Archives: Sigma Sigma Sigma
My first official alumni weekend!
The past weekend was my first official alumni weekend and I was so excited to attend. Last year as a senior, I felt like I was a guest at an exclusive club but not this year! I was finally a full member to one pretty darn cool club on campus and it was wonderful to see not only my sorority sisters but my biology classmates as well. Each year there is a theme or style and although I liked last year’s design a little better, the food was fantastic this year! The whole white and glass look made it feel like a Martha Stewart wedding but it was still nice. Even if there were bathtubs on the lovely manicured lawn that were being used as coolers.
Alumni weekend is a time to see old friends, network with new friends, while trying interesting food. I loved the interesting twist with food trucks. I’ve seen shows about them and I’ve always wanted to try and find one for the experience but having a bunch of different ones scattered around the event was pretty cool. They had a few types from tacos to ice cream sandwiches. It was great going around to the different trucks with different people, I got to catch up with Michelle over wings and egg rolls, grabbed a few sodas out at the bar station that was using a door as a table and a bathtub has a cooler with my sisters Carolina, Tiffany and Tookie (Which by the way, Tookie later on spilled wine all over my blouse which I spent the rest of the night covering with my purse which may explain any seriously awkward photos that may show up from Friday night.) and then dessert with my sister Lauren and her boyfriend Billy. But seriously though, I have already informed Michelle that when we go to Miami in a few weeks, we must find at least one of those food trucks! Billy and I conspired together to get Lauren to come to the Tri Sigma Alumni event the next day which worked by the way.
Saturday brought a whole new twist. For the first time in 5 years, I was on the other side of the annual Tri Sigma alumni weekend events. Suddenly there were a lot of faces that I did not recognize which I fully understood how off putting it could be from all those years watching other Tri Sigma Alumni come in and feel out of place at first. It was great to see though that the chapter has grown and the girls are doing well. We had a decoration bake off… without the baking. lol. My team won, go team two! We all knew that whoever had Tova was going to win.
Here are some of the photos from this weekend. Enjoy. 
Maybe we should stay in the lab….
The other night my lovely sister Michelle convinced me to go out dancing with her which sounded great at the time. I got all dressed up, actually put some make up on and we headed out to the Hard Rock in Fort Lauderdale…. only to hit something in the road and have to pull over to the side of I95. Neither one of us saw anything in the road but the tire showed some evidence that it had met it’s match. The front tire on the drivers side of her car was missing a huge chuck of tread.
So now it’s the two of us, in dressed and heels pulling out tools to change a tire at 1 am on the side of I95. Perfect. All I could think about is that I’m not doing homework so I can be stranded with my sister. Lol, of course. Well I know nothing about changing a tire but Michelle said she did, so I let her put the jack under the car… or so I tought. She was playing with the jack and then suddenly we couldn’t figure out how to bring it back down. Great, we have two biology degrees between us and we are out smarted by a jack. Humiliation doesn’t cover it. We struggle to read the faint instructions on the jack when suddenly I turn around to have bright lights in my face. A state trooper had come to our rescue…. or so we thought. I was pleasently surprised that it was a woman, and possibly more surprised that I was thrilled to see any form of law inforcement. Well she tried to figure the jack out and was confused by the thing so she called road side assistance for us. A nice guy showed up 5 minutes later with a truck prepared for all kinds of emergancies, including ones my sister gets me into, and of course, this guy laughs at us, shows us how to lower the jack, changes the tire in about 4 minutes, tells us to drive safely and waits for us to get back into the car safely. He was probably shaking his head at the site of us.
Well my sister wanted to call it a night, but I wouldn’t have it. I was in a dress and make up and not doing homework, we were doing something! We ended up going to Blue Matini in Boca Raton…. which wasn’t very far from where we started. All that to end up a few blocks away from where we started, I was shaking my head and laughing. Only us. We ended up enjoying Latin night there and now have a great new sister memory, plus we learned how to change a tire properly!
So on facebook our classmates are laughing at us that we should have staid in the lab. Honestly, can’t blame Frank for laughing at us. Clearly we can follow directions pretty darn well if we are trying to create foam, a valcano erruption, or blow up a beaker, but change a tire? I’m pretty sure we made our parents proud of the money they spent on our education that night. lol. Well it will be worth it when Michelle finds a cure for cancer or something…. 
(She’s going to kill me for saying that. lol. I love you….)
My Anti Valentine’s Day
I hope everyone enjoyed their Valentine’s day. I spent mine with Michelle baking cookies while watching movies and TV shows. I made us lunch and then we went out for dinner. She was the best Valentine’s date I could have asked for! lol. I love my sister. We spent most of the time watching Charmed and wondering why there aren’t more Leo’s in the world or watching action movies to see stuff blow up. I still blame Professor Ahmed for our love of things catching fire or flowing up. I don’t think there are very many biology majors who have ever left Lynn in the past decade that didn’t turn out to love a good chemical reaction explosion.
Well we may have been without dates this year but we had a blast making a ton of chocolate chip cookies which were happily enjoyed by the Lynn IT department. I started working as a grad assistant in the IT department in December and I love it. Although I am swimming in testosterone all day, I quit enjoy my job. All I really do is answer phones and put all the cases into the computer but I get to ask all the random computer questions I want so I think it’s a fair trade. I have learned a ton about computers a little more about how this University is run behind the scene. It’s been working out great, I have a part time job, I get to bake a ton of stuff when Michelle comes over and we have experimenting, and then I get to take it to work with me the next day for 7 guys to devour.
I may not have been the biggest fan of Valentine’s day this year, but thanks to my sister Michelle, it turned out to be one of the best ones ever. Who needs boys anyway?
Joking guys…
Basketball games and changes at Lynn
I know it’s been a while since I’ve written anything, Honestly, I didn’t want to write anything after we had lost Ally. My heart wasn’t in it and I’ve never forced myself to write blog posts before so I didn’t want to start now.
This past weekend, Lynn University held a beautiful memorial for our dear sister Ally who passed away. The reason why we waited a month was because of J-term, we wanted to make sure that all the sisters could attend. Sigma sisters from our chapter flew in from all over the country. Sisters I haven’t seen in years showed up to help us remember Ally. Although its been a horrible loss for our chapter, Ally’s memorial is now one of my favorite Sigma memories simply because all my sisters and I were wearing white and our badges, laughing and crying at the same time, it was just gorgeous. I really don’t have the words to describe how wonderful it was to be in a room full friends sisters, and Ally’s family to remember her. There was a lot of love in the room. When it came to honoring a woman who was nothing short of a true angel, the service was perfection.
So what have I been up to this past month? Well I went to Lynn basketball home games last week and it was awesome! I haven’t been I think about two seasons so it was great to watch another game before I leave for Spain. The women won their game against Eckerd but sadly the men lost. 
It was a great feeling to feel the rush of excitement that I used to get while watching the games. I actually went after work as a spur of the moment thing. Normally I rush home to make dinner, feed the cats, and procrastinate on graduate school homework but for some reason the gym was calling me last week. I believe there is another home game tomorrow night and if work in IT isn’t super busy and I have energy left over, I might check it out.
For those who are part of the Lynn community already, many have probably already noticed many of the small changes around campus. Tree’s being planted, the entrance of the university is getting redone, and the memorial for the students and professors we lost in the Haiti earthquake will be completed shortly. Seeing all the changes brings mixed emotions. It’s great to see Lynn grow and work on the Lynn 202o plan but at the same time, I know when I bring my kids back to Lynn in the future, it will look nothing like how I remember it now. I remember when I went to Georgetown for a week, I could find the buildings where my mom hung out when she was in college. But really, at the end of the day, it’s not the buildings themselves that matter, its the memories and I have a lot of great memories of my time at Lynn. My mom said to me the other night and she was telling me how she knew I picked the right college for me since I was always happy and doing what I loved and now I get an extra year with graduate school. Lynn is constantly changing, it’s always looking to find new ways to teach and get through to students while letting students creativity blossom outside the classroom, hopefully directly into the community.
Alexandra Petrozzo
My beautiful, smart, talented singer, always smiling sorority sister Ally Petrozzo has passed away.
This is by far one of the hardest things I have ever written about in all my years at Lynn. I’ve lost a sister. A beautiful young woman who was nothing short of an angel which makes this so much harder. I’m hurting and I am angry inside. It’s not fair. Ally was the sweetest person and everyone that ever got the chance to meet her knew it! She had a beautiful voice and used to sing the national anthem before the home basketball games. She was always smiling, I mean it, always, even on the bad days. To think such a good person has left this world at the age of 24 is not an easy reality to swallow. Ally was the kind of person who loved giving back, it wasn’t something she had to think about, it was naturally part of who she was, full of love and joy.
We lost Ally on December 26th, the day after Christmas. I think it makes the loss even harder, especially on our chapter since we are all so far apart at the moment. My sister Nikki was closest with Ally and I’m glad to see my chapter rush to care for her. Ally was Michelle’s little which makes it hard for me to see my best friend and sister in so much pain. From the outside looking in, we may not look like we are always close as chapter but that is far from the truth. Alumni from years ago are calling us to find out how we are doing, I think I’ve texted Nikki at least 40 times. My sister Carolina is making sure we are ok, my big Brittany, well, I don’t know what I would do without her. She knew I was upset about losing Ally and she knew I was a little angry and she didn’t hold it against me, she just remained supportive.
Ally was a beautiful soul. She had a gentle and kind heart. I used to tease her “What am I? Chop liver?” because she would always scream “Big!” when she saw Michelle with such energy and then I got a simple “Hi Morgan.” I know the bond between bigs and littles so it was always funny to tease her about. No matter what she was positive. She was brave, so brave. Ally survived a brain tumor at the age of 13. She was a hard worker and she wanted to become a Sigma so badly that when she finally became one, the whole chapter was ecstatic. Ally had a beautiful voice, she was talented. Oh and if it was morning, Ally was drinking coffee! Like many, she wasn’t awake until she’s had her coffee. This world has lost a beautiful person. Her loss will not be an easy one to bare for a lot of people, especially her family.
I cannot wait to see my sisters. I want to hug them all and tell them I love them so much. They may drive me crazy sometimes but they are my sisters, my crazy, funny, wild, silly, drive me nuts so I want to pull my hair out sometimes, sisters.
Ally, you are now a true angel. You will be missed by so many. You were loved and cherished and you’ve left a beautiful footprint on many lives. RIP dear sister.
I love my sisters
Tonight my sister Lauren had a small party at her house to watch part one of the two part Kardashian wedding special. A bunch of my sisters were there and their boyfriends who didn’t look too thrilled to be dragged to a girly party.We haven’t hard a get together with all of the most recent graduate sisters and it was great. We all started working and most of us are back at Lynn for our masters but its been crazy with this new transition into the real world so getting together isn’t was easy as it was just a few months ago. Tonight simply reminded me of why I love each and every one of them. We still have an amazing bond and we can still make each other laugh until we cry.
I love that have sisters that bring something different out of me. Tova makes me so silly. She makes me laugh so hard. I just become ridiculously silly when she’s around. Then there’s Lee. She can give me a hard time and pick on me all day, but if anyone else tried to I probably would flip out on them. Sometimes people don’t get our relationship but she’s my older sister so she’s allowed to pick on me. And Lauren, she’s very vocal. She’s never afraid to tell you like it is which I love. Tonight though I was trying to get her to stop trying to be the perfect hostess and actually enjoy her party. No such luck, but at least I tried.
I cannot believe how wonderful it feels to still have that bond with my sisters. It’s like we are grown ups now but we still can have that feeling like we did in college. The benefit to having so many sisters is that I can view where they are and how they are doing with the new chapter of our lives and it helped me realize tonight that we are all still adjusting to adult life. Working is still a new thing to us, and since most of us are getting our masters, we are all tired! It was 7:30 and I saw a few of us at the party yawning. I still look to my sisters to see if I’m handling life the right way. And I still look up to my older sisters, I always know I am ok when I’m with them. Hey, if they’ve made it so far, the real world cannot be all that bad right?
Life as a working student
Latest update, it feels very strange to not be an undergraduate student anymore. I feel sad because I loved college. It was so much fun for me and I was so active in college. Life really slowed down once I graduated and now its taken on a whole new pace. I finally feel like I am comfortable in this new stage of my life but it doesn’t mean I’m not sad seeing my sisters finishing up recruitment and all these new freshmen going through all the crazy emotions students go through once they start college. It’s all a memory to me now.
I enjoyed college, and I don’t regret much (mostly parts of freshmen year, lol….ahem.), but now I’m just sad that it’s over. It flew by. Four years is really not that long at all. I think it’s just hard when I’m on campus, I feel a little disconnected from the life I had just a few short months ago. And what is up with the fact that it feels like it was years ago, not months??? All my classmates keep saying that college feels like years ago, not just a few weeks ago.
I have great memories from college and it seems harder to create great memories out in the “real world.” I guess this is what people were talking about when they say enjoy college before you get to the real world, because I’m pretty sure I’m not getting tired any time soon of the “redundancy” of working. I love my job. It’s different every day and I’m constantly learning so much. I get to meet new people each day and help people. I only get sad when I return to campus and see how big a part student life was for me and how Tri Sigma helped me adapt to college. I miss my sisters too! I don’t see them enough. Hmm… I may have to do a very grown up thing and throw a dinner party and have some of them come over… much to ponder.
Well I am off to ice my foot. I have a bad sprain. If I tell my sisters how it happened, they would laugh at me and tell me of course I shouldn’t have been wearing heels in the first place. Leave it to my sisters to laugh at me and tell me to never wear heels because I’m super awkward in them.
Enjoy your 4 years at Lynn freshmen, it will fly by before you know it and you’ll miss it. Trust me, the masters program doesn’t fill the void. I love it so far, but it’s not the same.
Welcome to the world Isabella Brooke!
The world just got a little more beautiful. A few days ago I mentioned that my sorority sister Carolina is an incredible wife, well now, she’s a new mom! Baby Isabella is finally here, and she’s gorgeous! I cannot wait to meet her.
I feel so grown up! In this month alone, I’ve had a sister get married and a sister have a baby. I sometimes have to catch myself and ask am I really old enough to have friends and sisters who are getting married and having babies? I used to panic like, how did that happen? But with little bundles of joy this cute coming along every 9 months, I could get used to getting older. And my sister Megan looks like a natural holding baby Isabella. She just got married and is still glowing. Speaking of glowing, Carolina just had a baby and she looks perfect. I hate her. lol. Joking. But really, I don’t know how she does it! She’s the perfect wife and mom. I think she should write a book.
I had dinner with Cristina at the Cheesecake Factory. Oh my gosh, we ate so much food and caught up for hours. Her birthday is coming up and so the count down has begun. She’s been hinting her demands the last few days. Lol, oh Cristina, never shy to drop a few hints. Now need to get on my best friend duties and make it happen. I’m just wondering when she’s getting married… I’ve been working on my embarrassing speeches for months now.
There is a lot of love in this world. That’s what I love about being a Tri Sigma, there is a lot of love. I am thrilled for my sister Megan who just got married and I am over the moon with Isabella Brooke’s arrival. I cannot wait to call Carolina tomorrow and tell her how gorgeous her little girl is and how many people love her already. I love that I am going to be a Tri Sigma for life. These women are my sisters and I am so happy for them! My Facebook looks like a huge Isabella Brooke fan page. Haha. All my sisters from across the country and commenting and writing about this little girl. She’s the first girl born out of the sisters I was in college with, so she’s definitely going to be spoiled! Carolina’s son already has a bunch of aunts, so he’s going to have to show her the ropes.
In college or out, I’m proud of my sisters accomplishments. Now, to just get some of my other sisters to stop commenting like crazy on old photos from recruitment. My Facebook notifications have exploded and they keep talking about a duck. lol. Oh sisters, what a handful, and boy do I have a lot of them! Got to love summer time, there are weddings, new babies, and lots of Sigma love.
Faithful Unto Death.
Relay For Life
This past weekend was Relay for Life at Lynn University. It is so exciting to know that a handful of students years ago came together and said they wanted to to Relay for Life at Lynn and now we still do it years later, only better each year.
I have to admit, this year, it snuck up on me. Sigma Sigma Sigma has been planning for Relay for months and suddenly one of my sisters asked if I was ready for this weekend. I just looked at her like what are you talking about and she looked at me like Relay, duh! I’ve been so busy I can’t figure out which way I’m going by the end of the day. So even though I was not prepared for it to be the next day, I made sure to get enough sleep to stay awake.
Soon as I got to the Relay site on campus, my sisters were putting anyone and everyone to work. I had my hands full of cupcakes in minutes. Our theme this year was “I love the 90′s” and the Sigma’s were the Barbie Girls. Our whole tent was all barbie themed. We had cupcakes and candy, all keeping with the theme, the cupcakes were blonde, brunette, and redheads and we had candy necklaces and candy rings. All this was thanks to my sister Tova who was our Relay for Life chair this year and she blew it out of the water. She was like drill Sargent but we did an outstanding job this year so we can’t be too upset with her! We were out of cupcakes by 2 am and then started to run low on candy. I wonder how much we raised? We had over $1000 online and we raised almost $300 at the event I believe.
I love Relay for Life. Alumni come back to join the community that they love. A few of my sisters came back and my sister Brittany called in from DC. We just have the best time and we spend all our time laughing while being there to support our sisters who are survivors of cancer, like my wonderful sister Carolina, and those who have been care givers like my sisters Lauren F, Tova, Hilary, and Lauren C, all strong women. Nothing makes me prouder than to see these women coming together to say they will not surrender to cancer, that we will one day find a cure and today we honor those who have fought the battle. Not only are they smart, beautiful, talented, and brave, but they have the biggest hearts and never stop giving back. To give much is to receive much.
I still cannot believe that this was my 4th Relay for Life. Lynn does it bigger and better each year. We fight harder to raise more money and awareness each year. And if nothing more, we celebrate life as brightly as we can. I feel that at Lynn, we constantly feel that we can never give back enough. There is always someone to help, to supportive, to give a chance and we aren’t going to stop until the world is a better place. We relay to show our support and to make a difference. I think that raising over $130,000 in the past few years show that we are in this to make a difference. A world with more birthdays.
Black History Month
The last two weeks have been exhausting. I’ve been so busy with planning events for Black History Month with Black Student Union and Crush party this past weekend. I can’t wait for a peaceful weekend where I can catch up on some sleep. *yawns*
I’m really excited that the Black Student Union’s Welcome Back Block Party went so well. 80 people in attendance! I was thrilled that after weeks of planning it went of beautifully even with the rain delay and relocation because the Lake Side Patio was flooded. (Thank you mother nature. ) I can’t wait to get the recordings from the National Broadcasting Society so I can watch the performances from Sassy Singz and Said Yapp. The lead singer of Said Yapp is Cedrica graduated from Lynn University last year. She also wrote the school’s fight song which has created great school spirit during the basketball games. We get a little excited when it comes on during games, we are proud to be Fighting Knights!
Then there was Crush Party which is hosted teach year by Tri Sigma and Alpha Phi Delta (APD) around valentines day, which I was in charge of as my one event for Tri Sigma. It sounded like a lot of fun and something I wanted to do at the beginning and then I realized how much work it was, I had to ask, what was I thinking? February is BSU’s busiest month. Couldn’t I have just done a simple sisterhood night? But once the night started and the guest started arriving, it was a lot of fun. I love when the Greeks put on parties for the Lynn community. It is a fun way to recruit as well as meet new people. Cristina even came out and we had a lot of fun dancing and snacking on valentines themed treats.
Classes are getting harder and the closer I get to graduation, the more I just want to graduate and get it over with. Not really a good attitude, but in reality, I am very over college. I just want a job, start making my own money, and the end of homework. Can’t wait to leave my work at work. I guess it wouldn’t be so bad if I could just do event planning but then, they don’t let you go to college and just do events all day sadly.
I’m sad about no longer being president of Black Student Union in a few months. Really I could start counting weeks, but I think that would be even scarier. I’ve enjoyed my time as a student leader while in college. Now I guess it’s off to be a leader in the real world. At least I have a few events left before I walk. Tomorrow is the comedian Coco Brown and we have a movie night this Friday where we are showing American Violet. I’m excited. Sometimes it’s not so easy planning, I get frustrated, I get tired, or things change so much I can’t keep up and would love to just cancel the event and wash my hands of it, but I have two amazing advisers that have shown me sticking with things is the best way to go because the rewards at the end of the day by far out way the negatives that it took to get there. I would never guess that 80 people would come to one of my events, but it happened!
Even though I may be over the college experience, I love Lynn. So much so that I don’t think I can leave just yet. I might be getting my masters at Lynn in emergency planning. It’s all online which is great because then I can work during the day and do my homework at night. Plus, I won’t be on campus too often which might make me sad that I won’t be an active part of Tri Sigma after graduation or running BSU. It also might be that I am secretly not ready to give up my blog… :/
