Alpha Sigma Who?
There’s lots to do at Loyola, from classes to take to organizations to join. One of the ones I’m involved in is Alpha Sigma Nu, the world’s one and only Honors Society exclusively at Jesuit universities around the world. We have a chapter at every Jesuit university in the USA, plus two in Canada, one in Spain, and one in South Korea! Only the top 15% of each junior and senior year classes are invited to join, and even then, we only accept 4% of the applicants. So you see, it’s pretty prestigious! We even have our induction ceremony in the beautiful Madonna della Strada chapel, where we have honorary inductees from the Loyola community and our President, whomever it may be at the time, gives a speech.
I wasn’t able to make my own induction ceremony because I was abroad, so I knew I wanted to participate in this organization a little bit more when I returned – therefore, I joined the executive board as our secretary! Between me, the vice president, and the president, we do pretty similar roles, but the President has a little heavier of a burden. I’m pretty passionate about Alpha Sigma Nu, because I’ve recently been quite fired up about it – because I attended our Triennial Conference at Seattle University last weekend!
Alpha Sigma Nu covered the flight and hotel costs (and feeding us, which was absolutely phenomenal as a concept, but the food and drink blew us away too), so how could I say no, even if it meant missing some class? Actually, it turns out, the week of fall break, I was only in Chicago for about 30 hours before I had to take off and head off to Seattle. The Conference was a great time to meet other executive board members from other chapters at different school around the world – from Fran who attends Loyola Andalucia in Spain to Hanna at St. Joseph’s University in Philadelphia, even Georgetown undergrads and students from Wheeling, the smallest and newest Jesuit university in the USA, which is in West Virginia and has less than a thousand students.
Not only were other students there, but so were Presidents of Alumni Clubs from around the United States and Board of Directors members too, so I really got to do some great networking while eating salmon and mashed potatoes. One of the best things about Alpha Sigma Nu is that it is membership for life, so many larger areas have Alumni Clubs you can participate in to live our values of Scholarship, Service, and Loyalty. I met a woman who is from just a town over from me back in Minnesota!
Returning back from Seattle, the other Alpha Sigma Nu E-board members and I have lots of plans for events this semester, and visions of what Alpha Sigma Nu can do and be in the future. If you attend a Jesuit university, I totally recommend considering this organization if you get this invitation in your junior or senior year. From opportunities to meet the King of Spain,as many Jesuits and educators did at an international meeting of Jesuit-education members last summer to working with Jesuit Worldwide Learning (an organization that brings Jesuit education to refugee camps) to going on enlightening and fun trips, or just learning about and participating in volunteer activities with the Alumni Club, you never know where your Jesuit education will take you, but Alpha Sigma Nu can certainly link you up with more opportunities to explore the world!
