Fellowship with 25/52
 

Hey! =) I was recently elected to be the new VP of Fellowship for the Spring semester, and I really wanted to get some fellowship events going on with our sister sorority, GSS. I was wondering what would be good events for APO and GSS to do together as fellow brothers/sisters?

Our chapter have been trying to get together with GSS for a couple semesters, a lot of things were discussed, but never set up. I would love to make a mark with our chapter and get things solidly set up with GSS and have some awesome fellowship events with them! =)

Service project, anyone? ;)
Start with that and then go from there.

Sometimes the best answers are the most obvious ones. :)

It's all about a day of service and then dinner at IHOP after.

A service project is a great idea, unfortanutely, it's not in my job description to plan that out. I will bring it up with the service VP, though! =)

Oh, you said "fellowship" though...so I can't kick it with you while we get this service done? :( :p

ANYWAYS...well you could try having a small social with the Gamma Sig chapter and the APO chapter so you can get to know each other. Nothing spectacular, just somethin to get the ball rolling.

I'll defnitely talk with some GSS girls about that. Maybe we can have a small mixer of a sort to start things off.

We have seperate jobs, the service VP and I. We could defnitely work together to have a service and fellowsihp project together, but I'd need to talk to him about it first, though. =D

Sister sorority??
 

I was taught that Omega Phi Alpha was our sister sorority while APO was men-only. When did GSS become our sister sorority?

Neither
 

Neither Gamma Sigma Sigma nor Omega Phi Alpha have any legal standings as a sister sorority for Alpha Phi Omega. Having said that, the APO National Board is certainly aware of the shared history that many chapters have at the local level and have sent anniversary congratulations to both groups at the appropriate times.

To add to what Randy stated, both GSS & OPA have a shared history with APO.

For most people, APO & GSS has the stronger link. One hears of the
25/52 Family, which refers to the data of establishment of APO (1925) and GSS (1952). GSS was established by a group of chapters at several schools. The name was picked because it stood for "Girl's Service Sorority" or "Girl Scout Service" (I've heard both). GSS has about 50 chapters.

OPA was established in 1967 at Bowling Green University, thru the efforts of the Zeta Kappa Chapter of APO. Several other early chapters were established thanks to other APO chapters. While this makes it seem that OPA was nothing more then a 'little sister' group to APO, they were established from day one to be a separate and independent group. OPA has about 15 chapters.

There are a few 'little sister' groups that did go on to establish separate identities, those these are very small. Out west are the "Phyettes", which began around 1965 or so. Tau chapter has the 'Jewels of Tau', which is now a separate organization of about 2-3 chapters.

Hope this helps. Am sure those involved with GSS or OPA can add/correct/expand on this.

The name was picked because it stood for "Girls' Service Sorority". That's the first time I've heard of "Girl Scout Service"--that's a new one :confused:

I think we have a stronger link because we share two important principles of Service and Friendship. Also during the early days of the sorority, a member from the National body of Alpha Phi Omega would be a guest at our Conventions.

Also, many Gamma Sig chapters were formed due to direct assistance from the local Alpha Phi Omega chapter. Either they offered moral support, or direct financial support by paying the necessary fees for the GSS chapter to be initially formed. This even holds true today for some of our newer chapters.

Not disputing that, but when I first heard about GSS, I was told it stood for "Girl Scout Service". I've only recently heard of "Girls' Service Sorority".

While GSS chapters have stronger connections to APO chapters in some areas, people also recall that OPA chapters were first established by APO chapters, OPA is a mirror image name of APO, etc, thus many see them as a 'truer' sister/mirror org to APO. I first heard about OPA long before I learned about GSS.

Its all perception.

GSS/APO relations with APO.
 

I think the reason that I more closely associate GSS with APO is that something like half of the currently active all-male chapters have GSS on their campus and treat it as their local sister organization. I've got my numbers on that somewhere. I'm pretty sure the only OPA chapter that exists on a campus with an all-male APO chapter is the chapter at Auburn. So for local "brother/sister" relations, its like 9 to 1.

Historical size is also an issue, both GSS and OPA letter in order like APO does (Alpha->Omega, AA, AB, etc..) and GSS is up in the early Etas, which means something like 160 charters. OPA is at Alpha Zeta and they were at single letters within the last 5 years, I think.

Current Size. OPA is at 18 actives chapters and GSS is about 40, I think...