A Founding, a Competition, a Trek, a Marathon, and an Iris

On June 2, 1999, eight male students at the University of California Los Angeles founded Beta Chi Theta. Although the discussion about starting an fraternity for South Asian students had started earlier that semester, June 2 was the date the organization was officially recognized by and became a member of the UCLA Interfraternity Council. The National Founding Fathers are: Abu Abraham; Hashu Datwani; Samir Khandhar; Ankur Kumar; Ashish Nagdev; Ankur Parikh; Roshan Patel; Ali Zhumkhawala. A year later, a second chapter was established at Baylor University.

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The 2015 state contests for the Miss America 2016 competition have begun. Of the six states which have picked winners (RI, ME, VT, HI, WY, NH), two of them are sorority women as far as I can tell. I will update the page as information becomes available. The post it at http://wp.me/P20I1i-2bN.

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Congratulations to Chi Omega Harriette Thompson, a Dickinson College alumna. She began running marathons when she was in her 70s. This past Sunday, at the Rock ‘n Roll Marathon in San Diego, the 92-year-old cancer survivor became the oldest woman to finish a marathon. Her time? It was 7 hours, 24 minutes, 36 seconds. 

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Yesterday, June 1, 2015, a group of Alpha Tau Omegas began marching from New Market to Lexington Virginia. It is the reverse of a trek 257 Virginia Military Institute cadets began on May 11, 1864. Four days later, on May 15, 1864, the cadets fought in the Battle of New Market. On September 11, 1865, three of those cadets, Otis Allan Glazebrook, Erskine Mayo Ross and Alfred Marshall, founded Alpha Tau Omega. The march is part of the fraternity’s 150th celebration.

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A quick trip to Monmouth, Illinois happened to be when iris was in bloom. An iris from Stewart House, where it all began for Kappa Kappa Gamma.

A quick trip to Monmouth, Illinois happened to be when iris was in bloom. An iris from Stewart House, where it all began for Kappa Kappa Gamma.

© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2015. All Rights Reserved. If  you enjoyed this post, please sign up for updates. Also follow me on twitter @GLOHistory and Pinterest www.pinterest.com/glohistory/

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