Pi Kappa Alpha’s Garnet Girl

ARTICLE BY JASON GONG / Staff Designer

PHOTOS BY LAMBDA MU CHAPTER - PI KAPPA ALPHA

DESIGN BY JASON GONG / Staff Designer

Pi Kappa Alpha’s first annual Fireman’s Challenge is a competition between sororities on campus to raise money for their philanthropy, the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation. Participants will include brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha, campus sororities, and students of Embry-Riddle. Each sorority will select a sister to be their chapter’s representative in the campaign for Pi Kappa Alpha’s Garnet Girl. Each contestant will have a coach who will be a brother from Pi Kappa Alpha and help them with their campaign. Each event will be part of a point system determining the winner. The contestant with the highest overall score at the end of the week will be crowned Pi Kappa Alpha’s Garnet Girl and the Fireman’s Challenge winner.

Congress created the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation to lead a nationwide effort to honor America’s fallen firefighters. Since 1992, the foundation has developed and expanded programs that fulfill that mandate. Their mission is to honor and remember America’s fallen fire heroes and to provide resources to assist their families in rebuilding their lives and work within the fire service community to reduce firefighter deaths and injuries. Each year, the foundation sponsors the official national tribute to all firefighters who died in the line of duty during the previous year. Thousands attend the weekend activities held at the National Fire Academy in Emmitsburg, Maryland. The Weekend features special programs for families and co-workers and moving public ceremonies.

Nearly 100 participants from three sororities and the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity engaged in many exhilarating events, including cornhole, tug-of-war, relay races, and the extraordinary feat of pulling a firetruck. The annual Field Day festivities brought together students in a spirit of camaraderie and friendly competition. However, the true purpose of the challenge was to raise funds for the National Fallen Firefighters Foundation (NFFF).

This year, the fraternity collected over $4,500 in donations, demonstrating their unwavering commitment to supporting a noble cause. Amidst the laughter and excitement, Sigma Kappa emerged as the first-ever Fireman’s Field Day champion. Christina Kruse (Sigma Sigma Sigma)‘s exceptional performance earned her the title of Garnet Girl. The event will surely be remembered as a highlight of the year for all who participated, united by the common goal of giving back to the community.

Sigma Kappa

“Hi, my name is Jemma Amato and I was Sigma Kappa’s contestant for the Garnet Girl Competition. I grew up in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and I am a sophomore in Aerospace Engineering here at EmbryRiddle. I decided to run for Garnet Girl because I feel like it is important for every organization in the Greek community to be connected. I wanted to try to help further Sigma Kappa’s relationship with the Pi Kappa Alpha fraternity and I feel like I am already making a difference. I also am very invested in their philanthropic efforts to help out the fire departments. Growing up I always volunteered at fire houses and I was excited to continue that through the competition.”

Jenna Amato

Alpha Xi Delta

“Hey everyone! My name is Izzy and I was the representative from Alpha Xi Delta. I’m from Locust Grove, Georgia, and have grown up always wanting to help make a difference. I ran for Garnet Girl because I felt a personal connection to The National Fallen Firefighter Foundation as my grandfather was a firefighter. The immense respect and admiration I have for those who put their lives on the line every day is what makes me so proud to help raise money for this philanthropy. I want to support Pi Kappa Alpha because of everything the brothers have done for me and how they have changed my college experience. I want to be able to help give back to them and what they support. I want to help in every way possible.”

Izzy Taylor

Sigma Sigma Sigma

“Hi! I’m Christina Kruse and I represented Sigma Sigma Sigma in the Garnet Girl competition. I wanted to be the contestant because I want to support the amazing brothers of Pi Kappa Alpha and their philanthropy, The Fallen Firefighters Foundation. It is important to me to support not only Tri Sigma’s philanthropies through events like HFS, but other organization’s philanthropies on campus. It has always been a goal of mine to support causes that are important to me, and I have continued to do this through my collegiate and academic career. It has been a pleasure working with the men of Pi Kappa Alpha and my sorority sisters while fundraising. We were excited to compete in their first Garnet Girl competition and Fireman’s Challenge.”

Christina Kruse

We are graduate and undergraduate students in the Research in User eXperience (RUX) Lab in the Department of Human Factors and Behavioral Neurobiology. RUX investigates the usability and user experience of technology in our everyday world. This is a regular column that explores different technologies typically used by Embry-Riddle students.