Antoinette Mongelli!!!

Epsilon Kappa had always talked about having a woman speaker come to our meeting. Promoting women in music, and more generally, music, is what we do so what could be more appropriate? When Nathalie put the “Women in Music Series” as part of her platform for the office of Director of Service and Music, we were all very excited at the return of this great idea that we had never gotten around to putting on.

We had the grand kickoff to the series this month on November 14^th with a woman highly recommended by our sponsor Jennifer Judkins. She was none other than Antoinette Mongelli, the Executive Director of the UCLA Volunteer Center! It would be an understatement to say that I was blown away. Professionally, she has a long history with UCLA and an endless list of accomplishments. She has been the Executive Director of Special Events and Protocol and has also been the Assistant Chancellor. Talk about rocking the world! But what really captivated us were her charismatic personality and her dynamic storytelling skills (such an EK personality)! We were so excited for her to come and we had set up a music stand at the front for her as the sisters sat in arcs. The first she did when she walked in was sit down in a chair and tell all of us to scoot in closer. She wanted to chat with us! “I don’t do the 60 minute speech thing,” she said. As she talked us through her early childhood with immigrant parents and the “alpha personality” she developed as the oldest sibling, I felt like I was just listening to a good friend over a cup of coffee. She explained how service had always been a part of her life, not as something that you’re supposed to do but rather something you just DO. Her life story was filled with unexpected opportunities, new places to explore, obstacles to face and overcome, and you never knew where she would go next. She advised us to not be afraid to try new things and that everything you do should be done for joy. Ms. Mongelli reinforced the idea of “joy” with every story of her life and in the end that is what matters. You do everything because it makes you happy. If it doesn’t make you happy, find something else to do.

When I decided to write this Lyre article, my head was filled with all of the great things I could say about the wonderful night and yet now I surprisingly find myself at a loss of words. She is simply one of those people that you meet and you think, “Wow, I want to be just like her.”  But what is great about her is that she isn’t someone that you just look up to, she talks to you like you’re her friend and shows you than you CAN be like her. She ended the session by asking each and every one of us in the room what we dreamed to be when we were 5 years old (my favorite answer was Audrey’s: a princess!) and what we want to do after college. It was surprising how many great beautiful dreams were in that room that I didn’t know about. Sisters never cease to amaze me! Frankly, I don’t know what I want to do after I graduate and sometimes that scares me out of my mind. But after meeting Ms. Mongelli, I know that I will be just fine and I can’t wait to see all that awaits in this big world. As long as there is joy and tiramisu! J 

-Becca Toda, Alpha Nu

Progressive Dinner!

Laughs, food, creativity, and joint bonding filled the room during this Fall’s Progressive dinner. When I think of this event, I think of the love I have for my big bro, Derek Lee. Cooking with him for this event was so amazing because I am completely obsessed with purple and mint cookies; so we made mint cookies and added purple food coloring as a surprise for everyone in attendance. Our baking adventure was as wonderful as going through the three different apartments of Progressive Dinner; appetizers, entrées and desserts.

Opposite bigs and littles cooked together for the 3 different stations which were hosted conveniently on the same floor of Levering Heights. We started with appetizers such as sweet potato fries with 3 different sauces! After that warm up, we went to the entrée apartment where we ate fettuccini alfredo and tacos. Once the entrees were finished we divided into two teams for a drawing competition! One person from each team looked at a picture drawn by the judge, then the two teams raced to draw that picture on each other’s back, going off of what they felt the person before them draw while only using their hands.

After hopes of having the end drawing look similar to the original; Mickey Mouse became a man and a robot became a donut. Lastly, we ate desserts in the final destination of the night. Dessert included brownies, mint cookies, plátanos rellenos, magic cake and marshmallow brownies. We ended the night with a few rounds of Spanking Yoda, where we learned just how creative we all are and that individual interpretation can change the course of everything.

-Micah Shaw, Alpha Omicron

B/S Game Night!

By the end of the night, I was holding a plunger, had a target on my chest, a piece of paper attached to my forehead, and whenever someone engaged me in conversation I had to play peak-a-boo with them. This was my first experience with Quelf, a game introduced to me by my Little Bro and Director of Brotherhood/Sisterhood Relations counterpart, Kelsey Chesnut. 

Game Night was our first big B/S event of the quarter, and it was an absolute blast. As Brothers and Sisters showed up to Levering 20, we began by playing a card game called "Once Upon a Time," in which players used the cards they're dealt to improvise a fairytale on the spot. It was hilarious to see how people creatively combined their cards to reach their "Happily ever after."

After we had a larger number of people, everyone split off and started playing different games, like Combat UNO, Taboo, Jenga, and my personal new favorite, Quelf. The best way I could possibly describe Quelf is "Cranium for Adults." No matter what number you rolled with the die, what card you drew, you always ended up having to do something ridiculous. Early on in the game, Kelsey drew a card that made her clap her hands and say "Aaaaaaabraaaaaacadaaaaabrrrraaaaaa" with a magical gesture every time someone drew a card. Brendan and I had to read the instructions from a card aloud in a scary voice, backwards, but neither of us new exactly what we had to do until the third try, so we just kept saying utter nonsense over and over again. Jason Moore had to sing "99 Bottles of Beer on the Wall" until he reached the end or someone rolled a 3... No one rolled a 3. 

It was a really get way to kick off the year and get the PsiEK spirit going! I can't wait to plan more events with Kelsey for Winter and Spring quarter!

Marlee Newman, Alpha Nu

Mike & Molly TV Taping!

One of my favorite ways that EK raises money for our chapter is by
attending TV tapings. I had never been to a real TV taping before and
so I was super excited, especially because we were going to watch Mike
& Molly. I had seen the show once before and I thought it was
adorable, but actually watching it all happen was amazing. It was so
cool to see these famous actors goof around and be normal. Plus, it
was a joint fundraiser so I got to spend time with our awesome
brothers of Psi! The overall night was really fun accept for our MC.
He was a bit creepy at times but overall he was pretty funny. A few of
us even went up to participate in some of his shenanigans. For
example, one of the brothers, Allison Cardoso went up and was the
eligible bachelorette in the dating game that the MC conjured up for
her. Three “bachelors” were asked hilarious questions like “If you
were a candy bar, which one would you be?” By the end of the night we
all enjoyed ourselves and each others company and definitely left with
some stories.

-Audrey Urrutia, Alpha Omicron