Tri Delta looks back on excitement of a busy month

Wofford’s Tri Delta chapter didn’t waste any time getting the ball rolling with sorority-sponsored events on campus during the month of September.

During the final two weeks of September, Tri Delta celebrated the first annual Delta Love Week and second annual Gold Week. Celebrations and activities surrounding the two weeks – promoting a positive body image and the sorority’s national philanthropy, childhood cancer awareness, – were not bound within the walls of the Tri Delta house but were plastered throughout Wofford’s campus so that all students could join in and engage with the causes.

The first of the two weeks, dubbed Delta Love Week, was created and chaired by Tri Delta’s Body Image Coordinator, Carrie Ruff. Ruff serves as a liaison between the national sorority leadership and the Wofford chapter and is responsible for promoting the sorority’s national commitment to the Body Image 3D program. This program, Ruff said, was launched in 2012 in response to the significant number of collegiate women whom the sorority recognized as struggling with a healthy body image. The goal of the program, Ruff said, is establishing a focus on a healthy mind, body and spirit.

Delta Love Week, Ruff said, is a way to “celebrate a commitment to ourselves and to our bodies.” She emphasized that this commitment does not exist only within the Tri Delta sisterhood but extends as far as each individual sister is willing to reach to encourage others in the same mission.

Activities hosted by the sorority during Delta Love week aimed to include the entire campus in the body positive celebration. Highlights of the week included a Body Image 3D devotional after the sorority’s chapter meeting, a yoga workshop led by sophomore Annabelle Webb, motivational sticky notes hung around campus, a movie night for the sisters and a Pure Barre pop-up event led by Sophomore Anna Grace Ellett.

Ruff was happy with the impact Delta Love Week had on Wofford’s campus. “It’s important that a Greek organization can be open about that [body image positivity],” she said.

The following week, the sorority celebrated Gold Week. Gold Week is a week when Tri Delta sponsors a series of events on campus and floods its social media pages with posts, all in an effort to spread awareness about childhood cancer awareness, especially St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital, the sorority’s partner.

Tri Delta’s Philanthropy Chair, Reeves Goettee, was the driving force of Gold Week. Her passion for St. Jude was present in all of the activities she planned, including handing out suckers under the slogan ‘Cancer sucks,’ inviting students to write cards to children in hospitals and make bracelets to teach about legacy beads at St. Jude, organizing a photo booth to compliment the week’s theme, ‘Not all heroes wear capes,’ and handing out ‘Cookies For a Cure.’ All of the events were aimed at engaging the Wofford community in a conversation about childhood cancer awareness.

“It feels good knowing that [Wofford Tri Delta] is supporting such a good cause,” Goettee said.

The sorority also sponsored a ‘St. Jude Dude’ contest during Gold Week in which male students could compete for the title of ‘St. Jude Dude’ by earning the most points. Points were awarded to each of the contestants correlating with the amount of awareness they helped raise for the week’s cause. Points could be earned by posting on social media, attending Gold Week events and selling fundraiser t-shirts to raise money for the philanthropy. Goettee said of the contest, “It’s been so much fun because they guys get really excited about it and they’re learning [about the philanthropy] too.”

Junior Kalvin Guyer was the winner of the St. Jude Dude contest, as he raised the most money towards the cause.

Photo Caption: Gus Collars, a St. Jude Dude contestant, makes a bracelet in honor of the legacy beads patients receive at St. Jude.

Second Photo Caption: The Pure Barre pop-up had a sizable turnout on the last day of Delta Love Week. Participants included Greek and non-affiliated women along with men.