Page 42 - South Mississippi Living - May, 2017

PEOPLE honorary sorority
ALPHA
Since 1947, the international Alpha Delta Kappa organization has been dedicated to promoting educational excellence, altruism and world understanding.
This year
marks the 50th anniversary of the founding of
the Gulf Coast chapter, known as the Lambda Chapter. Members of the honorary sorority joined together recently to celebrate the occasion and to honor Betty Jean Hughes, a founding member.
Alpha Delta Kappa functions
not only as an honorary sorority
for local teachers, but as an
opportunity for members to partner with the community. According to the organization’s website, Alpha Delta Kappa members have given nearly $12 million in monetary and other gifts, nearly $2 million in scholarships and have provided more than two million hours of volunteer service to their communities within the past two years.
DELTA
“We are always striving to better ourselves and the community,” said Martha Harper, the organization’s immediate past president. “For our altruistic projects, we support the Ronald McDonald House of Jackson and Mobile by cooking meals for their guests, serve as bell-ringers for the Salvation Army, fund our own scholarship for students majoring in education and carry out individual projects in between.”
KAPPA
The Lambda chapter currently consists of 32 members, each of whom have been nominated by other teachers who were already involved. Every two years, Alpha Delta Kappa hosts an international convention that brings together
TURNS 50
“As educators, we take a special interest in seeking
story by Kelsey Sunderman-Foster
photo courtesy of Anne Hollywood and Dee Fury
educational opportunities and often invite guest speakers to our meetings. These conventions are another great opportunity to grow as teachers,” Harper said.
Since its founding, Alpha Delta Kappa has grown to include more than 30,000 women educators from around the world, including a total of 1,200 chapters located in every U. S. state and internationally in Australia, Canada, Jamaica, Mexico and Puerto Rico.
42 SOUTH MISSISSIPPI Living • May 2017
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members of each chapter and this year several of the Lambda chapter members will attend.
The conventions feature informative and inspirational seminars by some of the most renowned educational speakers today, as well as offer attendees an opportunity to share their experiences, recognize outstanding members and have fellowship with one another.
Martha Harper
Alpha Delta Kappa
www.alphadeltakappa.org
Lambda chapter