Alpha Sigma Tau spreads message surrounding relationships

Sisters and Executive Board members from Alpha Sigma Tau's Beta Mu chapter. Image courtesy of Sofia Arnaiz.

Students' chatter fills the hallway with plans such as going out to dinner, buying flowers and watching movies for the holiday.

At the edge of the hall, sorority members surround a table draped in pink, blue and white as students pause to purchase flowers and bags of sweet treats.

Alpha Sigma Tau’s Beta Mu chapter at Salisbury University hosted a table event on Feb. 13 for the One Love Foundation, which is one of their philanthropies. They decided to sell custom candy grams for $3 with the option to add flowers for $5, with all proceeds being donated to the One Love Foundation.

This foundation focuses on educating people about the signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships and aligns with the Women’s Wellness Initiative, another one of their philanthropies.

With college students being more likely to experience abuse in relationships, Alpha Sigma Tau hosts tables, workshops and other events throughout the semester to raise money for this foundation to bring awareness to the campus community.

“We have a lot of national and local philanthropies, but one of the ones we do year-round is One Love because we hold workshops with sisters and watch the videos about One Love to spread the healthy and unhealthy signs [of relationships] with the sisters,” AST President Tempest Miller said. “Then we open one to the public to kind of show from our experience of learning within our chapter.”

Director of Women’s Wellness Initiative Natalya Solano was able to create this idea for this philanthropy with Vice President of Community Relations Julia Sipes.

Solano came up with the table idea from working so closely with One Love, and with the holiday surrounding love right around the corner.

“I created this idea, and I wanted to do it about One Love because we work so closely with them, and especially with Valentine’s Day, we really want to promote healthy relationships, especially to college students,” Solano said. 

Alpha Sigma Tau’s core values are graciousness, respect, intellect, connections and excellence, which align with The One Love Foundation.

These values are demonstrated through the different fundraising events this sorority plans, which members feel directly reflect their core values and how people should treat each other in relationships.

“Natalya picking to do this for one love was really amazing, and I like that we're now able to raise the money, because it truly just resonates with all of our values,” Miller said. “I think people being in healthy relationships is something that's amazing, no matter what.”

Alpha Sigma Tau’s commitment to fundraising goes beyond its tabling events. 

This sorority works to make sure more organizations and clubs are brought out to their philanthropy events, prioritizing the development of their connections and partnerships.

“We always try to make sure that every year, we're adding more organizations to our philanthropy events,” Sipes said. “We want our numbers to be growing every year, and we want to have better connections.”

This organization prioritizes the feelings of mutual support across different organizations on campus. 

The community investment is appreciated when it comes to the large-scale philanthropy events such as Mock Rock, which thrives off the collective participation of the student body.

“I feel like we really do try to show out for everyone the same way that they've shown out for us,” Sipes said. “We're so grateful for the success that Mock Rock has had, as well as some of our other events.”

Safety is also another big part of how this sorority plans and runs its events.

Vice President of Organizational Development Amanda Berends makes sure to look back at past events and feedback from her fellow sisters in the sorority to make sure everyone is safe and that these events continue to run smoothly.

“I look at the bylaws a lot. I look at past events like Mock Rock, and I think about things like security, tracking with tickets and making sure everything is in line,” Berends said. “Learning from the past is definitely a big part of my position.”

Alpha Sigma Tau’s Beta Mu chapter continues to educate students, faculty, staff, and community about what it means to recognize the signs of healthy and unhealthy relationships.

“I love how we do One Love workshops with the sisters because it really brings us all together,” Solano said. “We look at these workshops, and we can dive deep into them and understand why this is healthy or unhealthy, and it just created such a safe space for our sisters.

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By SOFIA ARNAIZ

Managing Editor