Dive into Delta Gamma, Beta Sigma

By: Gia Wohlfort

April 8, 2017 11:35 a.m.

COLLEGE PARK, Md. Living with 40 other girls seems impossible for some, but not
for the girls of Delta Gamma at the University of Maryland, College Park. The Beta
Sigma chapter of Delta Gamma Fraternity currently lives at the corner house on Knox
Road and Princeton Road. This house supplies many of the chapters women with food, a
place to call home and a family.

Ive always wanted to live

in a sorority house so when I
joined (Delta Gamma) last
year I had no doubt that I was
going to move in as soon as I
could said Diana Budman, a
current sophomore in Delta
Gamma.

Like Budman,
The Delta Gamma corner house on Knox Road. many women
The Diamondback look forward to
moving into a
sorority house when they join a chapter. When asked about
the pros of living with 40 other women the answers varied.

Having a cook and living with your best friends is the best part. But mostly the
food, says junior Risheilly Gutierrez.

All sorority and fraternity houses at the University of Maryland come with their
own chef willing to cook and serve breakfast, lunch and dinner Monday through Friday,
minus dinner on Friday.

When asked about the negatives, the answers were not surprising. Almost every
woman said the same thing. The bathrooms.

With forty girls showering and using the bathroom every day the bathroom starts
to look dingy throughout the span of the day. There are always women posting in the
house group chat about leaving the bathroom a mess, especially on weekends, says
senior and former chapter president, Chrissy Strangie.

-more-
 Historically, the Beta Sigma chapter began colonizing in May of 1945 with
twenty chapter members. The chapter obtained a house from Sigma Nu Fraternity on
College Avenue, which was forced to disband due to the decline in membership during
the War.

Over time, Beta Sigma outgrew the house on College Avenue and moved to its
current location at 4518 Knox Road becoming part of the University-owned Graham
Cracker composed of seven sororities arranged around a parking lot to resemble the
shape of a graham cracker.

With help from alumnae and DG parents, the corner house was finished in 1962.
As a finishing touch, an anchor was placed on the DG lawn.

The anchor was brought from California via the Panama Canal to arrive at Beta
Sigma. Since its arrival, a number of fraternities took a liking to the anchor as it was
stolen twice before it could be permanently kept down outside the house.

In the summer of 2007, the Beta Sigma house closed for renovation and reopened
in February of 2009. The following month the chapter, the Beta Sigma House Corps and
Fraternity President Beth Searcy held a dedication ceremony at the house. The formal
living room was dedicated to Amy Tate, the former House Corps President.

The house currently holds 39 women and chapter members continue to show
enthusiasm for wanting to live in the new house.

Throughout the year, the house is used to most many philanthropic events to
support Delta Gammas philanthropies Service for Sight and Joining Forces.

###