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History of
Theta Eta Chapter Omicron Psi Omega: In the fall of 1994, seven young women at Alma College with a strong interest in music met for the first time to discuss the possibility of forming a women's music fraternity on campus. These seven "founding mothers" (Catherine Mowry, Bethany King, Melinda Towns, Julie Shier, Becky "Cat" Clemmer, Elizabeth Hill, and Karin Konrad) eventually sparked the interest of other female music students at Alma, and became an official campus organization during the winter term of 1995. This group was locally known as Omicron Psi Omega. There is no special meaning to the name--it was picked solely because of the "stickman" figure that these three Greek letters formed when stacked on top of each others: O In the fall of 1995, Omicron Psi Omega installed itself and initiated its first new members as a chapter. The installing members of Omicron Psi Omega were: Catherine Mowry, Jennifer Tilli, Elizabeth Hill, Susan Elliot, Jennifer Brcka, Karin Konrad, Mary Dahlberg, Laurel Peterson, Andrea Melow, Nancy Gettel, Bethany King, Melinda Towns, Julie Shier, Elaine Gooding, and Lisa Radulovich. However, being a local music fraternity was only part of the plan. When the chapter was formed, the founding mothers set their sights on Sigma Alpha Iota, an international women's music fraternity. The purposes of Omicron Psi Omega were designed to parallel those of Sigma Alpha Iota--and its members hoped that they would be able to join this larger organization of music students across the country. Much to the delight of Omicron Psi Omega, Sigma Alpha Iota representatives Virginia Johnson and Sandra Fox visited our campus and gave the chapter lots of help and information to aid them in establishing a Sigma Alpha Iota chapter on campus. Sigma Alpha Iota: The dream of joining Sigma Alpha Iota became reality during the winter term of 1996. Omicron Psi Omega took their last pledge class and all the initiated members of Omicron Psi Omega began to pledge Sigma Alpha Iota. On March 30, 1996 with national officials and members of other Sigma Alpha Iota chapters looking on, Omicron Psi Omega became Theta Eta chapter of Sigma Alpha Iota. Twenty-three members were initiated as the chapter was installed that morning. The founding members of Sigma Alpha Iota were: Jennifer Brcka, Teresa Brooks, Jennifer Brown, Mary Dahlberg, Amie Diechert, Saundra Garrett, Nancy Gettel, Elaine Gooding, Rebecca Kampa, Sara Keinath, Bethany King, Karin Konrad, Andrea Melow, Catherine Mowry, Laurel Peterson, Lisa Radulovich, Julie Shier, Donna Thieme, Jennifer Tilli, Melinda Towns, Rebecca Van Bruggen, Jennifer Zerba and Dr. Carol Bender. ~ Jennifer Brown |
