During the Alamo Bowl trip, BUGWB went to Seaworld! Erin, Kathryn and I (Christina) were taking a picture of this super awesome Shamu punch-buggy when someone asked us to take a picture of her and her family.

After some small talk, we found out that the lady’s name is Michelle Kotsur Watts and she and her husband were both in BUGWB back in their day! Not only that, but both Michelle and her husband are alumni of Tau Beta and KPsi (respectively). AND they were both the presidents of their organization. BUGWB brought them together, and they went on their first date shortly after the last Baylor Alamo Bowl (1994)! We spent about 20 minutes swapping stories. Then we got a picture for the blog. Yay!

It was great to meet you, Michelle!

ITB,
Christina

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: 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

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

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

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