The Gamma Phi Beta house focuses on building relationships, performing community service and growing as human being.

“Our chapter was established on UW-P in 1969, however the very first Gamma Phi Beta chapter was established in Syracuse, New York in 1874,” Brenda Vesperman, fine arts major said.

Gamma Phi Beta is the only international sorority on campus, with 130 chapters throughout the world. The perks of being an international campus include insurance and to be welcomed at any other Gamma Phi Beta chapter around the country.

Sara Hall, senior, criminal justice major, is the membership vice president of the Gamma Omega chapter at UW-P. According to the Gamma Phi Beta Web site, Hall is in charge of overseeing the entire recruitment process, planning and implementing recruitment events and Continuous Open Recruitment events.

Recruitment for the Gamma Phi Beta house on campus ran from Sept. 3 to the 29.

The recruitment process includes a variety of activities to welcome women into the sorority, and allows leaders to vote on welcoming new members into the chapter.

“We strive for academic excellence and strive to maintain the highest statutes of womanhood,” Hall said.

Recruitment activities during the month of September included decorating a picture frame, atteneding bonfires and volunteering at the Humane Society in Dubuque.

On the final day of recruitment new members are offered preference, or a bid, to join the Gamma Phi Beta sorority. New recruitment totals can number from five to 13 members in the fall semester and zero to five in the spring.

Members of Gamma Phi Beta will have the opportunity to build strong friendships that last a lifetime and the ability to give back to the Platteville community.

“Gamma Phi Beta is a very philanthropic sorority,” Hall said. “We give back to the community through volunteering with highway cleanup, egg-smashing fundraising, brat sales for different causes, suicide prevention and we pioneered the yellow ribbon movement on campus.”

Gamma Phi Betas current adviser is resident director Anna Mroch. The sorority is currently looking for an official house to rent, but meetings and activities take place around campus at, Wilgus Hall and the Pioneer Student Center meeting rooms.