On February 10th and the 11th our chapter conducted an activity which consisted of collecting items for the household necessities for kids of Jesus of Nazareth, a nonprofit institution established by a group of volunteers from our city Mayaguez, who were concerned about the high incidences of child abuse in the western area. This home provides shelter services, nutrition, transportation, health, education, recreation, social and psychological support to child victims of abuse...

Woodser is a social the UF Chapter of AZ has every semester. This semester 30 attended! We reserve a campground at Ichetucknee Springs, have a bonfire, and cook hotdogs and smores! Woodser is always planned by our social chair, which is Dalal Hares this school year. Woodser is a tradition and one of the most anticipated events of every semester! Everyone always makes an extra effort to make it to Woodser!

On February 4th, the Cook Chapter co-sponsored Responsible Happy Hour with SEBS Governing Council. The event included discounted drinks for those over 21, free food, music, and provided a nice time to socialize and catch up with friends, the rest of the brotherhood, alumni, and prospective pledges. There was also a slide show showcasing many pictures of Cook Chapter brothers at many of our past events so that prospective pledges could see more what we were all about. There were 26 brothers present and 5 alumni, not to mention a number of prospective pledges. Our faculty adviser, George Clark, was also present.

On February 2nd after smores, the old e-board presented the newly elected e-board with their duties while the new e-board thanked their predecessors and presenting them with flowers and a plaque. The new e-board then started their first meeting ever and quickly got down to business explaining the new pledging schedule and everything else that we all wanted to accomplish for this semester. The entire brotherhood was present (40+ brothers). The new e-board consists of the following amazing brothers: our Chancellor Amanda Hannen, our Censor Lisa Izzo, our Scribe Amanda Sorenson, our Treasurer Gianna Santelli, our Chronicler Michele Ellenbacher, and our Sargent in Arms Wayne Scheck.

On February 3rd, the Cook Chapter hosted a Game Night for all the prospective pledges and the brotherhood on the second floor of the Cook Campus Center. The night was dedicated to getting to know the prospective pledges and allowing them to get to know the brotherhood. Among the games played there was ping pong, foosball, pool, and apples to apples. At one point there was an epic apples to apples game going on that consisted of 22 people! Overall there were a total of 17 brothers and 6 prospective pledges.

On February 2, 46 brothers and 18 prospective pledges came out (or should I say went inside) for smores. Because of the cold weather and the abundance of snow, the traditional smore night got moved from outside the Cook Campus Center to inside. Everyone still had a blast even though we had to abandon our little fire pit in favor of fluff and nutella. The event allowed for prospective pledges to meet the brotherhood for the first time. They were able to ask questions and get to see more what the Cook Chapter and Alpha Zeta are all about while enjoying some snacks. Though we all wished it could have been outside, the event was still extremely fun and on the up side we all got to stay warm.

Our annual rose sale is our biggest fundraiser! Our fundraiser chair, Gernide Zamor, did an excellent job planning everything with the help of 28 other members! An order form is e-mailed to the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences faculty listserv as well as the Florida chapter's AZ listserv. We order over 700 roses in red, white, and pink colors to fulfill our pre-sales and to sell individually on campus on Valentine's Day. This is a THREE DAY event since it takes time to prep the roses (de-thorn, clip the ends, and separate by color), store in a walk-in cooler, bundle the roses according to pre-sale orders, deliver the orders on campus on Valentine's day, and table on campus selling any remaining roses. This benefits the college by giving an alternative to expensive florists while supporting its own honors fraternity! We greatly look forward to this event every spring!

What better for the girls of AZ to do on Valentine's Day than to show our brothers how much we love them! Last year it was a steak and potato dinner. This year it was a casino night at "Casino AgRoyale". The ladies of the Cornell Chapter planned a surprise evening of snacks and poker fun at our house, with the grand prize being a Nerf gun. It is always fun to take a step back from the daily activities of homework and studying and have fun with each other. Through personalized Valentine's poems, we were able to tell each one how much they mean to us... no matter how cheesy it might have seemed! The girls had a blast cooking, baking, and valentine making while the boys had fun and were able to bond while playing poker.

This past weekend, 7 members of the Morrill Chapter at Penn State came to visit the Cornell Chapter. Through a fun night of fellowship, we got to know some of the members from the closest AZ Chapter to us. As the only two chapters of AZ that have a house and also consider themselves as "social" organizations within the Greek community on our campuses, we try to visit one another at least one time a semester, but missed out last fall. It's great for our chapters to discuss recruitment and new member education, among other things because our chapters are fairly similar. Members of the Cornell Chapter are going to visit the Morrill Chapter in a few weeks.

The Florida chapter of Alpha Zeta helped plant young trees at one of our many local springs, Poe Springs. This project benefited those that participated by being out in nature and helping the environment by planting trees. The chapter participated because this was yet another perfect way to promote agriculture. Planning included knowing what time to meet up, organizing a carpool, and providing directions to the springs.