Concordias Lambda Delta Sigma
Thriving in their motto: Enter to learn, depart to serve
Crystal Rance
The Concordian
Among Concordias numerous extracurricular activities and clubs lies the society Lambda Delta Sigma. Sisters of this society form lifetime friendships, find the opportunity to volunteer and meet people from various walks of life.
Lambda Delta Sigma, or LDS, was established in 1919 by a group of nineteen freshmen girls as a womens literary society. Enter to learn, depart to serve was voted to be their motto. This motto is still very important to LDS as each meeting concludes with the sisterhood declaring it before departure. With the American Beauty rose as their flower and red and white as their colors, Lambda Delta Sigma has kept these symbols to remain constant with tradition.
At the time that LDS was founded, the Concordia College campus was swarming with the buzz of numerous societies. In the 1920s there was a total of eight societies consisting of 255 members. This made up about 56 percent of the total number of students enrolled at the time. The number of sister-brother societies grew to twelve in 1956. However, the number went down to only six societies in 1976. Today, LDS, with 33 active members, is the only remaining society on the grounds of Concordia College. Many other societies lost their positions to hazing and alcohol violations. LDS has strived to retain high integrity by remaining a alcohol-free society.
Lead this year by seniors Ericka Jessen and Lisa-Marie Salonek, LDS is very active in the community with numerous philanthropy activities. This disputes one of the common misconceptions of societies, that they are mainly formed for social purposes. Every Halloween, they dress in costumes and go trick-or-canning to collect canned foods for the local food shelter. The Shriners Hospital benefited from a Bounce-A-Thon where the society collected donations to trampoline jump for 72 hours straight.
Every year they participate in the Relay for Life and gather food and toiletry items for the YWCA Shelter. They team up with fraternities from North Dakota State University to organize Derby Days for Children's Miracle Network.
A recent tradition has been a pop-tab drive in which LDS competes with another fraternity from NDSU to collect the most pop tabs for the Ronald McDonald House. Last year LDS won and Theta Chi had to cook dinner for all the girls. Their long-term goal in this drive is to collect 1,000 pounds of pop tabs; they made a huge contribution with 200 pounds last year.
The society also plans social and miscellaneous fun activities such as sledding, scavenger hunts and an 80s prom. Every year at Homecoming they hold an Alumni Tea where former LDS sisters gather to page through scrapbooks and share memories. Alumni find that many of the activities in which they were first involved have become traditions.
This year was the first year for LDS to have a Ladies Man.
All the fraternities have a girl that they choose to hang out at their house all the time, so we wanted to do something for us girls, said Lisa-Marie Salonek, co-president of the organization. We interviewed three guys from other fraternities and we finally decided on our Ladies Man.
The lucky guy this year is Brian LaPlant from Sigma Chi of NDSU.
Hes a really good-humored guy, and we have a lot of fun with him, Salonek said.
Pledge week will be taking place Nov. 4-8 this fall. Five pledge captains were elected to lead and organize the week of many pledging activity traditions. LDS will accept 45 new members this year. This is the first time that LDS has put a cap on pledges; the club was getting too large and experiencing difficulties in organization of activities and meetings. Membership criteria has also been created to help limited pledge numbers. Qualifications to pledge include a GPA of at least 2.75, full-time Concordia College student status and mandatory attendance during all rush and pledge week activities.
Rush week for LDS is currently underway. It started Monday, and runs through Saturday. Rush week is an introduction to the society as pledges are invited to come to the activities for Lambda Delta Sigma.
Rush week is not only an entrance to the society, but its also a time to meet new girls and for sisterhood bonding, said Katy Stevens, co-captain of pledging.
Future goals for LDS include finding a spot on campus to hang the societys purchased composites listing all members, to construct a new constitution to replace the previous outdated one and also to become more recognized on campus and in the Fargo/Moorhead area.
LDS is a great way to get out of the Concordia bubble and meet people from MSU and NDSU. Were not like sororities that you hear about. Were just a bunch of friendly, outgoing girls who love to have fun. So feel free to ask questions and check us out, said Nicole Anderson, philanthropy co-chair.
