Meet the Founders

Thanks for coming out to our first "Meet the Founders" event. We had a great time at Ra Sushi catching up on old times and meeting new sisters! A special thanks to Sree (alpha) for initiating the dinner, Angela (RFD) for attending, and Sharon (alpha) for helping us get our start as the Upsilon Chapter. Thank you, thank you, thank you to EVERYONE who celebrated with us. We missed everyone that could not be with us tonight and hope we will see you at the next event. Can you believe it has been 7 years since the alpha class first got together and began this journey? (Pictured L-R: back Carolina, Jessica, Mandy, Rachel, Elizabeth, Victoria, Charlese, Sharon, Karina, middle Avanthi, Gloria, Monica, Angela front Angela, Sree, Trishia)

Pictured below: Sharon (alpha) Jessica (beta) Sree (alpha) Trishia (alpha)

Sister Home for the Holiday

Our long distance sister, Kara, returned to Houston for the holidays. Welcome home Kara. (L-R Carolina, Trishia, Mari, Rachel, Kara, Elizabeth)

Reliant Fundraiser

Recently some of the ladies of PSR and a few of our brothers from Triangle spend a Sunday morning working the parking lots at a Houston Texans game! We were a little scared and were not sure what to expect but it turned out to be pretty fun! We even had a mini competition about who collected the most parking tags. I believe Emilie won after collecting over 650, followed by Jimmy who was right under that amount! After we enjoyed a parking lot picnic of our own!

Nu Class Induction

Recently, we inducted our NU-est class for the Upsilon Chapter!! Congratulations to all the new candidates and we are excited to see what the coming semesters bring with you guys. The Nu class inductees include:

Chrissy Dillon

Mechanical Engineering

Jessica Liberatore

Mechanical Engineering

Azizah Mohamed

Mechanical Engineering

Lilian Rodriguez

Biomedical Engineering

Top: Mandy, Rebecca, Jessica, Elizabeth, Emilie, Carmel

Bottom: Lilian, Chrissy, Azizah

Rush Fall 2011

The ladies of Phi Sigma Rho have been busy this fall semester recruiting new members and having a blast! Although, we are a sorority of engineers we always make a little time to have some fun. The activities for this semester included a make your own t-shirt day, tailgating with Triangle, a BBQ at the technology college, bowling and pool with Triangle, dinner with all the ladies and a pool Party!

Although Rush is now over for fall, we are always looking for new members! Please refer to the contact info section if you have any questions or would like to attend the Spring 2012 Rush!

2011 Family Reunion

Alumnae and Active Sisters reunited this Saturday, September 10, at Hermann Park to celebrate 5 years of sisterhood. I hope everyone had a great time at the event. I wanted to thank everyone who was able to attend, especially Carolina, Charlese, Cody, and Carmel for helping me set up in the blazing heat! You all rock.

If you are interested in becoming an active alumnae, we are starting up an alumnae chapter of Phi Sigma Rho! Get in touch with me for more information. We are already planning some "domestic" crafting nights for us to relax and catch up! Hope to see each one of you in the near future. Take care, miss you, and don't be such strangers.

Idaho Summer Internship

This past summer, I temporarily relocated to Lewison, Idaho to do a summer internship with the Kiewit Energy and Kiewit Northwest District. They worked under the contractor Fluor and Esso to dissasemble modules for transportation to the Kearl Oil Sands Project in Calgary, Alberta. Therefore, we started out with a perfectly assembled module, took out the pipe spools, the electrical components, and the permanent steel to make it ready for transportation.

I worked as an office engineer to create daily reports, owner reports, and sponsor reports. As a field engineer, I worked with the crews to safely and efficiently weld on splice plates and stubs onto the modules.

In my free time, I traveled to Seattle, Washington and hung out with my friends, participated in a mud run, and traveled to British Columbia for a youth Bible camp.

Top - Me in front of a Tadano Crane

Right - A Building Module Pick with 2 cranes

Bottom - Me in the Seattle Survivor Mud Run
(I am wearing the blue cap)

Summer!

Thanks for keeping up with our Spring 2011 semester!  Look out for posts from National Convention 2011 in July; several of our sisters are going to Columbus, Ohio to participate in the joint convention with Triangle Fraternity. 

More posts will come next semester!

Cheers for 5 Years

On Saturday, April 30, 2011, our chapter celebrated it's 5th Annual Orchid Ball at T'afia Restaurant in Midtown, Houston, TX. Chef Monica Pope, seen on both Bravo and Food Network, created a special menu just for us. We were joined by our RFD Angela Sayegh and 4 Alumnae.

After dinner, we had a short awards presentation followed by our traditional passing the gavel ceremony. Kelsey Scales, 2011-2012 Vice President, accepted the gavel on Carmel Glumac's behalf and led the new class of officers in taking their oath. I was also recognized for (finally) graduating! Congratulations to all the award recipients and new officers! Thank you all my officers for 2010-2011. It was a long year...and we survived. I enjoyed my time as President.Quick reflection from an Alpha sister. Since the founding of the Upsilon Chapter, I have seen 12 pledge classes and 72 candidates cross into the active sisterhood. When the Alpha Class first began our journey to becoming a chapter, we never thought it could grow this fast so soon. I'm so proud of our chapter for all that we have achieved over the years and only expect it to get even better!

Last random notes from me. I will always remember my time with all of you and look forward to still being active. Shall I retire my self proclaimed name of "Miss Phi Rho" now that I am finally graduating?

I-Week and Initiation

   I-Week is a tradition that Phi Sigma Rho follows every semester.  The "I" stands for Inspiration and each day of the week sisters and pledges wear a certain color and attend an activity.  This week our activities included going to support our sister Trish at Barron's on campus, eating dinner at McAllisters, and an ice cream social at Shasta's.  Our sisters also met up several other places and submitted photos of themselves around campus.  All the pictures from I-Week can be found at the link below.

http://www.houstonphirho.org/i-weeks11.html

All the sisters at Initiation

   After the last day of I-Week, Phi Rho held the initiation ceremony for the Mu class.  Emilie Gerhart and Christina Sabo were initiated into Phi Rho and became full sisters.  These girls worked hard all semester learning about the sorority and completing their membership requirements.  Huge congratulations to them and we are excited to have them as sisters!

   The group went to eat at Buca di Beppo afterward. 

 Left: Mandy and Christina

   Right: Emilie and Jasmine

  

Out Of The Darkness Walk

On April 16, 2011 Phi Sigma Rho participated in the 2nd Annual Out of the Darkness Walk. The Out of the Darkness walk is an effort to raise awareness of the sensitive, albeit important issue of suicide. The American Foundation for Suicide Prevention (AFSP) uses proceeds raised from the campus walk for research on suicide prevention, assistance to those coping with suicidal issues and those impacted by it. The reasons for participation vary from those who walked in tribute of a loved one, those who have overcome, and those who support the cause but all strive to make suicide prevention a priority.

Photo (Top:Left to Right) Kelsey, Elizabeth, Jasmine, Rebecca, Mari, Nydia, Mandy
(Bottom:Left to Right) Devin, Trish, Minela, Carmel

For more information on how you can join the effort see the following link
http://www.outofthedarkness.org/

Mu Class' Social

On Monday April 11, the Mu class, Christina and Emilie, hosted their social in the pit of the Engineering College. They baked and handed out brownies, cupcakes and snow cones; there was also a cake walk and music.  Lots of students and professors, alike, showed up to support their efforts.

From Left to Right: Nydia, Mari, Kelsey, Rebecca, Trish, Christina (Mu), Emilie(Mu)

Greek Tradition Night!

Every semester the Upsilon chapter of Phi Sigma Rho welcomes a new pledge class during our Greek Tradition night. This year on April 4th we welcomed Emilie and Christina into the chapter as the members of our Mu class. We celebrated the night with chapter history, gifts for the new girls, and togas!

After the Greek festivities were concluded, we all helped make posters for the Avon breast cancer walk. The chapter is participating in the poster posse and is donating signs of encouragement to post along the walk route.

Gloria's Wedding

A Phi Rho Wedding

On March 12, 2011, Gloria Benitez (Delta), was happily wedded to Gerardo Mejia. They both graduated from the University of Houston and had a beautiful UH wedding cake.

Congratulations to both of you and God bless you in the many years to come.

Sisters who went to the wedding from left to right:

Carmel (Zeta)

Lesley (Eta)

Angela (Beta)

Gloria (Delta)

Avanthi (Gamma)

Monica (Gamma)

Frontier Fiesta!!!

Kelsey, Triangle Brother Steven, and Andrea in the Triangle Alumni Tent at Frontier Fiesta!!

"Frontier Fiesta is a student–run, student–led festival hosted by the University of Houston to promote scholarship, community, and education in the University of Houston students, staff, and faculty, as well as in the Houston community. "

-Uh.edu/Fiesta

A bunch of our sisters went to Frontier Fiesta to celebrateand support our school. GO COOGS :)

Events we attended included family day, student

variety shows, the carnival rides, watched some of the live bands, and supported our brother fraternity Triangle at their show. Thanks guys for letting us hang out in your alumni tent! I enjoyed spending some social time with my sisters outside of the library! Looking forward to Frontier Fiesta 2012!

Rebecca and Triangle Brother Chad in front of Triangle's front after the Triangle show

Kelsey looking FABULOUS AT FF!!

IEEE Chili Cook-Off

At the University of Houston, every Spring semester, the College of Engineering's IEEE chapter holds a Chili Cook-off. As per usual, Phi Sigma participated in this very popular and fun event. One of our sisters, Kisika, made the chili for our group. The chili, I might add, that secured us second place at the event! We used this event as an opportunity to socialize, fund-raise and publicize our sisterhood.

We all had an amazing time and hope to see there next year!

 Entrance to the Cook-off

 One of our sisters, Elizabeth (right), mid-joust

Jasmine (left) and Amanda (right) making quesadillas

Houston SPCA Philanthropy

Starting last semester we formed a team to raise money for the Houston SPCA to help them help Houston's homeless and neglected animals find loving forever homes. This past weekend on March 5, 2011 we participated in the Houston SPCA's Mutt Strut and Runway Race at Bush Intercontinental Airport. We walked with our furry friends on one of the runways along with others who raised money. The weather was not ideal, it was cold and rainy, but we still managed to go through with the walk and have some fun too. Carmel and Elizabeth both participated in the 5K run, but because of the weather the run was turned into a half mile sprint, and a big congratulations goes out to Carmel for winning the girls division of the race. After the run and the walk, awards were handed out to the winners of the race and for the dog costume contest, the tail wagging contest and the best kiss contest. We managed to raise $385 for the Houston SPCA, so thank you to everyone who donated on our behalf.

Top photo: Carmel with her trophy

Bottom photo from left to right: Carmel, Mari, Trishia, Mayor Annise Parker, Carolina, Elizabeth, Mandy

Welcome Mu Class

Congratulations to the Mu class!

They were inducted into the Phi Sigma Rho, Upsilon chapter on Saturday, February 26th.

From left to right:

Christina Sabo

Chemical Engineering

Kelley Poblete

Biomedical Engineering

Emilie Gerhart

Industrial Engineering

Congratulations girls! Make it an awesome spring semester!!!

Two exciting new things from UH Phi Rho!

   Congratulations to one of our sisters, Elizabeth Coffee, who was recently published in the Journal of Biological Chemistry!  Check out the link below to see her work!

http://www.jbc.org/content/early/2011/02/04/jbc.C110.212589.full.pdf+html?sid=9bdfcb2b-b0b6-430a-bd8a-b22e560d87d7

   Also, Phi Sigma Rho Houston chapter will be participating in the Houston SPCA Mutt Strutt on March 5th.  We are excited about this opportunity to give back to our community and to raise money for our homeless Houston animals so they can have the life that our beloved pets have.  Below is the link to our team page:

http://hspca.convio.net/site/TR?team_id=4760&pg=team&fr_id=1070&et=0fWKrYcFE1nYSrdITjr3jQ..&s_tafId=4341

   You can support us with a donation by selecting the "Make a Gift!" link near our progress meter. Our efforts will help make a big difference in the lives of homeless animals!

Hello!

This is where we will be posting information and pictures about upcoming or past events. Keep looking out for more posts!