Asa phoenix vol 1 no 17 mar 1915

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THE PliOEliiX

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HEARTS !1m TRUMPS

There was never such· e wonc1erful st. Valentine's Day Alpha and there will probab'l.y nev&r be such a wonderful one one thin8 it was the first ·time that it Vtas ever celebrated Day in the life of the sorority, &nd in the second plnoe it

in Alpha Sigma &8&in. r.or as a Untional was the first time that it had been set as the day oi days so far as testin5 the loyalty of the membership wna oonoernea. Tho Central Offi~e had sent out an appeal that the Baby Phoenix might be remembered on that day by both ao.tives and alumnae with valentineG that 'bore hi:J impre3s. You \7111 all be interented to learn that he got 9[, of ·~hat kind and that more are promised. You oan imagine how he.pj_1Y he \1as over them all and how it has inspired him to grow big and stronc and worthy of all the loving interest that you have shown in him.

Really there never was a baby, except Baby Herme3, that grew so fas·~!

You will recall that Little Hermes did soma wonc1orful things while he was still an infant in his cradle, that he aould walk and talk in no time at all, but the Little Phoenix has oqualle~ that record in many waya.

When he was born he weighed only four pourJdS p and you know ~e weren't at all sure that he would ever livo, but he wa3 so encouraged by the welcome he got from the members of his housaholC:. that he deoided tha·t it might ba a good idea to grow up and be a creclit to you. all.. The second w-eek he gained four pounds an0 he has gor1e right on adding that amount to his weight every vreek since, o.nc1 by the time that you. get this issue he uill tip the scales at 72 pounds, which is quite a wonderful weight for a baby only· 18 weeks old. You s&e we of th6 Central Off:f.c9 kno\7 all about it, because we put him on the sco.j.ec every woelt as resula:::·ly as cloc1t work.

But the J.>hoonix was not the only one ·tha:~ fared well this Valentine's Day. The Central Of~ice wao also remembered ~ost beautifully.

Alpha sent a box of its staiione:ry wtth the fe.cs imila of -'ljht;; badge and gold, and Alpha Gamma sent a simill!l.r gift . only the po.per was adorned. with a stunning ASA in gold. A:J..pha Beta sent a va.lGu ·cine represen·ting a girl witqh fan. If Alpha Bete. is as pre·~ty as that picture, the Central Office is not surprised at i.ts getting ma:rried so soon, and of oourse:, being snoh a hustler it wou:d need a fan to keep oool, even this oold l7eather. Oh, yes, the Unionville Graduate Club also sent a Valentine and it vras pretty enough to frame ~i -~h 1ts hearts and ita sweet senti ments. There were some others too that looked decidedly ASAish, but they wore sent my~teriously and too Central Office could only sues3 where they anme from, but labelled, or unlabellec~ , they were ell deeply ap~reciated as tokens of loving interest.

There was only one disappointing thinB about St. Valentine's Dey anii that i-:ns a statement in a le t ter :from the National Hiatorian to tho effect thnt she hacl a:1lr.e (: you all :Cor songs and you had not resp onded to her R?peal. Now, vray, what wns the trouble? Nobody can be n sorority girl of the right sort, unles!> she is just reec'! ~r any hour of the day to sin[; her head o:ff about it. Why, the Phoenix is singing all the time,and he just oa.n't urulerstanc\ ·why you don't too. Ho sent you one o:r his tunes a little ~le o.go, and he would ju~t grieve his he ~rt out, if he thought you d.1dn'1i sinr; it \'tith your whole soul. Now, do you, or don't you?

If not, why not? The Central Offioe is sure that you do, and it wnnts proof that you do, so send along your songs at once. for we wnnt to tencb the Phoenix.

DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATI CN " I hereby of fer to Al pha Sigma Alpha my fir s t contribution to t he _HOENIX as Secretary of t he Portfolio of Education. The wo rk to be done by t~is. p ortfoli~ is too big and too im~ ortant for me to carry on prmperly, and 1t 1s not ow1ng to a lack of realization of t h is fact that I have undertaken the work, but because I reali ze that someo ne must take up the various departments of our work and get them under way at once if we are to make the progress we wish. I understand that neither the President nor t he va.rious chapters can know very well in these beginning days where the really capable ones of us are, upon whom to call for the various details of. the work that is to be done if we become a real organization. Hence, wh1le I realize my own ignorance of what has been done by other fraternities along t his line, and of what remains to be done, I am willing to learn as rapidly as I can and to be helping while someone else develops her interesta d.nd powers along this line to the place where she will say, "I think I can take up that phase of the work with profit to Alpha Sigma Alpha. Let me try." So please keep in mind that I am merely a tern orary expedient, working out my few ideas as to this phase of t he work ~ather blindly, and t hat I am confidently expecting one of you to take up t he work in your turn. Don't say "I am too bus),• All of us are busy peo ple and it has been my experience that those who really are busiest learn to exonomize t heir time so as to accomplish many things aside from t heir chief task. I am not much acquainted with what other frater nities have · done educationally and will welcome a word from you directly through the "PHOENIX" at any time, telling me what others have · don e or are doing that we might profitably assimilate, or of any original ·i deas that you may have will help us realize our ambition to foster the intellectual development of every Alpha Sigma Al pha, alumna a s well as undergraduate, during her school life. and afterward. Please tell me your problems in realizing the educational phase of our sorority ideal, Alpha,Al pha Alpha, and Alpha Gamma chapters, that I may not be narrow in my vision and limited in my plans to t he needs of the one c hap ter witn which I am most acquainted.

Don't think any i dea you may have on the subject too unim ortant to contribute; it may be the spark that will set of f a whole train of i nsp iration and enthusiasm. Let our slogan in this, as in all our Al pha Sigma Al pha endeavors, be "everybody hel p. • Even Mrs. Martin, wonderfully capable and experienced as she is, cannot make Alpha Sigma Al pha what s he and you and I want it to be unle s s everybo dy helps. But just t hink what we can do if everybody helps! Since we are pros.p ective teac hers, most of us, we are familiar with the saying, "We learn to do by doing" and "We get out of a thing what we put into it", hence I want us to educ ate ourselves at once in t his way. Teachers have to be leaders and t he power that y ou devel o in Alpha Sigma Al ha affairs will be useful to ou as teachers li e u ward and ou ward. So muc h for what cooperation will do for ourselves as i ndividua s and as a s or ority.

In t hi nking over what my field of work, as Secretary of the Portfolio of Educ ation really is, I arrived at the conclusion that it is a pretty big one. Since real mental growt h implies intensified moral se nsibilities increased un derstandi ng of wrl at tention to t ne laws of hygiene and a'more elevating and richer s ocial life, my portfolia really includes the portfoli os of Ethics, Hygiene, and Social Life. All y ou future teac hers who have been required to memorize definitio ns of education as formulated by Spencer, Milton, Herb ar t, Froebel,et c etera, ad infinitum will bear me out in that statement, I am sure. I have been ~ uc h easier in'my mind since I hap oened to t hink of that, for it will be my excuse f or talking upon any subject t hat will be for the betterment of Alpha Sigma Al pha, as I hereby warn my fello w cabinet officers I may do.

Anyt hing one wis hes may be included under the title educ at ion. nu

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However, I shall try to stress intellectual development mainly, of course, By intellectual development I shall mean not merely sch olarshi p ver t h 路 hat te ds t owers ennable the i deals of serv~ce,. an _give power effectively o respon o quickened social sympath1es-1n a word, real mental growth. My point of view is a double one, if I may say that a point of view can be double. Here where I am teaching, sororities are not openly recognized. lfhey are n~t forBidden but. they , are not favori~. Many of the members of the faculty have the ~ld not1on t~t ofte~ preva11s among路 non-fraternity people, that sorority girls are the 1dle, fr1volous, society girls of the school. That is a particularly grave charge here , for most of the students are very serious earnest an~ hardw~rking . A~ a member of this faculty, I come in contact with th~s sent1~ent of d1sapprova1, and can see it from the faculty member's po1nt of v1ew. As a member of the sorority from my own student days I see the lack.:. of". un.tversali ty of ap plication of thia charge 路 and am anti ous to make outsiders realize that it is untrue-not by deceiving or covering up the real situation, b~t by making the real situation more and more ideal, forcing outsiders to realize the fact that sorority membership and scholarship, social culture and mental development, are not antithetical and opposing forces, but , on the contrary, are harmonious and complementary. bile the other chapters do not , perhaps,have the same opposition to meet from the faculty that Alpha Beta chapter has, I am sure that the sentiment does exist everywhere, among non-s orority members, and it has seemed to me that one of the problems to which we may well give time and t hought is this one. I wish each of you would think about it, seriously.

The first Point that will occur to you, probably, is the t~pe of girl we wish ASA to symbolize, educationally. It has been offered as an ogjection to sororities that they tend to establis h types, that shrewd outsiders can tell by looking at a freshman that she will make K.K.G. or .

D.G. or another definite sorority because she seems to be of the type which they foster. I can not s ee that this is a valid argument against sororities if t he ty pe be a gtod one. No one argues against Christianity on the ground t hat it tends o develop a type; but this it surely does, a ty _ e which any of us are proud to be accused of exemplifying . When one says of a women, "S he would make an ideal wife or mother", he is not accusing he r of any unwort lzy thing. So I do not hes itate to say that I should like prospective ASA girls to be judged as to their ability to come up to our ty e educationally. Our regulations set the external qualitificatio ns but t his is not all that is desirable. Is the girl a t horo student but not a drudge? Is she desirous of merely making grades or does she study because she realizes its value and enjoys that kind of activity? Is she a girl who will cause all the other ASAs to rejoice over her intellectual powers, or is she one that the sponsors will have to drag through scho ol at the expanse of many weary hours of tutoring? I am not anxious that ASA accept only new members that could meet Phi Beta Kappa scholastic requirements, but it does seem to me that there can be greater congeniality i n a band of students no one of whom is a thorn in the flesh , intellectually, to the so rority, and that there would be more power, -power to disarm outside criticism, and to accomplish much for t he betterment of student scholahlp . You owe it to ASA to consider these matters carefully before pledging a n ew girl. Had you not better do without her than to lower your type o1 to lessen your efficiency as a chapter in A.S.A.?

The next point that ~ill come to your mind is, prob ably, the present membership - how can A.S.A. help the girl who is already a member, do her best work intellectually? MY ans wer is, by fostering in every possible way answering loyalty to the sorority and to the ideals _for which it stands. Loyalty will make a girl ashamed to fall below what s ne wants ASA to ty9ify intellectually to outsiders, and will cause her to help every on e of her sisters UP the stee p and rugged path of kno wled g e~

any devices are used in other eororities to heln accom >lis h t his result and.we may~o~t ~ome of them, but I am sure that - the right kind of loyal: ty 1n every g1rl s heart will do more than any thing el~e can.

May I ask that each chapter a?point some one to write me what you ~ave been doing to inspire the ~ irls to keeo u their scholarship standar~? Do you ~ffer any prize, ~uch as a banner, cup, or piece of Alpha ~19ma Alpha Jewelry, ~or the highest grades? Do you or the college author1t1es make any compar1son of the grades of sorority members with those of non-sorority members? Do you keep a book of the questions used on examinations? These devices are all used by other fraternities and we may well use them for what there is in them. There are better sugges~ tiona that I am ho 9ing will be sent in. Of course the " HOENIX" expects you to tabulate the percentage of grades of the rank of "G" or above and report promptly each semester. Which chapter will stand at the head of our first scholarship roll?

Yours for a broader intellectual development for ev ery A.S.A. Ida A. Jewett, Alpha Beta Chapter.

COHGRATULATIONS As stated before in t nis issue, there have been received to date 95 subscrittions for the "P OENIX". To t his may be added a few others that wil undoubtedly come in owing to reaent or prospective initiations. There is every i ndication that the hope of the Central Office for 100 subscriptions at least will be realized. Tnerefore the desired 25 _issues will appear the present school year. Your Na tional President desires to thank, in the name of the sorority, those alumnae who came forward so cordially with their support of the magazine, even before they were initiated into the reorganized society, and before they could really understand the great changes that had come to pas s, the change in ritual and constitution, t he change in outlook, in work and ambitions.

But splendid, lumnae, as has been your cordial support, and it was ass tlredly splendid, for you sent together 42 subscriptions, still there is much credit due to the active girls, for they have not only sent in 53 subscriptions , but they have also put up the price of the mac hine that did the printing, and that meant f30. ~here is every likelihood that we shall close the year with an active membership of 60, and when those extra subscriptions come in, it will mean that the active girls will each have subscribed what is practically equivalent to a s ub scription and a half. You can see, then, how hard they have tried to help ma~e the sorority mean a lot to you Alumnae.

In view of these facts, your National President does not feel the least hesitation in asking you Alumnae to aid us to secure 25 subscriptions at once. Some of you are already working and may have the extra subscriptions that you were trying for right in your hands now, but we want you to keep right on trying for others, and we want those who have not tried so far 8o start rig ht in this very week . e will tell you wey we want this extra money, in spite of the fact that we have enough on hand to publish the full 25 issues. If the active chapters had not put up the price of t he mac nine, the 95 subscriptions would not have been published more than 16 numbers. We should have to stop right now. The mac nine is good for an indefinite time and will continue to do as good work as it has done to date but the expenditure of 125 will g ive us an additional equip~ent here in the office that will improve t he work 100% and malce it vastly easier for those that do the work, t hus saving time f or other things that are vitally i mportant. Hds the Central Office demonstrated that it is worthy of additional alumnae supoor t, or not?