UWW Charter’s Becoming and What They Are Up To
Written by Angela Yang
On the 24th of August 2020, the Charter “CHiP” Class at the University of Wisconsin-Whitewater was officially inducted as Sisters of Alpha Phi Gamma National Sorority, Incorporated. The Thirteen Sisters are Jessica “Olaf” Aldama, Fatima“¡GLAMOUR!” Barajas, Montserrat “<3Piece” Cuevas, Caitlin “SE7EN47” Horvatin, Lynnette “Ponyo” Lee, Gabrielle “Luciole” Palmer, Silinapha “*IGNITE” Saycocie, Juliana “Valencia” Thor, Malina “NiGHTiNGAL3.” Vang, Julie “ipsy” Vue, Maikou “SÄGE” Xiong, Tiffany “Vibrance” Xiong, and Angela “AdrestiA” Yang.
These Sisters were formerly known as members of Women In Social Empowerment (WISE), an interest group established in the Fall of 2018. These women saw the lack of multicultural voice in the University greek system. They were determined to find and build an empowering home where women of different nationalities could foster strong bonds with one another while serving the community and bringing awareness to their cultural values. We are proud to be established as the first Asian-interest sorority on campus and the first Alpha Phi Gamma Charter in Wisconsin.
Since our charter, we have held several varying events and activities to build our bonds with others on our campus and as sisters. For instance, throughout this semester, our sisters were assigned to one another anonymously by our Sisterhood Chair, Tiffany “Vibrance” Xiong. The purpose of this Sisterhood activity is to send letters, messages and/or gifts to support one another and remind each other to take care of oneself. We find these reminders to be extremely uplifting, especially when we least expect them!
The month of October is Domestic Violence Awareness Month. From October 19th to October 23rd, we hosted a philanthropy bingo fundraiser in which we asked our family, friends and sisters for monetary donations to be received by The Waukesha Women’s Center, located in Waukesha, Wisconsin. All together we raised $250 as a result! This will assist the Center to fund items like body wash, bath towels, disinfectant wipes, non-perishable foods, and others. During the same week, on October 22nd, our Philanthropy Chair, Gabrielle “Luciole” Palmer, held an event that focused on our national philanthropy, titled “Philanthropy Bingo”. This event was informative for sisters to learn more about the violence toward women.
We also held an event on October 23rd, hosted by our Vice President, Angela “AdrestiA” Yang, titled “The 19th Amendment and the Women’s Suffrage Movement Educational Event”. The goal of the event was to educate individuals about the 19th Amendment and women’s suffrage movement through a presentation and interactive activities. Not to mention, we wanted to increase awareness for the recent presidential election. The presentation included a video describing what the Amendment is as well as detailing the women’s suffrage movement. It also included information about these two main focuses, outlining its becoming and importance. The interactive activities were questions and discussions, a competitive quiz game, a word cloud and visual board about what the 19th Amendment and women’s suffrage movement meant to attendees. Attendees reflected on the importance of voting rights and how it influences their lives, encouraging them to vote for the recent presidential election. Included are two of our sisters’, Maikou “SÄGE” Xiong and Malina “NiGHTiNGAL3.” Vang, visual boards.
This semester we have held such wonderful and successful events that have taught us more about one another and our campus. We look forward to future events and activities that will continue to grow our bonds, personal development and leadership.
