Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. has a longstanding influence over Greek life; so to say we’re excited about this new development is an understatement. Alpha Kappa Alpha was the first sorority created in an effort to include African American girls into the Greek system and since then has continued to make waves. The AKA Sorority doesn’t just impact their surrounding communities as a group, but they also manage to breed greatness from the likes of the civil rights leader, Bernice King, to the first African American women to win a medal in figure skating, Debi Thomas. Each of the 68 strong females that make up this year of revival for Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc. on LSU’s campus are fiercely dedicated to making sure their sorority continues in their predetermined path of greatness.

The AKA sorority reputation that has preceded the return of the Eta Kappa chapter made it a no-brainer for many of the girls who pursued membership of the sorority that this is where they belong. Adrienne Boutte, a freshman who has joined the redefining class, saw the beauty of Alpha Kappa Alpha, Inc. by acknowledging that she has never met an unsuccessful AKA and looking to her mother “who continues to be active in the sorority and serve the community in multiple states with women she can call sisters throughout the whole U.S., because that’s how big the network of AKA is.” JerKalynn Lawrence was able to see the greatness of the sorority on the LSU campus itself where she has met a plethora of AKA women with a dedication to the students and their success. She was even able to attend a Leadership Seminar hosted by Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc. where impactful women taught her how to carry herself to success and greatness.

For this new group of AKA women, seeing the impact the sorority has had and will have on the community was easy and has helped them foster a drive to succeed at LSU and beyond. Adrienne Boutte has no doubt that AKA will continue to leave a positive impact, because she’s surrounded by “talented, driven, young black women who all have a passion for service.” Various members of the sorority who want nothing more than to leave a positive imprint on the campus and surrounding community before they graduate reflect this exact same drive. When the graduate advisers were looking for women to return the chapter to the LSU campus, they managed to get a group of talented leaders who see no limits to the good they can do for their community.

There is no one who can explain the love this returning chapter has for the campus and their new sorors quite like an AKA woman can herself. Giltrice Williams described Alpha Kappa Alpha Inc. as “a common bond with like-minded women and forming life-long friendships, going out into our communities to help people in need, forging a path for the next generation to become even better leaders and especially uplifting African-American women.”

For these young women, joining Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc. and getting a group of sorors to surround them in their journey through college was another stepping stone to becoming the women they want to be. The Eta Kappa chapter at LSU arrived just in time to mold these women into impactful citizens who see no limitations to their own potential on campus and beyond. So if you happen to see a girl walking through campus wearing her letters, and those letters happen to be “AKA,” I hope you smile a little, because not only have you passed an influencer of great proportions, but you also just walked by royalty dressed in pearls standing as tall and graceful as an ivy.