Hey! We are the new Membership Candidate class called the Sole Sisters. We are each named after a type of shoe because we are a diverse group of girls but are still alike in some form of "fashion"! This is only week one of our Membership Education Process, but we are already forming close "ties" and having a lot of fun! 
Us after First Degree with our lovely trainer, Jenny! 
These are our binders with our MC Class colors: Ruby and Medium Gray.  Name: Nicky Arellano MC Name: Converse Classification: Freshman Major: International Studies Instrument: Clarinet Big Sister: Sara O'Brien Big Brother: Sergio Rodriguez Interesting Fact: I am playing the Baritone in Concert Band, I am left-handed, and I am minoring in Geology!  Name: Ashley Bird MC Name: Stiletto Classification: Freshman Major: Special Education Instrument: Baritone Big Sister: Erin Seifert Big Brother: William McKee Interesting Fact: I was a Drum Major AND a Cheerleader in high school!  Name: Hillary Pickett MC Name: Moccassin Classification: Freshman Major: Accounting Instrument: Clarinet Big Sister: Allyson Baker Big Brother: Derek Schnitzer Interesting Fact: I'm minoring in music.  Name: Olivia Rowland MC Name: Champion Classification: Freshman Major: Medical Humanities (Pre-Med) Instrument: Clarinet Big Sister: Christina Griffin Big Brother: Josh Soto Interesting Fact: Everything...Need I say more?  Name: Kelsey Way MC Name: Gladiator Classification: Freshman Major: Biology (Pre-Med) Instrument: Flute Big Sister: Leanna Mason Big Brother: Chris Wells Interesting Fact!: I HATE the color pink. With a passion. We are excited to continue with the MEP for the next 4 weeks and to possibly meet you Alumni! Love, the Sole Sisters 2 Comments An update from the Iota President! 01/26/2012
Hello Readers! 
Just wanted to give you all a basic TBS update and what I’m working on as president! We are off to an AMAZING start to this semester – a fantastic new MC class (who will be writing to you very soon!), great ideas from every officer, new discussion topics in each committee, and efficient meetings. We started this year off with an updated office system and a new requirements system. We now have 13 offices, 6 of those being a part of executive council. Every sister, whether or not she has an office, has been working so hard to start the semester off right and make sure everything is running smoothly. I am so proud at how our sisterhood runs – our meetings have been very productive and timely, every member has been striving for their best, we have people planning ahead to ensure that everything at the end of the semester will run smoothly as well, and we have been serving in many different ways. The new requirements system we have in place was made to ensure that every active member is positively impacting the sisterhood, and to also account for variances in “fish bowl sizes” of each member. The fish bowl analogy comes from a workshop we attended at last year’s district convention. Each member has varying fish bowl sizes. The fish bowl represents the amount of time, energy, and effort you can give to the sisterhood. Having a large or small fish bowl does NOT mean you are any better or worse than any other member. The size just correlates to how much you can put forth to the sisterhood. What we want to do is emphasize that the size of the fish bowl is not what matters, but instead it is how FULL your fish bowl is that makes a difference. So, even if a member doesn’t have a lot of time to give to the sisterhood, if she makes good use of whatever time she has that makes a huge impact on the things we can accomplish as a group. The new point system this semester requires everyone to participate in committee meetings, service for the music school, sisterhood activities, working concessions, and various other things. However, it also allows members to gain more points (to at least obtain the point requirement) in other ways such as contacting other TBS chapters, participating in outside service, helping with fundraisers, and much more. One thing I wanted to do differently this semester was to help get our sisterhood focused on common goals. I realized that in the past, we had never specified as a sisterhood what we wanted to strive for. Sure, we have our purposes, mission statement, and vision statement, but I felt that we needed to discuss as a sisterhood what our specific chapter needed to work on and strive for this semester. After a wonderful discussion at one of our first meetings, we came up with 4 main goals: 1. Get back to our roots of service. 2. Truly emphasize the 8 and the 5. 3. Become more conscious of our money and how we’re using it. 4. Remember and promote our Sorority’s purposes. We will periodically be discussing these goals this semester and how we have improved thus far, and what else we can continue to work on. Each member also sent individual goals for person achievement within the sisterhood. I have no doubt in my mind that this semester is going to be a great one. This sisterhood is full of such unique women who all bring something different to the table. We are all such hard workers and are all truly striving to make this the best sisterhood it can be. MLITB, Jeanne Becky's Pictures From Over The Years 01/22/2012
Hello all! Today I would like to write to you from the perspective of the oldest fart in the Tau Beta clan this semester. (Bekka: If you’re reading this, I mean oldest chronologically.) This is my fifth year at Baylor and throughout my time here I have seen and experienced many things. My most fond memories have undoubtedly been with the incredible and beautiful group of girls I call my sisters. I thought it would be fun to give you a peek into my picture vault (the recently untouched pictures hidden away in the hard drive of my computer) so that you can see the things I’ve seen. And here we go…  These are the lovely ladies of Orbit (my MC Class) at the formal after we crossed. We had just performed our MC dance to all of membership and their dates.  Doing our MC dance at Formal!  Who can forget summers in Waco with brothers and sisters? Cliff jumping anyone?  Working BUGWB check-in and selling shirts with Kristin. Wait… I was Projects Chair… how long ago was that?  Recognize all of these lovely ladies??? It's The Breakfast Club, Spring '09!  Take-A-Date scavenger hunt fun!  Sisterhood and courtside… What could be better? That brings us up to last Spring. I will leave it to the younger members to fill you in from there! Until next time, Becky “Sa-Weet” Grimes Service Update! 01/18/2012
Hey readers! First off, I want to say that I am extremely excited to be the service chair again! During the fall, I can't really participate in TBS activities because of how busy I am with drum line already, but now that its the spring, I can actually be a Tau Beta! (Ha ha) Secondly, we already have three potential service projects in the works, concert band rehearsals are well under way, and our first concert reception will be in the beginning of February. One thing that Iota wants to work on more this semester is relying on our mission statement to guide us through this semester's activities, especially in service. We can do this through working with local schools, volunteering at shelters, donations, etc., but we might have to get a little creative or really push the envelope to cover all the bases. Leanna did a great job of setting up a huge music badge project for Girl Scouts last semester but the entire sisterhood agreed we can do even more. I have a feeling that this semester could be the greatest yet for this service sorority! :3 I hope everyone is enjoying their new year so far! ITB, Tay Merry Christmas from Iota! 12/24/2011
Iota wishes everyone a Merry Christmas! Even though the sisters of Tau Beta Sigma miss each other over the break, we are all happy to spend time with our families back home. We hope everyone is having a safe and fun holiday! 
We are also so excited to go to the Valero Alamo Bowl right after Christmas! The band is meeting up all together on December 27th for our first rehearsal. We have a few pep rallies leading up to game day (including a pep rally at Sea World!!!) which is on December 29th. If you are an alumni and will be coming to any of the pep rallies or the game, feel free to come say hi! 
The band will be performing at pep rallies at the following places: Rudy's BBQ Pep Rally at 6:00pm, December 27th on Riverwalk Alamo Bowl Kickoff Luncheon at 11:00am, December 28th at Marriott Rivercenter Grand Ballroom Sea World "Team Day" Pep Rally at 11:30 am, December 28th at Sea World front gates --and of course for the Pre-Game Show and Halftime! Alamo Bowl events and information can be found at this website: http://www.alamobowl.com/main/events.php We hope to see you there! Sic 'em Bears! ITB, Iota Brenna's Story! 11/18/2011
I have been a member of Tau Beta Sigma since the spring of 2010. I have known what TBS was for much longer however. My oldest brother, John, attended Baylor University and played the TRUMPET in the band just like me. He became a member of Kappa Kappa Psi his sophomore year at Baylor. John is nine years older than me, so at the time he crossed, I was 10 years old. As a 10 year old, my big brother was THE coolest person on the face of the earth (I’m 20 now, and still think he is the best!). He came home with all these great shirts and great stories from everything he was doing. I couldn’t wait to get to college and be in band, courtside, and TBS.  So…fast-forward a few years and there I was at Baylor, in BUGWB, just where everyone predicted I would be. During band week, Jeanne and I became an inseparable unit. In fact, “Jeabre” was born at a trumpet lunch that week (but that’s another story completely). Luckily for me, the person who was quickly becoming my best friend, was a member of TBS.  From that moment on, I was hooked for sure. I was at every rush event and anything thing else they would let me come to. There was no doubt in my mind that I wanted to be apart of such an incredible sisterhood. There is a character in this story that certainly plays a large role, who hasn’t been mentioned yet. My brother married Chelsea when I was in junior high. She has been a Middleton for pretty much as long as I can remember. Growing up with two big brothers, she became the much-needed sister I never had. Here’s the kicker though- Chelsea is in TBS. Yup, that’s right. My connection to TBS just got crazier and crazier. It was so special getting to sit down with her and look through her pledge book, compare stories, and get to talk about all the super secret TBS stuff with her. She was even able to come for the end of the MEP and get to participate in some stuff with me. It was so special getting to have her as a sister in every sense of the word. Today, John and Chelsea are still very much in love with KKY and TBS. They come back for games every year and still love talking about the old days with me. Additionally, they have two great kids, Sera and Seth who we are all trying to brain wash into loving Baylor : )   I cannot begin to describe to you all the special moments that I have had with my sisters of TBS. I have laughed and cried with all of them more than once. I have no doubt I will keep in contact with them when I get older. But one thing that has made my TBS experience extra special that is pretty unique to me is the element of family to it. Whether I am talking about John and Chelsea or Adam and Sara (my Littles), I love my brothers and sisters so incredibly much!  ITB, Brenna Pancake Break rush event! 11/14/2011
This past Thursday, Iota was happy to host its annual Pancake Break rush event! This rush event is especially fun because all the families in our chapter get together to make different kinds of pancakes. This year there were all sorts of pancakes! To name a few, we had pancakes with Reese’s, Twix, Snickers, blueberries, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and much more! We also had some breakfast juices – because who doesn’t like breakfast for dinner?! 
Pancake Break was also a very important rush event this year because it served as our Informal Interviews. Informal Interviews usually only happen once towards the end of the fall semester and they actually give the rushees a chance to ask US questions about Tau Beta and bring up any concerns about the MEP (Membership Education Program). We also take this chance to tell the rushees more about our sisterhood and purpose. Brenna and her membership committee made a wonderful powerpoint to show them how fun our sorority can be! 
Our Beau, Figgy, was there to try all our pancakes and pick his favorite. This is a tradition in our chapter, so every year the members make sure they work extra hard on their pancakes (and sometimes even try to bribe him a little with extra candy or a personal pancake the size of a whole plate!) He ended up picking the Rosy D’s Reese’s pancakes! 
After we ate we played fun games like Pictionary and Catch Phrase. I can honestly say that my cheeks were hurting after laughing so much! 
Sic ‘em yummy pancakes and a growing sisterhood! ITB, Iota <3 Brenna, Sara, and Brittany 11/09/2011
Brenna! Let’s start easy. What’s your favorite color? Blue What was YOUR favorite rush event to attend before you were a member? All of them- I was the girl who went to every single one If you could do your Tau Beta experience all over again would you (MEP and all c: )? And Why? Of course! Although, as long as we’re discussing time travel, I would keep going forward in time not backwards. Each year I have been a member of Tau Beta has been more memorable than the next. I have loved getting older and the perks that come along with it such as getting littles, (love you Sara and Adam!!) watching younger members learn secrets, holding larger offices, etc. TBS has been a wild and wonderful ride; there really is nothing else quite like it. Show us a picture of you and your bigs!  My big sister is Jeanne Knepper. Together, we are Jeabre. This is a picture of us being awesome (something we do on a daily basis)  My big brother is Brad Jarka. He was our Beau last year, which was tons of fun!! He lives just a few doors down from me and I love him so much!! What has been your favorite official Tau Beta Sigma moment? I have had so many wonderful moments, but one that sticks out to me was watching my little sister Sara become a member. It was incredible getting to see a class cross anyways, but getting to see my little sis officially become my sister was such a wonderful moment. I was so proud of her and I had goose bumps the whole time : ) What has been your favorite “non-TBS” TBS moment? Everyday at my apartment with my lovely roommates. We are all pretty crazy to say the least. I love creeping on people out our windows, having fancy breakfast, decorating our walls with who knows what, and always being able to walk downstairs and find at least one person chilling on the couch no matter what time it is. I absolutely love living at 114 : ) Draw a picture of a turtle. if anyone makes it through this entire video I’ll be very impressed. I didn’t even make it to her actual explanation How do you feel about the Beta Alpha/Iota relations? Well considering I knew what Kappa Kappa Psi was before TBS since my older brother became a member when I was like 12, I’d say I’m a bit biased towards them. For anyone out there who has brothers, you’ll understand what I mean when I say that there’s nothing quite like the love and protection that comes from brothers. I love Beta Alpha. What’s the best TBS or Iota thing you own and who gave it to you? My “Propeller girl and Semi-Webbed Toe Person” plaque is probably my favorite TBS thing. Jeanne gave it to me : ) If you are confused, that’s ok, inside jokes are the best part of TBS (or one of the best at least). Sara! Let’s start easy. What’s your favorite color? Definitely purple! What was YOUR favorite rush event to attend before you were a member? I didn’t go to a whole lot of rush events…just two I think. Soooo….I guess my favorite would be the Pancake Break. That was my first one and I really like to eat. I fit in Iota quite nicely! I remember really meeting Leanna, my MC class sister. We went to the same two rush events and basically convinced each other to join Tau Beta when we roomed together at the bowl game. I love her so much!! If you could do your Tau Beta experience all over again would you (MEP and all c: )? And Why? First of all: DUH I would do it again. Joining Tau Beta is probably one of the best decisions I have ever made. It sounds cheesy but these girls are truly my sisters and will be forever and I have no doubt about that. MEP was AWESOME! Call me crazy, but I loved being with my MC sisters so much. I just always had a blast get everything done and we cannot forget about the lovely “purple dragon” that was created with Leanna – please don’t take that out of context. Show us a picture of you and your bigs!  My big sister is Brenna! This is from formal. That’s how we roll.  This is from a snow day during the middle of MEP!  My big brother is Daniel Quan or many people call him DQ. I NEVER call him by either of those. I always just yell “BIG BROTHER!” when I see him and he always calls me “Little Sister” It’s now weird to say his name.  I put this picture up because big brother plays World of War Craft like..a lot. He keeps trying to get me to play, but I haven’t been fully convinced yet. What has been your favorite official Tau Beta Sigma moment? Oh my goodness…I don’t want to copy Leanna BUT the purple dragon has definitely been my favorite memory. Now every time one of us goes….crazy we call it the “purple dragon phase.” What has been your favorite “non-TBS” TBS moment? My favorite non-TBS moment was very recently with Christina!! I wanted to get out and do something and who is better to ask than Christina? I didn’t tell her what I had planned and needless to say she was very frightened. (I don’t know why because I tend to be a fairly calm person……..at least I remember being calm at one point in my life.) Well I picked her up from her dorm and we went to Taco Bell first because we are Tau Betas and we like to eat. Then we went to Wal-Mart where I explained that we needed a wig and a mask. So I got a clown wig and she got a blonde beautiful wig and we got matching masks. Then we went back to campus, assembled our costumes and knocked on people’s doors to give them candy! We also gave random people around campus candy if they weren’t too creeped out to take it from us. Apparently we looked like weirdos…Oh and did I mention we were singing at the top of our lungs while we did this? It was fabulous. Draw a picture of a turtle.  How do you feel about the Beta Alpha/Iota relations? AAAA I love my brothers!! I was absolutely shocked when I went to convention and found out that some chapters don’t get along with their brothers at all. I just felt really depressed for them because my brothers have gotten me through so much! I know they are always there to help me with anything I need. Plus, they are so awesomely entertaining all the time! What’s the best TBS or Iota thing you own and who gave it to you? Well since I am Keeper I get to take care of our Tau the Betta fish! He is so awesome and I wish I could keep him forever!  Brittany! Let’s start easy. What’s your favorite color? Well my MC name is Orange, so that's up there. I also really love pink and yellow. Let's go with yellow. What was YOUR favorite rush event to attend before you were a member? This is a hard one because I went to every single one in the fall... My favorite was probably Mrs. Kraus' Formal Tea (How is that for showing my age?). The Sponsor/Directors wife hosted a formal event for the rushees and it was so cool. It was old black and white movie themed and she made all these super cute fancy pants foods for it. It was pretty legit. If you could do your Tau Beta experience all over again would you (MEP and all c: )? And Why? My original answer on this was "no," but then half way through typing it out I realized my answer was actually yes lol. If I knew back then what I know now about all that TBS entails both good and bad, there's no way I could keep myself from doing it again. The wonderful and amazing parts of being in this sisterhood have greatly out weighted the small frustrations that have come with it. I guess that's like saying, "Would you decide to not go to college if you had a realistic understanding of how hard it would be before you got here?" Of course you would still go! The benefits outweigh everything else. And I love my sisters and the bonds I've gained from this entire experience. Show us a picture of you and your bigs!  This is my big sister Sarah Marzano! I think Brenna said it best up above, but inside jokes are one of the best parts of TBS. You don't need to get this picture, but it was one of the most fun nights I've ever had in college.  My TBS twin Alexa is on the left, my big sister is in the middle, and I'm on the right. I was very luck and got to go through MEP with a Twin! She is awesome! We like taking awkward pictures. c:  This is Sequoyah Johnson! He's my big brother! Don't you love the hair? We are both horn players and we are awesome! I made him the awesome name tag in this picture. c:  While we're on the topic… This is Jeanne! She's my little sister in Tau Beta. She is a freaking baller. What has been your favorite official Tau Beta Sigma moment? Getting the opportunity to train two classes and watch all these beautiful ladies grow within the organization. Sometimes I'm a little hard on myself and when they mess up I think "that should've been in the MEP! What was I thinking!?" but they usually don't mess up so that doesn't happen often c; Mostly I've just enjoyed watching who they've all become from day one when I saw them all excited in the spring for MEP to now where many of them are holding big executive offices.   What has been your favorite “non-TBS” TBS moment? These ladies have been my life-line the past couple of years and without TBS I would never have had them. <3 114  Draw a picture of a turtle.  How do you feel about the Beta Alpha/Iota relations? Well, I just got engaged to a Beta Alpha, so I'm gonna say that I feel pretty dang good about our joint relations right about now! What’s the best TBS or Iota thing you own and who gave it to you? It's not a thing, but the best thing that TBS gave to me was a place to call home in college. I didn't feel like I had a "place" here until I had sisters. So Iota gave it to me! You are Beautiful!!!! 11/09/2011
I know this blog is way overdue, but we've been so busy making our friends and ourselves feel beautiful :) Brenna, our VP Membership, had the great idea to host a rush event that was all our beauty! There are so many girls and women who constantly put themselves down because they don't look skinny enough. This girl named Caitlin started Operation Beautiful to put an end to girls and women who negatively talk about themselves. A part of Operation Beautiful is just leaving little notes everywhere for other girls and women to see. They can say anything as long as it gives people a boost of confidence! You can read more at www.operationbeautiful.com. For now, please look at how much fun the ladies of Tau Beta Sigma and all the other girls had while participating in Operation Beautiful!  First, we had to write our little tid-bit of encouragement!  Then we posed after we felt encouraged enough to encourage the whole Baylor Campus! For example, here's a pose of Katie and Hayley in the library!  Sticky notes in bathrooms....  Sticky notes on doors....  Sticky notes on cones(?)  A lot of groups even put sticky notes on cars and inside bathroom stalls! After Baylor was covered in sticky notes, we headed back to the Music School to see what surprise Brenna had for us and we showed up to this!  Jeanne has a super awesome camera and she borrowed a few things from the photography department to use for our rush event! Yay! Brenna provided a bunch of silly hates and feather boas! Also, the sisters of TBS put our nailpolish together so that everyone had options on which to paint their nails!!! Thanks for reading our blog and I hope now you feel beautiful :) Beauty is not in the face; beauty is a light in the heart. ~Kahlil Gibran <3 Iota Karon Visits and "hard times" 10/31/2011
I just wanted to give a quick shout out to one of our favorite alumni members in this post. (Yes, we have favorites. When you have two past national presidents that came from you chapter then you have favorites. c: ) Lets take a few steps back now before I get to the part that relates to my introduction of this post. The membership committee has been doing a great job this semester of hosting mini-post education sessions during meeting every week. They did a really cute thing where they had a theme for every month. One theme was different chapters in Tau Beta Sigma, another was the purposes, and one was people (mostly past presidents). Since Karon Hammond lives so close to our chapter Heather McGowan (she's on the membership committee) contacted her and asked if she would want to come in and just visit out chapter. Well on Sunday we got a wonderful surprise! Karon and her husband David (who is also a sister of Tau Beta Sigma) came to our meeting!!!  We had an awesome time asking her questions and getting to know more about what it was like to be in the chapter when she was here. It's always nice when someone can come and put some perspective on what is happening in our chapter. Often we forget that the thing that matters the most is that we are all sisters and we are working towards a common goal.  I know that I haven't used to blog to talk about the "hard things" in Tau Beta yet, but I think this is a great time to do so. As I mentioned above, having Karon and David coming into our meeting helped remind all of us that we need to focus more on the reasons why we are in the organization. Many of us are in a place right now where we are overwhelmed with either our offices, marching band, or school and we tend to take out our frustrations on the people we love the most. Unfortunately, there are only so many semesters we have that we will be in college or in Tau Beta Sigma. We forget this sometimes, and let the little things bother us more than they should. Our time as active sisters is limited, and we should be focusing on the good times we have together instead of dwelling on little bumps in the road. The make up of the sisterhood changes every semester and we are slowly learning to not take this for granted. The love we have for each other runs very deep, and when we get frustrated with each other it is because we want what is best for the sisterhood. Sometimes it's hard to see that, but we are learning to overcome our disagreements and trust in our bonds of sisterhood. Our meeting yesterday had both awesome moments with Karon and David, and some heated discussion among the membership after our visitors left. It was a meeting that was necessary to have, but that felt like it would never end. We've all been in those meetings before where we just can't wait for the final motion to adjourn, and yesterdays was definitely one of those. Everyone present in the meeting was wanting what seemed like something different. In reality we all wanted the same end - a functioning sisterhood. We may have all had different ideas of how to get there, but our ends were the same. Really, we all just wanted what was best for the sisterhood, and considering that we are all so passionate about this organization it was a hard meeting to be a part of. Looking back on it now, it was just a combination of good hearts working for a common cause. We all love each other and want what is best. I'm proud to be a member of this chapter, and I'm glad that we have meetings like that. (I'm sure that everyone that was at meeting yesterday is laughing or rolling their eyes reading that sentence that I just wrote.) I am also thankful for that meeting we had yesterday. It showed that we are growing together in the sisterhood. Thank you so much for reading, and I'm sorry this was so long! <3 Iota “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.”-Mahatma Gandhi |
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