FROM THE EDITOR

Dear readers,

When I joined Alpha Sigma Alpha just weeks after stepping foot on campus, I didn’t give much thought to what my membership would look like as an alumna. Like many other sorority women, I joined looking for a place I could be myself with other women who made me feel at home. While I found that and so much more, there is one memory that sticks in my mind; I was at the mall with a few chapter sisters wearing a shirt proudly displaying Alpha Sigma Alpha’s letters. While I was walking, a woman stopped me and excitedly said, “I was an AΣA in college!” At the time, I was excited to meet a fellow sister. As I got closer to graduation and eventually started my career promoting the lifelong benefits of joining a sorority, that interaction replayed in my mind as I heard more and more women from all sororities say, “I was in a sorority.”

In college, many of us proudly say “It isn’t for four years, it is for life,” but when we graduate we switch our language to saying, “I was in a sorority.” Our benefits of membership do not end on graduation day, just as our commitments do not end. We pledged to give ourselves freely to Alpha Sigma Alpha and in turn, the Sorority would do the same.

Through my role working at national headquarters and in my conversations with other National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) sorority women, I have seen firsthand the power of a lifelong sisterhood. I have seen members rally for a sister whom they have never met when her house tragically burned down.

I have seen a group of women in their 70's share how their sisters have been by their side since they joined a sorority. I have seen dedicated volunteers mentor young women and help them find a foothold in their career. It is these acts of sisterhood that have reinforced the need to welcome as many women as possible into this transformative supportive experience. All of these things and more make me more than proud to be a lifelong member.

I hope the next time someone mentions the sorority experience, you will proudly tell them, “I AM an Alpha Sigma Alpha.”

In Agape Love, Alyssa Miles

ALYSSA HUTCHINSON MILES, ΘZ DIRECTOR OF COMMUNICATIONS & MARKETING

Volume 109 | Issue 2

Phoenix of Alpha Sigma Alpha (USPS 430-640) is published quarterly by Alpha Sigma Alpha, 9002 Vincennes Circle, Indianapolis, IN, 46268-3018. Periodicals postage paid at Indianapolis, IN and additional mailing offices. © Alpha Sigma Alpha

Send address changes, death notices and business correspondence to the national headquaters. Address all editorial correspondence to the editor.

POSTMASTER: Send address changes (Form 3579) to Phoenix of Alpha Sigma Alpha, 9002 Vincennes Circle, Indianapolis, IN 46268-3018. Printed in the USA.

EDITOR

Alyssa Miles, Director of Communications & Marketing

DEADLINES

Fall June 10

Winter Sept. 10

Spring Dec. 10 NATIONAL HEADQUARTERS 9002 Vincennes Circle Indianapolis, IN 46268-3018 Phone: (317) 871-2920

Fax: (317) 871-2924 Email: AΣA@AlphaSigmaAlpha.org