Chi Alpha Kappa - Service Learning

   This past summer, my roommate approached me with a desire to bring the sorority Delta Gamma to the MSU campus. Naturally, I said I would help. We got a bunch of girls who wanted the same thing, we contacted the DG alum in Bozeman, and we all approached the school's Panhel counsel. There wasn't room for another house. But we had forty girls who wanted to do this; we needed to give them something. So my roommate, another friend, and I created Chi Alpha Kappa, a social club.
     Every Sunday we have meeting; we discuss absolutely everything and they can run from forty-five minutes all the way up to two hours (which definitely cuts into Sunday Night Football, but I'm slowly learning to deal with it). I've made a lot of new friends through this club; I've had to coordinate and oftentimes control (through the use of Emotional Leadership Skills) my co-founders reactions to events and to members. We have integrated ourselves and been invited by some into the Greek life on campus. We've had to control our reputation and create our definition - and still, everyone who isn't a part of XAK seems vastly confused. We are comprised mostly of Freshman and Sophomores, and the Freshman girls we've welcomed to MSU are some of the best I've met; I'm so glad we could be here for them during that stressful time. And the Sophomores are some I recognize from around campus last year, though I knew none of them personally. During this semester, we've welcomed five new girls to the club already and we have twenty interested in joining in the spring.
     One of the things I am most excited about is our first ever philanthropy event, the first annual Run For Your Life 5k. The idea came from one of the Sophomore girls; I told her to run with it. I gave her some tips, I gave her the information that she needed, and I stepped back and supervised her awesomeness. As a group, we have organized sponsors, received funding through the school, made posters, t-shirts, a website, and we're donating all the proceeds to the Bozeman Help Center: a cause we decided as a community is the one we wanted to support and assist. This 5k is being held on Halloween afternoon, and as the day approaches I see the familiar scramble to get everything in order. It's interesting to compare the LI events and staff to the girls of XAK. Most of us have never created an event from the ground up, but it's been an amazing surprise to see the success we've had so far.
     There are some exciting things happening for XAK - we haven't given up our goal of bringing Delta Gamma to the MSU campus, and right now, things are looking good for us. But for now, I'll settle for this awesome group of outstanding women that I, with help of course, was able to bring together.