Night Walk

            Night Walk is a volunteer organization at the University of Cincinnati that gives UC Students a safe ride home around the Clifton area after dark.  A student calls into dispatch, says where they are and where they want to go, and then dispatch sends two volunteer students in a marked Night Walk Safety van to pick the student (or group of students) up and drives them to their destination.  It’s a great way to get volunteer hours for UC students and help out the safety of our peers!

            OH Kappa Pi Beta Phi has been volunteering at Night Walk since the fall of 2011.  Every Thursday night two members of OH Kappa volunteer their time from 8pm-11pm helping their fellow students of UC stay safe.  I had the opportunity to volunteer with Jessie King one Thursday and had a ton of fun!  We meet at dispatch at 7:30pm, got our walkie-talkie and Night Walk van keys, and then started on our night of chauffeuring!  Jessie was the navigator and I got to drive the van.  I’d never driven a mini van before so it took a little getting used to how big it was.  We made a lot of trips to the College of Engineering and the Library to take studying students home.  Once we stopped for water but we wouldn’t fit in the tiny drive through space so we had to skip the pit stop.  Jessie and I had a ton of fun meeting students, listening to music and just hanging out together while we gave back to our university.          

     My Night Walk experience was a great one.  Not only did I feel good that I had helped make sure students got home safe, but Night Walk provides pizza to its volunteers after their shift is done!  It was a great way to spend my Thursday night.  I am so happy OH Kappa has this opportunity for its members to take advantage of and help their UC community.  

Written By: Hannah Jones

As Greek Week 2012 has come to a close the women of Ohio Kappa and the Greek community have a lot to be proud of. The total amount of money fundraised this year was $35,440.40 that will be donated to the make a wish foundation. This year’s Greek Week was a huge success and had many new ideas and some changes. This year there were two new events added to the week. The first was a Casino night, instead of trivia night, on Monday where people donated money and got play money to use in games like Texas Hold ‘em and Black Jack. Your winnings were transferred into raffle tickets and then placed in drawings for various prizes! There was also a “Sperry Strut off” at this event where one member per chapter chose a pair of Sperry’s and modeled them across the stage. One man and one woman with the most crowd support got to keep the pair of Sperry’s they chose. There was also a new event on Friday night called the Amazing Race. Each chapter had 4 members participate and each had a booth as well. These new events were great additions to Greek Week.

The women of Ohio Kappa made great efforts this Greek Week to show how strong of a chapter we are. We participated in all the events and placed in many! With our Remember the Titan’s themed step performance we took second place with the other sororities. Our routine was intense and exciting with skillful moves and enthusiastic girls! Our Greek Sing and Lip Sync performances were great as well. The Greek Sing performance show cased the great voices that women of our chapter possess.  Sticking with the Hollywood theme of Greek Week there were many old Hollywood songs showcased and some with modern twists.  Our Lip Sync performance also incorporated many different Hollywood themed segments. Our chapter also placed third in the dodgeball tournament and first in the volleyball tournament. Our participation in all the other events did not earn us a place but brought our sisters together helped and helped develop our sisterhood!

With the week ending there was an awards ceremony held on Tuesday April 24^th to honor those Greek Week winners and many other various accomplishments. The women of Pi Beta Phi were honored to receive many accolades and have women tapped into organizations. Our chapter received runner up for outstanding academic excellence for Panhellinic Council and first place for outstanding event for our first annual philanthropy event, Pi Phi Fright Night. We also won runner up for smart risk management and runner up for recruitment. What Ohio Kappa is most proud for was being named the winner of the overall premier chapter for the Panhellinic Council. Six of our women were chosen to be Rho Gammas for the next fall recruitment and these women were Kenzie Austin, Alyssa Banister, Vanessa Gut, Mia Jacobs, Bethany Maynard, and Elizabeth Rochford. We also congratulate Jordan Keysor for being selected for Order of Omega and to Brittany Moore for being tapped into Cincinnatus. Greek Week 2012 was an overall success for the women of Ohio Kappa and we thank everyone who donated and helped out in this process!

Written by: Courtney Hochman