P U R P O S E F U L LY P I P H I
Finding Strength and Empowerment Through Pi Beta Phi American healthcare practitioners. She is an enrolled member of the Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (CSKT) and advocates for health equity and social justice in health care, particularly for Indigenous communities and those underrepresented in medicine. In 1989, LeeAnna was a first-generation college student wary about beginning school in a new place with little background knowledge about higher education. “Coming from an Indian Reservation and having no context of what college would be like, I felt lost,” LeeAnna said. She went through recruitment with the hopes of finding a community at Montana State University, as well as friends and a sisterhood of women. “I am very close to my four biological sisters and my mother, but Pi Phi helped me better understand the strength of women and the importance of lifting each other up in situations where women are often the minority or seen as the weaker voice,” she said. “I have carried this with me ever since.”
LEEANNA IRVINE MUZQUIZ, Montana Alpha
Each woman who pledges herself to uphold the ideals of Pi Beta Phi does so knowing our values will stay with her throughout her life. Whether she knows the impact she can make with the core values in her heart is unknown, but it is measurable when looking at the outstanding women who have come before. To live our values is to live a life of Integrity, always striving for new personal and intellectual challenges and overcoming those challenges with the help of the Sincere Friendships made along the way. If any woman epitomizes the above description of a Pi Phi, it’s Montana Alpha LEEANNA IRVINE MUZQUIZ, M.D. Now a practicing family physician on the Flathead Indian Reservation in Montana and Associate Dean for Admissions at University of Washington School of Medicine, LeeAnna has dedicated her life to healthcare and advocating for an increased presence of Native
LeeAnna’s first year of college had its highs and lows, particularly in the spring term when she took a leave of absence after losing her father. While grappling with this loss alongside her family, LeeAnna says she felt support and love from her Montana Alpha sisters back on campus. She missed what would have been her Initiation, but her sisters were determined to ensure she could initiate when she was ready to be back on campus. When three New Members were preparing to be initiated at the end of the spring semester, LeeAnna had her opportunity too. “My sisters called and asked if I wanted to go through with it too. This call changed my life,” LeeAnna said. To this day, she remains close to the three Montana Alpha sisters with whom she was initiated — JENNIFER HELVIK, MANDY DUNLAP and WENDY WILBUR KASTELITZ. Pi Phi was a catalyst for much of the success LeeAnna has achieved, including helping her form effective study habits, build lifelong friendships and strive for her goals,
“THE LESSONS YOU LEARN IN COLLEGE AND THROUGH THE SISTERHOOD OF PI BETA PHI WILL PREPARE YOU FOR THE MANY CHALLENGES OF THE WORKFORCE, ADVANCED EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITIES AND LIFE.” 40
