check yourself. My English major, grammar-lovin' soul begs of you:

Please do not use "alum" as a plural form. (I will cry.) As in: "Our alum are such great people. They have so much Butler spirit." ALUM IS NOT PLURAL, PEOPLE!

Ok, now stepping off my grammar soapbox! Have a good night : )

Party. Play. Study. Sleep (a little).

ChristinaL — Mon, 20 Apr 2009 02:21:00 GMT

What a jam-packed weekend! (I think busy-ness is going to be the general theme of the rest of my posts for this year.) I’m writing about a lot of things I did this weekend, so I’ll bold what each paragraph is about and you can skip around.

In theory, Friday should have been less busy because both of my classes were cancelled for the Undergraduate Research Conference. This is a huge conference at Butler where undergrads from all around Indiana come to our campus and present their research. As a junior, this is actually the first year I have not presented… since I studied abroad in the fall, the major research I’ve done has been in Spanish, so I decided not to present that!

However, as I have mentioned before, my smarty pants roommate Kim spent all last summer researching black holes with her advisor (and she got paid to do it with a grant from the Butler Summer Institute). So, I went to see Kim present her work on Friday and she was fabulous. I actually understood some of it, and I know nothing about astronomy or physics, so you know she did a good job explaining. I would have liked to go to more but SO many of my friends were presenting that I just couldn’t see everyone.

Here's Kim talking about black holes!

I spent Friday afternoon at my internship at NUVO Newsweekly doing some research for future stories, setting up interviews, and editing another intern's piece. It was a great week for me at work because I had four bylines (stories with my name on them) in the paper! I laugh and call it "the Butler edition" of NUVO, because a large number of the main stories were written by myself and Michelle Skinner, another Butler English major. What can I say? Indy businesses and non-profits love BU students as interns! Anyway, I definitely encourage you to read the Cultural Trail story and check out their website for more info, because it is an extremely cool project that combines a bike and pedestrian trail with public art and cultural hubs to make Indy into an even more exciting and unique city. To check out this and more of my writing click below:

My Cultural Trail Story

My green business story

My theatre review

Friday night we had a cookout for Kappa Kappa Psi, my band fraternity, and our sister band sorority down in Butler's Holcomb Gardens. It’s nice to be away from everyone and surrounded by all the trees and grass – it almost feels like being off campus! We also had a great recital with fun performances by some of our members.

I saw even more performances later that night downtown at Spark a Revolution, a performance/party/fundraiser for the Earth House (an organic café/social justice and arts venue downtown) and the Indy Fringe Theatre Festival (which I am interning for this summer – yay!). It was definitely different from most performances I have ever been to, and definitely convinced me that artsy, liberal people DO exist in large numbers in Indianapolis! One of my favorite “acts” of the evening was when a group of modern dancers started an improve dance through the crowd and tons of audience members joined in – it was really beautiful and touching to see that ANYONE can be a dancer! The evening ended with a grand finale featuring some ridiculous break dancers and a performance from a BMX biker. This seems totally random to pair with modern dancers but it was very artistic and reminded me of figure skating. It was too dark for me to get a video for you, but if you want to see another example, click this link for a great video of Andy's BMX skills!

I got home from that event at midnight… took a two hour "nap"… and then got up at 2 am for Spring Sports Spectacular! It is an all-campus, all-night sports competition that raises money for Special Olympics and I was definitely on the late night shift! I played tetherball at 2:30 am, doubles badminton at 3 am and ultimate Frisbee at 4 am. We got second in badminton and had lots of laughs overall. One word of advice: although free food is always tempting (and available every hour at SSS), don’t have two cheeseburgers and a Pepsi immediately before playing tetherball… it’s more intense than you think! ; )

Saturday I let myself sleep in a bit, and spent the rest of the day catching up on reading until we had Senior Wills for Pi Phi. The seniors pass down all their old Pi Phi clothes, share memories, and give out awards to the younger members. I got: Best Hair (if you haven’t noticed from my pics, it’s crazy haha), Most Likely to Fall Asleep In Class (because I’m so busy that I don’t sleep enough – but I promise I never sleep in class! I’m just well caffeinated.) and the Running With the Bulls Award for the Biggest Risk Taker. That last one was kind of surprising, because I’m a pretty responsible person, and I don’t make rash decisions, but they said I’m willing to put myself out there, which I guess is true! Going to England alone could be one example of that, if you want to read my blog about it : )

Today we had a brunch at Pi Phi, and I had Student Orientation Guide training. For all the incoming students, I hope you are excited about Welcome Week in August! It’s going to be really fun and you will meet so many cool people. We have some fabulous activities planned!

Other than all that, I’ve pretty much spent all my spare time STUDYING! Finals are soon, and I have lots of reading, research and paper writing ahead of me. Right now, my life is consumed by an essay for comparative lit about The Tin Drum, a famous German novel from the 1950s by Gunter Grass. Speaking of which, time to get back to that essay…

Best of Butler at Honors Weekend

ChristinaL — Sun, 05 Apr 2009 04:44:00 GMT

Whew! Honors Weekend is finally wrapping up! This is the weekend when Butler hosts a number of events to recognize outstanding students, including the Top 100 Banquet, Honors Program events and academic college awards. It is one of my favorite times of year, because I really get to learn about all the amazing scholarship,research, service, and leadership that my classmates are doing. They always inspire me to be a better student and citizen after I hear what they've been up to. Now that I am an upperclassman, I know most of the people winning the awards, which makes it even more fun.

Friday was the Top 100 Banquet. This is an event sponsored by the Alumni Association which recognizes 100 outstanding junior and senior students for their achievements in the classroom, their character, and their leadership and service in BU extracurricular activities and the community. At the banquet, the Top 10 Women and Men and the Outstanding Female and Male student are named.

I was totally shocked to be named as one of the Top 10 Women this year! Seriously! Typically the Top 10 is mostly made up of seniors so it was quite a surprise, but also a great honor to receive that award during my junior year. Although I can think of many more people who are very deserving of that award, I do put so much of my time and passion into Butler, so it was exciting and rewarding to be recognized for this. I really liked that the focus of the Banquet was thanking our families, friends, and professors who have helped us make it this far, because I would be nothing without the constant support of all my loved ones.

Here are the 2009 Top 10 Women and Men. I was so honored to stand beside people I really admire on this campus! You can also see our University President Dr. Bobby Fong on the far left.

Today there was a brunch reception for upper-level Honors students - the seniors who just turned in their theses and the juniors who just turned in our proposals and are now hearing back. (Mine got approved - hooray!). I didn't make it to that brunch because my parents, sister and grandparents were here so we all wanted to go out together for breakfast at Cafe Patachou (basically my favorite restaurant in Indy - SO good!)

This afternoon we had the academic awards. I went to the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences on behalf of the English Department. I got an award for excellence in literature, which was also surprising (considering I was away from the department studying abroad for half of this year...) but exciting to receive from the professors I respect so much. The thing about LAS Awards is that we are the biggest College at Butler, so our ceremony takes FOREVER. It was so hard to sit still that long... but I do enjoy hearing the Dean read the bio of each student as they accept their award. Like I said earlier, Butler students are AMAZING! It is so cool to hear where everybody has been interning, the awesome schools they are going to for graduate work, and all the community service hours they have logged and organizations they have led.

Another cool aspect of the awards was that nine of my sorority sisters were also winning LAS academic awards this morning. Altogether we represented English, Biology, Physics, History and Journalism! Go Pi Phi! I love having these women around me - their influence pushes me to strive for more when it comes to schoolwork. One of our sisters, Alyssa, is a double major in Biology and Chemistry and STILL HAS A 4.0 going into our senior year. She is awesome and definitely inspires me - not just with her academics but with her integrity and devotion that she gives to all that she does.

Another inspiring sister is my very own roommate, Kim! Kim is a physics major who is basically super smart and amazing at life. Kim did research on black holes last summer through the Butler Summer Institute, an opportunity that pays students to stay at BU and work with a faculty member on a research project. She presented this work at a conference in California over winter break alongside her advisor, and all this work and attention has led her to be accepted in an OUTSTANDING physics summer research program at UCLA. She turned down Harvard for this! Yeah, she's a big deal. We also found out this week that Kim has been named a Goldwater Scholar, which is a hugely important scholarship and honor for science majors (click the link to read the BU press release about her!). I am so proud of her!

Kim and I at the LAS Awards ceremony! It was not quite sundress weather... but I just can't wait!

Anyway, at some point I hope to make up a list of all the really cool things my Butler friends have done, because whether they were honored this weekend or not., people are doing amazing things on this campus, and you should know about it.

It is amazing what an outstanding education and a creative, critical, compassionate mind will do for you! Pursue both wholeheartedly.

A Day in the Crazy Life

ChristinaL — Sat, 28 Feb 2009 20:08:00 GMT

Hello all! Like I told you recently, my schedule has been pretty hectic... but of course, my busy schedule is voluntary, and typically pretty fun. Sometimes it amazes me when I look at the variety of things I do all in one day. Take Wednesday, for example:

6 or 7 am (don't remember) - Wake up, shower, eat some cereal, finish the homework I didn't get done last night (this is why I get up so early! I'd rather go to sleep when I'm tired and finish it in the morning than continue to fall asleep on my books! ha)

9 am - Work in the Writer's Studio. This is one of my on campus jobs, helping other Butler students with their writing. Wednesday, I had a really great meeting with a freshman named Sean working on his paper for CC102, one of the core courses that all freshmen take. Many freshmen use the Studio as a resource to get help adapting to college style writing, and a lot of the first year profs actually require you to go once or twice.

10 am - Comparative Lit. I was only taking this class because it's a requirement for my English major, but now it's probably my favorite class. We read some really interesting books about India, and I learned so many things about the culture that are totally new to me. Now we're reading Kafka.

11 am - American Novels. The classics: we already read the Scarlet Letter and Uncle Tom's Cabin, and now we're doing Moby , which is actually not as bad as you'd probably expect. After spring break we're moving from the 1850s to the 1950s. I've read two of the books before, but it's worth it because Dr. Levy is one of my favorite profs. He always brings a new perspective to the reading, and he's very flexible - we made up our own due dates for our papers this semester.

12 pm - Lunch at Pi Phi

1 pm - Office Hour for Panhel, the council which oversees all the sororities. I am VP of Education so for Woman's History Month, I am planning an open discussion about gender issues in Greek life. It should be really interesting! I spent my office hour making posters for the event, which is called "Sisterhood or Segregation?" For my Butler readers, it's on Monday at 6 pm in JH141 and open to everyone - Greeks, independents, women, men, students, faculty. You should come!

2:15 - 4:00 pm: Reading with kids at a local public school. The cause that Pi Beta Phi supports with our philanthropy is literacy, so we volunteer at local schools with our program called Champions Are Readers. The kids are so cute! This was the first time I was able to go this semester, and even though the kids didn't know me, one of the little girls ran up and gave me a huge hug, and grabbed my hand to take me to her reading spot. As an English major now, reading was obviously a huge part of my childhood so I love sharing that with kids that might not have people who read with them at home.

4:00 - 6 pm: Studying & dinner

6-7:30 pm: Listening to a famous artist speak downtown! Indianapolis is currently working on the Cultural Trail, which is a bike/pedestrian trail that connects all the cultural districts in town (including Broad Ripple near our campus) and it will feature public art. I got really interested in contemporary art last spring when a took a Postmodernism class for my core curriculum, and I actually ended up writing a 15 page paper about public art for my honors class that semester. So, when I heard that Fred Wilson was speaking at the Madame Walker theatre downtown about the project he is planning for our cultural trail, I knew I had to go! He is such an interesting artist: check out his page for the fabulous PBS show Art21! Hearing his talk also served as background for a project I am working on at my internship. It's always good to get out of the Butler Bubble and experience the cool (FREE) things to do in Indy.

8:00 - 9:00 pm: Junior Panhel. For my position as VP of Education, I also advise our Junior group, which is made up of two new members from every sorority. Right now, we are working on planning a really cool week of service for the whole Greek community. The great thing is that they do almost all the planning themselves - it's a great leadership opportunity to get into right away as a freshman.

9:00 - 10:00 pm: Studying

10:00 - 10:30 pm: Pizza with Butler Basketball Coach, Brad Stevens! Dawg Pound sponsored a free pizza party with our coach so he could talk to us about the importance of the last few home games and answer questions. Just another example of how accessible even most the important people at Butler are...

10:30 - midnight: Studying... should have studied more, but I fell asleep! haha. Good thing I don't have anything until 1:30 PM on Thursday : )

So that's just a day in the life of my busy schedule... as you can tell, I have a pretty wide variety of things going on. Every day is different, and that's what keeps me going, even when things get crazy. Today I am not as productive... we had to be awake for our initiation at 6:45 am, so my roommate and I have been napping this afternoon, cleaning our room and after this I need to hit my homework HARD CORE! All of my junior friends are actually studying this afternoon - I'm glad it's not just me!

I hope you all have more exciting plans! : ) Have a great weekend.

I have another post in mind for you guys, so I'll put that up soon!