Community Service
While as a chapter we have no community service requirements, we provide events at least once a month to encourage sisters to participate in the community. We often pair with another sorority or fraternity to participate in community service events together. Some of our past events include the Jimmy Fund Walk, Relay for Life, hosting a 3-on-3 basketball tournament to support Make-A-Wish, and hosting underprivileged students at MIT for a day (and playing kickball with them!). Individually, many of our sisters are involved with organizations in the community and/or at home. See some sister spotlights below:
Tina Stutzman
Class of 2012
"I have been involved with the Leadership Training Institute (LTI) for three years and currently serve as co-director. LTI is a program in which MIT student mentors teach high school students leadership and help each student develop their own sustainable community service program. Past examples of student projects include programs to alleviate adolescent depression, obesity awareness and action, and mentorship programs between high school and middle schools. We want to spread LTI to reach as many people as possible and we even organized a trip to train Brazilian students during IAP of 2010."
Bensey Schnip
Class of 2012
"Individually I had been actively involved with certain charities at home and when I came to MIT freshman year I wanted to continue offering help in the community. In fact, one of the first things that drew me to Alpha Phi was participating in a charity walk (the Jimmy Fund Walk) with Alpha Phi sisters. On my own, I volunteer with the Jimmy Fund Council of Greater Boston and the Make-A-Wish Foundation. With the Jimmy Fund, I get to help plan a lot of great events to support the Jimmy Fund and the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute here in Boston. And as a wish granter for the Make-A-Wish Foundation, I get the opportunity to help create a special moments or trip for children with life-threatening medical conditions. Any stress or problems from schoolwork can easily be erased by the smiles that light up these kids' faces!"
"Alpha Phi has allowed me to expand my leadership and involvement in the community when I proposed the Math Olympiad program (see below). With the help of numerous sisters, we can go to a local school every week to help younger students learn math and generally be role models for them. The program is an especially good way for younger girls to see successful role models in technical fields and succeeding at MIT."
Math Olympiad
This past year, we started an afterschool program at a local elementary school (Cambridgeport) where sisters go every Monday to tutor 5th-8th graders in a Math Olympiad program. Teaching over 30 students, our sisters enjoy interacting with and teaching the children. The teacher who coordinates the program through the school has said, "Your girls are role models for our children. They are inspired by your intelligence and want to be just like you!". Currently, we are looking at ways to expand our Math Olympiad program to include a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) curriculum.