Spring Bid Night 2012!

Pi Beta Phi anxiously awaited our 7 new members of the Spring Pledge Class on Friday, April 13th. Despite the unlucky date, the house was full of laughter and cheering as the new Angels arrived.










They were greeted with a stick full of fresh cotton candy made right in front of our house. The carnival theme continued with a popcorn machine and every other delicious snack available!

After the New Members mingled and got to meet some of their new sisters we sat down for an old-fashioned game of Bingo!









There were even amazing prizes! Lululemon yoga mat and head band, a Pi Phi case for a phone and a froyo gift card were just a few of the prizes.

Tess took on the important job of
calling bingo numbers!

Every girl thoroughly enjoyed herself and even if she didn't win a prize, the time spent with her sisters was even more               memorable and precious!

Big Sis Reveal...Yee haw!

Our Winter New Members have been anxiously awaiting the revealing ceremony for the Big Sisters! All week they have been showered with presents giving hints and clues (sometimes false ones to throw their Little off the track) of the identity of their Big.

The first girl to take her turn at the bull!

On Friday, March 3rd, the New Members met at the house and searched high and low until they literally unwrapped their Big Sisters! After the reveal, everyone went to celebrate and bond at the Saddle Ranch. 

Enjoying the plethora of cotton candy!

Roasting the perfect s'mores!

We ate delicious food including a giant cup full of cotton candy and roast your own s'mores! Many girls even worked up the courage to be brave and ride the bull!

Getting silly with the cotton candy!

It was a great way to strengthen the relationship between Big and Little and the perfect end to an exciting day!

TAKE Defense

Ackerman Grand Ballroom was filled to capacity
with girls from every sorority on campus!

“On average, before a man assaults someone, he will watch her between 6 and 12 times.” This was just one of the many tidbits that girls learned on Monday, February 27th, during Pi Beta Phi’s annual philanthropy, T.A.K.E. Defense. Girls from all different sororities came to Ackerman Grand Ballroom to learn facts as well as self-defense moves. Jill and Bob from Kansas travel around the country teaching all ages about the importance of self-defense. The program started 4 years ago and is in honor of Ali Kemp, a former Pi Phi that was murdered. 

Becca is practicing screaming!
 It can be a woman's best and first defense.

Dorian and Alexis are practicing how to escape different holds
a bad guy may use.

Girls were cautioned to be aware at all times and to realize that the bad guy doesn’t often look like we would expect. The event was a huge success with over 450 girls in attendance. It was the largest group that Jill and Bob have ever had. The ladies learned a variety of techniques to escape different grabs and what actions to take in worst case scenarios. “It was a bit scary to think of yourself in those situations” said Kendall Shifflett, a member of Pi Beta Phi, “but I know that if I didn’t think about it, when it actually happened my automatic reaction would be to freeze. I feel much more prepared now.” 

The class incorporated humor into a pretty intimidating topic and made learning the techniques fun. Each girl paired up and got to try these techniques, albeit gently, on her partner. The ladies left feeling more confident and much more alert to handle any situation. 

Tickled Pink!

 The last couple weeks have been an exciting time for Pi Phi!

Our dedicated ladies won a facebook contest from Victoria's Secret PINK by getting over 1,000 likes in just 5 hours! During the contest, the house was all awhirl as girls facebooked everyone, and I mean EVERYONE they knew (and some people they didn't) to win.

For winning the contest, our chapter got a free yoga class at a local studio, YogaWorks!

The giveaway table!

The girls are completely relaxed after their yoga sesh.

And the girls also got A TON of free giveaways from the generous UCLA VS PINK Representatives!

Everyone is so pleased with their fantastic new gifts!

After such an exciting event with VS PINK, our lucky ladies had another fantastic event to look forward to on Valentine's Day!

We had a Valentine's Day Sisterhood! And what Valentine's Day would be complete without cupcakes, candy, ice cream, sparkling champagne and Valentine making?

Who needs a man, when we have our sisters?!

:]

Champions Are Readers (CAR)

Our main winter philanthropy is finally here! Champions Are Readers is a program to promote literacy in underprivileged schools. 

Last Friday was our very first CAR of the year. It was a complete success. At 1 o'clock our ladies left Pi Phi to battle through traffic and bring joy to children. We arrived at 1:30 and read to 3rd graders until their day was fun. The children were very excited and cheered every as they got assigned to a Pi Phi.

There will be more pictures to come soon!

We love volunteering!

On Saturday, Pi Phi was given the opportunity to help out at a fundraising carnival for a nearby school. 

Some members helped operate and encourage people to try their hand at the dunk tank in which the Principal of the school was being doused with freezing water.

This young man jumped at the chance to show off his excellent throwing form and he did not miss!

Noelle promoted TOMS shoes to customers and helped give back even more to the school.

These beautiful girls just had their makeup and nails done by our talented Pi Phi's!

We had a wonderful day at New Roads School representing UCLA and Pi Beta Phi!

Bid Night Winter 2012

Our new Baby Angels!

Decorating and anxiously awaiting the new members!

Pi Phi is so excited to welcome 12 lovely new members to our chapter! A busy week with events such as cookie decorating and a game night culminated with "PMS"--Pizza, Movies, Sisterhood. Our baby angels are everything that we could have hoped for and we cannot wait to see even more of them!