For the spring 2012 issue of The Eleusis, we’d like to know: What is the best piece of financial advice you have for a Sister? Please reply in no more than 75 words to: TheEleusis@ChiOmega.com. Include your first, maiden, and married names, chapter, and initiation year. Deadline: November 15.
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Pearls of Wisdom
Great Ideas for Chi Omegas from Chi Omegas
We asked Chi Omegas to tell us about the best advice a Sister ever gave them. We are pleased to share their answers with you in another offering of Pearls of Wisdom, great ideas for Chi Omegas from Chi Omegas.
Jenna Caldarella, Phi Mu/Lehigh U
While having a heart-to-heart with Daryn Reyman, Phi Mu/Lehigh U, about love and loss, she gave me some advice that I still repeat to myself whenever I feel emotionally overwhelmed: “Everyone has issues; sometimes you just have to unpack!”
Kristen Anne Ahern, Lambda Beta/U of Rhode Island
When I was a sophomore, I went to my Big Sister’s room with concerns about what I was going to major in. She went to the store, came back with Ben & Jerry’s ice cream, and then debated with me about all the options, stressing the importance of doing what was going to make me happy—not just my family and friends. Best advice ever! Now we are both successful nurses. I love my Big Sis, Amy Weiss.
Mary Voelker Moore, Alpha Kappa/North Carolina State U
My Big Sister, Kate Barger, told me simply to smile: It helps to keep you in a good mood and thinking positive thoughts.
Meaghan Dill, Epsilon Theta/Morehead State U
My pledge Sister, Dustin Gray Withrow, told me that there are some situations in life that we can’t control. Sometimes the best thing to do with these situations is to bless them and release them, so they don’t consume your time and peace of mind. The best part is that she said it with the coolest Southern accent I’ve ever heard!
Lauren Alexis Jeck, Eta Delta/U of Florida
Shortly after I joined Chi Omega, my Big Sister, Shelby Hall, shared with me that “life is what you make it.” It helped me realize that we can do almost anything and everything we want to do if we aren’t bogged down by expectations and limitations others place on us. We can have it all if we can find a healthy balance between all of life’s tasks and challenges.
Gayle Meyer Knapp, Kappa Delta/Bowling Green State U
The advice I received from my Chi Omega roommate and lifetime friend, Jan Ayers Peoples, was: “Don’t put anything in writing that you don’t want read in court.” In the 1950s we thought of it in reference to letters, notes, diaries, or memoirs. I think the advice is certainly as relative today in this electronic age with the Internet, email, texts, and Facebook, in addition to the old-fashioned handwritten messages.
Cathy Coers Frank, Psi Zeta/U of Houston
The best advice a Sister ever gave me was from my Big Sis, Janet Chandler Jones, who said before I pledged, “You really need to be a Chi Omega! No matter where you live after you graduate, there will always be Chi Omega Sisters there for you.” She was 110% correct.
Katie Gallimore Lane, Pi/U of Tennessee
Laura Lefler, Pi/U of Tennessee, told freshmen at the end-of-the-year banquet to make sure to go to all sorority events and always accept invitations to go out with Sisters, even when you think you are too tired, because time passes so quickly and your college years are over in the blink of an eye. She was right and I’m so grateful for her words of wisdom.
Amanda Powell, Tau Alpha/Ohio U
The best advice I was ever given by a Sister came from Mandy Heck. She was my pledge mom as a freshman, and she is the definition of strawsome. She loves Chi Omega with all her heart and knows all the little facts and trivia about the Fraternity. From the start, she realized that I would be the same way. She told me to embrace the fact that I knew the first badge was made of dental gold and that Alice Simonds majored in zoology. She told me it was okay to be a huge “Chi O nerd.” Because of her encouragement and advice, I became the G.M. two years later and got to be a Chi Omega leader.
Cinda Hall Rich, Gamma Zeta/U of Arkansas–Little Rock
When I was going through rush in 1974, the G.H., Debbie Grimes, told me on Preference Night to think about the quality of the women in the chapter. I listened to her advice and chose Chi Omega!
Colleen Hurley Dixon, Upsilon Alpha/Syracuse U
Trust in your Sisters; they will always be there for you! Best advice from my Big Sister, Amy Mancuso Tierney.
Susan E. Adams, Lambda Theta/U of Akron
Sister Beth Burns always told me to imagine my father was in the room with me. Saved me from many potentially bad situations!
Katy Stafford Moore, Theta Kappa/Baylor U
My Big Sis, Heather Sandal Puca, told me, “Always paint your toenails.” That was 20 years ago, and I’ve had one pedicure after another ever since!
Marcie Booth, Xi Delta/U of Toledo
A Chi O Sister once told me: “It’s okay to fall in love, especially in your case, because you have a parachute of Sisters to support you when you fall a little too hard and aren’t sure if you’ll be able to survive. You probably didn’t notice it, but your support parachute has always been with you and always will.”
Lauren Galluzzo Frederick, Psi Mu/U of Central Florida
My Big Sister, Jaimie Spadaro Dunnick, told me on my first date with Stephen Frederick, “He’s a keeper.” She was right. We’ve been together nine years, married five years with two beautiful boys.
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