Lauren Cerkez
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| Name | |
| Chapter | Alpha Xi Radford University |
| Date Inducted | Spring 2004 |
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| Honorary Member | |
| Major | Elementary Ed. |
| Birthdate | November 14, 1983 |
| Spouse | Peter Franza |
| Nicknames | TYPO |
| Awards | Super Pledge |
Early Fraternity Life
Lauren Cerkez (now Lauren Franza) rushed Phi Sigma Pi in the Spring of 2004, received a bid, and was initiated in the Fairfax building at Radford University. During Spring 2004, Lauren was given the Super Pledge Award for getting all brother interviews done and attending many PSP events.
During her time in PSP, Lauren loved the excitement of rush each semester. Some of her favorite things about PSP were:
- Getting to know the new pledges and seeing them come in shy and open up once they felt a part of the family
- P-week!
- The Radford parades
- Giving bids out :) and screaming our chant
- Sneaking into dorm rooms to decorate for the lamplights and littles
- The bonds she made with Brittany Hawks, Pilar Wilson, Jenny Orrock, Dan Blake, Chance Margheim, Stephanie Reister, Socrates Tiglao, etc...
- The Alpha Betas :)
- Getting her first pair of letters and wearing them proudly
- Being part of a frat that let her be her nerdy self! Yay, academics :P
Bigs and Littles
Lauren's big is Amanda (Johnson) Crabb, and her little is Pilar Wilson. Amanda Johnson also took another little, making Lauren a twin to Kathryn Ward. Lauren's lamp leader is Ricky Gray, and her lamp light is Samantha Goble.
Other Interesting Facts
Enough talking about myself in the third person! My major was Elementary Education with concentrations in math and English. Even though I majored in Education, music was my passion. I was a member of the Radford Singers and any other choir that was available and traveled to Russia in Spring 2004 with the choir--SO FUN! I graduated Summa Cum Laude with a 3.97 GPA in December 2005. In 2008, I married my high school and college sweetheart, Peter Franza. After teaching in elementary school for 3 years in Virginia Beach City Public Schools, I received her Masters degree in Instructional Design from Virginia Tech. I served as Education Director and Operations Manager at Junior Achievement of Greater Hampton Roads, and great opportunities brought me to where I am now... designing curricula for educational games in VA Beach for a company called Advanced Training & Learning Technology.
I currently live in Chesapeake, VA with my husband, Peter Franza. You can contact me at laurenfranza@gmail.com or https://www.facebook.com/lfranza. I seriously loved my time with PSP and would love to reconnect with brothers or even chat with some new initiates.
