The Florida Chapter of Alpha Zeta cleaned up our adopted road. Three road cleanups were completed over the course of three weeks. The members that participated in the road cleanups were very willing to clean up our community despite the many bugs that attacked us along the way! Not only was it hot most of the days, it started to drizzle one of the days. The service chair provided all the materials needed to clean. Among those materials were orange reflective safety vests. Wearing our orange reflective safety vests made us feel official! We put recyclables in one bag and trash in another...

Members gathered at active Sara Orlowski’s farm in Perth, NY on the weekend of July 27-29. The weekend was filled with tours of local farms and businesses. Sara’s farm, SO-MO-JO Feather Farm raises Murray Grey beef cows and many different kinds of poultry for show. The first tour of the weekend was at Patchwork Meadow Alpacas, where they gave members a tour of their large alpaca farm. The owners spent a lot of time talking about their animals which they take great pride in..

Actives from the Cornell chapter spent last weekend at Chelsea VanAcker’s farm in Williamson, NY. They toured her family’s apple orchard, and had fun on a haunted hayride. Unfortunately, due to the lack of rain and late frosts last spring the damage to their trees was evident. However, the farm is beautiful and covers approximately 350 acres in upstate New York. The highlight of the weekend was the haunted hayride!...

Alumni Fish Fry!On Saturday, September 22, the Cook Alumni Association held its annual Fish Fry. This is traditionally an event for alumni to come back and network, and see what has been going on around campus since they graduated. The event was held at the Log Cabin slightly off campus, in the Rutgers Gardens. Alumni of all ages, from Class of 1975 to Class of 2012 showed up to enjoy music, a pasta buffet, all the kalamari and shrimp you can eat...

Last but not least for the end of the semester of events our members of the Florida Chapter made their way to the start line of the Midnight Fun Run on the last day of classes. The 5K race starts at midnight and takes students through a course across campus. Members ran along side hundreds of other students all decked out in their neon running shirts. We made our way along the course going from well lit areas to running by the moon light...

With the end of the year drawing nearer the Florida Chapter decided to be thankful for what we have accomplished and pass on the gift of food to those who are not as fortunate. Members collected cans to donate to the St. Francis House in Gainesville. The St. Francis House is there to provide emergency food, temporary shelter, transitional housing, and related support services in a safe, secure environment for people who find themselves confronted with homelessness and hunger in the Alachua County...

The Florida Chapter celebrated Earth Day by giving back to the community. Members cleaned up our adopted road with the help of some of our newest additions. The members that participated in the clean-up did not mind taking time out of their schedule, as the last 3 days of classes came closer and made graduation ever closer for some or the next year of school for others, to pick up the trash and get it off the street. The road clean-up was planned for the morning to avoid the heat of the day and to be completed when the Horticulture Departments Earth Day event started...

For the UF Chapter of Alpha Zeta's social, our Social Chair Kaylie planned a dinner at Sonny's for some southern food. Members crowded around tables talking each other and welcoming the newest of members that joined us. The dinner allowed members the opportunity to catch up on what happened over the year, see what people have planned for next year or after graduation, and catch up with those we haven't seen in a while due to classes. At the restaurant, everyone paid for their own food and drink but has a lot of fun catching up with friends talking about the memories they have had through AZ and what lies ahead.

The Florida Chapter had the amazing opportunity to initiate its newest members into our chapter. The night was beautiful and matched our excitement and gratitude to the members, staff, and initiates that came out. The ceremony was a traditional set up allowing the initiates an inside into what we were founded on and what we strive towards as an organization. After the ceremony we joined in congratulating the newest members of our chapter with dinner where they sat with their sponsors, our advisors, and members...

Members of the Florida Chapter participated in the monthly Operation Catnip (OC) spay/neuter clinic. OC provides free spay/neuter, vaccines, and treatment for parasites to community cats from Alachua County, FL at no charge to the caregivers. Since 1998, OC has fixed over 31,000 cats. At monthly "spay days" over 200 cats are fixed in just hours thanks to a team of volunteers and the space for the clinic is donated by the UF College of Veterinary Medicine. Volunteers are assigned to a variety of tasks from check in to surgery preparation and recovery. This unique program gave our members an opportunity to gain some hands on experience in veterinary medicine. With many of our members pursuing medical degrees it gave them the chance to work first hand.