This week the Texas A&M Panhellenic Council challenged stereotypes surrounding sorority women with its annual “Redefinition Week.”
Maddison Malone, president of the Collegiate Panhellenic Council, CPC, said the purpose of Redefinition Week is to empower and inspire college women.
Malone said there is a general lack of knowledge about the impact sorority women have in their communities and nationally. Malone said she hopes Redefinition Week helps make people more aware of how active sorority women are at Texas A&M.
“Aggie sorority women are involved in hundreds of other student organizations, and many are serving in leadership roles,” Malone said. “Also, the average GPA for our chapters was a 3.32 whereas the all-women’s average for the university was a 3.103 for the Spring 2015 semester. In addition, our chapters raised over $800,000 for local and national philanthropic organizations last year.”
The week was kicked off with a self-defense class Sunday at the MSC, and Monday featured a makeup-free “You are Beautiful” photo booth in Rudder Plaza. Participants were offered chalkboards with hashtags such as “flawless” and “no filter” to hold up, and photos were available either as printed strips or on cell phones. Makeup removers were readily available for women who wanted to get a photo.
Tuesday’s event, hosted by Kappa Delta in partnership with the CPC, consisted of sorority women handing out Bahama Bucks snow cones and slips of paper with compliments like “You have a sparkling personality” written on them from a booth.
Wednesday’s event was a guest speaker, Marjorie Clifton. Clifton, who works to promote women’s leadership and runs her own consulting firm, spoke at Rudder Theatre about how women could be stronger leaders in the workforce. Clifton emphasized the need for more women in leadership positions, encouraging all participants to pursue their ambitions and to take risks.
Redefinition Week concludes Thursday with a fashion show aimed at educating women on appropriate professional attire. The fashion show will be held at 5:30 p.m. Thursday in the MSC room 2300 and will also have Career Center representatives present to give advice.
“Each of our chapters has nominated a woman [to be in the fashion show] whom they believe to be making a difference in redefining standards for women to serve as a model,” Malone said. “These women will be wearing clothing donated by local boutiques and department stores.”
Catherine Fergie, CPC vice president of Campus and Community Relations, said a big part of what helped put on Redefinition Week was a “Confidence In U” grant of $5,000 from the Kappa Delta Foundation.
“The Kappa Delta Foundation has a grant you can apply for and it’s about instilling confidence in women,” Fergie said. “Redefinition Week is about empowering and redefining what it means to be a woman and helping women get leadership roles in the workforce, so we applied for the grant and were blessed to receive it.”
