How 'bout and update Erica?!?!?

[MTSUGURL]

Just wondering how you're progresseing. I'm still waititng to be contacted!!

[Ginger]

Yes! Update, update!

ps. did you ever get my email? my computer went all funky when I tried to send it

[Ginger]

Erica -

I just got your email, and thanks!!!! That was so helpful! I'll be replying more directly to you soon, but I wanted to ask you quickly - do you mind if I borrow some of your text/graphics from your website? I'm going to have some free time coming up here, and I'd like to get started...but I don't want to steal your work!

Thanks!
Ginger

[MTSUGURL]

Ginger, how are you progressing?

[Ginger]

right now I'm just sort of getting my thoughts in order and trying to come up with good ways to approach the local schools. Plus, i'm in the process of moving in with my bf and remodeling our house, so it's been hectic.

I'm thinking of trying to really get things in gear for the beginning of Spring semester... I'll no longer be in school, but I'm thinking if I can get out some advertising and maybe generate some word-of-mouth, maybe get some names of girls that are interested,etc. I could have the first meeting a few weeks after the start of term, rather than trying to get started before the holidays and have everybody forget about it/lose interest/etc over break.

Question for anyone who can answer - does one have to get recognition from student life to post flyers on campus? I know at my old school you did, but the Office of Student Life seems non-existant at best at UWM, and I know nothing about the other schools in the area.

[erica812]

I'm afraid there isn't a lot to report just yet. We've hit a small speed bump, I'm afraid. One girl has decided not to join, and another is M.I.A. I'm hoping that we will hear from her within the week. If the "lost sister" gives us a "no", then we will be short by ONE!

The other ladies are just wonderful! They're enthusiastic and sweet. I can't wait to get to know them better. We are arranging an informal get-together for this weekend, and everyone is very excited.

Ginger--feel free to "steal" whatever you like from my webpage. I got most of it from the Beta Sigma Phi HQ page. Actually, the direct link to the art work is www.geocities.com/bsphi/
If I'm not mistaken, that resource was designed and displayed by GreekChat's own "localsororities." I think that your plan to wait until Spring term is good. You might want to think about doing some preliminary advertising to get the word out. Here at UMass, there is no regulation of fliers IF you place them in designated public areas. I did contact the Office of Greek Affairs just to let them know that I would be advertising around campus even though I didn't plan to affiliate with UMass's Greek system. They were very supportive and encouraging!

That's it for now!

Erica :)

[MTSUGURL]

Sorry to hear that things have gotten rough, but I'm praying that things go well. Hang in there! You're in our thoughts and I'm sure that you'll find some interest. Good Luck!!

As for me, I'm still waiting........

[cutetiger]

I'm so proud of you Erica. Remember to keep your chin up! Also if one of your girls is MIA, just ask some of the sisters-to-be if they know anyone that would be interested. You never know! One of our girls got her sister (blood) to join. So now the sisters are sisters!!! I hope that you can get that one extra person. We would love to have you in a chapter around UMass.

By the way for anyone wanting information and/or needing help in starting their own chapter, either contact international or feel free to snail mail me. My address is:

Bernadette Navarre


I hope to hear from you guys soon and am very willing to help!

Bernadette
VP (2nd year running)

[MTSUGURL]

One of the reasons I'm so excited about Beta Sigma Phi and I want to find out more and try to start a chapter is my mother. She had me before she started college, then was divorced, so she had me alone, and she never got to join a sorority. It wasn't even an option at her school. She took me to class with her every day, so you can imagine her college experience wasn't typical. I would LOVE for this to be something we can do together.

Keep up the good work Erica and Ginger!

Ginger, I know at my school, we have club fliers, employment fliers, unemployment fliers, (I don't get it either...) and everything else you can think of posted on our campus.

[erica812]

Sharing Beta with your mom would be such a wonderful thing! I think it is so great that you want to be her "sister" and her daughter. My mom and I are very close, so I understand that special bond you have. I miss my mom so much now that I am married and away at school.

The Betas-to-be and I are going to meet this weekend for a gab session and some brownies! I can't wait!

Love,
Erica

[erica812]

Thanks for the encouraging words. I'm really feeling great about my chapter right now even though we are having a bit of trouble finding a seventh sister. We just started actually advertising the other day, so I'm convinced that it won't be long until we find our next member.

I hope that you and your Beta sisters are having a fun and successful semester. Keep in touch!

Erica

:)

[OPAGal]

Hey as some of you already know I'm trying to start a chapter at WKU. I wanted to know if any one could give me any tips. I need to know what I should put on the flyers announcing the start of a chapter, and I need to know if any of the other new chapters have registered with their university as an organization and if they had any problems with that. I'm so excited!!

[erica812]

Hi, OPAGal...

I'm new to all of this too, but I can tell you what has worked for me.

First of all, my group is NOT affiliating with the campus Greek system, and we are not applying to be recognized as a student organization. There are a number of reasons for this decision. For one thing, our chapter will be operating in a region that has FIVE colleges in the immediate area. We want to invite women from all of the campuses, so being a student organization at UMass seems irrelevent. We have advertised our chapter as a Community-Based Sorority, and that phrase seems to have turned some heads! Certainly a plus! Also, we want the freedom to run our recruitment as we see fit, and we do not have the resources or the desire to do formal Rush with the UMass Greeks. We could never compete with the big sororities on campus, and honestly, I'm not looking for this chapter to be as big or as competitive as they are. Most Beta Sigma Phi chapters include 10-20 women, and that sounds just fine to me!

I can certainly see benefits to being a recognized student org. As Ginger (see Milwaukee thread) has discovered, some campuses won't allow a group to advertise or reserve a meeting space unless it is officially recognized. You should probably find out how things work on your campus before you do any advertising.

Things are pretty relaxed here, so the advertising rules were not an issue. People put up signs for everything from textbooks to strip clubs, and no one seems to care. Early this fall, I contacted the Office of Greek Affairs via e-mail to let them know that I was starting a Beta chapter that would not be affiliated with the UMass Greek system. I didn't want them to see my fliers and get all worked up about this sorority that they knew nothing about. Fortunately, the head of Greek Affairs was familiar with Beta Sigma Phi, and he wished us good luck in our efforts. I'm in the process of writing a letter of introduction to send to all of our GLOs. I want them to understand the ways that Beta is different (i.e. not their competition), but I also want to emphasize that we have the same goals...to promote friendship and to impact our community in a positive way.

I would be happy to e-mail you some of our fliers as attachments if you would like. You can just PM me with your e-mail addy.
One of my favorite fliers said: "Beta Sigma Phi. Community-Based. Internationally Loved."

Each of the fliers lists the International website and our local site as well as an e-mail address.

Good luck,
Erica
:)

[OPAGal]

I guess I have a kind of odd situation here. We're the only university in this area. (the rest are like 3 to 4 hours away) So all membership will pretty much be from my campus. Unfortunately I have to register as an student organization in order to reserve any rooms on campus for meetings. I would go off campus, but rooms on campus are free to student groups including our ballroom we have on campus which would be great for any kind of formal dinner or party.
I guess the good thing about our greek system on our campus is that if you're not Panhellenic you can't participate in formal rush you have to conduct rush on your own. Which is great for us since we definitely don't have the recourses that requires. I do plan on explaining the differences in our organization to the Studen Affairs office though. So they can make the other GLO's aware that we're not really a threat to them. I hope that they will actually be happy we're coming to campus.

[cutetiger]

Well girls, I'm so glad that your off to a great start! I can understand about you guys and the problems with registering with schools and all. I don't know how many of you know that our chapter is in Baton Rouge (where there are 3 colleges). Since we can't register at any one school, what we do is have the meetings at members homes. Each girl takes a turn during the month and hosts it in her home/apartment. Sometimes the space is pretty small, but you really get to know your sisters better by putting them in a comfortable invironment. Also, it's a great idea when it comes to secret sister gifts because if you have that one person, you get to see how she decorates (big bonus when shopping at the store)! You don't necessarily have to have it at the school or homes either. You might be able to get a room at the local library. I know here in Baton Rouge if you are a non-profit organization, you can have a meeting room for free as long as you book in advance. That might be an idea that you guys can check out. Hope this gives you some help.

Hugs,
Bernadette

[Ginger]

Hmm... I've thought about that (holding it at my house) although I'm afraid that A) no one will come out to some strangers house (I probably wouldn't) and that if they did, they B) wouldn't be able to find it :) I'm kind of out-of-the-way!

Anyhow, I'll have to look into holding it at a library, or a coffee shop or something around town. I still don't know how to advertise, though... with not being able to hang fliers in the school(s), I'm not sure how to go about getting people's attention. One thing I thought of last night (as I was riding the bus home with two girls that, had I had any information handy, I would have very gently rushed) was having little business cards made up (like those free ones you can get from Vista Print or whereever) with my name and phone number, the Beta website, etc. so that I could give them to people I meet that I want to invite to rush. Good idea? or not... could it come off kind of creepy?

Where else can I hang fliers? Or if not fliers...how else can I get people to come to an info session? I don't really know anyone here in town yet to do an outward-spiraling email thing like Erica did?

[erica812]

It sounds like registering with Student Activities is the best option for you, so I wish you the best of luck! The process is different for every school, but I imagine that having an International Organization behind you will really be a point in your favor. Like you, I am hoping that other Greeks on my campus will be happy to see Beta forming. I haven't had any negative response so far. The way I see it, we are only trying to reenforce the postive aspects of Greek life in the community. Who can complain about that?:)

Bernadette ...I'm glad you made the point about meeting in sisters' rooms. We had a meeting in a girl's room on Sunday, and it was really relaxing and enjoyable. I never thought of the library! That's a great idea.

Good luck to all you sisters-in-progress!!!

Erica:D

[OPAGal]

I sent a very formal letter to the student affairs office today. I can't wait till they reply so I can advertise some more. I have 2 interested members now! I hope to have more by this time next week!

[erica812]

I just posted on my thread under Chapter Operations, but I had to make sure that all the Greek Chat Betas and Betas-to-be heard my news! Last night, we found our seventh member! She is a great girl who used to be my student in Freshman Comp. She is a sophomore now, and I know that she will be a fantastic sister. We also have four potential members who are considering membership. They will be in touch by Friday. We may have gone from six to ELEVEN in one night!!!!

Beta Love,
Erica

[MTSUGURL]

YAY ERICA!!!!!!

[erica812]

Tonight I received the final payment and membership application. Tomorrow I will put TEN applications in the mail to International Headquarters!

Tonight's meeting was great. We made some important decisions, and we have some awesome plans in the making. We traded names for Secret Sisters even though our paperwork won't be through for a few weeks. Everyone is thrilled about sending each other little treats and notes. We were just like a bunch of happy little girls this evening.

I just wanted to pass on my good news. Thanks again for all of your support.

Beta Love,
Erica

[BookishBabe]

That is fantastic, Erica! I'm so happy for you! I'd love to pick your brain about getting the word out on campus and organizing a chapter, if you have time. I have lots of questions! :)

[erica812]

This evening I got an e-mail from International HQ.

They received our membership applications and fees today, and we are officially the Delta Pi chapter of Beta Sigma Phi!!!

I am so excited!

Beta Love,
Erica

[AngelPhiSig]

CONGRATS Erica! *hopefully* we will be next!!!!

I LOVE BETA SIGMA PHI!

[BookishBabe]

Woooooooooo-hoo! Way to go, Erica! All your hard work really paid off! You're an inspiration to me. :D

[cutetiger]

I feel like a proud mommy! I'm so glad that you girls have finally gotten the chapter up and running. It's been such a fun experience! Erica, darling, I'm so proud to call you my sister!

Hugs,
Bernadette

[Ginger]

Congratulations Erica!!!

[erica812]

Come over and actually SEE my sisters! I've added a photo album and few other pictures around the site.

The picture on the homepage was taken immediately after our pledge ritual. I'm the one in the center, front row. Thank goodness I'm getting a haircut on Wednesday!
;)

Erica

[erica812]

Hey Ladies...
We had our first meeting of the semester last night. We lost one sister who transferred to another school, but three awesome women accepted our invitation. Now, we are an even dozen!

We are planning to do Rush in March, so I'm hoping we will grow even more. One of our girls will graduate in May, and another is planning to transfer in the fall. Yet another is part of a National Guard Unit that has been federally activated. We are all praying that our dear sister will not be sent overseas. Please keep her in your prayers as well. Thanks!

Erica