Tap-Out Spotlight: Courtney Clutter

What was your best memory of Texas Spirits?
C: Tap In. It felt amazing to be instantly welcomed into a sisterhood and to experience the traditions of Texas Spirits.

What is your favorite event?
C: Destination Unknown.

What have you benefitted from Texas Spirits?
C: I've found my best friends and the women who will be my bridesmaids.

Who would you consider a role model in Spirits or who has influenced your life?
C: Stephanie Hestilow, my Fall '09 Weenie sister, has influenced my life. We met walking home from Tap In and have been inseparable ever since. I can't imagine my college life without her.

Where do you see yourself in 10 years?
C: In 10 years, I hope to be a practicing physician with a family and traveling the world.

What will you miss the most about Texas Spirits?
C: Wednesday meetings at 4 pm in Welch where I could catch up with all my Spirit sisters.

What are your final words of wisdom to incoming Spirits?
C: You will get out of Spirits what you put into it.

C I We'll Miss You Y

Tap-Out Spotlight: Kyndal Henicke

What inspired you to try out for Spirits?

Texas Spirits was the first spirit organization I came in contact with at freshman orientation, and from then on I was continually drawn to this group. However, it wasn't until I spoke with two Spirits at the Starbucks Social after First Reception that I knew that I wanted to apply. Seeing how the two girls were each individually wonderful people and had also become such close friends made me want to be a part of this group more than anything else. I will always remember that it was talking to Betty Mathew and Elena Cernicky that inspired me to try out for Spirits. Which made it pretty cool that Elena ended up being my grandghoul!

What is your favorite memory from when you were a Weenie?

My favorite memory from when I was a Weenie was Kidnap. Our class literally spent the whole night together and Katie Koehler had things planned down to having the same music playing in every single car. That night is full of great memories of many bonding moments!

If you could relive any experience in Spirits what would it be?

If I could, I would relive the day of my initiation brunch. I'm sure most Spirits know how special that moment is when you finally get your scarf. I remember that I went back to my dorm room and changed into sweatpants and still left it on! But sometimes as we get older I think that many of us lose sight of how special being in this organization is and what wearing our scarves really means. I think it would be great if we could all relive that experience in Spirits from time to time.

What advice would you leave to future and current members of the organization?

I would advise the members of the organization to do their best to get to know the Weenies every semester. While the actives and the older members are the backbone, each new Weenie class is truly the heart of our organization. When you lose sight of how much you wanted to join this organization, if you hang out with the Weenies it is suddenly easy to remember. Their love and enthusiasm for Spirits is contagious.

What pillar of Spirits means the most to you?

Love. I think it is often the most forgotten of our pillars. When things get political and tensions run high, I think it is always important to step back and remember to love each and every member of Spirits. Many other types of organizations can perform service, exhibit spirit, and form friendships, but I think the love that envelopes all Spirits, young and old, is what makes our organization different.

What's your favorite thing about your pledge class?

My favorite thing about Fall '09 is that we look fly. We look good. And none of us have every actually known all of our Weenie dance...

Tap-Out Spotlight: Sara Edwards

What inspired you to try out for Spirits?
Honestly, my boyfriend is in Wranglers, and watching him complete his maverick semester encouraged me to find girls that meant as much to me as his maverick bros meant to him. I started asking around and looking into different spirit organizations, and Texas Spirits immediately stuck out to me. By the end of recruitment, I knew Spirits was right for me. The girls were genuine, welcoming, hard working, and so passionate about their organization.

What is your favorite memory from when you were Weenie?
My favorite memory was PJ Rama because I don't know if I've ever been so caught off guard by an event!

If you could relive any experience in Spirits what would it be?
I think it would be cool to relive Weenie semester because now I see Spirits in a different perspective. Now that I understand the traditions and actually know my weenie sisters, I think I would be able to appreciate weenie-hood so much more.

What advice would you leave to future and current members of the organization?
My advice: embrace the differences in personalities. It is rare to come by such a dynamic group that is yet so entirely cohesive. Spirits is unique in that it unites so many characters, and I think it's important to continue to search for and appreciate individuality and sincerity.

What pillar of Spirits means the most to you?
Friendship is the most important pillar to me, hands down. Spirits would not be the same for me without the friendship component.

Whats your favorite thing about your pledge class?
Fall '10 is always up for some lovin' time! We don't have to have any form of entertainment when we set up play dates, we just enjoy one another's company :)

Junior/Senior Date Skate

Last Wednesday, juniors and seniors grabbed a date and grabbed their skates for Texas Spirits Date Skate! There are definitely perks of being an upper classman. All the spirits and dates showed up in rockin’ 80’s gear of spandex and tanks and skated the night away.  

Midnight Drag Wars

It’s that time of the semester again, where all the Texas Spirits across campus meet at the drag with their brushes and paint. It’s MIDNIGHT DRAG WARS! The week’s football, basketball, and volleyball games are displayed across the drag on extravagant window displays. The highlight of the week was the Weenies UT vs. TCU Thanksgiving Game display. The Weenies definitely brought there A game, and did a fantastic job!

Band Jam 2012

Let’s Get Ready to Rock n’ Roll!

Are you tired of poring over textbooks on a Thursday night preparing for finals?  Are you looking for somewhere to head with friends before going downtown?  Do you need a break from your stressful life? Then why not head on over to the Blind Pig down on 6^th Street, Thursday the 29^th of November and help support Texas Spirits and their two wonderful philanthropies: The Make-A-Wish Foundation and The St. Louise House.  Not only will there be libations for purchase but there will also be four, that’s right FOUR, bands playing their hearts out for the hearts of others!  Featuring Sip Sip, Cole Burris, Ryan Harkrider and the Night Owls, and Little Radar, this is not an event you want to miss!

The event is age 18 and up and tickets only cost $10, all proceeds going directly to the philanthropies.  The festivities start at 8pm and will continue late into the night for you night owls, ending at 12am.  Tickets can be purchased at the door, online at www.texasspiritsbandjam.com, or from a spirit on campus!  There will be raffles and t-shirts for purchase.  (You will be the hottest thing on campus wearing this shirt, promise!)  And who knows, we may even have a special guest in attendance.

Be sure to come early, stay late, be loud, and support Texas Spirits! Don’t forget to follow us on Twitter or Instagram at @bandjam2012 and follow us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TXSpiritsBandJam!

Wishes and Wells

Well folks, it’s that time of year again for TEXAS SPIRITS BAND JAM!  To get the ball rolling, Spirits hosted a philanthropy event on the 8^th of November.  Love Goat was gracious enough to open their facility for a fundraising event for the St. Louise House and the Make-A-Wish foundation by offering some thirst quenching drinks and entertainment from our two lovely singers of the night; Jessie Neuendorf and Namanda Musoke!  These ladies know how to belt out a note or two!  Raffles, including neon signs and other goodies, went towards the two philanthropies and were a huge hit with the attendees.  Overall, Wishes and Wells was a great time and if you weren’t there, then sadly you were square.  But fret not!  Spirits is hosting BAND JAM tomorrow!  Be at the Blind Pig on 6^th St, at 8pm on the 29^th of November to listen to four great bands and support a great cause!

Spirit Spotlight: Taylor Francis

Taylor Francis is senior psychology major with a focus on Pre Med. Coming from Temple Texas, Taylor joined Spirits in Fall 2010. Taylor is staying close to the weenies through senior/ weenie events and she is also on the Tap Out committee because Tap Out is her favorite event every semester. She cannot wait to hear what Spirits has given all of the girls, and loves the tradition involved. Taylor can't wait for formal as well this year because of the tie she will get to spend with her favorite Fall 10 weenie sisters! Taylor is most thankful for Fall 10 because she said they have given her so much and she know's she will have them forever! Congrats Taylor!

Whipped Cream, Cheese Puffs, and Syrup

Haunt Jaunt, Haunt Jaunt, Haunt Jaunt... Yep, it was that time of the year again! Haunt Jaunt is a traditional event held each year. It is a "field-day" type of event in which Ghoulfamilies compete with other families in a series of games.  On November 11th, the Ghoulfamilies met up at the IM fields and participated in this lovely event. This year's  Haunt Jaunt involved whipped cream, maple syrup, cheesy puffs, oranges, and raw eggs.. (A wonderful combination, right?)

This year, the events included a lot of fun games but the most popular one was a relay in which one member of the team had to sacrifice her face for the love of whipped cream and cheetos . (The team had to place more cheese puffs on a member's face than the other team to win... It was very fun, but at the same time, very, very grotesque.)

Congratulations to this year's Champions, Kelcey Bacon, Calli Conti, Hannah Sabella, Kendall Connolly, and the newest addition to their family, Amy Woodhull!  (Congrats once again, ladies! You guys did an awesome job.)  

And also a BIG thank you to our beautiful Hook'em Haunts, Caroline & Bridget, for planning such a fun event!

Until next year!

November SOW/WOW

Weenie of the Week: Lauren Berrong

1) Sophomore majoring in elementary education from Keller, TX
2) Be an awesome teacher and to discover a way to eat all the foods that I want without gaining weight
3) Giraffe, I like tall things (boys, roller coasters, etc.) and I have a long tongue..? I can touch my tongue to my nose, you know
4) My most recent embarrassing moment was when I passed out not once but TWICE in my health class because the topics made me queasy. Awesome. 
5) C’est la Vie by B*witched. Basically anything from my childhood. I have a pretty awesome 90’s playlist on my Spotify account if I do say so myself. 
6) PIE!
7) My favorite Spirits memory thus far was definitely PJrama and all that it entailed. I’m most excited for initiation weekend!

8) Pretty Little Liars

Spirit of the Week: Kayla Kotara

I'm a sophomore Energy Finance major from San Antonio, TX. I want to do international financial analysis because I'd like to work abroad and I enjoy analytical statistics. I think I'd most prefer a job doing financial analysis for larger energy development projects because I enjoy working on teams and find the international opportunities and the complexities of supply chain management for these projects to be so interesting. My spirit animal is a yellow canary. I have no idea why, but that's what came out of my high school spirit animal exercise. My most embarrassing moment was when I wore my pajamas under my overalls on accident to school one day. Awkward bunching ensued. My favorite song to jam to when no one is home Booty Wurk by T Pain. My favorite Thanksgiving entree is the honey ham, though the actual Thanksgiving food I fill up on is sausage. I'm Polish and we have our own family recipe. It's awesome. My favorite Spirits memory so far is running to find my ghoulfam. I knew I wanted my ghoulfam since the night we had prospective dinner dates and I met them, and when I saw them dressed in our family's traditional festive garb, I could not have been happier to match! I don't have time to watch TV or movies during school (I'm being 100% serious), but I try to stay up with New Girl. I own the complete series of Friends, though, so that's often on in my room when I'm home as a background to studying.

Just for funsies:

My dream formal date would be pitch-dark, princely, and pulchritudinous. My least favorite thing about Texas Spirits is NOTHING. WE'RE SO AWESOME. Kayla Jones is my favorite GC '13 member because she's the bomb.com, has a sweet nickname (KJ..can you say rolls off the tongue and begs to be made into DJ KJ KOOOOLLL), and she's hilarious.

Spirit Spotlight: Jacqui Bontke

Jacqui Bontke is this week's Spirit Spotlight! She is a junior at UT this year studying Advertising in the TexasCreative sequence. She has contributed so much to Texas Spirits and is well loved by the organization. We are also proud to call her the new Singing Haunt on Ghost Council 2013! Jacqui created the artwork used for Texas Spirits Fall Recruitment 2012. She used the portraits of specific Texas Spirits to create this unique flyer to distribute to prospective Texas Spirit Weenies that received a great response from the prospectives as well as active Texas Spirits. She also helped in creating invitations and stationary for Apple Polishing, our new Texas Spirits logo, and more. Congrats Jacqui!

Saint Louise House Halloween Festival

On October 30, 2012, Texas Spirits went to the Saint Louise House to throw a Halloween Party! They dressed up in costumes, such as kittens, mice, and dragons, and made Halloween bags for the women and children of Saint Louise House. One Texas Spirit, Kelcey Bacon, was even a fortune teller! There was coloring pages, cookie decorating, candy, and lots of Halloween fun! One of Texas Spirits' pillars is service and they love helping out the Austin community. Saint Louise House is one of Texas Spirits' newest philanthropy organizations and they wanted to make the Halloween holiday as special as possible for these women and children.

SOW and WOW: Hilary and Sheena!

Spirit of the week goes to senior, anthropology major, Hilary Elrod! Hilary is a member of the “one and only” fall ’10 weenie class.  She has done so much for the organization; her dedication to this University is inspiring to younger Spirits. She made a great sign for the Texas vs. Texas A&M soccer game and sat with other spirits to cheer the boys on to victory! Read below to get to know Hilary better:

Hilary gave some great advice: “don't wait until you're a senior to realize you should have been more involved/active [in Texas Spirits]. It's easier to do the bare minimum but the bottom line is, the more things you go to, the more memories you will have.” (She’s so wise!)

Her favorite part of Texas Spirits: the wonderful bonds made between her and the diverse group of amazing ladies!

Her theme song: Bow Chica Wow Wow by Mike Posner

3 words that Hilary uses to describe herself: compassionate, spontaneous and friendly (they’re all so accurate!)

Congrats, Hilary!

Sheena, a new fall ’12 weenie, is a freshman at UT, majoring in Mechanical Engineering and was awarded Weenie of the Week! Sheena has been an incredible Texas Spirit Weenie. She has a love for her fellow weenie sisters and an overall happiness that is obvious to anyone who knows her. Read below to find out a little bit more about the amazing Sheena Mohebalian!

Three words she would use to describe herself: candid, random, and indecisive

Favorite UT tradition: “The hook 'em hand sign, of course! It's a way for everyone all around the world to identify our awesome college!”

If the Daily Texas published an article about Sheena the title would be: “True Life: My Cat is my Best Friend”.

Fun Fact: “Every Thursday for over a year now, I celebrate Burrito Thursday. It's a "holiday" that me and my best friend made where we start every Thursday the right way…with breakfast burritos.”

TX/OU Recap

Can't get enough, enough. 

Regardless of what the score board said for the Fall 2012 TX vs. OU game, it's now October 25th and OU still sucks. I mean, they had to go home to Oklahoma and we got to come home to the great city of Austin, need i say more? The Texas Red River shoot-out is so much more than a football game, so much more than a longstanding rivalry, its a weekend bursting with tradition. And if you know anything about being a Texas Spirit, you know that Tradition is pretty much our middle name. TX/OU is a weekend of best friends and couples on bus rides, dinners in the evening and good company at night, fried foods at the fair grounds (and of course a ride on the giant ferris wheel to take in the full Dallas skyline) all completed in burnt orange gear, duh. Spirits are all about making this weekend extremely special, from intricate and decadent coolers to personalized bottles, cookies, and snacks to show our support and pride for the school that has given us all so much. 

Bring It On, Bears!

On Saturday, October 20^th, UT faced the Baylor Bears at home for the seventh game of the 2012 football season.  UT prevailed as the shootout came to a 56-50 closing, and no one could be happier than our very own Texas Spirits.

Starting the afternoon out right, Texas Spirits gathered around 3p with friends and family of the Texas Wranglers outside Bob Bullock Texas State History Museum.  Spirits sported their famous scarves, and chatted with family of Wranglers (as it was ‘Parents Weekend’ for the men’s group).  The afternoon filled the infamous black and yellow tent with fun music, big laughs, and dancing.  The tailgate would not have been completed without Wranglers barbeque.  By the time the 7p kick-off came around, excitement and eagerness filled the air.

Around 6:45p, the traditional march from Bob Bullock to the stadium set the scene for the exciting game to come.  Chants and yells continued all the way to the student section underneath the DKR Jumbo-Tron and roars ignited even further as Texas scored on the first play of the game.  Aside from the wonderful (and needed) victory over Baylor, Spirits always has a great time doing what we do best – tailgating, spending time with friends and family, and rooting on our football team.  Hook ‘em horns!

Surprise! Date Dash!

The first social event for the Weenies ended up being Date Dash!  It turned out to be a wonderful night down at Mooseknuckle and a great introduction for the Weenies into Spirits social life.  While the actives had this routine down, Weenies enjoyed the mayhem of rushing to find a date, many of who were successful in convincing a friend to come downtown on a weeknight.  There was tons of dancing, laughing, singing, and amicability in the air.

Date Dash is an awesome way for Spirits to ask that one special person they have always been too shy around to accompany them to this special event.  As such a spur-of-the-moment event, there is a more casual air to the date situation, leaving the entire evening for both the Spirit and her date to explore their relationship without the pressure surrounded by social events planned in advance.  This event is just another reason why it is so fun to be a Texas Spirit!

Spirit of the Week and Weenie of the Week Spotlights

Last week's Spirit of the week went to Aliyah McRoberts!

Spirit of the Week honors one of our fellow Spirits that has shined her brightest in the organization throughout the week. This one goes out to Aliyah! Aliyah has been so wonderful to the organization this semester from all her UT pride at games to helping with recruitment and service events. To for just a moment about how awesome Spirits are, Aliyah took it upon herself to invite the organization to a service opportunity in the local community at Pease Park for a clean up at the park. Thanks so much for all your passion and love you give Texas Spirits, Aliyah! We can’t wait to see what you come up with next.

 C I We can’t get enough of our lovely Spirits Y

And “Weeeeeenie..... of the week!” goes to Ally Willauer

There is no better time in Spirits than weenie time. We love these babies! This week our love goes out especially to Ally! Any weenie that can stay on top of her Spirit requirements, keep up in school (did I mention she’s a BME?), and bring her lovely smile to all the Spirit events deserves to grasp that weenie stick by the pole! But really. We’ve only had Ally for a few weeks but we already love her to death and she her shine day after day for the organization. Keep it up Ally girl and you’ll have your scarf before long! Thanks again for all you do and we can’t wait to get to know you better over the next few years.

 C I remember when I wanted the Weenie stick Y