The Florida Chapter of Alpha Zeta cleaned up our adopted road. The members that participated in the clean-up did not mind taking time out of their schedule to put the trash back where it belongs and off the street. Usually the road clean-ups are on a weekend morning to avoid the heat of the day but our service chair, Jaclyn Irwin, planned an evening clean-up to help add variation to the times of our events. The members met up on campus to carpool over to the road. Planning involves picking up the supplies ahead of time and bringing it to our AZ road. The road clean-up is always a good excuse to get outside and help the community.

On Friday, September 2nd 4 cook chapter alumni and 17 brothers got together in the Cook Campus Center for Responsible Happy Hour to enjoy each others company after a summer of exploring, jobs, and studying. It was a great way for everyone to have fun, enjoy an awesome free meal, and some responsible drinking for those 21 and over, while enjoying music and meeting the school's new Cook Campus Dean.

On August 28th, the day after Hurricane Irene came through, 13 brothers went out to NC State's Campus Stream Service Project.  The brotherhood usually goes out and cleans up trash around and in the stream to make campus a cleaner place and also to make the stream environment a clean and safe place for fish and wildlife to live. We had a great time cleaning up trash as a brotherhood showing some love to the environment.

On August 24th, 20 Brothers, Advisers and several Alumni got together before the business meeting in the Shop for a Potluck dinner. There were several main dishes prepared including Mexican chicken and rice, casseroles and plenty of great desserts for the Brotherhood to feast on while catching up from the summer and discussing ideas for this semester.  We always have a great time eating together.

The Cornell Chapter finished two successful weeks of Rush with pinning seven new pledges. Our bid acceptance ceremony was held on Thursday, 9/8 and all actives and one alumni were present. These new members will now have eight weeks of a new member education process where they will learn chapter history, AZ history, traditions, AZ's impact on our campus, as well as bond and have fun while getting to know active members...

For the UF Chapter of Alpha Zeta's fall back to school social, our Social Chair Kaylie planned a dinner at Chili's. Six members came despite having a long weekend that people like to head home for and the excitement of the first football game. The dinner allowed members the opportunity to catch up on what happened over summer and share stories of past professors and giving each other tips on how to survive some of the difficult classes we had in the past.  At the restaurant, everyone pays for their own food and drink but has a lot of fun catching up with friends talking about how the first two weeks of school went.

The Cornell Chapter holds a formal recruitment in both the fall and spring semesters. Our fall Rush is two weeks long and we are just finishing up our second week. All actives are required to participate in at least some part of rush and several alumni have been present for events as well. Events have consisted of an open dinner at our house every night and fun activities in the evening including go-karting, bowling, a bbq, a "lawn flick" (drive-in style!), laser tag, and several other events throughout the two weeks. We have been very happy with the number of potential members that have visited the house and look forward to bid acceptance next week!

Cornell Chapter members (and one NC State alumni!) convened upon Granby, CT for the weekend of July 8-10 for the annual AZ Summer Weekend. Carly Neumann (Chancellor) and her family graciously hosted a group of actives, alumni, and friends from other chapters that peaked at 24 people. We went tubing down a river and through rapids, ate ice-cream at a local dairy bar and creamery, took a tour of a mixed-dairy farm, shared stories around a bonfire, and much more. Each summer, a different active hosts the event and we look forward to doing it again next year!

This year AZ members looked to hard work and the house garden to combat the rising cost of food and low quality of store-bought products. On the 15'x40' plot, lent to us by alumnus Richard Church, we grew tomatoes, zucchini, summer squash, cucumbers, peppers, carrots and even a few eggplants, root crops, and melons! We employed a variety of planting techniques (including remay, black plastic, and good old stick-it-in-the-ground). A small core of actives and alumni spent the summer combating weeds, mildews, rots, and squash bugs to give us a harvest to be reckoned with. Feeding 26 people five nights a week means picking and choosing whether to buy local, produce food ourselves, or buy from a wholesale distributor. We have chosen to supply as much food as we can through this small garden...

The UF Chapter of Alpha Zeta adopted a road in our community about three years ago with the commitment to keep it clean by completing at least six clean up service events each fiscal year. Since we did not hold events this summer four members attended this event in our bright orange safety vests to kick the year off on the right foot. Even though it is considered a service event members enjoyed catching up on summer travels sharing stories and talking about what is ahead for their fall semester. It was a great way for members to get together outside of school and help improve the community one garbage bag at a time.