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Phi Phi Chapter Christmas Card 2018

Created using Canva

Here is the Christmas Card that I designed for my sorority for 2018 within my position as Editor and Historian. We sent out these cards in a digital format as well as a paper copy to all of our chapter's alumni, wishing them a happy holiday season!

My Submission for December 2018 for The Phoenix Magazine

Week of Change: Life of Northwest students honored through Phi Phi chapter’s awareness campaign

Eight years ago, a man chose to sit behind the wheel of a car after having one too many drinks. His choice ended up taking the life of a young Northwest Missouri State University student and Alpha Sigma Alpha woman, Abby Cockrill. At age 22, Abby was a member of the Phi Phi chapter of Alpha at Northwest, and her sisters, family, and friends mourned her death. Since that tragic night, the Phi Phi chapter has chosen to honor Abby’s passion-filled life by building a legacy against drunk driving.

            Abby’s chapter at Northwest Missouri State University, Phi Phi, founded Be the Change week shortly after her death on Aug. 22, 2010. Be the Change week is an annual, weeklong campaign dedicated to raising awareness for drunk driving among Northwest students. This year, the week took place from Oct. 29- Nov. 1. Members of the Phi Phi chapter ask students to personally sign a pledge not to drink and drive, and collaborate with the University Police Department to promote this message. This year, the Be the Change week co-chairs who planned the week’s activities have a personal connection not only to the mission of the campaign, but also have connection a little closer to home.

Linsey Filger, junior, grew up with Abby and her family within Platte County, MO. Abby even babysat Linsey and her twin sister Katie, who is also a member of the Phi Phi chapter, when they were both young. Upon hearing the news of Abby’s death all those years ago, Linsey can still recall the feeling of devastation knowing her childhood friend’s life had been taken, and finds comfort knowing she is honoring her friend’s legacy years later in college.

“Be the Change week holds a special place in my heart. I am beyond blessed to be given the opportunity to plan BTCW and honor Abby’s legacy. I wish we would have been given the opportunity to meet again in Alpha, but I made it my responsibility this semester to make be the change week special and I hope we made Abby proud by doing so.” said Linsey Filger.

Linsey was named co-chair of Be the Change week along with Debrielle Merrill, junior, for the fall of 2018. Merrill also shares a passion for the campaign’s mission. Merrill has served as an acting chairwoman of the Nodaway Country Distracted Driving Coalition, as well as a Youth Advocate Outreach Partner for the Missouri Department of Transportation. Raising awareness and fighting for legislation against impaired driving is important for Debrielle.

“I’ve always been really strongly pulled to the idea of public safety and civility. A big part of that is standing up for what you believe in, and I believe that drunk driving is never okay. Be the Change week is a great opportunity to share that message and bond with my sisters in the Phi Phi chapter through that message,” said Debrielle.  “Although drunk driving is illegal there is still great aspects to be done in social change.”

Linsey has taken her personal connection to uplift the legacy that Abby left on the world, her friends, and ultimately her sisterhood at the Phi Phi chapter.

“Abby’s favorite quote ‘Live to love and love to live’ is something I always hold onto whenever I am stressed and thinking of giving up. Abby’s accident has shown me personally that we as a university need to constantly remind ourselves to never put others or ourselves in dangerous situations when consuming alcohol,” said Filger.

Be the Change week includes the women of ASA setting up booths in the Student Union with a banner for students to sign their name, pledging not to drink and drive. Abby’s parents, Pat and Diana, also visit campus and the women of the sorority to remind the women of the purpose of BTCW, and to tell Abby’s story. In the week’s activities, the sorority collaborates with University Police Department to hold drunk driving simulations for students to participate in outside of the Union as they can see firsthand how their actions and depth perception are influenced due to alcohol consumption. The chapter also passes out contact information for Safe Ride, a University Police Department sponsored transportation service for students on weekends to utilize as opposed to getting behind the wheel while intoxicated.

The week’s activities ended with a walk around campus for the sorority, called Walk the Change. Along the way, the girls tied red ribbons around the trees on campus in support of Red Ribbon week, and ended the walk with a moment of silence surrounding Abby’s memorial tree outside of Roberta Hall, the sorority housing on campus.

“Although this week is about honoring Abby, raising awareness for drunk driving hits home with all of us. We all can recall someone in our lives or someone whose path we’ve crossed who has been impacted by drunk driving,” said Alpha Sigma Alpha woman Olivia Krohne. “Walking around campus with my sisters and supporters of this cause showed me that we all have the potential to make a difference, even if that means calling an Uber to drive us home instead of getting behind the wheel ourselves.”

Although BTCW was originally established for Abby Cockrill’s memory, the Northwest students have since experienced, tragically, a more recent death due to drunk driving. In January of 2018, Morgan McCoy, 19, died when a drunk driver accelerated his car into the side of local Maryville bar, the Palms. Morgan was a member of Sigma Kappa sorority on campus, and Northwest Greek Life was impacted with the news of Morgan’s death. Morgan was friends with women from all over the Pahhellenic community, including women of Alpha Sigma Alpha. The Phi Phi chapter hopes to co-sponsor Be the Change week with the women of Sigma Kappa in the future to honor both Abby and Morgan’s memory, who were both influential women in their sorority.

                        Friends and family of Abby Cockrill always speak highly of Abby’s passion for life and her generous, kind heart. Abby believed that each person has the potential to implement lasting change in the world and lifted others around her to believe the same. Abby’s childhood friend and an advocate for drunk driving awareness fulfilled the potential of the week by informing Northwest students of the dangers of drunk driving and over 500 students throughout campus participated in the week’s activities. The women of the Phi Phi chapter hope to bring more awareness to an issue that affects not only the Northwest campus, but has a lasting effect on the lives it touches everywhere.

December Alumni Newsletter

Distributed to alumni and active members of the Phi Phi Chapter