Kappa Alpha Theta alumnae and actives took time out of their busy schedules on Saturday, January 24th, to come together and celebrate Theta’s 145th Founders Day Celebration. Met with favorable weather conditions, a beautiful brunch spread, and unconditional, sisterly love, the event was an unprecedented success. Baton Rogue’s alumnae chapter president, Lillian Holstead, planned the Founders Day brunch.

The chapter’s Alumnae and Foundation Liaison, Lexington Souers, was the main speaker for the event. Souers delivered a powerful speech giving the detailed history of Theta’s founding. 

Kappa Alpha Theta, the first Greek letter fraternity for women, was founded on January 27, 1870, at DePauw University, formerly known as Indiana Asbury. During this time women, seeking a higher education in a coeducational setting, were met with great hostility. The social order in 1870 was dominated by the preconceived notion that a woman’s mind was significantly inferior to that of a man’s. Bettie Locke Hamilton, one of Theta’s four original founders, believed that an organization rooted in the fraternity ideals of loyalty, leadership and personal excellence would provide the perfect sanctuary for college women seeking encouragement and strength in a time of adversity. 

Souers’s speech also reminded attendees to recall and renew their commitment to Theta’s fraternity purpose of intellectual ambition, exercise of the widest influence for good, and to uphold a standard of love. The presentation struck a chord with Kate Long, who remarked, “Think how long ago 1870 was, and then we had these amazing women put this organization together from nothing. We as women had nothing, and then we created this thing, and here we are hundreds of years later. It is so important to recognize [our founders] and what they did for us as collegiate women who had nothing, and now we have so much because of Theta.” 

With motivation from a speaker with such eloquence, a chance to interact with alumnae from all over Louisiana and a captivating view from the LSU lakes, Theta’s Founders Day Celebration was truly a day to remember. 

"We realized somehow that we weren't going to college for just ourselves, but for all the girls who would follow after us, if we could just win out." 

-Bettie Locke Hamilton