Six young ladies chartered Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Incorporated, Sigma Kappa Chapter at Central Michigan University in Mount Pleasant, Mich. on March 29, 1980.
The Centennial officers are: Tiera Radford, Basileus; Alexis Brown, First Anti-Basileus; Lauren Lomax, Grammateus; Jenae Green, Tamias; Teka Richardson, Phylacter; Kendall Bragg, Epistoleus; and Jenae Green, Liaison.
Community Involvement
We have an every-other-week service project created by Soror Ambrean Ford in 2019. It is called the Arthur Hill High School Project. Sorors visit this Saginaw-based high school on designated Fridays to speak with at-risk female students. We have witnessed a positive impact on their lives. This project won a SOAR Award (Student Organization Award Recognition) through the Office of Fraternity & Sorority Life on CMU’s campus.
For our 2019 Finer Womanhood Week, the theme came from the sitcom “A Different World.” The week consisted of social, mental health, sexual health, physical health, a fundraiser and service event. It was a busy week, but so rewarding! There was a quilt-making event. The quilts were donated to Laurel’s Nursing Home.
Sigma Kappa had begun working with Laurel’s Nursing Home in spring 2019, thanks to a semester-long service project that Soror Alexis Brown established. The chapter would make cards and pass out flowers at Laurel’s.
The Finer Womanhood Week fundraiser in February 2019 benefited the March of Dimes. It was called “Zeta WarZ,” where each member of Sigma Kappa had a jar and it was a weeklong sisterly competition to see who could collect the most money. The ending result was fantastic. Sigma Kappa raised $500 for March of Dimes!
We put on a lot of programs for the national Z-HOPE initiative (Zetas Helping Other People Excel). We pride ourselves on our programs and the ability to go to people and help them excel. Some of our programs have touched on financial literacy, Zumba, mental health, sexual health and community service.
More About Us
An annual Zeta/Sigma event that we host is the Blue and White Christmas Party with Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Incorporated, Lambda Gamma Chapter. Every December, we have a Christmas Party where there are games, a gingerbread house contest, hot chocolate and a blue Santa Claus. It’s a fun event that brings out the community for a festive time. We always support our Sigmas at their events and they support us!
We hosted undergraduate retreat at Central Michigan University on Saturday, Nov. 2, 2019. Some awards that we have won are the Michigan State Organization 50th Anniversary Social Media Takeover Award, Michigan State Organization 50th Anniversary Undergraduate Chapter of the Year, among others.
As a chapter, we make sure we celebrate our founders every chance we get, especially on Founders’ Day. We plan some kind of celebration for the community to come together and celebrate our courageous founders and thank them for paving the way for us.
Legacies
As of 2020, our most recent Zeta legacies are Sorors Shayna Branson, Alexis Brown and Vanessa Holmon. One Zeta leader and trailblazer that was a part of the Sigma Kappa chapter is Andrea Buckley. Buckley is a trailblazer that we look up to because she was the undergraduate member at-large, moving on to become Undergrad Retreat Host and ZOL Committee member. ZOL stands for Zeta Organizational Leadership Program, an intensive certification training for the Sisterhood.
Note: This is part of the Michigan State Organization’s online series The MSO Great History Countdown! Our Centennial Journey to State Meeting to leave a lasting gift to the state in honor of Zeta’s 100th anniversary. Histories from every graduate and undergraduate chapter in Michigan is being published in the month of September 2020 in the days leading up to the centennial state meeting. The project was approved under State Director Lynese Thomas’ administration, and overseen by MSO Epistoleus Earlene McMichael in partnership with MSO Historian Trudy Hale and Great Lakes Region Historian Norma Dartis.
