We held our annual rose sale on Valentine’s Day. Our brothers participated in selling the roses all morning and afternoon. We were able to raise about 500 dollars total for our chapter due to the dedication and support of our fellow brothers. We had faculty members participate by buying roses and Alpha Zeta brother delivering them.  Our brothers tabled at many locations on the University of Florida’s campus as well as personally delivered roses around campus. A special thank you to our fundraising chair, Kriss Eisaman for putting this fundraiser together and making it such a success!

Every semester we have a pottery social at the Reitz Union at the University of Florida. Here brothers get to let out their inner artists. Every semester numerous brothers participate in this social. No matter how good of an artist the brother is, everyone always has fun. The fall 2019 pottery social was no different. There were laughs and people getting to know each other. It is always a good way to have fun with our fellow brothers as well as take a break from the stress of classes and exams.

In Fall 2019, we initiated 8 pledges into our fraternity. Each pledge was paired up with a AZ brother for big/little. Each week we had a different big/little event. We had speed dating and then on the last week we had our big/little reveal. For the reveal, each brother is supposed to pick a costume idea for the their little to dress up as. Their big will then match their little. It is always a great event to participate in each semester as new pledges get more comfortable in AZ and get to experience how great it is.

Florida Chapter spends their Spring Break cleaning up and having fun in Key West!

On October 21, the Florida Chapter finally helped out at the much anticipated Bat Festival! A local bat sanctuary, the Lubee Bat Conservancy, holds an annual festival to raise awareness and excitement about bats and their conservation plight. We have a few endemic species of bats in Florida and it is important to protect them!

Seventeen of our members worked throughout the day and completed one of two shifts from 9 - 5 helping sell admissions tickets, beer garden admission, and answering questions. Brothers had a fantastic time welcoming people from all over Alachua county to the festival, and stamping the guests with a bat stamp on admission.

When off-shift, we enjoyed the festival attractions including booths giving out information on bats, getting bat merch, and exploring local art and business booths. Plus, we were able to check out the bats the conservancy are currently caring for, including many amazing Flying Foxes!

Everyone had an amazing time helping a local conservancy, and the Lubee bat employees very much appreciated us. It was a heart-warming and proud moment when the Lubee volunteer organizer approached our Service Chair, Lauren Gawel, in the middle of the day and told her that our chapter was by far the most on-time, organized, and helpful group of people she had ever worked with.

We certainly are batty for service!

The Florida AZ Chapter makes coming to chapter meetings fun! For our mid-October general body chapter meeting, the theme was Oktoberfest! Plus, we had a couple of special visitors. Dr. Kaufman, who excitedly took on the role of chapter adviser this year, came to speak to all of us about a study abroad trip to Italy with his wife, also Dr. Kaufman. The male Dr. Kaufman was passionate about the program and will be teaching an entomology course on the trip, while the female Dr. Kaufman really knows her olives and will be sharing that knowledge on the trip as well! The presentation was certainly alluring, and a few of our brothers plan to take advantage this summer!
After the Italian presentation and business, we came back to our home-made German food (made by the amazing Sentinel, Stephanie Hriclk) and our Oktoberfest photo wall and cut-outs! In Florida, we work hard, eat well, and have fun. Oom Pa Pa!

On October 15, 2017, members of the Florida chapter got together at 8:30 AM to volunteer at the Gainesville Pet Rescue. Our Brothers helped the shelter by giving dogs walks and much needed and appreciated human interaction. Our members also helped clean the walking area and cages. We may even be getting a Chapter Pet named Shag via one of our members! The Florida Chapter loves helping out with our furry friends!