ABOUT US

Our chapter was formed in 1994 as Gamma Chi.
We currently have 14 members.

Laureate Eta Nu members are each assigned a month to host the meeting, program and a social and provide a “doorprize”.  Host members determine where the meeting will be held, either member’s home or restaurant.  Host members also plan the chapter social for their assigned month. 

CHAPTER EXECUTIVE BOARD

Our 2024-2025 Chapter Executive Board is:

Laurie Musachia, PresidentPatti Kallus, Vice PresidentGisele Medina, Recording SecretaryJoanie Sealy, Corresponding SecretaryKristi Hopkins, Treasurer

HOUSTON CITY COUNCIL

Since our chapter’s inception, our proud members have been very active in Houston City Council and have always given it our full support.  We have entered every contest, and won every contest, many (including Council Participation, Chapter Participation and Yearbook), multiple times.  We have had an HCC Queen, a Princess and a Sweetheart.  We have served in every position on the HCC Executive Board, and we have had three past HCC Presidents and a two term Parliamentarian.  With the exception of the Website Committee, we have chaired and participated on all other HCC committees.  We are very proud to have “Put Our Hearts” into HCC, and we greatly value the association.

CHAPTER HISTORY

Our chapter began as a friendly venture chapter of Laureate Zeta Lambda (at that time it was known as Preceptor Epsilon Alpha).  Margaret Heimberg, Pat Miller and Kay Shea were our Advisors.  Their chapter, Laureate Zeta Lambda hosted a "rush tea" at Pat Miller's home in November 1993 and potential pledges attended their December meetings.

From this beginning emerged the first three members of the chapter - Connie Noble, Vickie Buschke and Laurie Musachia. Margaret Heimberg hosted our first "informal" meeting on January 10, 1994, whereby we voted to take the name "GAMMA CHI".  We elected each other as officers pro-tem until we had a larger membership.  Meetings were held on the 2nd and 4th Wednesdays of each month.  We began super active rushing!  February/March meetings were held at Vickie Buschke's office, which we quickly outgrew.

By our April 27th meeting we had attended the Sweetheart Banquet, all Houston City Council meetings as guests, held a social, attended a social and filled our coffers by working the Houston International Festival with our advisors.  By May 27, 1994, we were ten members strong and began official pledge training.  Officers were elected and committee chairs appointed.  The Ritual of Jewels Degree and installations were given to us at a beautiful candlelight ceremony at Vargo's gazebo among the azaleas in May of 1995.  Laureate Zeta Lambda were our guests at the ritual and we all had champagne and dined together afterwards.

In May of 1999, members of Gamma Chi progressed to Exemplar status and we had a big celebration at Raveneaux Country Club, with all members of Houston City Council invited to attend.  We had 26 guests!  We kept the ritual name of Gamma Chi for one year in an effort to replace the chapter and keep it alive.  In April of 2000, we progressed the chapter to Exemplar status and celebrated again at the beautiful Vargo's; this time with just our new chapter.  Our new chapter name became “XI BETA”.   We announced our new name by presenting a program at Houston City Council and giving all the attendees, photo albums with an announcement of the change on the cover.

In May of 2005, 13 members strong, 5 members of Xi Beta progressed to Preceptor and all members voted to progress the chapter to “PRECEPTOR ETA CHI” at a beautiful ritual presided over by Kathy Gamble’s mother, Marie Boston, a Beta Sigma Phi of over 50 years.   We were all so honored to have Kathy's mother there as she introduced Kathy to "sorority" and Kathy is one of the "founding members" of our chapter.  Marie gave us all BSP champagne flutes to toast our new chapter and as a memento of the occasion.  In May of 2006, 3 additional members progressed to Preceptor.In 2007-2008, we added two new members, Trudi Spring and Lauren Nguyen who became  involved, cherished additions.  In 2008-2009, we welcomed another three new members; Gisele Medina, Kerry Bost and Carolyn Teague.  We were very proud to have these ladies join us, and we became 15 members strong.

In 2011, Kathy Gamble’s Mother, Marie Boston, now residing in Houston, became a distinguished and honored member of our chapter.  We were saddened when Marie passed away in July 2012, and we memorialized her in March of 2013 by giving her the Torchbearer Ritual.In May of 2015, 8 members of Preceptor Eta Chi progressed to Laureate.  The ritual was held in a beautiful private room at the lovely Brix Restaurant and Wine Bar in Vintage Park.  Margaret Heimberg, Mary Jane Hue and Alice White were honored guests and officiants.  One member, Lela Burgess, was given the Silver Circle ritual and Kerry Bost and Gisele Medina were given the Exemplar Ritual.  We had appetizers and wine before the Rituals, then the Rituals, followed by a lovely dinner and more wine.  The chapter was also progressed to Laureate, and the new chapter name became “LAUREATE ETA NU”. 

In August of 2016, we held our first Beginning Day out of state, as we visited our President’s (Ivelysse Swan) retirement home in White Haven, Pennsylvania.  Now in September of 2016, lives change and some members have left, however, we remain 13 members strong and are excitedly preparing to give Donna Barnes the Laureate Ritual.   We also plan to “Put Our Hearts” into another fun year of programs and socials. In August of 2018, Kathleen Killen transferred to our chapter, and we gave her the welcoming ritual and her first ride in a limo.  Kathleen introduced us to crochet and her proud military background.  
 In November of 2019, 8 members of the chapter, Vickie Buschke, Connie Clark, Kathy Gamble, Judy Hood, Kristi Hopkins, Patti Kallus, Laurie Musachia and Connie Noble were given the Silver Circle Ritual.  One member, Lela Burgess was given the Golden Circle Ritual.   Kathleen Killen was given the Preceptor Ritual then later after retirement, decided to become a Member at Large.

We barely held our March 2020 meeting at the home of Connie Noble, when the country began to shelter in place on stay at home orders for the COVID-19 virus.  We had to cancel our March social to Bolivar Peninsula and our April meeting and social to the Bluebonnet Festival; however, we held a zoom happy hour on April 8, 2020 with all members present, and we did our announcements.  Reports for our April meeting were sent by email in anticipation of a short zoom meeting hosted by our President Kerry Bost on April 10, 2020.  Officer nominations and elections were also held by email and Kathy Gamble was the 2020-2021 President to lead us out of our quarantine.

Laureate Eta Nu members were back in full swing with in person meetings for the full year of 2021-2022, and even added a new member, Teresa Sturtevant.   Patti Kallus was our President, Sweetheart and HCC Queen, Woman of the Year.   Laurie Musachia served as HCC Treasurer.  Connie Clark is still commuting to meetings from Boerne, Texas and Kerry Bost moved to Aggieland and is building a new home and also commuting.  Kerry hosted the chapter for an overnight social in College Station with a tour of historic Bryan, Texas and this social was voted Best Social by our Chapter.   In March, we celebrated Laurie Musachia’s grandson “Little Roger” becoming an Envoy II and we cheered to learn that Laurie’s daughter Angelica has another little Envoy II on the way.  We celebrated our theme, 90 years to shine, with programs from the decades beginning with the inception of Beta Sigma Phi in the 1930’s to present day.  Connie Noble’s program on 1970-1975 was voted Best Program as members shared their old pictures from the period and told how they were shining at that time.  A very diverse history of graduations, marriages and child births during the 70’s was revealed as Sisters learned even more about one another.  With all our differences, we are bound as Sisters in Beta Sigma Phi and are looking forward to the 2022-2023 year with our newly elected President, Vickie Buschke and her board, and Laurie serving as HCC Treasurer for a second term. 

In 2022-23, 6 members of Laureate Eta Nu, Connie Noble, Vickie Buschke, Kristi Hopkins, Kathy Gamble, Patti Kallus and Judy Hood progressed to Master Degree at a lovely ritual hosted at Connie Noble’s home.  Donna Barnes was also given her Silver Circle ritual that same night.  The theme this year, “Friends at your Fingertips”, was translated into programs about special letters and correspondence between members and friends and the lost art of letter writing.  Laurie Musachia’s daughter Angelica gave her a new grandson, “Abe” who we hope to welcome as Envoy II in a few years.  Laurie wrapped up her second year as HCC Treasurer and will be enjoying more time with her 6 young grandchildren.  Unfortunately, our longtime member Connie Clark decided it was time to go Member at Large as the drive from Boerne, Texas was becoming too much.  We will sure miss Connie, but hope she may visit sometime, as she will always be our treasured sister.    At Founder’s Day, we celebrated Vickie Buschke as not only our President, but Sweetheart and Woman of the Year.

Laureate Eta Nu had a very eventful 2023-2024 sorority year. We kicked off with Gisele Medina as our new President. Gisele hosted a lovely Beginning Day for all at Positino’s and presented us with this year’s theme charm, “Watch Beta Sigma Phi Grow &amp; Bloom”. Gisele also took on Online Yearbook chair in addition to President and successfully switched us over from what was becoming an expensive online website to a “free” Weebly site. In May of 2023, we added another new member, Joanie Sealy, who was referred to us by Glenda Johnson, also a Beta Sigma Phi and former HCC member. We knew right of way that Joanie was a perfect fit with us. Joanie received her pledge ritual at our meeting in July and hit the groundrunning on pledge training conducted by our diligent VP, Kathy Gamble. Lela Burgess was given her Master’s Ritual at the October meeting, so now we have 7 of us in the chapter with the Master degree. In November, Gisele and Kerry received the Order of the Rose ritual at The Gulls Weekend social/ritual hosted by Connie Noble in Crystal Beach, Texas. At the November meeting, Teresa Sturtevant advanced to Preceptor with her Preceptor Ritual. At the January meeting, Joanie having successfully passed her stringent testing on all things Beta Sigma Phi, received her Rituals of Jewel ritual. The ritual committee chair and co-chairs (Connie, Kathy and Kerry) were very busy this year! Unfortunately, Vickie Buschke decided to go Member at Large in December of 2023. Vickie, a member since our inception in 1994, will be missed, and we hope she will rejoin us in the future.  On January 18, 2024, Laurie Musachia kicked off the New Year and welcomed grandchild no. 7 as her daughter Hope brought Madalyn Elena into the world, another beautiful Legacy to be. In February we celebrated our Sweetheart, Gisele Medina, at the lovely Sweetheart event hosted by HCC at the Ballroom at Tanglewood. At the HCC Legacy Envoy Event in March, Laurie’s two granddaughters, Mia Rose Vigil and Ariel Grace Vigil became Legacies. At Founder’s Day in April we celebrated Gisele Medina as Laureate Eta Nu “Woman of the Year”. It was also announced at our “after party” that the LEN “Best Program” of the year was given by Ivelysse Swan, on “What a Challenge!” about her 37 year career with the VA and the mentors that helpedher “bloom” along the way. The “Best Social” was Connie Noble’s “Gulls Weekend and Order of the Rose” and the “Best Service Project” was the Dress A Girl Project, Teresa Sturtevant Chair, Ivelysse Swan Co-Chair.

PAST PRESIDENTS

1993-1994 before official	Connie Noble
Gamma Chi1994-1995			Connie Noble1995-1996			Vickie Buschke1996-1997			Beth (Koenig) Garney1997-1998			Kathy (Gabbart) Gamble
1998-1999                  Connie Clark1999-2000			Patti Kallus
Xi Mu Eta2000-2001			Kristi Hopkins2001-2002			Judy Hood2002-2003			Laurie Musachia2003-2004			Donna Barnes2004-2005			Ivelysse Swan2005-2006			Vickie Buschke
Preceptor Eta Chi2006-2007			Connie Noble2007-2008			Patti Kallus2008-2009			Lela Burgess2009-2010			Kathy Gamble2010-2011			Laurie Musachia2011-2012			Kerry Bost	2012-2013			Gisele Medina
Laureate Eta Nu2013-2014			Kristi Hopkins2014-2015			Judy Hood2015-2016			Lela Burgess2016-2017			Ivelysse Swan2017-2018			Donna Barnes2018-2019			Connie Noble2019-2020			Kerry Bost2020-2021			Kathy Gamble
2021-2022                  Patti Kallus2022-2023			Vickie Buschke
2023-2024                  Gisele Medina
2024-2025                  Laurie Musachia (Current)

CHAPTER LEGACIES AND ENVOY II's

LegaciesCaitlyn Nunnellee Navarro (1995)Angelica Nicole Musachia (1996)Sarah Hood Romando (2001)Ellen Claire Bost (2010)Emily Kate Bost (2010)Aaliyah Arianna Hood (2011)Brenna Lynn Barnes (2011)Allison Gayle Barnes (2014)Hayley Grace Powers (2015)Josette Musachia (2016)Hope Musachia (2016)
Miranda Johnson (2017)
Ariel Grace Vigil (2024)
Mia Rose Vigil (2024)
Envoy II’sElijah Thayer Navarro (1st Envoy II in Beta Sigma Phi) (2011)Rayce Navarro (2016)Liam Michael Powers (2015)
Rogelio Galvan (2022)