Alpha Kappa Alpha celebrates 114 years of service

The Kappa Pi Omega chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., and the Mu Alpha undergraduate chapter at Troy University held a joint virtual Founders’ Day observance to commemorate the 114th anniversary of the organization’s establishment. 

Alpha Kappa Alpha was founded on the campus of Howard University in Washington D.C., in January 1908.  The event also highlighted the charter of the local graduate chapter in 1976 and the Troy University undergraduate chapter in 1978.

The theme of the Founders’ Day program was “Connecting the Excellence of Our Past with the Promise of Our Future.” Special guests included Alpha Kappa Alpha’s South Eastern Regional Director Mitzi Dease Page of Jackson, Miss., and WSFA television news anchor Valorie Lawson of Montgomery, who delivered the keynote address.  More than 100 sorority members from around the Wiregrass attended the virtual event on Sunday, Jan. 30.

The chapters also used the occasion to present two members who were voted on by their respective chapters as ones who work to foster the chapter’s programs and who stand out as role models for young women and girls in the community.

Melissa Carpenter of Daleville was named as Kappa Pi Omega’s Soror of the Year and Gretil Sutton, a graduating senior from Valley, was named as Mu Alpha’s Soror of the Year.

Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., is the first historically African-American sorority.  It is currently composed of more than 1,000 graduate and undergraduate chapters with an international membership of more than 300,000 women who engage in programs of service that enhance the social, economic, and educational well-being of their local communities.

Teresa Townsend of Daleville is the president of the Kappa Pi Omega Chapterand Morgan Spencer of Tuscaloosa is the president of the Mu Alpha Chapter.