Jeanna Dressel

This week's Why Alpha Chi spotlight features Jeanna Dressel, a spring 2013 initiate of the Theta Tau chapter. 

When I started at Rutgers, I never imagined I would join Greek life. I had seen it played out in movies and bought in to believing the stereotypes. I spent most of my days on campus to my self; I was a commuter, and—I only hung out with my friends from pre-college. I didn’t have a whole lot of luck making friends with people in my classes.  My junior year, when my friends were planning to study abroad, I decided to step way out of my box and participate in formal recruitment.  Doing it alone was pretty scary!  But, every time I walked into the Alpha Chi house the sisters made me feel something that I didn’t feel anywhere else.  It was like a sigh of relief! I never felt like I had to try hard-- these girls wanted to know me and I felt like I could be myself always, one hundred percent! Because I took a risk-- and accepted my bid from Alpha Chi, I have so many incredible memories and opportunities I wouldn’t have had otherwise!

Jennifer Ross

This week's Why Alpha Chi spotlight feature Jennifer Ross. 

I joined Alpha Chi and the Theta Tau chapter my freshman year in spring 2007. Before college, I never thought about being a part of a sorority. To be honest, I didn't know much about them until I came out to a COB event. My distinct memory of that night was the overwhelmingly warm welcome I received at the little green house on Union Street. Through conversation, I found girls just like me in our interests, our ambitions and our collegiate experience. I knew immediately this was where I wanted to be.

Joining Alpha Chi, I found friends I could talk to, complain with, laugh with, and who I wanted to spend the majority of my time with at school. It was one of the best decisions I ever made. I knew Alpha Chi and Theta Tau were where I belonged and I made sure to make the very best of my experience.

Through my leadership experiences at Alpha Chi, I learned organization, patience, and how to teach and learn from my sisters. Alpha Chi taught me to be more charitable and selfless. In my four years as an undergraduate, I supported many causes and continue to do so as an alumna. Some of my favorite memories are participating and marching in "Take Back the Night”, dancing at Dance Marathon, and playing volleyball/dodgeball for a cause, all alongside my sisters.

Alpha Chi taught me a great deal about friendship, especially how to be a listening ear and soundboard. Some of my very best friends are Alpha Chis. 

And so when someone asks me why Alpha Chi, I‘m proud to explain in the most certain terms what an amazing experience it is having sisters for life.

Lauren Kinard

Today's Why Alpha Chi spotlight features Lauren Kinard, a Spring 2009 initiate of the Theta Tau chapter. 

Going to a large school can be a very intimidating experience. There are so many options and so many choices to make. Many people become friends with the people on their floor, since they are all sharing the same experiences at the same time. As a transfer student, I did not get to experience that. 

I was looking for a way to make a giant school like Rutgers seem smaller. I was looking for friends with similar interests to mine. I had trouble making female friends in high school and knew I wanted to change that, so joining a sorority seemed like a no-brainer. Going through formal rush was a whirlwind. I talked to so many girls. I remember speaking with Vivian Feldman at preference, I was so nervous, due to my lack of confidence and inexperience of talking to other girls my age. 

I was thrilled when I got my bid. I was so excited to meet my new member class. I had girls to eat with, to study with, and to explore Rutgers with. Rachel Fine was always willing to do something with me. I fell asleep more than once on her bed while watching TV or helping her craft later on, when she took Amanda as her little. Joanna Wojton loved all things girly with me. We became roommates and it was the best year ever. We’d go out together, vent to each other, and laughed a lot. Michelle Behling and our epic spring break trips. My big, Sherri Smith, was always there whenever I need her. She still is. I’m so excited that I get to stand up with her while she marries the man she loves. My two amazing littles, Kara Borshof and Brittany King, I was so proud to watch them grow and become these amazing strong women I know today. 

Why Alpha Chi? Because of the friends I made. Alpha Chi gave me my future bridesmaids. Alpha Chi gave me a family.

Ali Patel

This week's Why Alpha Chi spotlight features Ali Patel, a Fall 2004 initiate of the Theta Tau chapter.

I chose Alpha Chi Omega because that is where I felt home away from home. I immediately bonded with my soon to be Big Sister and also met others who are still my best friends. The sorority became a place where you could be yourself and grow into the person you wanted to be. 

Meghan McGrady was my roommate when she joined Alpha Chi Omega in the Fall of 2005. She was a special sister and being a part of Alpha Chi Omega allowed her to shine. She took joy in being the sorority’s historian and became a mentor to three younger sisters. Meghan had her quirks (she loved vampires before Twlight became popular), but she had a great heart and loved every minute of being an Alpha Chi. Her sudden illness came as a shock, and her death brought many of us together to celebrate just how devoted to Alpha Chi Omega she was. She is missed every single day, but her memory lives on at every Tealing Rutgers event.

 In the years since graduating, Alpha Chi Omega still holds a special place in my heart. As an advisor to Theta Tau, I had the opportunity to attend leadership trainings as well as attend the National Convention in 2012 in St. Louis. Through these meetings I had the opportunity to bond with Alpha Chi’s from across the country who share my same values of service, friendship, and leadership. I believe in Alpha Chi Omega’s message of being Real. Strong. Women. And I am proud to be one of them!

Ashley Garrison

The August 27th spotlight features Ashley Garrison, a Fall 2006 initiate of the Theta Tau chapter.

I chose Alpha Chi Omega to meet new people and have new experiences.  Rutgers is a large school and it is important to make smaller communities within the larger Rutgers community. I went to a Meet the Sisters event because of a friend in AXO.  I loved it. The girls I met were personable, fun, and interesting. Mainly, it was the girls themselves that made me join AXO. They were easy to talk to and made me feel comfortable being there.  There are other great things about AXO: philanthropy, social events, and more but it was really the sisters themselves that made me want to be a sister of Alpha Chi Omega.

Looking back on my time in Alpha Chi Omega, it has changed me for the better.  I have my job thanks to a sister in AXO. I also ran for the executive board and gained experience and confidence in leadership positions.  I also made strong friendships; two of my bridesmaids are Alpha Chi's.

Being in Alpha Chi Omega has changed both my college and alum experiences, and I would not have it any other way.

Amanda Marziliano

The August 6th spotlight features Amanda Marziliano, a Spring 2007 initiate at the University of Richmond. 

I arrived at the University of Richmond in August 2006, a shy freshman who thought wearing a "polo" meant going to Old Navy or Target and buying a $5 cotton shirt. Instead, I found a school where the students looked as if they had stepped straight from the pages of a J. Crew catalog. My grandmother, whom I was very close with, had been diagnosed with pancreatic cancer the week before I left, and she passed away four weeks into the semester. I wasn't interested in drinking or partying, and I didn't make many friends right away. Luckily for me, UR assigns big sisters to all its freshman girls, and my big sister lived with two Alpha Chis. They immediately set out to convince me to go through formal recruitment. As a girl from suburban New Jersey whose only experience with sororities was watching Legally Blonde, I was reluctant. But once they began introducing me to their sisters, I was hooked. These women were leaders on campus--involved in mock trial, student government, sports, music, every activity you could imagine. Women who had the type of social life and friendships I envied so much. I knew I had to be a part of this sisterhood, that maybe a group of sorority women who weren't the norm were exactly what was missing from my college experience. During rush, I couldn't wait to get to Alpha Chi, and realized that while with the other chapters, I was nervous and shy, with my future sisters I could truly be myself. I didn't feel judged, and finally felt at home on campus. I was thrilled to accept my bid a few days later.

In my four years as a collegiate member, and my subsequent years as an alumna, I have learned so much from my sisters. I developed from a shy girl into a confident young woman. Four years of recruitment gave me the ability to make small talk with anyone, and the skills I learned there have been incredibly useful as an adult--from job interviews, to academic conferences, to meeting my fiancé's family! I had opportunities to be a leader, both as a collegiate executive board member and as an alumna advisor. My sisters and the opportunities and support they have given me have helped me develop to my full potential. The friendships I share with them have truly changed my life, and I am so grateful every day for the gifts Alpha Chi Omega has given me.

Genevieve Blesch

The July 30th spotlight features Genevieve Blesch, a Fall 2010 initiate of the Theta Tau chapter. 

Alpha Chi Omega has been in my family for two generations prior to me, but I only learned the true meaning of this fact after I had made the decision that Alpha Chi Omega was right for me. My father’s mom, Lela Jutton, and her two sisters, Mary and Dorothy Jutton, were all in Alpha Chi Omega at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The mother of those three women, Mary Busey, was also an Alpha Chi Omega at UIUC. Because my father is an only child, Alpha Chi Omega had to skip a generation, but when it became my turn to choose a sorority, my father did not want to overly influence my decision. I had always heard stories about the sorority that my grandmother was in, but I did not realize the significance of joining that sorority until after I accepted my bid to Alpha Chi Omega. My father and I were both thrilled that I was going to continue the Alpha Chi Omega legacy! The sisters and best friends that I made through Alpha Chi Omega are the ones I want to keep in my life forever. I cannot even begin to imagine what my life would be like without my experience in Alpha Chi Omega.

Katherine Kuzma-Beck

The July 16th sister spotlight focuses on Katherine Kuzma-Beck, a Fall 2006 initiate of the Theta Tau chapter. 

I joined Alpha Chi Omega because I wanted to have female friends. At the time, I just had my high school boyfriend and all of his friends, I sort of failed to make my own way in high school and once I got to Rutgers, I wanted to make my own path and my own friends.

I joined the fall semester of my junior year. It was the second sorority that I had visited during informal recruitment. The first one I had gone to had been loud and clicky and it was obvious from the moment that I had walked in that it was not for me. My roommate got invited to a recruitment event and so I went, totally by myself. I was so incredibly nervous and had literally walked into a house full of strangers alone. However, it didn’t feel like I was out of place or wrong to have gone, instead I started talking to girls and soon I found a few girls from my hometown and even some girls who I didn’t know, but had so much in common with. I got my bid that night and accepted it the next morning.

My time at Alpha Chi Omega was crazy and sometimes indescribable. I took four littles, I held an executive position on Panhellenic and a non-executive position in the chapter. I also doubled majored and worked—I learned what burn out was and I learned what it meant to keep a schedule.

I also learned grief. I only had a big sister for about a semester and a half. My big is Meghan McGrady and almost immediately after bonding with her and becoming her friend, she began her battle with Ovarian Cancer. Watching her be so sick, fight so hard and then pass away at such a young age completely derailed me in a lot of ways because seriously, why does someone so wonderful have to die so young?
I just didn’t realize then that it was by knowing her and watching her go through so much that she left her mark on my life. Meghan made me want to give to people like she gave to us. Meghan taught me that that was important and that it was okay to be the biggest nerd, even if that wasn’t “cool.”

Today, I am not the swanky art gallery owner I thought I was going to be. I graduated Rutgers with a dual degree in art history and journalism and went on for my teaching certification in English literature and am currently in my second to last semester of my masters program where by December, I will have my MA in English literature and creative writing. I currently teach 8th grade language arts at Grace A. Dunn Middle School in Trenton, NJ where I am more to my students then just their teacher. Students who struggle with poverty and violence need someone to listen to them and love them as well as teach them, I try very hard to be all three for them—a lesson that Meghan taught me.

I’ve also written a book, Miss Burton’s Class The First Year: Tales of a 5th Grade Teacher Turned Zombie Survivalist and have also been published in USA Today, The Thought Catalog and in art exhibitions like “Earth from Above” and “Honoré Daumier & La Maison Aubert: Political and Social Satire in Paris.”
A lot of this I do owe to my time at Rutgers and with Alpha Chi Omega, because in the end, what I walked away with was believing that it was not only okay, but good to be who you are. Meghan really enforced that with me, I have yet to meet someone who is as young as she was and as comfortable with herself as she was.

So, had I not came to that tiny house at 4 Union Street that fall night, I would not have met Meghan and I probably would not have met my other sisters who I have kept in contact with since graduating in 2008. To some extent, I even question if I would be a teacher at this point in my life as well. Alpha Chi Omega helped set me on the path to myself and for that, I am very grateful.

Kelly McCormack

 

The July 2nd Why Alpha Chi spotlight features Kelly McCormack, a Spring 2010 initiate of the Theta Tau chapter and co-president of Xi Tau Xi.

"I joined Alpha Chi Omega for the sisterhood. I'm an only child, and I'd always wanted siblings. When I learned what a sorority was, I decided that when I grew up I was joining one. During recruitment I was overwhelmed, and wasn't sure if I would find my "fit". When my friend brought me to an Alpha Chi Omega event, the women were real and genuine, and they made me laugh. I decided that I would give their organization a try. We had our ups and downs as a chapter, but the women quickly became my sisters. They were the women I knew I could turn to in my darkest moments and the women who would celebrate with me in my finest. They helped me gain self-confidence over time to become the Real, Strong, Woman I am now as a Co-President of Xi Tau Xi Alumnae Chapter. I believe in Alpha Chi Omega, and have a goal to give back to the organization that has given me so much so that other young women can find their "fit" and start their own story with Alpha Chi Omega."

Allison Clawans

Our June 25th Why Alpha Chi Wednesday spotlight features Allison Clawans, a Spring 2010 initiate of the Theta Tau chapter and Xi Tau Xi's Liaison to Undergraduate Alumnae.

"I joined Alpha Chi when I was a freshman because it felt like my home when I met my sisters. I could see myself going to the house just to talk to my sisters. Over four years later, I am just as in love with Alpha Chi Omega as I was my freshman year. Without my sisters, I would be lost. I don't know how I would have made it through my college experience without them. They were there for me when I needed them, no questions asked. I loved being a part of Ritual because it is what binds every Alpha Chi Omega together, and it is what reminds me that no matter where I am in life I am connected to my sisters. Alpha Chi Omega is what made me who I am today because I am stronger and able to combat anything that comes my way."