February has been a long month. I’ve spent it with a 17 year-old-dog whose days are truly numbered. We love him; he’s been a terrific member of our family, and it is heartbreaking to see him go downhill. Worse than toilet training two two-year-olds is how I describe it, and we lived through two two-year-olds with a three-and-a-half -year-old thrown in for good measure.
Here’s some of what I missed writing about in February:
Jeopardy! fans noted that there was a category called “Sorority Sisters” on a recent episode.
The answer to this question is “What is the United States Marine Corps?
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Congratulations to Tri Delta, Meryl Davis, who along with her partner Charlie White brought home a Gold medal from the 2014 Sochi Olympics. It is America’s first Gold medal in Ice Dancing. They also shared in a team Bronze medal.
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Congratulations to the Penn State’s IFC/Panhellenic Dance Marathon, “THON”, a yearlong effort to raise funds and awareness for the fight against pediatric cancer. This year’s THON raised more than $13 million. Since it debut in 1977, THON has raised more than $114 million for the Four Diamonds Fund at Penn State Hershey Children’s Hospital. How amazing is that!
Looking on to March…..
Sunday, March 2 is Theodor Seuss Geisel’s birthday. A Sigma Phi Epsilon, Geisel is much better known as Dr. Seuss. And while Geisel left this world in 1991, Dr. Seuss lives on. March 2 is also the National Education Association’s Read Across America Day in his honor. At least two NPC organizations have a tie-in to this day, Kappa Kappa Gamma and Pi Beta Phi, the Monmouth Duo. One of Kappa’s Philanthropies is Reading is Fundamental. Pi Phi’s Read > Lead > Achieve initiative centers on literacy and Pi Phi celebrates its Day of Service on March 2.
Monday, March 3 is the 14th National Panhellenic Conference International Badge Day. NPC members are asked to proudly pin on their badge and wear their letters over their heart. NPC is more than four million women strong. A study released by U.S. News stated that in the fall of 2012, on the average, 9.3% of undergraduate women were members of a sorority. For the schools ranked in their top ten with the highest levels of sorority participation, the average was 63% of undergraduate degree-seeking women. Washington and Lee University had the top number with 82% of women involved in sorority life and the highest percentage of men (81%) involved in fraternity life. I strongly feel that we NPC women get an awfully lot done, especially when that, on the average less than 10% presence, number is factored in!
March 3 also marks the 101st anniversary of the Suffrage parade in Washington, D.C. Last year’s post was a first-hand account given as part of testimony to a Senate committee. Emilie Margaret White, an alumna of the Pi Beta Phi chapter at George Washington University, marched. She was one of those women who was subjected to the jeers and insults of anti-suffrage men who were in town for Woodrow Wilson’s inauguration. Please encourage the collegians you know to read White’s account of the events. J. Edgar Hoover, who was then a high school student, also makes an appearance. The post is at http://wp.me/p20I1i-F4.
© Fran Becque, www.fraternityhistory.com, 2014. All Rights Reserved.
