FROM THE PRESIDENT

from The Phoenix of Alpha Sigma Alpha | Fall 2022

CHAPTER & INDIVIDUAL AWARDS

Founders’ Day Message

BY AMBER SHAVERDI HUSTON, HH, NATIONAL PRESIDENT

Fall is my favorite season; it tends to be filled with optimism – it’s early in the football season, there are sorority events filling our calendars, and for my family, spending nights by the fire pit. This season also brings us the opportunity to celebrate our beloved Sorority. Fall is filled with welcoming new members, whether that be celebrating friends & family who have joined, supporting your collegiate chapter from afar, advising or actively recruiting. It’s a true full circle time. Not only are we celebrating more than a thousand new members, but we are also celebrating over a hundred years of Alpha Sigma Alpha.

Each November we celebrate Founders’ Day. Some of us have the ability to get together with chapter sisters, commemorate through the ritual service or for those that don’t live close to a sorority sister, it may be calling that sister you haven’t talked to in far too long but miss and need a good laugh. Celebrating what the sorority has given you, the sisterhood and the women who created Alpha Sigma Alpha isn’t something that should be kept to Nov. 15, but sometimes having the date on the calendar helps us reflect on who and what we’ve gained from our sorority experiences. Taking time to connect with sisters – those that you talk to regularly and those that you miss, there is no better excuse than to say, “I read the Phoenix and it made me think of you.”

As I think back on the founding of Alpha Sigma Alpha, I often wonder about the Founders. I wish I could ask them about their lives in 1901. Did they come together trying to help more women gain access to college? What change did they want to see in the world? How did the Sorority became a shared vision? What were their dreams for the Sorority? What did they see as Alpha Sigma Alpha’s role in shaping the future for women? How did they envision the Sorority to help prepare women to impact the world? I turn to our ritual and historical documents, which is where we find the answers.

Alpha Sigma Alpha’s Founders and early members gave us a roadmap on how to cultivate friendship among members who are known for their character and concern for others. Love is woven throughout the Sorority’s early messages. We are asked to practice patience, demonstrate kindness, be generous and to give love unselfishly. The Sorority asks each of us to demonstrate self-control, self-confidence and self-sacrifice. This promise has been made for more than a hundred years by thousands and thousands of members, and yet it’s a commitment that feels timely today. When so much in the world changes quickly, this aspect of the Sorority has stood the test of time. The Sorority’s role in helping members find confidence is ongoing. As members, we are individuals who daily demonstrate self-control and sacrifice for the betterment of others. This is something we work for each day and happens through living out our values.

In honor of 121 years, cheers to agape love and to the fearless leaders who came together and dreamed of a sorority that would elevate the influence of women in the world. May we aspire to honor their vision, seek to give unselfishly and attain a sisterhood that empowers all members.

Happy Founders’ Day Alpha Sigma Alpha,

Members from the Iota Alpha Chapter. Early members of the Alpha Chapter in 1903.