Omega Phi Alpha Alumnae Newsletter Today’s Friends. Tomorrow’s Leaders. Forever in Service.

A League of Our Own: Kappa Bid Day Story by Lauren Burks, Membership Committee (Iota Class); Photo by Glynis Thompson (Theta Class)

The Alpha Kappa Chapter of Omega Phi Alpha sure hit a home run with the Kappa pledge class! The 34 fabulous ladies found their forever home in an ever-expanding chapter, and the active members couldn’t be more pleased to have new sisters. The group is composed of unique, beautiful, fun and influential young women. On February 6, Bid Day took place, and was baseball themed. Laughs were heard all around the campus from the amazing celebration filled with tons of hugs and smiles. However, it wasn’t long until the newly expanded chapter left campus and bombarded Fuzzy’s Taco Shop on Massachusetts Street in Downtown Lawrence, and ate all of their tacos. Something new for the Chapter are three foreign exchange students from the United Kingdom, who will sadly be hopping back over the pond to continuing schooling at their home universities in the fall. Kirsten Bell, Camilla (Millie) Raynsford, and Sarah Rose are experiencing the best of the best when it comes to service sororities at the University of Kansas. Ta ta for now!

Alpha Kappa Chapter | Winter 2014

Why OPA Wednesday? By Molly Speckman, Communications Committee (Epsilon Class)

Our committee has been working on creating more consistent content on our Facebook pages. One of our special new features is called “Why OPA Wednesday” (WOW). WOW was created as a recruitment tool, and also to develop a more positive online persona. Many of our members that have joined in the past have done so because they knew people already in OPA and were inspired by what they saw. We hope that by posting quotes from our members about why they think OPA is special, that we can garner public interest.

We would encourage any alumni to add their own quote to the GoogleDoc, so that we can have a larger pool of quotes to work with. Also, liking or sharing the Facebook posts would be greatly encouraged!

Email or message an active OPhiA member for the link!

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Alpha Kappa Chapter Winter 2014

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Excitement fills the air as the sisters arrive for chapter. They whisper eagerly to each other, “are those them?” with eyes that are darting longingly at a large cardboard box. The treasurer is immersed in conversation with the insignia chair, but is it over what they think it is? Did anyone see who carried in this beautiful box? Suddenly, they slowly make their way over to the box. Every occupant of the room collectively holds their breath as the contents of this wondrous three-dimensional receptacle are revealed. T-shirts. As the Alpha Kappa Chapter of Omega Phi Alpha continues to grow, so does the need to restructure how day-to-day business is handled. While service is the true passion of OPA, t-shirts also hold a small piece in each of our hearts. Before this semester, the treasurer and insignia

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chair would go through an overly painful process with each item that was ordered. It would all start with getting a proof back and beginning to collect names and sizes on one type of document or another. The next step was to collect payment from at least thirty girls in the forms of check or cash. Finally when the item of choice arrived, the treasurer would sit down and compute a list of all the girls who had completed this tedious process successfully. But now, in Spring 2015, we are glad to announce that this way is no more with our online store! Our store is setup through a company called Square, and it features all of our items which are available for purchase. This includes past items from the Rose Shop along with all of our new items which are in the ordering process.

The OPhiA Square Page By Jeni Allison, Insignia Chair (Theta Class)

The Alpha Kappa chapter of Omega Phi Alpha is five years old now! In the past five years we have grown so much not only in size but in sisterhood and the amount of service we have been able to provide to the communities around us. In the last semester alone we were able to log over 1100 service hours and we can continue to do more every day. We strive to grow and make an even bigger impact on those around us than we already have. So here’s to the next five years and hopes that it will bring even more joy and service to the members of this sorority and everyone around it!

Alpha Kappa Chapter- Five Years Later Story and Photo By Jordan Kline, Historian Chair (Eta Class)

There is even a place for members to pay their dues, fines, and purchase formal tickets. Square accepts payment by credit card while only charging a 2.5% tax on each item. There is also an option to have items shipped for a small fee in case any alums or parents found an item particularly striking.

We have already had tremendous success with our shop and urge everyone to check it out at https://squareup.com/market/AlphaKappaOPA. Keep on the lookout for a crewneck which should be in stores soon! If you have any questions feel free to contact the insignia chair, Jeni Allison, at ak.omegaphialpha.insignia@gmail.com.

Fall 2014 Recruitment

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Alpha Kappa Chapter Winter 2014

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Black, White and Pearls- Founder’s Day 2015 By Dallas Sims, Traditions Co-Chair (Eta Class)

Founder’s Day this year should be a very fun and classy event. The theme Black, White, and Pearls was inspired by a Google search and my grandma mentioning her jewelry collection. I thought, “How fun would it be to get all dolled up and wear my grandma’s pearls?!” And so the theme was conceived! We then thought about food. We remembered an event that was planned for last semester that had the food theme (which was desserts) changed at the last minute. We were so disappointed but then we thought that it would be great for an event that Traditions plans. Our idea is to have some cocktail foods and a million varieties of yummy desserts! We regrettably had to push our celebration back a week. But we are still expecting a fun night. We are hoping to make this Founder’s Day include more traditions and possibly some new traditions that will hopefully be continued on in the future. Yours in Service, Dallas Sims

Look ing fo r a n ight to wear cock ta i l a t t i r e? We l l , OPA might have just t he e ven t you des i re ! Jo in KU ’s on ly s er v i ce soro r i ty for i ts on e and on ly Fo rma l fo r Spr i ng 2015 whe re you ' l l enjoy so much , you ' l l f ee l l i k e a t e en . I t ’ l l be a pe r f ec t par ty to s lay because th e i r wi l l be an awesome DJ . Worr i ed about be ing ab le to take the pe r f e c t p i c tu r e to captu re th e fun- f i l l ed n igh t? Not to wor ry , a supe r coo l pho tographe r wi l l a lways be in s ight . The p r ic e fo r a lumnae and the i r dates won ’ t make

you th ink tw ic e ! Thi r ty do l lars for the pai r and the n ight won ’ t go in despai r . Save the date ! I t ’ s Ap r i l 1 1 f rom 8 -11

pm and b r i ng a mate ! I t ’ l l be a ba l l lo cated at 704 Conne c t i cu t West Even t Ha l l . Buy the t i c ke ts soon on

the Square s i t e and thanks fo r r ead ing th is en t i r e i nv i t e . By Sarah Lakhani, Social Committee (Iota Class)

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Alpha Kappa Chapter Winter 2014

Ever Onward By Allie Wiethop, Fundraising Committee (Iota Class) Ever Onward is an amazing project put together by the KU Endowment department on campus. This year will mark the first time KU Endowment has ever had such an exciting student run event! Ever Onward is a fundraising competition between thirteen very diverse groups on campus specially picked from a long and strenuous application process; ensuring the first groups to launch the Ever Onward project would be successful in bettering the KU community and using the money won/raised to build up the groups and help them continue to prosper. The whole idea behind the Ever Onward project is to inspire groups all over campus the true reasoning and spirit behind fundraising, fundraising the correct way, which is to show donors the pride, determination, and passion the students have for their groups without having to also give something material in return, other than glowing inspiration and the evidence of all of the awesome things these KU groups do every day. With the Ever Onward project, KU groups will be taught sustainability; how to keep a group going without having to start from zero each semester. The winner of the competition, the group to raise the most money, will receive $3,000.00 along with all the money they raise. Omega Phi Alpha has been carefully selected on the terms that the University Of Kansas Endowment Department strongly believes we are a strong group of women whose service to the community has outshone many other groups that have applied. As a member of OPA’s fundraising committee, I am proud to be a part of such an amazing group and look forward to sharing my passion with the KU community and the world. To donate, visit http://everonwardkue.org/campaigns/omega-phi-alpha/!

From the Alumnae Relations Committee… By Taylor Hanna, Alumnae Relations Chair (Iota Class)

Hello Alumnae!

For those of you who I have not had a chance to introduce myself, my name is Taylor Hanna and I am the new Alumnae Relations Committee Chair! Myself, Amy Barnes and Vanna Hay make up the committee that is here for YOU!

If at any time you have any questions, would like something in the newsletter, or need to update your Alumnae information, please feel free to shoot us an email at:

alphakappa.alumnaerelations@gmail.com

We are also working on making sure everyone is in the know on all things Alpha Kappa OPhiA, so if you aren’t in the Facebook group, or don’t receive this newsletter in an email, please let us know!

We hope to see you at our major events this semester (and for years to come)!

Forever in Service,

Taylor

Edited and Compiled by Taylor Hanna (Iota Class)

Semester Dates At A Glance Founder’s Day March 6, 2015

Formal April 11, 2015 Summit April 17-18, 2015

Activation April 24, 2015

To attend, sign up in the Facebook group.