The University of Tampa’s Gamma Phi chapter of Alpha Chi Omega was awarded the Campus Leadership award from their national headquarters.
“The cool thing about this award is that it’s not what you do with Greek life, but it’s how you’re involved in the non-Greek community,” said Sarah Bernstein, president of the Gamma Phi Chapter.
The application consists of 100 pages including different sections for separate awards, but the Gamma Phi chapter didn’t apply for just one award.
This year, they filled out every section to show how truly committed they are to their chapter, making them eligible to win the National Council Trophy.
The application process started around mid-January with a deadline on March 1.
The process was quite stressful. Members had to submit a letter from UT stating that they were in good standing with the school with pictures of their chapter in various events along with the 100 page document.
They received the news about winning the award two weeks ago.
“We basically focus on the whole campus over limiting ourselves to the Greek community,” said Bernstein.
“And we really pride ourselves on teaming with as many people on campus as possible.”
Alpha Chi has been involved in numerous activities. They brought Ethan Zohn, “Survivor” winner, to UT, hosted “The Vagina Monologues” and participated in the Susan G. Koman “Walk For the Cure” for breast cancer.
They’ve opened this walk to anyone who is interested on campus.
The Gamma Phi chapter has won other awards such as Sorority of the Year for the past four years and Best Supporting Sorority by the Order of Omega.
These awards helped show their high standing as a sorority during the application process.
“We are a smaller chapter of 90 girls, versus chapters around the country that have over 300 and we were still chosen for this award. It’s a huge honor,” said Bernstein.
UT’s Gamma Phi chapter of Alpha Chi Omega will continue to go through this application process in years to come in hopes of future accomplishments.
Stefanie can be reached at shurtault@ut.edu.