The threat of rain couldn’t bring WEENIE BEANIE down!

In 1970, some genius Spooks created the idea of “ghoulfriends” to help involvement with new members. Now, more than forty years later, Weenie Beanie is one of the most treasured traditions in our organization. The Big/Little reveal that takes place in front of the Tower is an experience every Spirit will always remember, and this semester is no exception. On March 7^th, 25 lucky families welcomed beautiful baby girls into their tradition. As if the love wasn’t obvious enough, check out some of the amazing costume that the JI class crafted for their new babies:

What-a-WEENIE cheeseburger

Tetris

Finding Nemo

It’s obvious that this JI class truly out did themselves with this semester’s costumes. The only thing left to wonder is how the little weenies will out-do their ghoulfriends in Fall 2012!

Weenie of the Week: Danielle Gibbons

Name:Danielle Gibbons
Major: Chemistry/ Pre-Dental
Weirdest Habit: Constantly making sure my teeth haven't changed. 
What are you looking forward to most your Weenie semester? EVERYTHING. But really, meeting my future bridesmaids. 
What would the title of your future memoir be? "Don't judge me"  

Since tap-in, Danielle has been a very dedicated and involved Weenie! From volunteering at Micah 6 to attending swim meets and tennis matches, Danielle always finds time for Spirits. Danielle loves painting the drag with her Weenie sisters because "funny little things happen that you can all joke about later." One of her favorite things about Weenie semester, besides getting free Spirits "swag", was Weenie Beanie. She says "Weenie beanie was magnificent because I got my glorious big, Namanda, and joined my wonderful family." Keep up the awesome work, Danielle!   

The UT Tower Turns 75

Spirits and Traditions Council (STC) recently celebrated the UT Tower's 75th Birthday by holding a birthday party on campus. Texas Spirits played a huge role in the birthday party by dedicating and painting an on-campus drag paint window at the Flawn Academic Center. This window not only brought attention to the event beforehand, but served as a backdrop for the birthday party festivities. Spirits also played a role during the birthday party by helping pass out stickers, talking to students about the history of the Tower, and serving birthday cake to students and faculty. The spirit and love for our university that day was evidently present in all the Spirits who helped and participated.

To read an article in the Daily Texan about the Tower Birthday Party, click here.

Tap-Out Spotlight: Nancy Tan

Our next tap-out is Nancy Tan, a Spring ‘10 weenie and Spring ’11 – Fall ’12 Special Projects Haunt! Nancy Tan is marketing major and will be graduating this year to head out into the real world. Nancy says “luckily for me, the real world involves working for MillerCoors in Austin, so it should be a great experience.”

When asked what her favorite Spring ‘10 memory was, Nancy tells me there are too many to even recall. Nancy says she “absolutely loves those girls. They are the ones that made my experience in college and in Spirits so memorable. Spring Break 2011 with them was definitely one of my top experiences in college. It was the most epic week ever with the best girls ever. Another great memory was our Weenie service project where we did Relay for Life on campus.  It was one of the most memorable experiences of my Weenie semester. The best part is when we strategically spread out to win the "Cake Walk" game to win a ton of cakes.”

Nancy also recalls her time on GC as “an amazing learning experience.” Nancy tells me “one of my favorite parts was getting to know girls from other classes that I probably would not have ever gotten the opportunity to do. Another was just the planning involved with being a Special Projects Haunt. I absolutely love planning. DU was definitely my favorite to plan. I really miss being on GC and all the girls I got to be on GC with, but I'm glad I was given the opportunity and privilege to be on GC.”

            And Nancy’s favorite Spirits tradition? She says it’s ghoulfamilies! Nancy says “I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE my ghoulfamily. I was lucky to get a family that I clicked so well with and it helped make my experience in Spirits.” Nancy says she and her big Emily have so many ridiculous memories from the very beginning of her Weenie semester and they continue to make more today. Nancy also reminisces on how from the minute she tapped in Ari, she knew she was in love with her and that they would be a perfect ghoulfriend pair. Nancy says “I am so thankful to have each and every one of the girls in my ghoulfamily, from one of the oldest I’ve gotten to meet, Nicolette, to the youngest, Emily. They are all amazing!”

            When I asked Nancy what she will take with her from Spirits as she graduates she told me “Spirits has taught me so much throughout my college career. I think the most important thing I will take away from Spirits is the bond we all share. Despite our differences and how diverse we all are, we all come together to support each other, the University and the Austin community. Not only will I continue to maintain my bond with all of my Spirit sisters, I want to maintain the value of diversity and friendship outside of Spirits.”

            And her advice to current Spirits is to put all you can into Spirits, and you won’t be sorry. Nancy says that while Spirits may not be the entire world, the more you get into it the more you get out of it. “And it’s definitely worth it. Cherish all of it! It ends faster than you think. I’m going to miss Spirits so much and hope everyone can come to share the same love I do for Spirits.”

            We want to say thank you to Nancy for all of her dedication to Spirits and I think it is safe to say we will all miss her dearly when she taps out.

Continuing the Trend: Micah 6

Texas Spirits has been volunteering at Micah 6 food pantry on Saturdays for some time, but this semester they decided to volunteer on Thursdays as well. Micah 6 is a place that allows people who cannot necessarily afford their own groceries to come in once a week and pick up food. What makes Micah 6 different from other food pantries is the fact that the people are allowed to shop for their own groceries and pick what they would like instead of being handed a box of food pre-chosen for them. Typical tasks for Texas Spirits at Micah 6 include helping people carry their groceries and putting them into grocery bags. Volunteers are an integral part of what keeps Micah 6 running every week and Texas Spirits really enjoys serving this part of their Austin community.

Texas Independence Day Mixer

Spirits got to show their Texan pride on Texas Independence Day at a mixer with the UT Club Soccer Team last Friday. There’s no better way to celebrate being a beautiful Texas girl then being decked out in red, white, blue and hanging out with cute soccer boys. After all, Texas Spirits is a Texas Tradition! A big thank you to the UT Club Soccer Team and Special Projects Haunts for a great night!

Texas THON!

On Saturday February 25, Texas Spirits joined numerous other organizations to fundraise for Dell Children’s by pledging to remain standing for 12 hours at the tenth annual Texas Thon, formally Dance Marathon. Spirits alone raised over $1500 and in total a record breaking $50,839.51 was donated to Dell Children’s from UT student fundraising. The day was both exhausting and moving for the twenty-six Spirits participating. 

The day began with breakfast and team building among the new teams made for the day. Activities like What Not to Wear, dodge ball, box car relays, karaoke, a performance from Gigglepants, and presentations from three families of Dell Children’s miracle children filled the time, but the urge to sit down came early and often for most Spirits and participants. All the thon dancers learned a Morale dance that took nearly all day to learn but the result was well choreographed. Between learning a dance and all the other exciting activities dancers snacked on some great food from local Austin donors.   

The most moving part of the day came with about thirty minutes left in the day. Three miracle children from Dell Children’s walked around the entire court in Gregory Gym to all the thon dancers and removed a hospital bracelet with the name of a child on it from each of their wrist. This was to represent the release from thon and the commitment dancers made to stand For the Kids. The entire day was an inspiration and the final reveal of the total funds raised was incredible. Thon earned almost twice what they earned in 2011. 

Maya Brown Spring ’12 Weenie, Mayté Salazar Spring ’11, Caitlin O’Brien Fall ’11, Jacqui Bontke Fall ’11, Anjali Sethi Spring ’12 Weenie, Emily Lamon Fall ’11, Ashley McAdams Fall ’11, and Namanda Musoke Fall ’11 after twelve hours on their feet! 

Thon Committee presenting the record breaking total of $50,839.51 donated to Dell Children’s 

 

Weenie of the Week: Heather Dai

Name: Heather Dai

Major: Public Relations

Weirdest Habit: I like to do a lot of things in 3's. Like eat cookies in 3’s or something…

What are you looking forward to most your Weenie semester? MY BIG! 

What would the title of your future memoir be? I Make Myself “Dai” of Laughter

Meet Heather, this week's Weenie of the Week! In her short time as a Weenie, Heather has been incredibly involved in Texas Spirits. So far, she has volunteered at Micah 6, written a blog, and was even elected T-shirt Weenie. Heather says that the best part about being a Weenie is "instantly clicking with my weenie class and getting to meet all the other Spirits! I can't wait to get to know all my Spirit sisters." Keep up the great work, Heather!

A Black and White Affair

Roughly four weeks ago, we had one of our first mixers of the semester with the gentlemen of Iron Spikes. A black and white theme, the ladies came dressed to the nines in heels and pearls whilst the gents were looking quite dapper in their vests and slacks. Mingling, dancing, and listening to some Frank Sinatra made this evening a classy start to a fabulous semester. 

Spring 2012 Weenie Oahu!

If you walked by the Tejas house two weekends ago, you would not have thought you were in Texas anymore. Decked out in tacky Hawaiian shirts, leis, and a few grass skirts everyone came out to celebrate our 25 fabulous new weenies who were reppining their bandanas! The house was packed and the dance floor was overflowing as Spirits danced the night away with all of our friends. As the clock drew closer to Midnight, however, the anticipation for the weenie dance was tangible. Finally, it was their time to shine. With the dance floor cleared and the lighting set, the weenies took the floor with everyone’s attention. Without missing a beat, all 25 weenies performed flawlessly leaving the crowed cheering and making two very proud weenie moms! For the rest of the night everyone danced, mingled and enjoyed good company. A special thanks goes out to Tejas for another great party dedicated to great weenies! Congrats Spring ’12! 

Project 2012

This Saturday, February 25, 2012, Texas Spirits participated in Project 2012. This event is put on by the University of Texas at Austin to be a day of service involving a large portion of the UT community.

A group of Texas Spirits signed up to help clean up a youth center in South Austin. However, the site had more volunteers than it needed, so the Spirits were relocated to another project site. Our new task was removing debris from abandoned houses in the Austin community and helping residents with gardening projects.

The first house the Spirits visited was very eventful! This house had been abandoned and had lots of leaves and large branches in the yard. Spirits worked with other volunteers to help clean up the house’s yard. In the backyard, they stumbled upon a wild chicken! After a mild panic, Spirits decided to work around their newfound friend while they raked up all the leaves and collected all of the large branches from the backyard. After finishing their work, they all agreed that the house looked so much better and named their “mascot” chicken Hubert.

The next two houses that the Spirits visited were homes to residents of the Austin community. The families greeted the Spirits with sandwiches, chips, and sodas upon their arrival. Lunch is not something that the residents are required to provide so the consideration and hospitality of the families made the Spirits feel very welcome. The families’ toddlers even decided to lend a helping hand as the Spirits planted flowers and bushes and spread mulch.

This day of service was such a fun and rewarding experience for the Texas Spirits. Weenies got to meet a couple more Actives and bond with each other! As one of the Project 2012 volunteer leaders said to us, “I hope you all learned a valuable lesson today. That it’s awesome to do good.”