Senior Letter

My beautiful sisters of Psi,

I would like to thank you all for electing me to be your president for the past year. It has been an honor to serve. I would also like to thank everyone who was on exec this year.
You are all amazing and wonderful sisters, and I’m proud of everything you have done.  I wish the new executive council all the luck in the world, and want to remind you that I’m always a facebook message away. Also, I’m going to learn to use skype.

To my littles:

Lindsay, you were my very first little. You’re beautiful and smart, and I admire your work ethic and dependability. I know that whenever we need sisters to help on a project, you’ll be there.

Kaitlin, I still think it’s weird that I have a little on colorguard. Congratulations for being so amazing at winter guard – I know you work very hard for everything that you’ve earned.

Liz, you’re sassy and I love it. I’m so glad to finally have another sister from my section! When I see you hanging out with your lady bros, I’m reminded so much of myself as a freshman. I hope you love Tau Beta Sigma in the years to come! I’d be worried about leaving you without a big, but I know Lauren will take good care of you.

Kody, I’m so glad you’re my little bro! You’ve always been there to save me from the general creepiness of band backrubs, and you made me feel better when I was the only junior to be put on third part.

Matt, you are such a sweetie! I’m glad Kaylee told me to choose you as a little so we could be co-bigs; it was the best choice I could’ve made. You’re an amazing brother, and I hope you continue to be as passionate about Kappa Kappa Psi in the future. I’m proud to be your big sis; good luck this summer!

Lauren, I’m still so excited that you chose me to be your honorary. I love your passion for TBS and your determination to do well in a major that you love.

Steven, thank you for choosing my as an honorary! I love how you transferred here and were instantly one of the most involved brothers in Lambda.

To my sisters of Gamma Pi: I love you all. I’m so glad that you decided to kidnap me and make me your friend almost 4 years ago.

To Stevi: We’ve been roommates for two years, and I don’t hate you. I feel like that is a wonderful accomplishment because living together has destroyed many a friendship. Thanks for calling me Chelsex and convincing KKPsi that I was pregnant (I wasn’t. Some people can’t tell when someone’s been hacked.)

To Lambda: I met many of you because we were all in the same section. (When I was a freshman, all but 3 members of my 30 piece section were brothers.) By the second day of early week, I knew you were my brothers, and TBS just made that official. You are a mess, and I love you.

Kaylee, pass auf. The first day I met you, I really didn’t like you, and

I’m so glad that I was completely wrong about that. I’ve loved every single road trip we’ve taken together from Conway to Tegernsee and our traditions of eating at Fazoli’s and not noticing that the gas light was on. Our bromance is unparalleled, even if other people say it isn’t a bromance since I’m a sister. (Which I’m fairly sure is inaccurate. We’re watching Doctor Who as I write this.) Hopefully you won’t miss too many exits on the way to Tennessee.

To the Psi Chapter: I’m sorry for all of the times I missed your calls. I never turn my phone’s sound on, which results in me missing 99.9% of calls on the first try. I’m the worst. 

I would also like to encourage you to travel because it’s fun and you learn new ideas that can make our chapter the very best that it can be. Someone should definitely come up with a chapter cheer before next year though – “What chapter are we? Psi!” is all I could come up with and that’s lame. I’d also like to encourage you to stay involved in our sisterhood – I know that my involvement here is one of the reasons why I got a Fulbright.

Two things I’ll always remember from national convention are Jesus peeking through the corn, which was a bit creepy and which you must find if you are in western Kansas, and singing “Amazing Grace” during opening joint. The speaker just told us to sing it and counted us off, and it was just gorgeous in 4 part harmony; I’m so happy that I was a part of that.

In case y’all hadn’t noticed, I’m a bit of a nerd. And I found this poem while I was searching for an example for my German poetry class a few weeks ago. Luckily for you, I was lazy and reading from a book of German poems translated into English when I stumbled across this gem.

Abschied by Heinrich Albert

Now, good night, my friends so dear,

Loves that I am leaving,

Who for me might spend a tear,

Do not think of grieving;

That I sink out of your sight

Is no cause for sorrow:

Look, the sun that sets tonight

Will come back tomorrow!

Don’t forget to be awesome.

MLITB and MOTS,

Chelsea Elisabeth Burris

“The Lone Psi”

Psi Chapter President, 2012-2013

The theme song for our joint chapters:

Developing Your Intellectual Potential

So, I generally hate talking about religion. I think talking about your beliefs is a way for people to alienate others generally. (Last year, one of my friends told me I wasn't a Christian because I believe that if you live in a part of the world where Christianity isn't the majority religion or if you've never heard of it and follow a good and moral life, God will love you and you get to go to heaven. I'm still upset about this...I find the Dalai Lama to be an adorable little man whose message of peace should resonate with all people, no matter their religion.) But one of my sisters mentioned yesterday that she liked to use Bible verses to show how the 5 & the 8 for TBS are relevant in life outside of college, and it got me thinking about "development of your intellectual potential." I know several people who are extremely smart and don't use it properly. These people don't seem to realize that God may not care about your grades, but I believe that He's disappointed when He gives you the ability to earn good grades on the road to something bigger and better and you choose not to take advantage of that. Maybe you were meant to cure AIDS, but you didn't study for biology and couldn't get into med school. Maybe you could have ended the Israeli/Palestinian conflict, but you skipped class too much. So I study. It's very boring, but I don't want to limit my future. Besides, college is an amazing opportunity that so many people don't have...so I'm going to learn all that I can before it's off to the real world. Or maybe grad school if I ever stop writing and start studying for German.

Also, new second favorite movie:

This video doesn't do it justice at all. Most movies are better as a trailer...this one isn't.