Galentine's Day Extravaganza
Writer, Graphics: Savannah T. / Chapter Submitted Photos
In preparation for the month of love, February, Ella E. and Morgan P. from Gamma Phi’s Panhellenic Committee started planning the Grab-a-Sister event. Inspired by Galentine’s Day, the sisters of Gamma Phi brought their friends from other Greek chapters to the chapter for an event to celebrate friendships across the Greek community.
“Our Panhellenic Committee really made it a mission to meet sisters from different chapters this Spring semester,” says Morgan. “Galentine’s Day has grown to be quite popular these days and we wanted to host an event to celebrate!”
This event was planned a month or two months before its debut, allotting enough time for Gamma Phis to invite a date. Keeping with the theme, Ella and Morgan decorated the Gamma Phi house with pink and red balloons, table cloths, string lights, and an area for photos. Additionally, their chefs made heart-shaped cookies for the sisters and their dates to decorate. Tables and chairs were strategically placed around the room to encourage the women to meet new people and play board games together. Throughout the entire event, they had music playing and an open mic for karaoke.
“I think it impacted our sisterhood specifically because it allowed us to bring our friends outside of our chapter to see what we were all about. It provided an inclusive environment for everyone to have a good time and also allowed us to meet some of our sisters' friends that we might have never met before,” says Ella. “As for the Panhellenic community, we had almost every single chapter represented at the event and I think that it's great to introduce people to new environments and get them out of their comfort zones. I honestly think we could use more events like these because bringing people together in a new and exciting way will make the Panhellenic community stronger and closer than ever!”
The sisters of Gamma Phi were excited to introduce their friends from other chapters to their sisters, show them around their home, and enjoy the evening together. The hard work of Gamma Phi’s Panhellenic Committee paid off and the night was full of memories that the attendees will always treasure, as seen below.
“My favorite memory was catching up with my friend, Julia S. from Sigma Delta Tau and showing her around the house. I became really close with her from studying abroad the previous summer and it was a perfect excuse to have a little friendship date since I hadn’t seen her in a few months,” says Brianna B. “I never miss Grab a Sisters events because it’s the perfect way to reach out to distant friends or acquaintances in other chapters that you met from clubs or classes! I also got to meet different panhellenic women that other sisters in my chapter brought over!”
“I brought my roommate who is in Pi Phi so I loved being able to give her a little tour around the house and then getting the chance to introduce her to a bunch of girls that she hadn’t had the chance to meet yet,” says Allie S. “I think the event does a really good job of bringing Panhellenic together as a whole rather than just individual chapters because it gives everyone the opportunity to meet people from all chapters and form friendships in all of the other houses in the same setting.”
“My favorite memory was being able to bring my best friend/roommate to gamma phi! Having her be able to see our house and our sisterhood from a different viewpoint was a fun experience. I think this impacted our sisterhood in a positive way because we were all able to bring in a diverse group of new women from the Panhellenic women into our house,” says Brooke M. “Through that, I believe our sisterhood grew stronger because we were able to interact with more women and show them our tight-knit sisterhood. I think this impacted our relationships in the Panhellenic community because like I said previously, we were able to bring women into our house from several other chapters on campus. Through this, we were able to foster new relationships with houses on campus. I think it shined a light on our chapter of being inclusive and spreading pan love!”