Beginnings
(From Golden Years with Pi Kappa Sigma 1894- 1949)
On November 17, 1894, in Ypsilanti, Michigan, nine female student from Michigan State Normal School formed a secret club called J.P.N. In a nod to the fashion of the day, the letters of this club stood for "Jolly Petticoats Nine". Other J.P.N. members recall the secret meaning as "Just Progressive Normalites". For three years, J.P.N. grew as a Latin-lettered club. In 1896, membership was thirteen.
In 1897, Alice Eddy Snowden assisted the J.P.N.s in transforming themselves to a Greek - lettered organization. After careful consideration of Greek syntax and semantics, Pi Kappa Sigma was chosen as the name.
Pi Kappa Sigma planted chapters at different campuses throughout the United States. In 1915, the sorority worked to become national. The first national convention was held. There, goals for increasing membership and chartered chapters were established. A new membership pin was designed. The constitution was revised. Authorization for a publication (the Laurel) was given.
Pi Kappa Sigma's status as a "pedagogical sorority" prevented it from being admitted into the National Panhellenic Conference.
Read more about this topic: Pi Kappa Sigma
Famous quotes containing the word beginnings:
“The frantic search of five-year-olds for friends can thus be seen to forecast the beginnings of a basic shift in the parent-child relationship, a shift which will occur gradually over many long years, and in which a child needs not only the support of child allies engaged in the same struggle but also the understanding of his parents.”
—Dorothy H. Cohen (20th century)
“Let us, then, take our compass; we are something, and we are not everything. The nature of our existence hides from us the knowledge of first beginnings which are born of the nothing; and the littleness of our being conceals from us the sight of the infinite. Our intellect holds the same position in the world of thought as our body occupies in the expanse of nature.”
—Blaise Pascal (1623–1662)
“When the beginnings of self-destruction enter the heart it seems no bigger than a grain of sand.”
—John Cheever (1912–1982)