Happy Founders Day!

On a perfect sunny day, one hundred and twenty girls gathered with several Pi Phi alumni from the Baltimore area to celebrate the origins of Pi Beta Phi. 

Every April, Pi Phi chapters all over the world honor the work of our twelve founding members for the work that they did in creating Pi Beta Phi. MD Gamma, being no different, celebrated in style last week at the Inn at the Colonnade.

We listened to the chair of surgery at Johns Hopkins Hospital, Dr. Julie A. Freischlag (a proud Pi Phi alumnae), completed our signature Ring Ching song, handed out senior awards, and honored our founders with the Founders' Day Candle Lighting Ceremony!


Here are a couple photos of the great day:

Komal Desai, Zoe Kaye and Maddie Goodman enjoy their first Founders Day as newly initiated members! 

The food was great and Maritza Nicole seems to have agreed!

The weather was perfect and helped everyone look their Sunday best!

(from left to right: Amanda Coren, Frankie Svidler, Ellen Waddell, Callie Rogers, Megan Morrow and Emily Glickman)

These couple of hours with MD Gamma's many Pi Phi sisters were special in that they helped us to remember the pledge we all took and the promises we made to ourselves and to each other when we joined Pi Phi and only helped to cement our excitement for next year's Founders Day!

Playing Catchup

After such a busy semester so far, it's a little tough to play catch up. But, just to keep you updated, here's a quick rundown since you last heard from us. 

Senior Farewell

Back in December, we said goodbye to some beloved seniors who were graduating a semester early. Though we're sad to see them go, we look forward to hear about all of their adventures out in "the real world."

Marcella Lunn and Hannah Weinberg-Wolf say goodbye to Dia Hazra!

Deanna Cotsalas says goodbye to Aishwarya Rajagopalan!

Formal Recruitment

In January, we started preparing for the trials and triumphs of participating in Johns Hopkins's Formal Recruitment Process. With an overwhelming amount of girls signed up to go through recruitment, we were a little worried about making it through, but we managed to survive and find a great group of girls.

Getting ready for Ice Water Round!

(from left to right: Ellen Brait, Divya Kernik, Taylor Lam, Jenna McLaughlin)

The whole chapter at our Wizard of Oz Theme Round!

Seniors at Pref Round!

(top row, left to right: Nicole Coscolluella, Natasha Peavy, Amelia Vallenilla, Emily Daggett, Brittany Tusing, Hannah Cohen, Emily Kashka, Yejin Kim; bottom row, left to right: Marina Palma Lima, Steph Dalwin, Anna Huang, Devon Macera, Natalie Copeland, Julianne Payne)

New Members

After intiation, the girls of MD Gamma were absolutely thrilled to welcome 60 (you read that right! SIXTY!) new baby angels! We had a great time at our Western Themed Bid Night, our night of Duck Pin Bowling and Karaoke, and the ensuing weeks chockfull of get to meet all the new girls!

 The (new!) whole chapter on Bid Night!

Elizabeth Sherwood gets her jam on at karaoke!

Secret Week and Reveal

Everyone was so excited for secret week, but no one more than the littles. After a week of being showered with love, affection, and - most importantly - presents, the littles finally got to see their bigs in person at Reveal. 

Bigs wait for their littles to arrive for reveal!

(from left to right: Gaby Iturralde, Ellen Waddell, Ann Mendoza, Camille Tambunting, Lindsey Sanborn, Chelsea Duff, Emily Glickman, Megan Morrow, Erica Zehnder)

Two excited littles hug their bigs for the first time as family!

(from left to right: Camille Tambunting, Cori Michibata, Sahini Pothireddy)

Pink Party and Initiation 

After weeks of New Member meetings, hours of Greek Life Edu, and one trying New Member test, the babies were finally ready to be initiated! We wore our whites for prep, our pinks for Pink Party, and more white for Initiation and, finally, the pictures that come after it (the best pictures you'll get all year!). 

Newly Initiated Members!

(back row, left to right: Lauren Evans, Komal Desai, Jessica Chung, Jesse Chen, Adithi Rajagopalan, Emily Marley, Devany Diamond, Jordana Meisel, Alice Jiang; middle row, left to right: Sato Kakihara, Victoria Laney, Hayley Kallfelz, Michelle Pargament, Cori Michibata, Dani Dinstein, Paige Persky, Kelly Seeger; front row, left to right: Ashley Foreman, Cecilia Freeman, Julia Deutsch, Carrie Resnick, Olivia Seideman)

Ann Mendoza proudly shows off her pink for Pink Party!

And that's what you missed with MD Gamma. See you next time!

Champions are Readers!

This semester Maryland Gamma has been busy with our philanthropic efforts, including the literacy program CAR (which stands for Champions are Readers). The program takes place at Govans Elementary School, located close to campus. Read about it through the eyes of sophomore Emily G.

VP Philanthropy Marcella Lunn
showing off some of the program's books

"For me, being in a sorority is much more than hanging out with friends, meeting new people, and getting t-shirts. Being a part of Pi Phi means I get to give back to the community, which is especially important going to school in Baltimore. One way our chapter gets to give back is through a month-long literacy program called CAR (Champions Are Readers). Each week we go to Govans Elementary school, not far from campus, and engage with two different classes on reading and word exercises.
I’ve been working with a few other Pi Phis in a third grade classroom. Each week we read aloud from a book – we’ve been doing Magic Treehouse! – and then use the Pi Beta Phi First Book workbook to fill out sentence structure, vocabulary, and other worksheets. CAR’s main purpose is to encourage students to read at least fifteen minutes a day. Our purpose, as volunteers, is to show them that reading can be fun, too!
At the end of the program, each child gets a book to bring home. We have one week left – and I’m so excited to see the looks on their faces when they choose their new book! The students have been incredibly animated when they take turns reading aloud and working together on the activities. One kid liked it so much that he wouldn’t let me take the book back! It’s been extremely rewarding watching the kids come out of their shells more and more each week. I’ll be sad when the program ends, but who knows? Maybe I’ll end up coming back and volunteering again. And there’s always another CAR next fall!"

Chapter members

Pi Phi Summer Days; Allison

Speaking of cool summer internships, junior Allison B. had probably one of the coolest of them all. Allison worked as a Ad Production intern at Collegehumor!

"This summer I interned at CollegeHumor and it was a dream come true! I've been a huge fan of the website for years now, so it was surreal to be working in the same office as all of my favorite actors/writers. I was an Ad Production intern, so I worked alongside the Ad Production team to organize and coordinate the ad campaigns that run on the site. Although this may seem like this is the serious business side of CollegeHumor, I guarantee you it is not (considering the frequent nerf gun wars that took place around me). I learned a lot over my 2 1/2 months working and it was especially interesting seeing the back end of how a website runs and is funded. In addition to learning and working, I met some truly great people. Everyone I met at CollegeHumor (interns and employees) was so nice and welcoming. I became really close with all the interns and the employees did an awesome job of incorporating us into the tight-knit office community. I had so much fun and this internship was overall a great experience!"

"In addition to the everyday awesomeness of working in the CollegeHumor office, some of the extra special highlights include:

-Going to Governor's Ball (a music festival) with my fellow interns and our bosses

-Being an extra in a Jake and Amir sketch!!! Watch it here!

-Working backstage at CollegeHumor's annual Offline comedy show

-Intern Appreciation Karaoke Night"

Pi Phi Summer; Emily

Our sisters sure do some wild things, literally! Our biology-inclined sisters have been doing some fun things. We last heard from senior Brittany, who lived in the rainforest studying biodiversity. Now we'll hear from senior Emily K., who spent her summer working around some slightly less wild animals at the National Zoo in DC.

"This summer I had the amazing opportunity to work at the Smithsonian's National Zoo. No, I didn't play with the pandas or feed the lions. My zoo experience wasn't exactly what you'd expect. I was the web intern in the communications department, which was a fascinating and fun opportunity to explore my interest in field of science communications. I worked on everything from researching zoo history to developing content for our animal Olympic-themed social media campaign. What I loved the most was how unique and strange the day-to-day events and challenges were. Working with animals is unpredictable. Every birth is a media sensation, especially for any of the dozens of endangered species that call the Zoo their home. The Zoo is passionate about conservation and research. They're doing some pretty amazing things for wildlife. It was rewarding to be part of the team that gets to help educate and inspire the public about all of that work. Yes, there were some privileges. I got to help socialize a kiwi bird, go behind the scenes with the Asian elephants, and much more! Plus, I spent my lunch breaks hanging out by the adorable cheetah cubs or Asian-small clawed otters. It definitely wasn't your average summer internship."

Along with that, Emily traveled to Eugene, Oregon to volunteer in the US Track & Field Olympic Trials.

"Volunteering in the trials was an absolute blast. As a track athlete, it was amazing to be around so many people who are enthusiastic about the sport. The trials themselves were very exciting. Watching elite athletes go for their Olympic dreams was inspiring to say the least."

Pi Phi Summer Days; Brittany

The sisters of Maryland Gamma seemed to be trotting across the globe this summer! Last week we heard about Bonnie and her Italian adventure. This week we're hearing about Brittany T., who spent a month in Honduras living in the rainforest studying biodiversity.

Brittany traveled to Honduras with Operation Wallacea, an organization that works toward conservation through various research projects throughout the globe. She learned about biodiversity monitoring techniques for flora and fauna of the tropical rain forests in Honduras.

Brittany mastering jungle living.

How cool is that?

Pi Phi Summer Days; Bonnie

It's August, which means in just one month the ladies of Maryland Gamma will be returning to Hopkins for another year of sisterhood and memories. It seems like summer has flown by! Our Pi Phis have been busy with a wide variety of jobs, internship, and travel. For the next few weeks we'll be highlighting a few women and their exciting summers.

Junior Bonnie E. took her passion for archaeology on the road...all the way to Touscany, Italy.

"The field school I attended was created to study a Classical Archaeology site located just outside of Sienna. I knew it would be a life changing experience because my time there would decide whether I wanted to continue with my archaeology major or find a new career path. However, I loved the hard work it took to excavate. I enjoyed learning to use a pick-axe, and working in the Italian sun all day. Most of all, I loved reaffirming what I had known all along, I wanted to discover the artifacts that would be displayed in museums around the world. "

After a whirlwind adventure digging up the past, Bonnie returned to her native state of Alaska and hit the great outdoors.

"While at home I like to stay fit by hiking and running in local charity races. My favorite place to hike is called Mt. Baldy, because from the summit you can see for miles. To keep up my running I participate in different 5k races that support my favorite charities. These include ones that raise money for breast cancer research and the special olympics."