Fraternity & Sorority Life Newsletter

Welcome Back!

Welcome back to all those returning to campus for the Spring Semester! There have been some changes over the winter break that the Fraternity and Sorority Life team is super excited about. 
First, you are receiving this email from our new Tartan Connect Group! Check out our group page to stay up to date on events, receive news, and complete forms within the FSL community. 

In this edition:

1. Community Spotlight
   • Delta Gamma reflects on their philanthropic efforts
   • Sigma Nu's President travels to the College of Chapters
   • Alpha Phi prepares for a great semester
   • Tri Delta hosts a mid-year Officer's Retreat
   • We celebrate our CranJam Winner with a Nacho Bar
   • Reflections from the Shared Leadership Summit
   • IFC Risk and Safety Summit Recap
2. Coming Up at CMU
   • Rise Against Hunger Returns to CMU
   • Learn about Pittsburgh Alternative Break
   • Join PACE for February Service Saturdays
   • Seeking First-Year Orientation Counselors
3. Events
   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Managing Difficult Conversations as a Leader on February 15
   • Alpha Phi's Mr. Heartthrob on February 19 for Women's Heart Health
   • Join us for a Shared Leadership Conversation about Civic Engagement 
   • Save the Date for the NPHC and MGC Conference
4. Founders' Days
   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​We celebrate four founders' days
5. Resources
   • ​​​​​​​​​​​​​​Engage with Black History Month at CMU
   • Find resources for extra funding

Delta Gamma Philanthropic Reflections

Marissa Montadas, Delta Gamma's previous Vice President of Foundation, reflects on her experience with leadership, philanthropy, and coordinating events. Each year, Delta Gamma hosts two large school-wide philanthropy events: a basketball tournament, Anchor Slam, in the spring and a pool relay, Anchor Splash, in the fall. This semester, DG is getting ready to host Anchor Slam with the new VP of Foundation Kina Paguyo, and director of Anchor Games Lucy Blazquez taking charge of organizing the events! There are lots of moving parts to organizing such big philanthropic events, such as booking the space, coordinating the date, advertising, educating members and participants (especially after COVID), etc. As the previous VP of Foundation, Marissa feels that while it can get a bit overwhelming at times it's really all about planning and having faith that everything works out. Looking back on it, Marissa thinks she learned a lot from the experience and had a great time seeing everyone participating and having a good time.

Kina and Lucy are excited about planning this year's Anchor Games, and implementing feedback from last year to make this year’s events even better! Last semester Anchor Slam raised over $700 for Delta Gamma’s philanthropy, Service for Sight. Service for Sight works to support the blind and visually impaired and has been DG's official philanthropy since 1936. It was started by a sister of DG who herself was blind and wanted to create positive change, something we should all strive to do!

Sigma Nu President attends the College of Chapters

Over winter break, Liam McDowell attended the Sigma Nu College of Chapters leadership training conference in Roanoke, Virginia. Liam felt the conference was a great experience where he got to meet with all of his fellow Sigma Nu presidents and learn essential skills of a leader. One of the key takeaways was the idea that people follow leaders not based on their plans but based on their vision, the reasoning for why they do what they do. Moreover, the core sessions taught Liam how to form action plans and allowed him to learn some great practices from other chapters. 

Along with the various keynote speakers and small group sessions, the entire conference also traveled to Virginia Military Institute, the location of where Sigma Nu was founded, and visited their Nationals headquarters. Overall, the pilgrimage to our founding site was a surreal experience that solidified Liam's understanding of our core values as a fraternity. Like his chapter's brotherhood development sessions and candidate program, the Sigma Nu College of Chapters was a great opportunity to grow as a leader and individual.

Alpha Phi Preparing For a Great Semester

Alpha Phi’s Executive Board is very excited for the new term. The chapter plans on starting the semester strong by organizing Alpha Phi internally. The Executive Board met prior to the start of the semester to pre-plan our chapter events ahead of time. Our Vice President of Recruitment, Chloe, is especially excited about this coming COB season as she is looking to recruit new members that align with Alpha Phi’s values. Our finance department has met to ensure that we are allocating our budget in the most efficient way. Our marketing department has been working very hard to increase chapter community and engagement with social media and our website. Our DEI department is looking forward to educating members in Alpha Phi on different global communities and how to be more inclusive individuals. We hosted a Lunar New Year event last week where we made dumplings and handed out red pockets. Our Vice President of Community Relations is working on increasing chapter and CMU community excitement for Alpha Phi philanthropy and fundraising events. Moving forward our Executive Board is attending Alpha Phi’s leadership Conference next week. 

In terms of our philanthropy events, we had a very successful Alpha Phifa last semester where we raised over $1000 and awareness to support women's heart health. This semester we are very excited to host our 2nd Mr. Heartthrob. 

Tri Delta holds a mid-year Officer's Retreat

Last Sunday, TriDelta's officers attended an officer's retreat where they reflected on last semester's activities and set goals for the Spring semester. It was an amazing bonding experience where officers could discuss hardships they've faced in their positions, success stories, and words of encouragement. At the end of the retreat, officers brought home their positive self-talk flower, filled with positive adjectives sisters wrote about them. The next time an officer feels discouraged in their work, they can look back on their flower and be reminded of the characteristics sisters see in them. 

CranJam Nacho Bar Winner

In the fall semester, the fraternity and sorority life community was challenged to collect 500 cans of cranberry sauce for the Light of Life Thanksgiving Baskets. The top chapters were awarded prizes. Our second-place chapter, Kappa Alpha Theta, and our third-place chapter, Alpha Phi, received a pizza party. Our top-place chapter, Delta Gamma, was awarded a nacho bar and a pizza party. The nacho bar was delivered for their chapter meeting on January 22–to some very excited and hungry members. Thank you to all our chapters and councils who donated to this worthy cause. 

Shared Leadership Summit Reflections

Click here to review the reflections from the Shared Leadership Summit!

IFC Risk and Safety Summit

On January 24, over 80 Chapter Presidents, Risk Managers, House Managers, New Member Educators, Council Officers, and CMU Staff met for the IFC Risk and Safety Summit. Campus partners from CMU PD, Title IX, and the Office of Community Standards and Integrity joined the Fraternity and Sorority Life Staff to discuss health and safety measures within our community. Discussions centered around liability, house safety, new member educator training, general safety, conduct processes, and the Active Medical Assistance Protocol. We are happy to celebrate these partnerships with the goal of creating safe environments for our FSL community.

Rise Against Hunger Returns to CMU

On Saturday, February 18th, Carnegie Mellon University, the Office of Student Leadership, Involvement, and Civic Engagement (SLICE), and PACE (Partners Allied in Civic Engagement) will have the exciting opportunity to partner with the international nonprofit Rise Against Hunger and the Kraft Heinz Foundation on a Rise Against Hunger meal packaging event. Over 820 million people across the globe don’t get the food they need to live a healthy life, even though there is enough food in the world to feed everyone. Come help put an end to hunger on February 18th! On this single day, students, faculty, staff, family, and friends will have the opportunity to package 100,000 meals for distribution worldwide.

This event is a great group service opportunity, as it allows members of your organization to work together in a fun environment to achieve a common goal. In addition to making an impact on global hunger, members of your organization will be able to make meaningful memories during Rise Against Hunger. If your chapter is able to attend this year’s event, we encourage you to wear your letters or some other identifying group attire to show the CMU community the value your organization brings to the table. We would love to have all of you there as we embark on this exciting collaboration! The event takes place on Saturday, February 18th from 11:00 am-1:30 pm in Wiegand Gymnasium in the Cohon Center. Register today! 

We are also looking for additional support from student organizations to make this event a success. Volunteers are needed for event setup and teardown on February 18th, and to serve as runners during the event. If your chapter is unable to attend this year’s meal packaging event but would still like to contribute to the fight against global hunger, we also have a few group service opportunities that can be completed in the weeks leading up to February 18th. If your chapter is interested in any of these additional opportunities or has any questions about this year’s event, please contact Zack Miller.

Pittsburgh Alternative Break

Staying in Pittsburgh over Spring Break? Want to learn more about the city through direct service projects, visits with community organizations and cultural programming? Sign up to participate in Pittsburgh Alternative Break! The theme this year is "Development Without Displacement" and will focus on the neighborhood of Hazelwood. Check out highlights from last year's program to learn more! 

Seeking First-Year Orientation Counselors

Student Input Needed! 

Alpha Phi's Mr. Heartthrob to support the Alpha Phi Foundation for Women's Heart Health

Alpha Phi’s second annual Mr. Heartthrob will be on February 19th from 1 pm-4 pm in McConomy Auditorium. Watch brothers of fraternities on campus compete in a skills-based pageant consisting of four categories to become the next Mr. Heartthrob. This year there will be an audience choice award, buy tickets today to come vote for your Heartthrob.

All proceeds raised will go towards the Alpha Phi Foundation. The Alpha Phi Foundation cares about improving women’s heart health and has supported education and research since 1946. Last year we were able to raise over $1000 at Mr. Heartthrob for the Alpha Phi Foundation! 

Use code FSL at checkout to receive discounted tickets valid through February 12th. 

If your chapter would prefer to purchase a large group order in one payment please contact Hayley Kilgore at (724) 332-4340.

text cmuheartthrob to 76278
Or click the link below
cmuheartthrob.givesmart.com

Save the Date for the NPHC and MGC Conference!

Happy Founders' Day

Engage with Black History Month at CMU

In February, we honor Black History Month. Carnegie Mellon and the CMU Alumni Association are committed to highlighting CMU's exceptional Black alumni, students, faculty, and staff throughout the year. Each year, Black History Month provides us with a special opportunity to recognize, acknowledge and elevate their professional and academic excellence.

Visit University Advancement to find resources on how to engage with Black History Month.

Check out the Center for Student Diversity and Inclusion to see what events are happening on campus!

In need of some funds?

CMU has three funding opportunities for chapters and councils. Don’t delay in applying!

• Andrew Carnegie Society Scholars and Holleran Scholars: This is an opportunity to provide funding to campus projects or programs in support of student groups, organizations or individual projects up to $5,000. The deadline to submit your application is February 28, 2023.
• Buggy Enhancement Grant Application: Each semester, funds from the Buggy Endowed Fund will be made available to any member of the CMU community to sponsor a project or initiative that enhances the sport of Buggy. The application is here.
• TartanFunder: CMU-exclusive and university-supported resource for fundraising via crowdfunding. It gives you the power to bring your goals to life by raising philanthropic support for an upcoming project at CMU or supporting your student organization. Submit your TartanFunder application day.