“For a small club, we’re incredibly diverse. We have people from very different walks of life, with different beliefs and different views, and yet we haven’t killed each other yet,” said Linda Copeland, a senior Christian studies major from Cabot and president of Chi Rho Phi. ”There’s something that brings us together, Jesus, and makes us look past these differences and just be friends, be sisters. At our core, we’re just a bunch of weirdos that like hanging out together.”
Chi Rho Phi began as the brainchild of Ouachita alumna Jodi Wozniak in 1999, who saw that Bible studies on campus at the time were not meeting the needs of some girls for accountability. They didn’t require the commitment or offer the fellowship opportunities that a social club could, so God directed Wozniak to nine girls who became the club’s founding members.
After seven long months of waiting for the final charter, the women of Chi Rho Phi officially became a social club on November 30, 1999, and ever since have made their mark on campus as a small, tight-knit group of girls who love the Lord and one another.
“We try to stick to our roots, praying for one another and trying to find ways to keep each other accountable,” Copeland said.
In addition to hosting Nerd Prom during TWIRP week, which, according to Copeland, is “the best night of TWIRP,” Chi Rho Phi serves the Arkadelphia community through Tiger Serve Day, Stand for Freedom, a service project on bid day and drive-in movie nights to raise money for Partners Against Trafficking Humans (PATH). Regardless of the event or service project, you will always find a Chi Rho Phi with a smile on her face.
“One of my favorite things about being in Chi Rho is the fact that we have so much fun together. We have had so many fun times, it is hard to remember them all,” said Mattison Griffin, a sophomore history and public history major from Van Buren and treasurer/secretary of Chi Rho Phi. “It seems like any time a majority of us are in one location, we will always have five minutes’ minimum of us doing nothing but laughing our heads off.”
Another admirable trait of these women is their ability to laugh at themselves when things don’t go as planned.
“Everyone remembers Tiger Tunes from two years ago. Saturday night. The 8 p.m. Nuns show. It was the worst,” Copeland said. “We had just started the show, and we were doing ‘Dark Horse’ when one of the girls tripped on her habit and fell. Turns out, she popped her knee. I freaked out a little because she had the next solo. She then crawls to the wings and screams, ‘somebody’s got to do my solo!’ I mean, it’s terrible that that happened, but it’s something that we still laugh about.”
Chi Rho Phi also loves its big brothers, an equally diverse group of guys that are vital to the club’s success. They transport letters, garner laughs in Tunes and talk nerdy during TWIRP.
Above all, the club values upholding the meaning of their letters: Christ, the Lord, my Love. Through faith and sisterhood, the women of Chi Rho Phi will seek to honor God and be “Chi Rho Phi kind of girls” for years to come.
“When I was a freshman, I knew I wanted to rush and join a social club, but I had no idea which one. When I went to the parties of Chi Rho Phi, I felt like I belonged. They were so happy to see me, and ran up to me to greet me and talk to me. I wanted to be a part of that. I wanted to be a part of the goofy girls that didn’t care what others thought of them, “said Danielle Schaal, a junior biology major from Fayetteville and social secretary of Chi Rho Phi. “Ever since I joined Chi Rho Phi, it has been a roller coaster of fun. The events we do together, the meetings that we never take seriously, the messing around when we should be working, this club and my amazing sisters mean the world to me, and Chi Rho Phi will always have a special place in my heart.”
By: Evan Wheatley, features editor
