2020 was a year for the books. What began as a normal spring semester transformed into an unexpected lifestyle change as the COVID-19 pandemic emerged in the US, sending college students home for the semester, introducing Zoom classes as the standard format for learning, and beginning new societal norms. Throughout it all, our sisterhood prevailed as true and constant. Here are some of the highlights from our crazy year!
January
To start the year, our sisters Catie Jespersen, Jenae Frisch, and Kinzie Loree set off an a new adventure abroad. With their home base in Rennes, France, the three were able to travel all over Europe, visiting Germany, Portugal, England, Spain, Austria, and more!
February
Our executive team travelled to Chicago for the REAL Leadership Conference! The team got to collaborate with members from other chapters of Gamma Phi Beta, expand their leadership skills, and hear from keynote speakers.
Back at UNI, our social chair Emily Langston organized a peace and love themed date night!
March
March was a month of philanthropic efforts for our chapter. Abby Miller served as a Dance Marathon morale captain, leading a team of Gamma Phi's who helped contribute to the overall total of $522,136 for the kids . In addition, our second annual Gamma Phi Hop was a success. Hosted at Threehouse: A Wesley Foundation, our philanthropy team put together an awesome event for Building Strong Girls. In total, the event raised $2,279 which was donated to Girls on the Run.
*Pictures taken prior to COVID-19
"It was such a rewarding feeling afterwards to see how much Gamma Phi Hop accomplished and feeling proud of myself that I pulled it off," said Taylor Baltes, philanthropy chairwoman.
April
Our sisterhood chairs, Megan Holbook and Emily Schnoor, kept the chapter connected by organizing a penpal system! We sent letters of encouragement, photos, and other keepsakes to each other to stay in touch with each other despite being apart. We also had Netflix watch parties together, Facetime study dates, and virtual chapter meetings on Sunday's!
May
We kept the tradition going of celebrating our seniors by hosting a Zoom event for them! Though different than our past senior celebrations, we still got to share our appreciation for our seniors through letters from dots and parents in the event organized by Abby Miller. We miss you Madi Bell, Riley Sailer, Lexi Dinsmore, Hannah Rohlf, Kaylene Konigsmark, and Calena Topete!!
*Pictures taken prior to COVID-19
June
Our PACE chair, Sarah Koury, gave us lots of ideas for ways to keep our minds and bodies healthy during quarantine! We even made a group chat with sisters to share workout ideas and motivation with each other. Other sisters had ideas, too, and can be found in this article written by Lily Kurt!
July
Month 4 apart from our sisters was tough. Payton Miller wrote an article about things she learned living in a sorority house which made us all even more excited to get back in the Gamma Phi house!
August
In August, our sisters were finally reunited after spending nearly 5 months apart! The house girls moved into their cozy cottage on Merner Ave, and the rest of the chapter prepared for a shortened, hybrid format of spirit week.
*Individuals pictured without masks are roommates
September
After much preparation and anticipation, we finally got to welcome home our 17 new sisters! Zoom recruitment was new for everyone involved, but our Membership Vice President, Abby Steill, made it a seamless experience for both sides. Though bid day looked different from past years, we were so excited for our new members' Gamma Phi journey to begin!
October
To ensure COVID-19 safety, our philanthropy team organized a virtual philanthropy week for the first time. We promoted t-shirt sales, a Kendra Scott fundraiser, a push day, Double Good popcorn sales, and a cookbook fundraiser for a weeklong event! Our fundraising efforts for Girls on the Run were stronger than ever, and we ended up raising $3160.88, which was even higher than our in person event in the spring!
Mom/dot reveal was also held in October. Ava Rowe, our new member educator, got the chance to be creative in wake of COVID-19 guidelines, and the result was a fun Zoom reveal!
"Even though reveal was on Zoom, the experience was still incredible! I was the very last dot to find out their mom, so I was sitting in the breakout room all by myself wondering what everyone else’s experiences were like! When it was finally revealed that Rachel was my mom I was so incredibly happy that I even started to tear up! Rachel has been such a great role model for me and I am so thankful that I get to call her my mom," said Sydney Schmidt.
November
In November, the fun continued as we celebrated Founder's Day in a Zoom get together with Judy E. Graham (Oklahoma, International Council Vice President)! We held a 'Powerpoint night', where we got to show off their sense of humor in a creative way with sisters on Zoom. Lastly, we held elections and sent off our old executive team, who lead us through a pandemic with SO much grace.
December
Now, we are in the middle of another long break away from campus. We are continuing to hold Zoom sisterhoods and stay in contact with each other virtually. All in all, we are so thankful to have gotten through this crazy semester safely and by each others' sides, and we can't wait for another fun and safe spring semester, whatever that may look like.
