Fall 2021 Alumnae Newsletter

FALL 2021 ALUMNAE
NEWSLETTER

The Official Newsletter of the Gamma Phi Chapter at SHU

"OF ALL THE BLESSINGS WE COUNT OVER AND OVER, IT
SEEMS TO ME NONE IS GREATER THAN THE

CONSCIOUSNESS OF BELONGING TO A FAMILY OF
THOUSANDS OF SISTERS""

Stella George Stern Perry

IN THIS ISSUE

Letter from Chapter
President & Chapter
Advisor
Fall Graduates
Event Highlights
Remembering Kristen
Election Updates

CHAPTER LEADERSHIP UPDATE

CHAPTER PRESIDENT

By: Christine Connelly

While this past year has been anything Former chapter president Christine Connelly is pictured
but typical, AOII Gamma Phi was the with newly elected president Mackenzie Puckett
constant that we all needed. Through the
ongoing pandemic, personal mountains,
and the unimaginable loss of our sister,
Kristen McCartney, AOII has been the
sense of home, comfort, and strength for
us all. This chapter has made me so
incredibly proud to have served as Chapter
President. I would not have been able to do
it without the support of my fellow
officers, our amazing alumnae, and my
loved ones. I will always be grateful for
the opportunity to represent this chapter
filled with amazing women. The future of
the chapter is in good hands with the new
officers under Mackenzie Puckett's
leadership. I am so excited to see the
accomplishments the officers and chapter
will achieve.

CHAPTER ADVISER

By: Alyssa Morgan

I have had the joy of advising Gamma Phi for the
past two year while also being a member of the
Northern New Jersey Alumni Chapter. In this term
as Chapter Adviser I hope to help with engaging our
collegians with our local alums and have our local
alums become more involved in Gamma Phi. If
interested please reach out to
AlyssaGMorgan@gmail.com. We are always
interested in having our alum come to chapters and
share their expertise or AOII knowledge.

As a chapter Gamma Phi had a great fall semester
and was able to be at total membership. They were
able to host their first in person social, had seniors
graduate early, and continue to strengthen their
sisterhood bonds while having fun and being able to
do more in person events. We are now looking
forward to this new chapter structure and being
able to collaborate in teams.

HONORING OUR FALL 2021 GRADUATES

WISHING THESE INTELLIGENT WOMEN MANY MORE
SUCCESSES IN THEIR FUTURE ENDEAVORS!

Berire Goncuoglu: B.S. in Economics & Finance
Erin Kane: B.S. in Diplomacy & International Relations, Psychology & Russian minors
Kate Allison: B.S. in Biology
Kate Doyle: B.S. in Diplomacy & International Relations
Madison Vance: B.A. in Public Relations, Spanish minor
Ola Golda: B.S. in Marketing, Communications minor

EVENT HIGHLIGHTS

POWDERPUFF

By Micheala Leary

When I first joined AOII, Powderpuff was the first event I got to attend. Even
though I could not play, I was counting down the days until the tournament the
following year. Because the event wasn’t held due to COVID-19, when the time
finally came to sign up to play, to say I was excited would be an understatement.
When we had our first practice, I could tell it was going to be one of the most fun-
loving but competitive (!!) group of girls and it sure did not disappoint. From the
late-night practices to the rainy days spent going over playbooks, I truly wouldn’t
trade the experience for anything.

Although I am disappointed that I only got to experience powderpuff as a player
once, I think everyone’s desire to play and the amount of people that came out to
cheer everyone on is a testament to the community at Seton Hall. Above that, it
epitomizes what Seton Hall Greek Life is all about. The outpouring of support for
this event shows the strength in bonds, new and old, the community has, and how
willing it is to show up for one another. To make it all a little sweeter, DPhie and
AGD, the two organizations running the event, were kind enough to donate its
proceeds to the Epilepsy Foundation to honor the legacy of our beautiful sister
Kristen.

SEMI FORMAL

By Bella Valentino

I was so happy to plan one of our first formal events
shortly ater coming back from being virtual due to the
pandemic-we were all so eager to be together again. It was
important to me to keep safety in mind, therefore every
sister and date was tested for Semi Formal to ensure that
we had a safe and fun night! Lastly, I could not have done
it without my partner, Amanda Kix!

SPIKE OUT

By Amanda Szeles

Our annual Spike Out Arthritis! Tournament this past Fall was the
most successful philanthropic event we have ever had as an
organization! We raised a total of $3,100 that was donated to the
Arthritis Foundation in our late sister Kristen McCartney’s name.
So many organizations on campus came out to support our chapter
after the devastating loss that we suffered. In addition to over 20
teams registering to play in the volleyball tournament we had a
representative from the Arthritis Foundation to provide
information and free items to attendees. There was a plethora of
raffle baskets of all different values for anyone to win as well a
huge spectator audience. The atmosphere was so positive, and
everyone had a super fun time! I am especially proud of my chapter
for being so resilient and coming together to help create such a
powerful event dedicated to Kristen. We are prideful in how we
serve the Arthritis community.

THE RETURN OF IN-PERSON EVENTS

SHOWING GREEK SHU-NITY

By Sophia Dinman

This year, one of our chapter's Horizon Goals was to strengthen our
bonds with the entire Greek Life community. In doing so, we
supported and co-sponsored several events with members of the
Multicultural Greek Council, the National Panhellenic Council, and
several cultural clubs on campus. This semester, we co-sponsored a
Halloween Jeopardy event with Lambda Sigma Upsilon, which our
members won and were able to donate the prize money to the
epilepsy foundation. We also co-sponsroed Zeta Phi Beta's Stroll For
A Cause, an encourage-mint tabling with Lambda Theta Alpha
Latin Sorority during finals week, and were the only CPC
organization invited to the West Indies Student Organization's
annual Christmas party where our members got to try goat, oxtails,
and other new dishes!

SCARE OUT

By Amanda Szeles

A new event we co-sponsored with Phi Delta Theta. Half of the
money we fundraised went to the Live Like Lou Foundation and
other half went to the Arthritis Foundation. We coined the event
with the name, “Scare Out,” because Phi Delta Theta has an annual
Strike Out ALS tournament and we have Spike Out Arthritis! We
made the event a haunted house with the scarers being members
from both AOII and PDT, as well as included a costume contest for
attendees and a room full of Halloween themed snacks and treats.
Each organization donated about $200 to their respective
philanthropies. It was successful for the first time doing this event
and we are looking forward to doing it again in the future!

FALL 2021 SISTERHOOD RETREAT

By Kaylee Qualteria

For the fall 2021 sisterhood retreat, I planned a disney-themed event
based off of the Disney Channel Games of our childhood. Sisters were
divided into teams and competed in events such as trivia and a TikTok
competition to win points for their team. To accomodate for sisters who
may have had Covid or felt unsafe coming in-person, a virtual portion
was held in the afternoon. Sisters had the opportunity to share a special
object to the chapter and explain why it was meaningful to them. I was
happy to be able to hold the first in-person event of the year and find a
way to include sisters who were online. I cannot wait to see what my
little, Mallory Horowitz, plans for sisterhood retreats in the future.

REMEMBERING

On September 20th, 2021 our chapter lost a beloved member,
Kristen McCartney. Kristen, a sophomore and member of the
Spring 2020 new member class, was known for her sense of humor
and friendliness. Sisters recall that you could not walk around
campus without someone coming up to say hi and talk to her; she
seemed to know everyone. To honor Kristen, our chapter adopted
the epilepsy foundation, a condition that Kristen suffered from, as
an additional chapter philanthropy. For this year's Spike Out
Arthritis Event, our chapter decided to donate all proceeds to the
Epilepsy Foundation in Kristen's name and raised over 3,000
dollars. Our chapter hopes to continue to honor Kristen's legacy by
establishing an annual event in her honor. Kristen, you are deeply

missed and Gamma Phi is not the same without you.

KRISTEN

"My sister you are with me always-
whether near or far. For you see, we
are forever connected by the heart."

-Unknown author

ELECTION UPDATES

Chapter President Director of Finance

Mackenzie Pucket Grace Pivarnik

VP of Operations Director of Academics

Sara Otremsky Alyssa DeAngelis

VP of Programming & Director of D, E, & I

Elsie Tierney

Enrichment Director of Ritual Education

Morgan Hurlock Isabelle Garino

VP of Membership Integrity Director of Panhellenic Relations

Madaline Krawchuk

Elizabeth Szeles Director of Philanthropy

VP of Membership Experience Catriona Larouche

Mallory Horowitz Director of Lifetime Engagement

VP of Community Relations Sophia Dinman

Isabella Aiello Director of Event Planning

VP of Membership Recruitment Emma Homoki

Ashley Bernhammer Director of Continuous Recruitment

Directors of New Member Noelle Vacca

Panhellenic Relations Coordinator

Experience Molly Cleary

Michaela Leary & Kelly Barba Awards Coordinator

Director of Chapter Property Skylla Vitullo

Grace Casapulla Sophomore M.I. Coordinator

Director of Administration Catriona Larouche

Olivia Scro Junior M.I. Coordinator

Director of Chapter Culture Helena Rowe

Senior M.I. Coordinator

Amy Szeles Milagros Osis

Follow @aoiisetonhall for more updates on our chapter!