2017 Delta Chi Chapter History

Main article: Delta Chi Chapter

Spring

Recruitment: Alpha Thetas

Rush this semester was a whirlwind of activity that all got pushed up a week. Unlike normal semesters--where we have a week to table, then start info sessions and so on--this semester tabling and info sessions happened in the same week. But it worked with the result being a strong 3 weeks of interest followed by a quirky, lovable new class.

Starting with rush, there was Paper Airplane Extravaganza: a paper airplane building (and flying) competition. All of the rushes were put on teams with bros and competed in three separate categories. The team “United” was the clear winner in two of the three categories and walked away with full size candy bars. Next there was Hot Cocoa Fun and Friends: a relaxed social event filled with hot chocolate, brownies, and fun. Everyone was meshed so well that no conversation starters were needed. Following that event, we had What Not to Do in an Interview. This event was a crowd-pleaser --a mix of applicable interviewing strategies, some improv, and a whole lot of goofiness. Basically once broken up into teams, rushes and bros had to make a four minute sketch of things not suitable for an interview: these all included moms being brought in, pets tagging along, and of course some awkward handshakes. To end rush, there was the small team based activity called What Happens Next. If it sounds like something from a cheesy television program, that’s because it is. After viewing certain (funny) video clips, the teams all had to guess what happened next from multiple choice answers. This, followed by a mix of creepy and adorable Guinness World Records, made for a competitive final event that had the teams constantly chatting.

Pref week started off with a boom (mic) with Lip Sync Jr. Teams of prefs and bros were given well-known pop songs to plan a performance to. After getting all of the embarrassing solos out, it was time for A Dive into Trust. This dual event featured blind pictionary and tanks. Blind pictionary was the Pictionary everyone knows and loves, but with a twist. Each bro was paired with a pref, and they took turns drawing a picture for their team while the other covered the artist’s eyes. Tanks was the game famous in our chapter for tearing and forming friendships. Put in pairs, bros and prefs took turns being directed by the other to crawl around and throw squishy things at the other teams until one remained supreme. Then, we got a little messy. Dessert DIY was a conveyer style dessert making event where bros and prefs alike were gladly confused as they were passed whipped cream, (what resembled) chocolate pudding, Heath bars, and some chocolate tasty cakes as everyone made miniature death by chocolate bowls. The final pref event was Sodexo Sweethearts. Being a few days before Valentine’s Day, it was only fitting that the attendees made cute cards for all the overlooked Sodexo workers that make student’s lives just that much more comfortable. This was a relaxed, meaningful way to end pref and a lot of potential members got a glimpse of these small things that positively reinforce those around us. Overall, the process went very smoothly and ending up resulting in the nineteen wonderful initiates that the chapter now has.

-Written by Jason Sadler

Leadership: Hands for Charity

Our first leadership of the semester was called Coloring for Charity. We traced our hands, colored the hand prints, and cut those out, making sixty-five decorated hands in all. This event was done for the Youth Uplift project of the Students Rebuild program, which is sponsored by the Bezos Family Foundation. For every hand decoration that we mail in, $1.90 will be donated to Save the Children leadership programs in Nicaragua and Indonesia, for a total of $123.50. At a rate of over two dollars per minute for our one hour event, this fundraising effort was a success.

-Written by Nicole Reisert

Bro Retreat: Disney Channel

Bro Retreat was an absolute blast this semester! The BALs, Liz, Sara, and Zach, and the corresponding secretary, Kirsten, worked really hard to make it a special weekend for the brothers. The theme was Disney Channel, with the teams being The Suite Life of Zack & Cody, Hannah Montana, Wizards of Waverly Place, High School Musical, and The Cheetah Girls, with the BALs and Kirsten representing Kim Possible. The brothers arrived Saturday morning to settle into the huge house in the Poconos where the retreat took place. First, each team created a poster, which they presented along with a skit and chant. The first event after that was a matching game where each brother was given a card that said something related to Disney Channel and had to quickly find another brother with the same card. Then, we had a relay race where players from each team raced to get water balloons and throw them back to their team.

After the first two games, it was time for lunch, where brothers got to make their own sandwiches. For the leadership portion, each team created a no-stitch fleece blanket that were then donated to Project Linus, a charity that gives them to children in need. After that, brothers played musical chairs and did the team-building exercises of the human knot and a hula-hoop race. For a project that provided brothers with a giveaway to keep, each brother decorated a picture frame and was later given a photo of their team to put inside of it. During this activity, two teams at a time were pulled to compete in a “floor is lava” type obstacle course. The brothers then enjoyed pizza and salad for dinner and some down time to play games or nap. For the scholarship portion, the teams got competitive with Disney Channel-themed trivia. After a campfire activity, brothers watched a movie and had a fun time together before going to bed and going back to campus Sunday morning. Overall, it was a super fun time with tons of brother bonding!

-Written by Zachary Port

Fellowship: Blast to the Past

The most highly attended event held of this semester was, what I’ve called, “Blast to the Past”. At this event, I brought back various aspects of our childhood, including popular pop music from the early 2000s, popular board games, Twister, and common lunchbox snacks. It was a lot of fun to get nostalgic with fellow brothers and re- awaken my inner child. About 20 brothers (and 11 initiates) were in attendance.

-Written by Reilly Callahan

Alpha Beta Volleyball Tournament

Once again Delta Chi makes it to the Finals! We are proud to announce that one of Lehigh's volleyball teams took second place at Alpha Beta this year. It was a tough match, but the team gave it their all and had improved tremendously throughout the day. We had a great turn out this year with 24 brothers signing up for the weekend. We were one of the few chapters who had multiple volleyball teams!. Most importantly, even if we didn't win in volleyball, we won in team spirit. If you weren't playing, you were always cheering our teams on! We had amazing energy, which really gave the players so much more confidence and support! We lucked out again with the weather, and it was a great clear sunny day which made the day enjoyable for everyone. We had a great time meeting brothers from different chapters, too. The weekend couldn't have gone more smoothly, and it was a perfect break from Lehigh's campus. Get excited and go next year because we're coming back for 1st place!

-Written by Sammi Warner

Formal in Wonderland

This year, the Delta Chi Chapter's formal was held at Green Pond Country Club on Friday, April 21st. This magical night in Alice's Wonderland (the theme of the evening) consisted of a buffet, dancing, picture taking, and small games (including croquet and headbands). The guests went mad for the decorations and had a blast celebrating their very merry unbirthdays. Overall, the night was a booming success -- definitely a formal to remember.

-Written by Reilly Callahan

Scholarship: Guest Lecturer President Simon

On Monday, April 24th, PSP hosted Lehigh’s president John Simon for a scholarship event. For those who don’t know, President Simon is an internationally renowned chemist. Simon gave a lecture on his past research which included working with 250 million year old cuttlefish melanin. Although a bit heavy in the technical aspects of the chemistry (for those of us who aren’t chemistry majors), it was a fascinating scholarship event nonetheless. Simon even discussed what it’s like to be the president of such a prestigious university, including his day-to-day responsibilities. We thank President Simon for taking the time to enrich the minds of our chapter with his research.

-Written by Matt Brown

Fall

Recruitment: Alpha Iotas

This fall, our Delta Chi Chapter had another successful round of recruitment. Rush week, the first week of recruitment, commenced with an event called “String Pyramid Building,” during which small teams of Brothers and potential new members worked together to build towers out of plastic cups while only touching the cups using rubber bands. The final towers were then judged based on several different criteria, including creativity and height. The next Rush event was a photo adventure called “Lehigh Through A Lens.” Again, we were divided into small groups and given a sheet of riddles, each riddle directing us to a different site on campus, at which we took a picture with the building or landmark. This event was fun because we were able to put our brains to the test, run around campus together, and take goofy selfies with each other (which definitely garnered us some weird looks, but we didn’t care because we were having too much fun)! Our third and last Rush event was called “Get Hype,” and we got to know each other better by sharing about our favorite things through a series of games. The event started out with a few games of Trainwreck, and ended with a couple rounds of Hype Man.

Our Pref week started off with a competitive and invigorating Egg Drop, in which we used various supplies to make a compartment to hold an egg and to keep it unbroken as it traveled down from the third-floor balcony of STEPS all the way down to the first floor! Our second event was a Bookmarking event, during which we made and colored bookmarks to put out in Linderman Library for students to use while studying. Our third Pref event was called “Sequence.” During this event, we were divided into groups and given a stack of fantastical pictures. Based on these pictures, each group came up with a story and presented the story to the other groups by acting it out. This event really encouraged all of us to step out of our comfort zones and simply have fun! Finally, we had a relaxing fourth event called “Pizza Puzzle Party,” where the Brothers and Potential New Members ate pizza and completed jigsaw puzzles together. Pref week ended with a set of interviews. A total of eight bids were delivered, and our Alpha Iotas are off to a great start of Initiation!

-Written by Terri Hahn

Scholarship: Slime Science

Our first scholarship event of the semester was The Science of Slime, and it was a colorful, sticky, and de-stressing success! The event started with an explanation on how slime is actually made: glue molecules are strung together by borax salt ions, forming long chains of polymer. This is what gives slime its basic form. Brothers created their own slime by experimenting with variations of this reaction—adding more salt solution and shaving foam created fluffier slime, but adding more glue created stretchier slime. Brothers personalized their slime by adding food coloring, textures, and mixing different batches together. This was a fun study break from 4 O'Clocks!

-Written by Caroline Pritchard

Leadership: Sodexo Appreciation

Our first leadership event this semester was to make appreciation posters for our lovely staff members at Rathbone and the Corts. Our leadership chairperson, Terri Hahn (Alpha Theta class), planned the event alongside the community service fraternity Alpha Phi Omega in an effort to expand PSP outreach with organizations on campus. The event was also marketed as an 5x10 event for first-years to teach them about other aspects of Greek organizations. There was a great turn out of PSP brothers that made the entire experience really enjoyable. A majority of the posters turned into food puns ("We Ap-pea-tiate You!", "You'll always have a pizza of my heart"); we hoped they wouldn't mind our sense of humor. One of the posters was selected to be hung up as pictured and hopefully others were seen by the staff! Leadership starts small and close—those who support us should be recognized.

-Written by Louis Lin