August 2023
Welcome to another year of AOII! My name is Katherine Lesak, and I have the honor of serving as your Austin AOII Alumnae President. I am so excited to serve the chapter and have fun while doing so. I graduated from Texas A&M in 2020 and was a member of the Tau Mu chapter. Upon graduation I have had the pleasure of serving as the Community Relations Advisor for Tau Mu, as well as Vice President of Communications for the newly formed College Station Alumnae Chapter. In my free time I like to play pickleball, try new restaurants around town, hit the driving range, and take my two dogs (boxers) on walks around Town Lake.I want this year to be collaborative! During our Fall kickoff event, we’ll be setting goals for the year, planning our social events together, and getting feedback on events we should host.I can’t wait to see you all in person, and to have another amazing year of AOII! Roses, Katherine Lesak Austin AP, Tau Mu ‘20 |
AOII History |
It started with 4 amazing women!
The first chapter of Alpha Omicron Pi’s history began in 1897 at Barnard College in New York City. Barnard was the first college in New York, and one of the first in the nation, where women could receive the same rigorous and challenging education that was available to men. Affiliated with Columbia University since 1900, Barnard is one of the oldest women’s colleges in the world. Barnard’s class of 1898 included four particularly amazing women who were destined to leave a great legacy on both their college and on a new fraternity. Stella George Stern Perry, Jessie Wallace Hughan, Helen St. Clair Mullan and Elizabeth Heywood Wyman were four firm friends determined that their friendship should last a lifetime. In their junior year, on December 23, 1896, the four climbed the stairs in a small gallery of the old Columbia College Library which led to an old and seldom used room. Seated on broad window seats and with sunlight streaming gently through the windows and snow lightly drifting outside, the four pledged each other. Several days later, on January 2, 1897, Alpha Omicron Pi was formally organized at the home of Helen St. Clair. Soon afterward, the four pledged AOII’s first initiate to AOII’s Alpha Chapter, Ann Richardson Hall. |
Collegiate Chapters We SupportCurrently, we are focused on one collegiate chapter— Tau Mu at Texas A&M University. Austin Alumnae supported this chapter in the following ways; attended colonization and initiation events, served as keynote speakers at Founder's Day event, mentored collegiate sisters for virtual recruitment and supported collegiates throughout recruitment providing much needed food and supplies.
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