The ladies of Alpha Kappa Alpha [AKA] raised their pinkies in support of their sorority during their annual skee week.
“We wanted to let people know about our sorority,” said publicity chair Latisha Rowe, “we are here for the campus, and this is our time to show it.”
Pink and green are the sorority’s colors and the pinky-finger, their sign. Playing off of the current popularity of the Outkast song, the sisters of AKA made the theme of their week “So fresh, so clean, with pink and green,” in order to symbolize their new beginning.
After nine members graduated a few years ago, AKA fell into a slump of low membership, members said.
Up from last year’s three members, this year’s 12 are happy to be a part of AKA’s rebirth.
Along with a new beginning, AKA wanted to raise awareness of their organization on campus, as well as give back to the students and community at the University of Miami.
Skee week for the sisters consisted of a series of events, which they held daily in different locations, and went along with their overall theme.
The event that seemed to draw the biggest crowd was the male auction, which the sisters held on Thursday night at the International Lounge in the University Center.
Twenty five male student volunteers, who came in all colors, shapes and sizes, were auctioned off by AKA to the highest bidders in order to raise funding for the Agape Domestic Violence Center.
“I got there and I knew it was going to be wild,” said a smiling Rowe. “There were only 25 men being auctioned off and more than 100 females had already bought bidding paddles. It was a huge success and we were able to raise $1000 for our charity.”
The sisters hosted a wide variety of events, including everything from social activities to an educational forum, in order to create a well-rounded schedule of events.
AKA sponsored a pool party; a barbecue; a movie in the Eaton lobby for their leisurely events; an open mike poetry reading; a car wash; and even a health forum at the Wellness Center, which helped to make students aware of issues like date rape, safety on campus, and breast cancer.
In order to spark interest and draw attendants to the week’s series of events, Latisha Rowe took on the tough task of publicizing skee week.
She made sure that there were banners and flyers all over campus, as well as the widespread word-of-mouth publicity.
After the conclusion of skee week last Sunday at morning mass, the sorority members of Alpha Kappa Alpha felt that their week was a great success.
They had pulled large numbers of people to their events, made money for their charity, and attracted the attention of many possible new members for next year’s fall rush.
Rowe said she expects that membership will double by next year.
AKA hopes to continue making a difference in the UM community and are already excited about next semester.
More information about the iota chapter of AKA can be found at www.miami.edu/studorgs/iotanu.com.