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Sigma Sigma Sigma (), also known as Tri Sigma, is a national American women's
sorority Fraternities and sororities are social organizations at colleges and universities in North America. Generally, membership in a fraternity or sorority is obtained as an undergraduate student, but continues thereafter for life. Some accept gradua ...
. Sigma Sigma Sigma is a member of the
National Panhellenic Conference The National Panhellenic Conference (NPC) is an umbrella organization for 26 (inter)national women's Fraternities and sororities, sororities throughout the United States and Canada. Each member group is autonomous as a social, Greek alphabet#Use ...
(NPC), an umbrella organization encompassing 26 national sororities or women's fraternities, which focus on service, education, scholarship programming and social activities. Once a sorority exclusively for teacher's/educational colleges, Tri Sigma became a full NPC member in 1951 and, as a social sorority, now admits members without limits based on major. The sorority counts a membership of more than 136,000 women, hosts chapters on more than 100
college A college (Latin: ''collegium'') is an educational institution or a constituent part of one. A college may be a degree-awarding tertiary educational institution, a part of a collegiate or federal university, an institution offering ...
campuses, and maintains over 90 alumnae chapters. The sorority's own headquarters are located in
Woodstock, Virginia Woodstock is a town and the county seat of Shenandoah County, Virginia, United States. It has a population of 5,212 according to the 2017 census. Woodstock comprises 3.2 square miles of incorporated area of the town, and is located along the ...
.


History

The State Female Normal School in
Farmville ''FarmVille'' is a series of agriculture-simulation social network game developed and published by Zynga in 2009. It is similar to ''Happy Farm'' and ''Farm Town''. Its gameplay involves various aspects of farmland management, such as plowing l ...
,
Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern regions of the United States, between the Atlantic Coast and the Appalachian Mountains. The geography and climate of the Commonwealth ar ...
(now known as
Longwood University Longwood University is a public university in Farmville, Virginia. Founded in 1839, it is the third-oldest public university in Virginia and one of the hundred oldest institutions of higher education in the United States. Previously a college, Lo ...
) was the state's first institution to open its doors to teacher education. Eight students, Margaret Batten, Louise Davis, Martha Trent Featherston, Isabella Merrick, Sallie Michie, Lelia Scott, Elizabeth Watkins, and Lucy Wright founded the sorority in 1898. Scott and Wright led the first meetings of their secret society, the S.S.S. Club, in 1897. On April 20, 1898, these women officially announced the founding of the Greek letter society known as Sigma Sigma Sigma. The main archive URL i
The Baird's Manual Online Archive homepage
At the same time, Lucy Wright's roommate, Julia Tyler, was working to found
Kappa Delta Kappa Delta (, also known as KD or Kaydee) was the first sorority founded at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University), in Farmville, Virginia. Kappa Delta is one of the "Farmville Four" sororities founded at the university, wh ...
sorority. In the fall of 1898,
Zeta Tau Alpha Zeta Tau Alpha (known as or Zeta) is an international Fraternities and sororities in North America, women's fraternity founded on October 15, 1898 at the State Female Normal School (now Longwood University) in Farmville, Virginia. Its Internatio ...
was founded, followed by the founding of
Alpha Sigma Alpha Alpha Sigma Alpha () is a United States National Panhellenic sorority founded on November 15, 1901, at the Virginia State Female Normal School (later known as Longwood College and now known as Longwood University) in Farmville, Virginia. Once a sor ...
in 1901. These four sororities were all founded at the State Female Normal School and were henceforth referred to as the "Farmville Four". In its first decade, Tri Sigma recognized the need for both legal recognition as a social body and a written record of organization. Therefore, they filed documents with the
Commonwealth of Virginia Virginia, officially the Commonwealth of Virginia, is a U.S. state, state in the Mid-Atlantic (United States), Mid-Atlantic and Southeastern United States, Southeastern regions of the United States, between the East Coast of the United Stat ...
and received their Charter of Incorporation on February 12, 1903. Tri Sigma's first constitution was adopted by its first chapter, the ''Alpha chapter'', in April 1903. In the first decade since the sorority's inception, the founders took steps to lay the groundwork of the sorority's foundation, including joining the
Association of Education Sororities The Association of Education Sororities (AES) was the former umbrella organization for teachers' sororities in the United States founded in 1916 until its merger with the National Panhellenic Conference in 1947. One of its members described it as ...
. In 1915, Tri Sigma absorbed the two remaining chapters of
Sigma Delta Chi The Society of Professional Journalists (SPJ), formerly known as Sigma Delta Chi, is the oldest organization representing journalists in the United States. It was established on April 17, 1909, at DePauw University,2009 SPJ Annual Report, letter ...
sorority. Additional collegiate chapters were established and all members met at a convention. As the sorority grew, the national nature of Tri Sigma solidified with the standardization of a ceremony for new members and the establishment of a Founder's Day to celebrate the founding of Sigma Sigma Sigma.


Tri Sigma men

James Miller Leake, a member of
Kappa Sigma Fraternity Kappa Sigma (), commonly known as Kappa Sig, is an American collegiate social fraternity founded at the University of Virginia in 1869. Kappa Sigma is one of the five largest international Fraternities and sororities in North America, fraterniti ...
, was the only man permitted to wear the badge of the sorority and is counted as a member of Tri Sigma due to his help with drafting the constitution and writing the initiation ritual. Though Leake is the only man counted as a member, other men are credited with assisting in the sorority's founding, including men from Kappa Sigma at Hampden Sydney College: H.W. Cole (who assisted with the constitution), Garret G. Gooch, Alex J. Boyer and Robert Miller. Marvin Smithey (a member of
Kappa Alpha Order Kappa Alpha Order (), commonly known as Kappa Alpha or simply KA, is a social Fraternities and sororities, fraternity and a fraternal order founded in 1865 at Washington and Lee University, Washington College (now Washington and Lee University) i ...
and brother of a Kappa Delta member in its ''Alpha chapter'') offered legal services to secure the first charter.


Modern day

In 1951, Sigma Sigma Sigma became a full member of the National Panhellenic Conference and has so far chaired the NPC once, with Mary K. Barbee serving as Chairman from 1981–1983. The NPC rotates chairs every two years between its member organizations in the chronological order of each group's joining date. Each initiated member receives the latest edition of Tri Sigma's story,''The Path from Farmville'' and "Over a Century of Sisterhood", which chronicles the beginnings of each collegiate chapter as well as the evolution of the national organization. Members also receive a lifetime subscription to their national magazine, ''The Triangle of Sigma Sigma Sigma'', which is published three times a year. The sorority now counts more than 136,000 women as members. Sigma Sigma Sigma was the first NPC sorority to adopt a position statement for gender inclusivity, and also was the first NPC sorority to have a chapter in Alaska.


Symbols

The official colors are
royal purple Tyrian purple ( grc, πορφύρα ''porphúra''; la, purpura), also known as Phoenician red, Phoenician purple, royal purple, imperial purple, or imperial dye, is a reddish-purple natural dye. The name Tyrian refers to Tyre, Lebanon. It is ...
and pure white. The pearl was designated as the official jewel in 1909. The official flower is the purple violet, while the
sailboat A sailboat or sailing boat is a boat propelled partly or entirely by sails and is smaller than a sailing ship. Distinctions in what constitutes a sailing boat and ship vary by region and maritime culture. Types Although sailboat terminology ...
is the official symbol. The coat-of-arms came into use in 1902, designed by Harriet Henkins of the sorority's ''Alpha chapter''. All the symbols on the shield may be used for jewelry, recognition pins, stationery, and formal clothing. From the upper left to lower right is the "bar" or "band" displaying three Greek sigmas (). Above the band in the right third are spreading wings joined by a centered circle, and above these is an equilateral triangle on which is engraved a single Sigma. Below the wings are clasped hands and in the lower left third is a flaming urn. On the banner below the shield are the words in Greek of the sorority's open motto, "Faithful Unto Death". Adopted in 1903, the badge of the sorority is an equilateral gold triangle bordered with
pearls A pearl is a hard, glistening object produced within the soft tissue (specifically the mantle (mollusc), mantle) of a living animal shell, shelled mollusk or another animal, such as fossil conulariids. Just like the shell of a mollusk, a pea ...
, with a small semi circular indentation on each side. On the gold triangle is a raised black enamel triangle bearing a gold sigma in each corner. In the center of the badge is another symbol of the sorority, a
skull and crossbones A skull and crossbones is a symbol consisting of a human skull and two long bones crossed together under or behind the skull. The design originated in the Late Middle Ages as a symbol of death and especially as a ''memento mori'' on tombstones. ...
.


Philanthropy

The Sigma Sigma Sigma Foundation is a non-profit corporation formed in 1992. It distributes funds for charitable, educational, and miscellaneous purposes, including programs that support women's leadership, student grants and scholarships, and play therapy programs for hospitalized children. The organization centers its latter philanthropic efforts around the theme “Sigma Serves Children,” specifically through the Robbie Page Memorial (RPM). On September 15, 1951, Robbie Page, the son of Tri Sigma's National President, died of bulbar
polio Poliomyelitis, commonly shortened to polio, is an infectious disease caused by the poliovirus. Approximately 70% of cases are asymptomatic; mild symptoms which can occur include sore throat and fever; in a proportion of cases more severe s ...
, a disease which at that time had no cure or vaccine; this death prompted his parents to establish a memorial fund in his honor. The sorority adopted this fund as its official philanthropy in 1954. In its early years, the RPM supported various polio research projects, including the Salk vaccine trials. It now focuses on supporting play therapy for hospitalized children and providing support for playrooms, libraries, and programs for children undergoing long-term hospital care. Current national efforts are centered in funding fellowships at the
Children's Medical Center Children's Medical Center Dallas is a nationally ranked pediatric acute care teaching hospital located in Dallas, Texas, USA. The hospital has 496 pediatric beds and is affiliated with the University of Texas Southwestern Medical School. It provide ...
in
Dallas Dallas () is the List of municipalities in Texas, third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the List of metropolitan statistical areas, fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 ...
,
Texas Texas (, ; Spanish language, Spanish: ''Texas'', ''Tejas'') is a state in the South Central United States, South Central region of the United States. At 268,596 square miles (695,662 km2), and with more than 29.1 million residents in 2 ...
, and in funding graduate assistantships at the
University of North Carolina The University of North Carolina is the multi-campus public university system for the state of North Carolina. Overseeing the state's 16 public universities and the NC School of Science and Mathematics, it is commonly referred to as the UNC Sy ...
Hospitals in
Chapel Hill Chapel Hill or Chapelhill may refer to: Places Antarctica * Chapel Hill (Antarctica) Australia *Chapel Hill, Queensland, a suburb of Brisbane *Chapel Hill, South Australia, in the Mount Barker council area Canada * Chapel Hill, Ottawa, a neighbo ...
,
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
. At UNC, the sorority also funds the Robbie Page Play Atrium. The National Therapeutic Recreation Society has recognized Sigma Sigma Sigma for their support of Child Life and Play Therapy Programs. In 2016, Sigma Sigma Sigma added the
March of Dimes March of Dimes is a United States nonprofit organization that works to improve the health of mothers and babies. The organization was founded by President Franklin D. Roosevelt in 1938, as the National Foundation for Infantile Paralysis, to comba ...
as a national philanthropic partner.


Membership


National Headquarters

Tri Sigma's National Memorial Headquarters is located in
Woodstock, Virginia Woodstock is a town and the county seat of Shenandoah County, Virginia, United States. It has a population of 5,212 according to the 2017 census. Woodstock comprises 3.2 square miles of incorporated area of the town, and is located along the ...
at the Mabel Lee Walton House, a historical landmark. Named after the sorority's third National President, the Walton House serves as the main operations center of Tri Sigma, where day-to-day business is conducted. The sorority acquired the house in 1963; the contributions of individual members, and the dues and fees of alumnae and collegiate chapters, helped to purchase and furnish the property and to maintain it still.


Notable alumnae


Chapters


Leadership


National Presidents


Conventions

The sorority currently holds conventions every three years at various locations.


References


Further reading

* *


External links

* {{Fraternities and Sororities , collapsed 1898 establishments in Virginia National Panhellenic Conference Student societies in the United States Longwood University Student organizations established in 1898 Former members of Professional Fraternity Association