On Saturday, alumni and active members of Kappa Alpha Theta gathered in Moscow to celebrate their national sororities’ founders day with a dinner and open house. The University of Idaho’s Theta chapter will turn 100 on May 15 as their chapter was founded in 1920.
And Theta nationally turned 150 as well on Jan. 27, 1870, with their founding chapter at now DePauw University in Greencastle, Indiana.
Amy Huck, the financial officer, said the current house Theta is in is the fourth house they’ve lived in during their 100 years.
The sorority has come and gone, when referring to the house they live in, Huck said. They were chartered in 1920 and had a house on campus until the 80s coming back in 2001.
Kappa Alpha Theta members said the sense of community and friendliness was a driving force for joining and kept them coming back.
Tara Christiano, of pledge class 2004, said she came to college knowing she wanted to join a sorority.
“No matter what situation you’re going through you have someone to go through it with,” Christiano said. “You’re always going to have a partner and boyfriends come and go, but my sisters have been with me through everything,”
Kappa Alpha Theta | Courtesy
Active members of the chapter echoed Christiano’s sentiment — walking into Theta felt like home.
“Ultimately, one of the biggest things is the support network is insane. During recruitment, which is one of the busiest, craziest times of the year I decided it was time for me to go back to counseling,” Huck said.
It was one of her sorority sisters in Theta who helped her set up an appointment and checked up on her afterward.
“Knowing that I can walk through the door at any time of the day and find someone if I need someone, it’s just very comforting,” Huck said.
Genevieve Mayer, a junior studying secondary education and English said when she first got to UI as a freshman transfer, she didn’t know if she wanted to join a house.
“I was the first person in my family to ever go to a university right out of high school, and none of my family had ever been Greek,” Mayer said.
Mayer said it took a semester of being on campus and talking to students who went Greek to decide she wanted to as well.
“I was kind of like, ‘Whatever’s going to happen, happens,’ because they say trust the system. Which, for a lot of girls is really hard, but Theta was the one house that every time I walked into made me feel comfortable,” Mayer said.
This is Mayer’s first semester back after taking a year off school, but she said the other women of her house continued to reach out to her and encouraged her to visit when she could.
“It was really, really nice to know they still cared even though I was two hours away,” Mayer said.
This story has been updated to reflect the correct date of UI’s Kappa Alpha Theta chapters founding.
Kali Nelson can be reached at arg-news@uidaho.edu or on Twitter @kalinelson6