Today, per the request of my disgruntled parents, I finally sat down and cleaned out the last of my boxes that I have stored at their house while on the road. The majority of my stuff is in storage already, but I pulled out a few boxes that had old school supplies, keepsakes and hopefully somewhere.. my passport. I found a million thank you and birthday cards that warmed my heart and made me realize just how much I am going to miss Tech, my friends and family over the next year while I am gone. I got really excited when I broke into my sparkly pink and purple ZTA box that my big had given me on the night of my initiation. Over the past four years I had filled it full of pictures, cards, programs, name tags and enough ZTA stationary to fill an entire backpack.
I also found a poem in honor of a scholarship I was awarded for my service and involvement in the Texas Tech Greek community. The scholarship is in honor of Callie M. Chalk, and the recipient each year is revealed through a poem preformed at the Annual Greek Awards Banquet. Kinda cute, I thought I would share.
Leadership, service and academic success
Are all qualities that Callie did stress
The young lady receiving this award
In these areas has always worked hard
I feel confident that she will attest
Panhellenic events may be the best
The Greek Guild for Habitat she took to Heart
She had to make certain each group did its part
Numerous other activities she can boast
Photography projects she may like the most
Convention delegate can have some fun
Student Housing may have kept her on the run
Her sisters definitely think she's great
Her chapter contributions certainly rate
Scholareship, slating, and secretary to exec
They are sure glad she came to Tech
Advertising and Italian may be quite tough
Taking eighteen hours can be rough
Especially with so much on her plate
She must have to study very late
A silber and turquoise carpenter's square
As a new member she did wear
White violets she knows how to grow
Strawberries and bunnies make her heart glow
I think my hints have been quite clear
For all of her efforts, we do cheer
Harriette Baker, your crown shines bright
Zeta Tau Alpha is certainly proud tonight
April 2, 2009
At Tech we are asked to take an online personality profile that assigns each person their own signature themes. When I ran across them, they were in a pile of material from my freshman seminar class, I skimmed over the descriptions and found myself blown away by just how true they remain to who I am both as a person and a leader. Knowing my own strengths over the coming year will hopefully help me to remain true to who I am and how I can contribute.
-Context: People especially talented in the Context theme enjoy thinking about the past. They understand the present by researching its history.
-Strategic: Create alternative ways to proceed. Faced with any given scenario, they can quickly spot the relevant patterns and issues.
-Significance: Want to be very important in the eyes of others. They are independent and want to be recognized
-Deliberative: Best described by the serious care they take in making decisions or choices. They anticipate the obstacles.
-Analytical: Search for reasons and causes. They have the ability to think about all the factors that might affect a situation.
I found my folder and papers from attending national convention in 2008. I sat it aside and after I finally found my passport and filed away the rest of my things so that my parents could finally have their house back in order, I sat down and read through the program of events, state of the fraternity address, Themis and all of the officer reports given that year. My heart skipped every time my eye skimmed through information about the actions and service of the TLCs from that biennium, nerdy and obsessive, I know. However, I just can't get enough.
ZTA is about to get so much bigger than my massive stack of t-shirts or my pretty pink memory box, and I wish so badly that I could explain it to those outside of the Greek community and even make some of my very own sisters understand and appreciate just how much work goes into such an amazing organization and cause. I know these are concepts you have to experience in order to understand, but I am feeling pretty alone as I sit 600 miles away from my chapter and 25 days away from what I know will be the most memorable convention of my lifetime. I find myself on our ZTA TLC 2010-2011 facebook page over a dozen times a day just so I can share in the excitement that so many of my friends and family back home are completely sick of hearing about.
This whole thing feels a little like when I left high school for college and I was just so excited to be surrounded by other students who were excited to be leaving home and getting a degree, making new friends and having a lot of fun. It was so refreshing to leave the townies and debbie downers at home. Not that my college friends are now playing the role of debbie downers, but they don't share in my same excitement about leadership, travel and Greek Life. I have stopped trying to explain the TLC program to my friends as a job. A) because people just don't get it, and when I say I am a consultant it always inspires a follow up questions, then as I get further and further into the job description they begin to think that I am just some silly sorority girl that can't let go of my collegiate lifestyle, and maybe that partially the truth, BUT B) I doubt any of them are going to have co-workers that will as supportive as the 16 women I will be working with over the next year. I cant wait!! 25 days!!
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