Emblems

Traditions

Symbols of Alpha Chi Omega

Our Name

Alpha Chi Omega’s Founders chose “Alpha,” the first letter of the Greek alphabet, because they were forming the first fraternity in the school of music. Since they thought they might also be founding the last such fraternity, “Omega” seemed appropriate. “Kai,” meaning “and,” was added to form the beginning and the end. “Kai” was soon changed to “Chi,” a letter of the Greek alphabet.

Our Colors

Alpha Chi Omega’s colors of scarlet and olive green were chosen to commemorate the Fraternity’s autumn founding in Greencastle, Indiana.

Our Flower

Our Stick Pin
The stick pin, which is worn with the lyre badge, is diamond-shaped with the top half enameled in scarlet and the bottom in olive green. It features a lyre across its face.

Our Coat of Arms
The coat of arms includes a square shield, a crest, and a scroll. The shield is red, cut by a bar of olive green. The first section of the shield displays an open book in gold; at the base is a sheaf of wheat, also in gold. The bar has three white stars. The crest, a lyre bird, is in its natural color. The scroll at the bottom bears the Greek translation of our open motto, “Together let us seek the heights.”
Alpha Chi Omega’s flower is the red carnation, exemplifying the Fraternity’s colors.

Alpha Chi Traditions

Members of Alpha Chi Omega have enjoyed the heritage and traditions shared in our sisterhood for nearly 115 years. Some of these special traditions include:

Founders’ Day—Sisters gather on October 15 of each year to recognize the fraternity’s fall founding at DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana. On Founders’ Day, members wear their badges, along with scarlet and olive green ribbons.

Hera Day—On March 1 of each year, members recognize the fraternity’s commitment to helping others by conducting service projects and offering assistance to others.

Chapter Founders’ Days—Each collegiate chapter recognizes its founding anniversary annually.

National Convention—Members join together every two years to conduct fraternity business, reunite with fellow Alpha Chis, and celebrate Alpha Chi Omega.

State Days and Province Gatherings—Many states and provinces hold events to unite sisters within a specific geographic area.

Our Open Motto

Our Badge
The lyre design was chosen by our Founders after much research. They turned to Greek mythology, where they found that the first instrument played by the gods on Mt. Olympus was a lyre. The original badge was purchased by Founder Bertha Deniston and is in the Fraternity archives at Headquarters.

Songs of Alpha Chi Omega

Toast

Alpha Chi Omega, to thee our song shall rise,
Our hearts are filled with thoughts of thee
And all thy name implies.
We’ll ne’er forget thy standards high,
And friendship ever true
And as we toast our Alma Mater,
So we toast to you.

Alpha Chi

Alpha Chi, how we love thy name,
Alpha Chi, thou art ever and always the same
To those who love thee and have felt thy spell,
Alpha Chi, we love thee, we love thee well.

Dream Cake Song
(Used in the Dream Cake Ceremony)

Sleep tonight pretty girl,
And dream of Alpha Chi Omega!
Dream tonight pretty girl,
And may your dreams ever sweeter be!
Take our cake and our song,
They tell of hopes and dreams we cherish
And tonight as you sleep may God bless you
And keep you as you dream of our fraternity!

*When used on occasions other than the Dream Cake Ceremony, substitute the word  “love” for “cake.”

Alpha Chi Omega Sweetheart Song

Down deep in the heart of each Alpha Chi girl
Is the dream of a love that is true.
He’s loving and kind and he’ll always be faithful
And somewhere he’s waiting for you.
You’ll dream and you’ll plan;
Then someday he will come
And he’ll make all your dreams live anew.
He’ll share every trouble, make every joy doubl

 

Let’s Sing It!

Here we are un-huh, we’re all together
Having fun un-huh, what could be better?
We welcome you in our own way
Alpha Chi Omegas all say
You’re the tops un-huh, higher and higher.
Red and green un-huh, and golden lyre
So just stay with us for awhile
And we’ll treat you Alpha Chi style

Alpha Chi, let’s sing it! Alpha Chi, ring a-ling it!
Alpha Chi, you’ll see, it’s the best sorority!
Now you know uh-huh, the reason why
We take pride uh-huh, in Alpha Chi.
So just stay with us for awhile
And we’ll treat you Alpha Chi style. YEAH!!
And we’ll treat you Alpha Chi style. YEAH!!
And we’ll treat you Alpha Chi style.

Alpha Chi Omega’s open motto is: “Together let us seek the heights.”

We Believe

We believe in sunshine
And all the things that it can do
We believe in America
We believe red, white, and blue
We believe in love and joy
Of friendships old and new
Alpha Chi Omega
We believe in you

We believe in honest pride
And accomplishments well done
We believe in giving,
Reaching out to help someone
We believe in working hard,
We believe in having fun
Alpha Chi Omega
We believe you’re number 1.

We believe in Alpha Chi Omega
We believe in the scarlet and the olive green
We believe in sisterhood
We believe in all the good things that we’ve done and seen
We believe do you know what we mean?

We believe in the women of the golden lyre.
We believe in keeping the fraternal fire
We believe love, honor, loyalty,
Tradition for the world to see
Alpha Chi here’s my pledge

This is what I’ll do
Alpha Chi
We believe in you

Alpha Chi Round

Let us sing to Alpha Chi,
Voices ring to Alpha Chi Omega,
Sing, sing of her glories high,
Come ring voices of Alpha Chi.

When I Came To College
Tune:  “Today”

When I came to college, I found Alpha Chi.
She offered me friendships the kind you can’t buy.
The years have gone swiftly, they’re passing away.
These are the things Alpha Chi
Means to me.

You’ll be a lady and you’ll be a leader;
They’ll know who you are by the pin that you wear.
The lyre is our symbol, our symbol of singing;
We sing of the love that we share.

The tears and the laughter, the joy that we share,
The red and the green; the lyre that we wear.
We all live together, in true harmony.
These are the things Alpha Chi
Means to me.
Questions or comments, please e-mail:
Gretchen Berlin