Panhellenic tea connects students and alumni

This weekend, sorority women from the past and present bonded over tea and snacks at Alumnae Panhellenic Tea.

The Tea was held at 1 p.m. Sunday at the Kappa Alpha Theta chapter house. It was designed to connect current undergraduate sorority women with Panhel alumnae from Penn and other universities, according to Panhel President Alissa Eisenberg, a College senior and former Daily Pennsylvanian editor.

The event began with a time for informal mingling and featured tea, sandwiches and desserts. After the women had an opportunity to chat, they were addressed by Penn’s National Panhellenic Area Advisor Sarah Lindsay.

Lindsay, a Delta Delta Delta in her days at Miami University of Ohio, spoke about “what it means to be Greek.” Her presentation was followed by an address about the state of Panhel at Penn by Eisenberg.

Eisenberg said she hopes everyone at the Tea gained insight on what it means to be Greek.

“Joining a sorority is a lifetime commitment, but many Greeks are only active for the four years they are at college,” she said. “We really wanted to educate current Greeks about how they can stay involved after graduation.”

Eisenberg also said she was very pleased by the turnout of between 60 and 80 undergraduates and about 25 alumnae.

While some of the alumnae attended Penn, many are Philadelphia residents who are involved in the area’s Panel Council but attended other universities.

“Our current sorority women were very interested to hear from the alumnae,” said Eisenberg, who added that the alumnae shared stories about their chapters at other universities and what sorority life at Penn was like in the past.

Eisenberg added that this was a good opportunity for Panhel women to learn more about the organization’s history.

The Panhellenic Conference was founded in 1900, 20 years before women could vote in the United States and years before many universities even accepted women as students.

“I hope this gave the women who attended a chance to see how revolutionary Panhel was and will continue to be in the future,” added Eisenberg.

In addition to giving the attendees a chance to explore their possibilities for the future as Greeks, the event was used to raise money for Panhel’s biggest, inter-sorority philanthropy event — Operation Warm — which raises money to provide winter coats to needy children.

This year the coats will be given to children at Drew Elementary School in West Philadelphia. Panhel’s Operation Warm program will begin tomorrow and run through the rest of the week.

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