Helping A Sister Out

Amongst the crazy schedules and dedication to our tasks that we must meet, my sorority always finds time to reach out to someone who is need. We may have our philanthropies that we are nationally required to help out, but there are those little inspirations that spark us to lend a helping hand. Last year, we took the opportunity to not only raise money to help out a family who is no longer with us and construct a dedication site for them, but to also gain new friends throughout the Greek community. For months we worked our butts off to help raise $1000 dollars for Sheri Ann Her Boys, which was a woman and her two sons that were murdered by the husband about two years ago. It was a struggle, but the best part of it all was having the family visit us and thank us for helping them. Just to know we reached out like that and have a personal thank you was enough.

This year unfortunately something hit a little too close for a home for all us. One of our sisters, Briana Silver who had just joined the sorority back in the fall became extremely ill. At first we thought she will get through this, but then things went all wrong. What started off as mono turned into be diagnosed with Lemierre's Syndrome. There are only 161 reported cases in the world and it is an extremely rare syndrome to catch. During the entire month of December we were on our toes waiting everyday to hear from her family if she was going to get better, but only worse news kept coming. Briana was put in a medical coma for a few weeks and during those weeks we had many scares of if she really was going to make it. Thankfully, by the end of January we were told that Briana would survive however she would never be the same again. Since her body went through so much weight loss and destruction that she would have to go through months and months of therapy and rehab. Today Briana is doing so much better, but we know each day is hard for her family and for us.

Due to this horrible experience, we felt as sisters that we really should take on Briana's story and help her family out. This year we are doing something small such as a Bake Sale since with the time crunch, but next year we hope to do something HUGE. We are holding the bake sale in Coleman at the southeast corner from 11am-2pm each day this week. All baked goods are 75 cents and we also accept any donations as well. We really hope to one day share Briana's story with everyone and let them know that you should live life to the fullest and never take anything for granted.

Disney World's Newest Addition

Side Note: Since this is usually the time of year that I spend getting excited about going back to the Happiest Place on Earth also known as Walt Disney World, this year it is a little different. My sister has gone off to college and money is not a free as it use to be for my family, so that means we had to cut something back and that being is our annual trip to Disney World. Right now I am going through major withdrawals. I love it so much and knowing that I won't be returning is really sad. So I have decided to blog about something that I am really looking forward to experiencing once it is complete and when I finally get the chance to go back.

Disney is currently working on a new project called the Fantasyland Expansion. This is the biggest project that Disney has done in a long time. Personally, I haven't seen many updates to the theme parks and this is project looks like it is going to be amazing. The expansion is taking place in the Magic Kingdom and for those who don't know how the layout of the Fantasyland section in the park is, is that there are different classic storybook themes for each ride like Peter Pan, Snow White, Winnie the Pooh, etc. This expansion is adding new classics such as Beauty and the Beast, the Little Mermaid, and a whole Dumbo/circus theme part. With this all being said this means that the lines should cut down from the other rides and parks, but bring about craziness in that section. However, the Magic Kingdom really hasn't seen an extensive update like the other parks have a in awhile. They've done a few things here and there by updating mechanical work or cleaning up the appearance, but nothing like this.

I think this is going to bring in a lot of crowds and will help out the Disney Company since I know attendance is low. This new addition may seem like it geared toward just kids, but really for all of those who love the classics will probably enjoy the new rides and the detailed work that they are putting into it. Disney never slacks when it comes to anything. They go all out.

Five PR Tips for Greeks

The other day I came across a blog that is geared towards Greeks. On the blog site there is a variety of different posts that are categorized to help those who are in Greek Life to read what they find helpful or most interesting. What I found the most interesting was a post about public relations tips that can be useful to promote your sorority or fraternity. The top five tips were:

1. Respect Your Brand
2. Facebook is not the "know all end all"
3. Engage, Engage, Engage
4. Get on Twitter
5. Involve your alumni

After reading over how each of these tips can be useful, it made me realize how public relations can be extremely important when it comes to promoting and maintaining relationships with the community, alumni, parents, and other greeks. It is so simple to use public relations and yet I feel like sometimes as members of a sorority we overlook it. So many people are now using the internet and are getting caught up in the social media craze. It is important to be up to date with everything that is new and meet the needs of the latest demands. Twitter, for instance, is huge. For my sorority, I run the Twitter page and try to follow other chapters and sororities and fraternities so my chapter and myself can stay updated on what is going on in the Greek community. It is a lot like blogging, but in a smaller form. It is quick and to the point and can easy inform anyone on what's going on and what to look forward too. Also, the tip on respecting your brand really sticks with me. When joining a sorority or fraternity ultimately you are joining a brand and it is your job to promote it so it is important to make sure that everything correlates so people understand who you are and what you are.

The blog goes into more detail about each tip and if it all interested visit the website: http://www.blog.webgreek.com/2011/03/five-pr-tips-for-greeks/

A Simple Reblog

The other day I was searching around on a blog site called, Tumblr for random pictures and quotes since a friend had told me about the site being somewhat useful for those sort of things. As I visited the site I went through pages and pages of different content not really taking too much in, but enjoying myself as I viewed all the random things people post out of fun. One post however really came to my attention and it was about helping the relief efforts in Japan since they clearly have been hit with some terrible natural disasters. The post read something along the lines of for every so many reposts or reblogs that a certain amount of money would be donated to Japan by the actual representatives of the Tumblr site. As amazing as this idea sounds and I hope people did reblog the post if it actually was effective or not? And how do they keep track of every since reblog by their users?

If this whole public relations effort really was effective, I think that more people could be helped. A simple reblog doesn't take that much work and for those people who can't really afford to donate their own money can at least try to help. I think more blogging sites, or even other forms of social media should jump on this new trend and try to gain support for good causes. After seeing this on a blogging site and how many times I began seeing that same post as I scrolled through countless pages makes me proud to know that public relations can be put to creative and good use. Sometime public relations is used in such formal ways, but today public relations is really beginning to break out of its shell and reach out to more people.

America: The Not So Intelligent

How is it that as a country we are so fixated on the life of a celebrity that if we were asked any question about his or her's current situation that we could tell you everything, but when it comes to situations that are more serious and making history we are dumbfounded? It has really come to my attention that here in America we are so caught up in the "Hollywood" lifestyles, relationships, scandals that we tend to push aside more important matters and not realize what is really going on until something HUGE happens. It's sad to admit this, but it is true. To think back on the days when news was really about what was going on in the world, or locally and informed you on things that may concern you. Now it still may be that, but here and there a story manages to squeeze in about what Lindsay Lohan is getting arrested for once again or if Charlie Scheen has gone off the deep end. It's crazy.

Last semester, in one of my classes we were given a quiz that was basically asked a series of questions and showed pictures of different officials around the world and we had to guess who they were. I knew a few people, but for the most part I was clueless. Then we took another quiz that was all based on pop culture and of course I had no problem writing down the answers to those. At the time it was fun to do something like this, but our professor really brought to our attention and mine that we are brainwashed to knowing all these pointless things when we really should know who the Secretary of State is. It is almost embarrassing to know that more than half the population of this country would do better on a pop culture quiz than probably your basic history test.

The reason that I am writing about this is because I am just as guilty as everyone else, but I don't want to be. I don't want to be the person who is caught up in pointless news or even drama for that matter. I want to be educated about more important things that really are impacting my life and other's lives. I have been really striving to make an effort in reading up on world news each day and leaning away from the gossip sites since they aren't going to do me any good besides fill my head with stupid nonsense.

Charlie Sheen Looking For Social Media Intern?

Just when we think Charlie Sheen has reached the highest level of crazy, it seems it just gets worse. This week what is now being called, The Sheen Team is looking for prospective college students who would intern for Sheen himself and run his Twitter page. (I wish I was joking about this, but it is serious.) The internship consists of 8 weeks during the summer working closely with Charlie Sheen and maintaining his social media, while increasing his followers and probably making he gets his daily dose of whatever he is f***ed up on. (The last part wasn't in the description, but more than likely I'm sure it comes along with the gig even if not stated.)

Personally, if this were for any other celebrity out there I would apply in a heart beat since I LOVE social media, but no way in hell would I want to work for this whack job. Sheen clearly needs some sort of help and if he doesn't get it soon, well I'm sure we all know what happened to Kurt Cobain and Anna Nicole Smith. Whoever is the PR person for Sheen needs to realize that even though he is getting the much wanted attention that every celebrity wants, however that's not what he needs right now. Trying to hire some poor soul to run his Twitter should be his last concern. Maybe cleaning himself up and getting back on the right track should be his main focus?

To read the actual description visit the site here: http://cs.internships.com/charlie-sheen-internship/

Spring Break Plans

Well it is sad to say that I won't be going to California in a week. My boyfriend and I had plans to go out to the Long Beach area to visit his aunt and uncle, but we found out that it is just a not good week for them for us to visit. : ( Oh well. I was looking forward to the warm weather, the beach, and just a change of pace. I have been so caught up in school and my sorority lately that sometimes I forgot to just sit back and relax for awhile. Spring break is really going to be my time to just forget about everything. Here are my plans:

• Sleep
• Catch up on all my missed television shows 
• Work
• Spend time with my family
• Shop (with the money I don't have)
• and then sleep some more.

I just need to get away from Charleston. This is the first year that every time there has been a break I have actually really looked forward to it. In the past, I have not wanted to go home as much because I missed all my friends and just the lifestyle of living on my own. Now, when I here no school for a week or the word "home" I get so excited because I just want to relax.