Some have a story, we have a legend.
History of Sigma Kappa:
Colby College in Waterville, Maine, was the first college in New England to admit women on an equal basis with men students. The first woman student was admitted in 1871, and for two years Mary Caffrey Low was the only woman student at Colby College. In 1873, four more young women from Maine, Elizabeth Gorham Hoag, Ida Fuller, Frances Mann, and Louise Helen Coburn were admitted to Colby and the five young women found themselves frequently together. During the school year of 1873-74, the five young women decided to form a literary and social society. They were told by the college administration that they needed to present a constitution and bylaws with a petition requesting permission to form Sigma Kappa Sorority. They began work during that year with an eager glow of enthusiasm. Their purpose at the outset was that the sorority should become what it is now, a national organization of college women. On November 9, 1874, the five young women received a letter from the faculty approving their petition. Thus, this date has since been considered our Founders' Day.
Colby College in Waterville, Maine, was the first college in New England to admit women on an equal basis with men students. The first woman student was admitted in 1871, and for two years Mary Caffrey Low was the only woman student at Colby College. In 1873, four more young women from Maine, Elizabeth Gorham Hoag, Ida Fuller, Frances Mann, and Louise Helen Coburn were admitted to Colby and the five young women found themselves frequently together. During the school year of 1873-74, the five young women decided to form a literary and social society. They were told by the college administration that they needed to present a constitution and bylaws with a petition requesting permission to form Sigma Kappa Sorority. They began work during that year with an eager glow of enthusiasm. Their purpose at the outset was that the sorority should become what it is now, a national organization of college women. On November 9, 1874, the five young women received a letter from the faculty approving their petition. Thus, this date has since been considered our Founders' Day.
Famous Sigma Kappa's
After graduating from the University of California at Berkley, Dr. Rhea Seddon, Lambda, was selected in 1978 as one of the first six women accepted to NASA's astronauts' corps. As a mission specialist, Dr. Seddon has logged more than 722 hours in space during her three flights: Space Shuttle Mission STS-58, Space Shuttle Mission STS-40 (41), and the Space Shuttle Mission 51-D. Her very first mission was aboard the Space Shuttle Discovery of 1985. As she ventured off on her flight into space, Rhea took her Sigma Kappa badge with her. Then in 1997, Rhea retired from NASA, but is now the assistant Chief Medical Officer of the Vanderbilt Medical Group in Nashville Tennessee. She will always be appreciated for her time served at Vanderbilt University's Center for Space, Physiology, and Medicine in Nashville, Tennessee.
Maitland Ward, actress on Boy Meets World and formerly of CBS's The Bold and Beautiful, was an active sister in the Gamma Theta Chapter at California State University, Long Beach.
Anitra Mohl, a make-up artist from Manhattan Beach, is proud to call California State University Sacramento's Epsilon Chapter of Sigma Kappa her home away from home. She appeared on ABC's The Bachelor and made it to the top five.
Ashley Henderson Huff, Epsilon Epsilon, a First Lieutenant in the United States Army was the first known sorority casualty in the current confict in Iraq.
For more information on Sigma Kappa Sorority,
please visit the official website
please visit the official website
