Dear Sisters,

Founders’ Day is a time each year that affords us the opportunity to reflect on the reasons why
Sigma Kappa is so important to each of us. It is a day to imagine what it must have been like so
many years ago when Sigma Kappa was founded.

Can you imagine the courage and perseverance it took for the first five young women from
Colby College in Waterville, Maine, to publicly declare their commitment to live with great
intention? This declaration helped them live their dream for a lasting friendship of women with
a shared commitment to higher ideals. They received that and so much more. Their dream
became a reality. It became the Sorority that we cherish to this day. I believe their philosophy
of life is still deeply embedded in our beloved Sigma Kappa. Today over 155,000 members
have been given the gift of our sisterhood; a sisterhood with a clear sense of purpose and
shaped by the values of our Founders. Day-to-day, 135 years later, we continue to live the
dream.

The future of Sigma Kappa depends on each one of us and our commitment to each other, to
our values, and to our sisterhood. Louise Helen Coburn once said, “I hope the chapters of
Sigma Kappa will not lose sight of any of its early ideals, but will rather expand them and adapt
them to the enlarged opportunities of a more privileged age.”

May we never forget our past or the women who built this foundation of sisterhood. Now it is
our responsibility to continue the path that our Founders started 135 years ago. As Mary Low
shared with us on our 50th anniversary in 1924, “Carry on the light, the little torch we were
privileged to kindle so long ago. Bravely let it shine, failing not, nor fading, in all the years to
come.”

The “torch” has been passed to us so that we may carry on the sisterhood of Sigma Kappa. On
behalf of the National Council of Sigma Kappa, we wish you a Happy Founders’ Day!

Loyally in Sigma Kappa,

 
Laura Owsley, national president