By MARIA VLAHOS
Contributing writer
[email protected]

On Saturday, April 16, the ladies of the Iota Chapter of Alpha Sigma Kappa- Women in Technical Studies initiated its Beta Class, the first class that has been initiated since the sorority was installed on March 5, 2016.

Alpha Sigma Kappa is one of the newer sororities on campus. It is a social sorority that is catered to women in the science, technology, engineering and math majors. It was founded on May 1, 1989 at the University of Minnesota. The sorority promotes friendship, leadership, and support for women in these fields where they are usually a minority.

The Iota Chapter of Alpha Sigma Kappa was installed last month in a large ceremony where many members of the National Board and other chapters came to celebrate the ladies. The sorority initiated ten girls from various science majors such as forensic science, marine biology, mechanical engineering, chemistry, and many more. The Beta class was wearing all white as part of a tradition set forth by the chapter. “There was a whirl wind of emotions happening at once and not just from me,” said Latisha Hughes, a sophomore forensic science major who was initiated as a member of the Beta class.
“I am ecstatic. I never knew that I would ever make it to this part of my life. The point where I have so many people in my corner helping me and pushing me to become this unstoppable person. Beta initiation was the highlight of my whole college experience because I made life long friends, I should actually say family who I can see myself stopping the whole world just to make happy,” Hughes continued.

After the ceremony, the beta class received their first set of letters, which were the chapter letters. Many photos were taken with all the families and big little pairings. An Alumna Ceremony was also held to honor senior Marine Biology major, Megan Smith.

The next day was another small ceremony where the bigs presented their littles with the family letters and the littles gave their bigs their paddles. There was a lot of excitement in the room while everyone was unwrapping their paddles. Everyone was eager to show each other the wonderful paddles that their littles made for them. Many designs included Disney inspired paddles, major inspired paddles, paddles with the big’s favorite animals, and of course, lots of glitter and bows.

“The Beta Class is comprised of ten marvelous and unique women. I am so glad that I was able to work with them as candidate educator and see them grow not only as a class, but also as individual women. This past Saturday marked the completion of their candidate process and the final step of them becoming initiated sisters of Alpha Sigma Kappa. I don’t think I have ever met a kinder and more driven group of people. I personally cannot wait to see the amazing things they do for our organization, our university, and accomplish in their lives,” said The Candidate Educator Lindsey Finneral.