A Castle Update!

Hello! It's been awhile!
In light of the holiday season and the passing of Halloween, I feel I should update you on all of our festive socials.

October 30th we were lucky enough to have the men of Tau Kappa Epsilon over to our house to carve pumpkins.  It was a really fun way to show off our pumpkin-carving skills, or lack there of, while dancing and chatting with the boys. Jenae succeeded!

Jenae Latimer

November 1st we had more guests at the castle! The men of Alpha Gamma Rho joined us for dinner on that Monday, while some of our girls went to dine at their house.

And now the main event.............FORMAL!

This year, winter formal is November 20th with Kappa Sigma and Pi Kappa Phi. The night will begin with a two seperate formal dinners, hosted by our wonderful Parent's Club. We will then be at the Delray Ballroom from 9pm-1am dancing the night away! I am extremely excited to have our new initiates experience formal for the first time. It is truly one of the best times of the semester. Enjoy it girls!

GO BIG RED!

Xi love, Caroline

Alpha Xi Delta Wins "Cotton. From Blue to Green." Denim Drive!

Alpha Xi Delta challenged sororities Pi Beta Phi, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Phi Mu to a denim drive in support of Cotton, Inc.'s campaign, "Cotton. From Blue to Green." From Blue to Green is an initiative that collects denim products for the purpose of recycling them into insulation for homes. Many of the donations go toward insulating homes built by Habitat for Humanity. The Public Relations Student Society of America (PRSSA) was chosen to administer the campaign on the UNL campus during the month of October. Since many Alpha Xi Deltas are leaders in PRSSA, we were able to use the competition as a way to get the Greek community involved with the campaign.

The total fundraising goal for the denim drive is 500 pairs of jeans. Alpha Xi Delta won the sorority competition and donated 105 pairs of denim jeans to Cotton, Inc.! 

Thank you for everyone who contributed to this effort!

Xi Love,

Alpha Xi Delta Blogger

Meet a New Member: Alyse Lysgaard

Meet Alyse!

Hometown: Las Vegas, NV

High School: Laurel Springs School (online homeschool)

Major: Animal Science

What aspects of Alpha Xi Delta have you enjoyed the most so far?
I love that I can be myself with the girls.

How would you say Alpha Xi Delta has impacted your life in college?
I would say that I have friends who don't care if I act like a complete fool. They still like me for who I am.

What are you most looking forward to in Alpha Xi Delta?

I'm looking forward to mom/daughter day!

If you could describe Alpha Xi Delta in three words, what would they be?

Has my back.

Meet a New Member: Mandy Rosenthal

Welcome back to the Castle!

The initiated members of Alpha Xi Delta are so proud of the new member class. The new members have recently finished gift week and learned the identity of their new "mom" in the house. We celebrated mother/daughter revealing with lunch at Valentino's, and then each "family" shared their traditions with the newest additions to their family tree with their own special activities. 

In order for everyone to become better acquainted with the new members, we are going to feature them, one at a time, on Life in the Castle. Please keep a lookout for new posts and take advantage of this opportunity to Meet a New Member!

Xi Love, 

Alpha Xi Delta Blogger

Meet Mandy Rosenthal!

Hometown: Elkhorn, NE
High school: Duchesne Academy
Major: History, Political Science, International Studies

What aspects of Alpha Xi Delta have you enjoyed the most so far?
The friendship, spontaneity, and diversity of all of the girls. 

How would you say Alpha Xi Delta has impacted your life in college?
Alpha Xi Delta has helped me to expand my social spheres and become more confident in myself.

What are you most looking forward to in Alpha Xi Delta?
Getting to know the girls even better as an initiated member.

If you could describe Alpha Xi Delta in three words, what would they be?
New life chapter.

Wednesday Night Thing

WNT in the Castle Basement

Hi! My name is Chelsea Price and I am the chaplain of Alpha Xi Delta, Rho Chapter. Here’s a little bit about what I do…..

Why did you want to become the chaplain of Alpha Xi Delta?

God and his great love are two of the most important things in my life. Being in this position means I get to share this with my sisters!

What is Wednesday Night Thing?

Wednesday Night Thing, or WNT for short, is our Alpha Xi Delta Bible Study. Every Wednesday at 9:30 we pile into the basement for a time of fun and random activities with sisters and a time of learning something new about God and his love. I like to describe it as “it’s a girl thing, it’s a God thing, it’s an AXID thing.”

Describe the success of Wednesday Night Thing.

In terms of numbers, that’s easy to do! There are usually about 35-50 girls in the basement for WNT every Wednesday! But more importantly, I think that what goes on in girls’ hearts is where the true success lies. We are learning so much about God’s unconditional love for each of us individually, as sisters and as children of God. I think that if every girl knows that God loves her so much and then she goes and lives like it, then WNT couldn’t be more successful!

Alpha Xi Delta Chaplain - Chelsea Price

How do you plan WNT?

Every thing we talk about on Wednesdays is from the Bible. I always tell the girls, I don’t make any of this up myself; this is all 100% what God is saying to you in the Bible. I’m just the one reading it! I knew since this summer that I wanted to spend 8 weeks of WNT going over love, and I decided on a theme of “a love you can’t live without.” (That love being God’s love, of course.) I guess I just figured that not only is God’s unconditional love one of his defining characteristics, but also, what college-age girl doesn’t want to hear about someone who loves them?!

As far as the activities, they’re totally random. Sometimes they have to do with the lesson and sometimes they don’t. The activities range anywhere from painting our nails, to taking prayer requests to doing review sheets on what we’ve learned in the past weeks of WNT. I also have the weekly Bible verse that corresponds with the lesson posted on second floor lounge. This is just another way for girls to know what’s going on each week at WNT.

How has increased involvement benefited the chapter?

God’s love is powerful, and I personally have seen it do so many amazing things here in Alpha Xi Delta. Our chapter was already very tight-knit, but Wednesday Night Thing has only seemed to make us more thankful, loving and thoughtful women who know what they stand for. Plus, since sisterhood is such a big part of Alpha Xi Delta, WNT has been a perfect reason for us to spend time together as sisters!

Alpha Xi's Decorating Cookies at WNT

What can collegiate members of Alpha Xi Delta look forward to about WNT this semester?

Well girls, I have three large jars of antique buttons… and I think you know what that means! (Freshmen ask your mommies) And I know you all love the random prizes that I find at the dollar aisle at Wal-mart. But more importantly, I think that we can look forward to knowing God’s great love for us individually. The Bible says in Jeremiah 29:13 “You will seek me and find me, when you seek me with all of your heart.” What an amazing thing if in 50 years we look back on our time in college and say, “I found God’s love in college!” God is real and if we seek him as a chapter house, then only good things will come from it. So get excited girls! 

Xi Love, 

Chelsea Price

Chaplain

Homecoming Review

Girls on their way to Monday Night Live!

Sadly, homecoming has come to an end! As homecoming chair, I was so happy with the participation by all of Alpha Xi Delta. Although we didn’t win, we had lots of fun and did a great job on everything! Many girls donated blood to save lives and worked hard on the lawn display. We also made an amazing banner and had a blast with the skit for Monday Night Live with Gamma Phi Beta, Phi Kappa Psi and Pi Kappa Phi. Homecoming was definitely a success!! Thanks for all of the help and support from all the Alpha Xi’s this week! It meant a lot. For the team competition within Alpha Xi Delta, the Alpha team won with the most participation although it was a close race. Congratulations to everyone for a fantastic week!

Xi Love,

Jenae Latimer

Homecoming Chair

Homecoming Week Update

Alpha Xis in the lobby of the Lied Center waiting for Monday Night Live!

More girls excited for Monday Night Live!

Homecoming week has officially started, and we have already participated in two events! We had a great turn out of Alpha Xi Deltas at the Sunday Tailgate and Brooke Herbig took Fourth Place in the Chubby Bunny Contest. Also, our skit was a success at Monday Night Live. Thank you to Caroline Pugh, Beth Barmettler and Mary Cate Chilton for doing such a great job in our skit! All of the houses had a blast competing, and it was a very entertaining night.

I have split the house into three teams: Alpha team, Xi team and Delta team. Each team is assigned to certain events and the winning team will get breakfast from Alpha Xi’s lovely executive team! For times of the events refer to the entry below and here for what each team is assigned.

Alpha Team: Pep Rally, Monday Night Live, working on the lawn display Tuesday or Wednesday (Monday night was cancelled), work on the lawn display Thursday and attending the Jester Competition on Friday.

Xi Team: Monday Night Live, work on lawn display Tuesday and Thursday night, attend the east campus concert and the parade.

Delta Team: Pep Rally, Monday Night Live, work on lawn display Wednesday and Thursday and attend the Jester competition on Friday.

The lawn display is located at Phi Kappa Psi and Pi Kappa Phi since they are side-by-side. Times are very flexible- just come whenever you are able and spend at least an hour working! The Jester competition is at the Wick Center on Friday.

Also, I am encouraging everyone to donate blood! It is a great way to get points for Alpha Xi Delta and help the community! Just giving blood once saves THREE lives! To make an appointment to donate go to: www.don8bld.org

Thanks to everyone who has participated so far! This is going to be a fun-filled week of homecoming activities, and I’m super excited to see everyone there! Come support Alpha Xi Delta and hopefully earn a homecoming victory!!

Jenae Latimer

Homecoming Chair 

Alpha Xi Delta Kicks Off Homecoming 2010

Welcome back!

Today marks the beginning of the 2010 Homecoming celebration at UNL. 

The Alpha Xi Deltas are excited to participate this year with their Homecoming partners, Phi Kappa Psi, Pi Kappa Phi, and Gamma Phi Beta. The theme for homecoming this year is 2010: A Husker Odyssey and our triad is focusing on the move to the Big Ten. We have an excellent group and they are super excited to participate with Alpha Xi Delta. This week you can find Alpha Xi Deltas at the following events:

Sunday, September 19: Pep Rally Tailgate and Contests at the Stadium Loop 4:00 p.m. (There will be competitions between Greek houses.)

Monday, September 20: Monday Night Live at Lied Center 8:00 p.m.

Tuesday, September 21st through Thursday, September 23: City Campus Blood Drive 11 a.m. – 6 p.m.

Thursday, September 23: Royalty Elections Online from 9:00 a.m. –7:00 p.m. and East Campus Concert at 8:00 p.m.

Friday, September 24: Finish lawn display at Phi Psi (Due 10:30 a.m.), Homecoming Parade at 6:00 p.m., Biggest Fan Competition – Come support me as I compete to prove I’m the biggest Husker fan on campus! 7:00 p.m.

Saturday, September 25: Nebraska v. South Dakota State at 6:00 p.m.

We are super excited to participate in Homecoming and hopefully win! This is a great way to meet people in other houses and get involved on campus. 

Come support your Alpha Xi Delta sisters and make sure to check back here for updates and pictures throughout the week!

Xi Love,

Jenae Latimer

Homecoming Chair

Football FrenXI for Autism Speaks

Today, and during the rest of the week, look for Alpha Xi Delta ladies wearing blue and gold t-shirts with this design to bring awareness to our upcoming philanthropy event, Football FrenXI.

This Sunday, September 19, we will hold the first all-male flag football tournament to raise money for Autism Speaks! 

There will be food and drinks available to participants and spectators. We will also raffle off an autographed football signed by Coach Tom Osborne. You do not have to be present to win.

Autism Speaks is a national organization dedicated to finding the missing piece to the cure for Autism. Autism is the fastest-growing developmental disorder in the United States, affecting 1 in 110 children and 1.5 million people nationwide. Together, Alpha Xi Delta and Autism Speaks hope to raise awareness, increase support and collect the resources necessary to find a cure.

Football FrenXI will take place at the East Campus fields from 12:30 to 4:30. Registration for Football FrenXI continues through Friday, September 17, and we would love to have as many teams as possible to support children with Autism. Each team should have 8-10 men, and the team registration cost is $50. Although men will play in the tournament, we invite everyone to cheer on our teams and support Autism Speaks.

Let the FrenXI begin!

For more information about registering for Football FrenXI, please contact Brittani Poarch at brittani.poarch@huskers.unl.edu.

Welcome to Our Life in the Castle

Welcome to our Life in the Castle!

The Rho Chapter of Alpha Xi Delta came to being through the efforts of University of Nebraska-Lincoln math instructor, Lulu Runge. Lulu was an alumna of the Alpha Xi Delta Theta Chapter and came together with 12 women to establish Rho Chapter on June 5, 1912. Alpha Xi Delta became the 11^th Greek organization to join the UNL campus.

Alpha Xi Delta has remained active on the UNL campus and in the Lincoln community. Members of Alpha Xi Delta believe in the value of sisterhood, leadership, knowledge and service. The ladies of Rho Chapter work to uphold these ideals through campus leadership, community service and devotion to one another.

We invite you to our blog so that you may learn more about our sisterhood and why it is so important to our lives. Here you will find information about our members, philanthropies, socials and activities. Please feel free to share your comments and send questions to lifeinthecastleblog@gmail.com.

Xi Love,

Life in the Castle Blogger