Friday night, we had an incredible Inductions ceremony. With over 100 pledges, around 80 of which made it to the official ceremony (there would be two make-up ceremonies later), it was a bit complex lining up bigs around Grant Auditorium in order for them to collect their littles, especially with most bigs taking twins. Spreee and Peri were on hand to watch the ceremonies unfold. Peri even whipped out her camera to catch the "E-Board Wave" on camera when we were keeping ourselves occupied onstage in our SU grad robes.
Watching the line of pledges be led blindfolded into the auditorium was too fun! There were so many of them that after bandanas ran out, ties and even winter scarves were enlisted in the process. The ceremony went off without a hitch- none of the on-stage readers broke into giggles if and when the opportunity presented itself, and the bigs and littles had fun meeting each other for the first time. Alumni, let me tell you... this is a good looking pledge class! The girlies are cuties! And the boys- well we like any boys that increase the male population of Phi Chapter. But seriously, the pledges have already proven to be a great group of young adults ready to serve and to have fun.
With a sheet of cake left over (incredible, huh?) and the remains of pre-induction family dinners filling some brothers' fridges, the night ended with both brothers and pledges in a joyous mood.
Saturday, a fellowship trip to Ithaca's Applefest was a great time. Caramel apples, apple crisp, apple cider... just the food alone made this weekend a great one. After a day looking at arts & crafts venders, jewelry, a visit to the used bookstore and brotherly bonding time, the 18 or so of us ended up at Cortland's A&W for, you guessed it, more food!
I'm pleased to tell you I've heard from many brothers that they have already been able to spend time getting to know their littles- I was extremely excited to get my big, all four of my littles, my APO sis and my APO niece (yes, that is Katie!) all out to Chili's Monday afternoon for some family line bonding, with all profits from our meal being donated directly to St. Jude Children's Research Hospital.
Monday's chapter was Western themed- thank you alumni for answering why you joined APO! Next week, we want to know what YOU are doing at 5p.m. on Sundays while we are in chapter.
Last night, Melissa held her first pledge class and it went perfectly. With another dozen pledges inducted just prior to the class, Nifkin was full of new faces clutching neatly decorated pledgebooks. After the pledge class theme's big reveal- Michael Jackson inspired "Phi In The Mirror"- Dave E and Alex B (last names excluded so they can't be Googled and traced back to a blog) treated the pledge class to a truly hysterical video introducing the pledges to this semester's executive board. As soon as I can share it with you, I will!
I hope this finds you all having a lovely week and hope you have been successful in avoiding the rain.
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