Four of Oklahoma Christian University’s social service clubs are celebrating an anniversary during this year’s homecoming week. In addition to the women of Theta Theta Theta celebrating 50 years as a club on campus, 2018 represents milestones for Gamma Rho, Chi Lambda Phi and Psi Epsilon.
Current Gamma members and alumni will gather together later this week to celebrate 40 years as a club. According to Gamma President Savannah Mathews, the club was founded in 1978 on the idea of building a club representing faith in all it does.
“Reading back on the original thoughts of the founders, they put a heavy emphasis on building Gamma around serving others and making Jesus the core of all things within the club,” Mathews said. “Gamma Rho was a place for a group of girls to grow together and build meaningful friendships that would last a lifetime. We are very excited to have our founders and alumni back on campus and be able to be a part of such a sweet reunion of the family.”
Gamma has invited their alumni and founders to join them for food and festivities during a 40th-anniversary party, and Mathews said the club is looking forward to sharing parts of their history with the rest of Oklahoma Christian’s campus.
“Forty years is a long time and it is crazy to look through old scrapbooks and see how the club has changed, grown and progressed through the years,” Mathews said. “Gamma has changed, as does any club, but we have managed to keep the traditions and purpose of the club alive that the founding members initiated. It has been so cool to see this group of girls comes together to create a homecoming experience that is an accurate representation of what these past 40 years have been for Gamma.”
This year also marks the 20th anniversary of Chi on campus. According to Chi President Ezra Emerson, the founders established the club on the principles of truth, honor and duty—strong roots of tradition the men aim to carry out in all they do.
“In 1998, 19 men sought to create a club that would be like none before it,” Emerson said. “They strove to raise the standard, not only on the campus of Oklahoma Christian but also in the world in which we live. The answer to that challenge was the creation of Chi Lambda Phi and for the past 20 years, the Scotsmen of Chi have worked to continue the vision our forefathers had for this club so that others can continue it after us.”
To celebrate their anniversary, Chi plans to host an event called Chi20, a dinner with various events and information encouraged to connect current members with alumni. Chi’s alumni are very involved in helping the club, so the event aims to be an avenue to thank them for their continued support, Emerson said.
“For homecoming this year, we are excited to celebrate 20 years of Chi with our homecoming float and other events happening during the week,” Emerson said. “This club has given me some of my greatest friends and memories and I would not want my college experience any different. It is an honor to rush Chi Lambda Phi.”
Psi will also celebrate their 10th anniversary as a club this year at Oklahoma Christian.
“We were founded in 2008 by an offshoot of Alpha [Gamma Omega], who were basically a bunch of engineering guys who didn’t feel like they quite fit in there,” Psi President Tyler Talley said. “It was a ‘rag-tag’ group and Alpha always likes to remind us that we are their little brothers.”
In honor of its anniversary, Talley decided to give the club a rebrand instead of holding an anniversary event during homecoming week.
“The rebrand just kind of started this year when I, being a media person, looked at our social media pages and noticed that we are not very active,” Talley said. “We are not very modern and our pictures are all from like 2008.”
According to Talley, he encourages all Psi alumni to attend this year’s homecoming to show support for their club achieving the 10-year milestone.
“I want them to just see that what they created actually made it and it is actually growing,” Talley said. “We have a really good presence on campus now and 10 years is actually pretty big. Not every club makes it 10 years, and I think we are a club that could make it 50 years. We are not just engineers anymore, but the general feeling that started with a small group of guys is resonating with more and more.”
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