(The photo above is from this year’s Campus Safety Walk, a joint initiative of Longwood students, LUPD and the Office of Residential and Commuter Life. The walk’s goal is to identify areas on campus where safety can be improved, especially after dark.)
Nothing is more important to Longwood’s administrators, faculty and staff than the safety of your student.
The resources we devote to personnel, programming, planning and communication; the high standards we set for our campus police department; and the attention we pay to the safety concerns of students are just a few indicators of how seriously the university takes this responsibility.
“In the last 10 years, we have nearly doubled the security budget on campus, including growing our law enforcement staff to more than double the national average for a population our size,” said Dr. Tim Pierson, vice president for student affairs, who oversees the Longwood Police Department. “That kind of commitment from the top down … is a real testament to the values and forward-thinking practices put in place over that time.”
LUPD is accredited by the Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission, a distinction held by less than a third of the law enforcement agencies in the state.
The Longwood Police Department is recognized as one of the best college police department’s in the nation. Over the last 11 years, Longwood has consistently outperformed Virginia’s other colleges and universities in the higher education category of Security magazine’s annual rankings. LUPD’s latest top-20 ranking, which was announced in late 2019, is the department’s eighth in the last 10 years.
In addition, LUPD is accredited by the Virginia Law Enforcement Professional Standards Commission, a distinction held by less than a third of the law enforcement agencies in the state.
Below are a few of the university’s efforts, initiatives and services. You’ll see that some of the safety measures available require you and/or your student to sign up or take another action. Please encourage your student to take full advantage of every service Longwood offers to help them stay safe.
Alerts.Longwood.edu Anyone with an interest in campus safety can sign up for email and text alerts at this website, which provides up-to-date information about any situation that could affect the safety of Longwood students. Students’ automatically receive emails through this alert system, but they must go to the site and sign up to receive text messages.
In addition, alerts.longwood.edu provides information about Longwood’s inclement weather policy, a list of emergency phone numbers and links to additional safety resources.
#SafeAtLongwood Encourage your student to use the hashtag #SafeAtLongwood on their public social media accounts to let you and others know they’re safe in the event of a major emergency. During a major crisis, cell service might be down.
Sixty emergency blue-light phones placed at strategic outdoor locations provide direct communication with the Longwood Police Department
Emergency Phones and Security Cameras More than 300 security cameras keep an eye on the campus and university-managed housing complexes. In addition, more than 100 emergency area-of-rescue photos placed inside buildings and 60 emergency blue-light phones placed at strategic outdoor locations provide direct communication with the Longwood Police Department.
Safety Programming
The Longwood Police Department provides a range of programming designed to help keep your student safe. Here are just a few examples: —Personal Safety Seminars These seminars are designed to improve students’ safety habits. Topics include alcohol awareness, residence hall security, personal safety habits, reporting illegal or suspicious activity, crime on campus and police services. This program allows the student the opportunity to address safety concerns and to receive an appropriate response. —R.A.D. (Rape Aggression Defense) The Rape Aggression Defense system is dedicated to teaching women defensive concepts and techniques against various types of assault by utilizing easy, effective and proven self-defense/martial arts tactics. —Code Red This program is designed to make participants aware of their surroundings with an all-hazards approach. Participants also learn the appropriate actions to take to protect themselves and others in an active threat situation. Severe weather safety measures are also covered.
Here at Longwood we recognize that your student’s college education is a major investment for your family. Longwood’s president, W. Taylor Reveley IV, has said many times that Longwood is committed to keeping costs as affordable as possible. This year’s tuition freeze and several previous years’ lower-than-average tuition increases are evidence of the sincerity of that commitment.
But that’s not all Longwood is doing.
This fall the university announced a scholarship initiative that aims to create 90 new endowed scholarships (25 each in Longwood’s three main academic colleges—arts and sciences, business and economics, and education and human services—and 15 in athletics) through a matching program established by several key donors.
The Family Scholarship Program is already well on its way with 18 new scholarships at some stage of being created as I write this. Each $15,000 scholarship gift will be matched by the key donors up to a total of $375,000 in each of the colleges and $225,000 in athletics.
And there’s more good news. In addition to the endowed scholarships, the Family Scholarship Program was structured to create some additional $1,000 scholarships that can begin to be awarded right away.
These new scholarships will be administered by the Longwood University Foundation, which already awards in the neighborhood of 300 scholarships a year to Longwood students.
There are scholarships available for all Longwood students—including all current undergraduate and graduate students as well as incoming transfer students and freshmen.
In fact, most Longwood students meet the criteria for an average of five different scholarships. A description of these scholarships and the application can be found here: https://longwood.academicworks.com/?page=2
All it takes for your student to be considered is about five minutes to fill out the application and, for a few scholarships, the time required to write an essay or two. The deadline to submit applications for scholarships to be awarded for the 2020-21 academic year is March 1, 2020. So let your student know there’s no time like the present to get started on the application.
The university expects to notify recipients no later than July 1, 2020.
Here’s hoping your student is on the receiving end of one of these Longwood University Foundation scholarships!
Longwood-managed housing reopens at noon on Saturday, Jan. 11. If you happen to be bringing your student back to campus in person, you might want to consider hanging out in Farmville for the weekend.
Farmville may not be a big city—but don’t let that fool you.
There is plenty to do, from art exhibitions to live music to hiking and biking. And don’t forget the shopping, especially if you’re in the market for new furniture, rugs or accessories. Take Green Front Furniture, for example, where you’ll find 900,000 square feet of showroom space filled to the brim in 12 different buildings.
Hotel Weyanoke is right across the street from campus and offers a discount for Longwood parents.
If you want to spend the night, accommodations abound, including Hotel Weyanoke, which offers a luxurious boutique hotel experience right across from campus (on High Street) and right around the corner from Main Street. For the 10 percent discount available to parents, just mention LU10 when you make a reservation.
Here are just a few of the other places you might want to explore in downtown Farmville…
The High Bridge Trail: a hiking and biking path with a history and one of the most spectacular views in this part of Virginia
High Bridge Trail offers hiking, biking and spectacular views from the bridge.
Longwood Center for the Visual Arts: Rural Avant-Garde: The Mountain Lake Experience exhibition is not to be missed
Moton Museum: an exploration of the genesis and history of the civil rights movement
The Moton Museum sheds light on the civil rights movement and Farmville’s role.
An impressive selection of noncorporate restaurants offering eclectic and imaginative cuisine, including: North Street Press Club, Effingham’s, one19, Uptown Coffee Café, The Brew House and Charley’s Waterfront Café, to mention a few
One19 (top) and North Street Press Club are among the restaurants offering eclectic and imaginative cuisine.
The Virginia Tasting Cellar: live music and a sampling of Virginia’s best wines
Three Roads Brewing: handcrafted beer and live music
If you’re looking for a fun weekend, Farmville is a sure bet. Hope to see you around town soon!
Longwood is officially closed for winter break. Offices will reopen on Thursday, Jan. 2. The first day of spring semester classes for undergraduates is Tuesday, Jan. 14.
I hope your holidays have been filled with love, laughter, good food, family, rest and relaxation—maybe with a little snow thrown in for good measure.
Thank you for entrusting Longwood with the education of your student. We take that responsibility very seriously, and we look forward to helping your Lancer continue that journey with the start of the spring semester.
Longwood received three great pieces of news recently that are a testament to the growing stature of our university. If you’re out visiting family and friends over the holidays and there’s a lull in the conversation, consider using one of these points of Longwood pride to fill the gap!
The Short and Sweet Version…
1. Biology Professor Earns Statewide Honor
Dr. Amorette Barber received a patent in 2018 for her research on new cancer treatments.
Dr. Amorette Barber, associate professor of biology and director of the Office of Student Research, received an Outstanding Faculty Award from the State Council of Higher Education for Virginia recognizing her impact both in and out of the classroom. Only 12 of these awards are given each year, with more than 100 faculty usually nominated for the honor.
2. Prestigious Grant for Core Curriculum
The prestigious Teagle Foundation, known in philanthropic circles for its commitment to strengthening the liberal arts at the college level, awarded Longwood a major grant ($100,000) to support implementation of the university’s new Civitae core curriculum. Other institutions receiving grants this year include Yale, Brandeis, Columbia and NYU–so Longwood is in very good company.
3. Police Department Makes Top 20 in National Ranking
Longwood University’s Police Department was again ranked among the top 20 in the nation by Security Magazine. The department has been ranked in the top 20 eight times in the last 10 years and this year is the top-ranked police department among Virginia colleges and universities.
A Few More Details…
1. Biology Professor Earns Statewide Honor
It’s hard to imagine anyone more qualified for an Outstanding Faculty Award than Dr. Amorette Barber, who joined the Longwood faculty in 2011. Barber balances her research with a heavy teaching load and her responsibilities as director of the Office of Student Research. She is known as an engaging teacher who challenges her students while keeping the classroom environment lively and captivating.
Barber’s work in her research lab has broken new ground—in 2018, she earned a patent for developing an immunotherapy treatment for numerous cancers. That came as she has mentored dozens of students who have gone on to medical school and some of the top graduate programs in the country, including Dartmouth and the University of Chicago.
2. Prestigious Grant for Core Curriculum
President W. Taylor Reveley IV said the $100,000 grant from the New York-based Teagle Foundation should “serve as a powerful reminder that what we’re doing here is truly distinctive, noble, important for the country, and a model for others to follow.”
Specifically what Longwood has done is develop an innovative core curriculum, named Civitae (pronounced SIV-i-tay), that is designed to prepare students for 21st-century careers while developing them as citizen leaders equipped to serve their own communities.
Many Civitae classes take a cross-disciplinary approach.
Unlike many general education programs, Civitae courses are taken throughout a Longwood student’s four-year tenure. Longwood launched Civitae in fall 2018, so current freshmen and sophomores are the first to take these classes.
Civitae builds from exploratory Foundation classes in rhetoric, citizenship and different liberal arts and sciences disciplines to Perspectives classes that form connections between areas of study to broaden horizons and foster scholarly inquiry. Civitae culminates in a Symposium for the Common Good, an intense, semesterlong study of the campuswide theme E Pluribus Unum (Out of Many, One), taught from a variety of disciplinary perspectives.
The Teagle grant will fund a program to help Longwood faculty across a range of disciplines to develop Symposium courses for the new curriculum, bringing in recognized scholars and making use of founding texts of American democracy.
3. Police Department Makes Top 20 in National Ranking
We know campus safety is a top priority for you and your student, and that’s why Longwood invests in a top-notch police department that has drawn national recognition.
“The Longwood University Police Department is a real point of pride for the university, and we hear from parents and students each day that they have a lot of confidence in the safety of our campus,” said Dr. Tim Pierson, vice president for student affairs, who oversees the department. “In the last 10 years, we have nearly doubled the security budget on campus, including growing our law enforcement staff to more than double the national average for a population our size.”
The Longwood Police Department sponsored an egg hunt for students last spring as part of its community-building effort.
The police department has adopted community-policing practices focused on building connections with the community and utilizing proactive, student-focused crime-prevention strategies that include free security-focused training and making police officers available to students in nonenforcement capacities.
You see it on our street banners. You hear our students talking about it. It’s a part of Longwood from one end to the other. What is it?
Citizen leadership—which is the idea that everyone can be a leader in whatever circumstances they find themselves. In other words, you don’t have to be a CEO or a senator or a school principal to have a positive impact in your corner of the world. We instill this belief in your Lancers in numerous ways, but I want to share one example with you today that has a little bit of a twist.
It’s an English class titled 9/11: Loss and Redemption, where—along with writing assignments—students this semester planted, tended and then harvested a “victory garden.” You may have heard of these gardens, which helped supplement the nation’s food supply during World Wars I and II, but the purpose of the garden at Longwood is philosophical as well as practical.
Students in 9/11: Loss and Redemption, an English class that is part of Longwood’s core curriculum, grew a variety of winter crops in their ”victory garden” as a way of connecting to a time when Americans were more personally invested in the military, and attitudes toward service and citizenship were different.
Dr. Michael Lund, a professor emeritus of English who teaches the class, and his students have taken three loads of vegetables to Farmville’s FACES food pantry this semester. But even more important, working in the garden serves as a way to help the students connect to a time when Americans were more personally invested in the military, and attitudes toward service and citizenship were different, Lund said.
The class is part of Longwood’s new core curriculum, Civitae (pronounced siv-i-tay), which has a strong focus on creating citizen leaders. (Click on this link for more about Civitae and an explanation of the name and its Latin roots).
“I certainly connect [the class] to the idea of citizen leadership,” said Lund. “I thought I could put in place something that is a gesture to the veteran community and also educates my students about civilian involvement during the world wars,” he said. “I think they should know something about the cost of what the military does.”
Timothy Eppes ’22 said he had taken photos of the garden to help detail the changes in growth along the way. “Looking back to the first photo, it was empty. And now it’s full,” he said. “We’re giving food to people who need it. This is a way to help give back.”
Ashley Rebehn ’22, who has volunteered with FACES through another class, agreed that it’s nice to know that’s where the food they are harvesting is headed.
Members of Longwood’s ROTC program helped create the six raised beds that make up the garden.
Although the students in Lund’s class were most directly involved with planting and harvesting the garden, the project was a community effort. Members of Longwood’s ROTC program helped to move dirt into six raised garden beds. Lund worked with facilities management staff to have the beds made, and the soil was amended with compost from the university’s biomass facility.
Aside from the three types of lettuces and leafy greens, the victory garden produced other cole crops, including turnips, beets, broccoli and daikon radishes.
Lund plans to continue the garden in the spring with another section of English 215.
Depending on when you’re reading this, your Lancers are just about to sit down to—or have recently enjoyed—Longwood’s traditional Thanksgiving dinner in Dorrill Dining Hall. The turkey dinner with all the trimmings—including Longwood’s famous baked Alaska for dessert—is one of students’ favorite yearly events.
Many of them would have worked up an appetite by presenting their research and other academic projects at the Fall Student Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry held today from 3:30-6 p.m. With more than 500 students presenting in just 2.5 hours, it’s an exciting event. Included in the showcase are poster and oral presentations, theatre and music performances, and a photography and haiku display.
More than 500 students were expected to make presentations during today’s Fall Student Showcase for Research and Creative Inquiry.
With the holidays right around the corner, I thought it might be helpful to provide some information about housing, transportation and the university closing dates, which is below.
Wishing you a wonderful Thanksgiving surrounded by family and friends.
—Sabrina Brown
UNIVERSITY CLOSING The university, including all administrative offices, will then be closed on Wednesday, Nov. 26, through Friday, Nov. 29, with classes resuming at 8 a.m. Monday, Dec. 2.
HOUSING DURING THE BREAK *Residential communities close at 6 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26, and reopen at noon Sunday, Dec. 1. *Residence hall rooms and apartments may be entered by staff during the break to complete work orders and for safety inspections. *Students who want to attend or participate in the Grand Illumination of the holiday tree on Tuesday, Nov. 26, from 5:30-8 p.m. should register to stay. Anyone who has not registered to stay won’t have access to their residence halls/apartments beginning at 6 p.m. that day. Registering to Stay *If your student lives in Longwood-managed housing, they can arrange to stay on campus during the Thanksgiving break, in their current hall/room, by filling out the required online form before the pre-deadline of midnight Monday, Nov. 25. Here’s a link to the form: Thanksgiving break housing form. Filling out this form by the deadline assures that your student’s ID card will continue to provide access to the residence hall and that, as a safety measure, the Longwood Police Department knows that your student is on campus during the break. Students must fill out the form themselves (but you can remind them). *If your student does not determine that they need to stay on campus until after the online registration process closes at midnight Nov. 25, they should contact Housing and Residential Life at housing@longwood.edu. *Please keep in mind that Housing and Residential Life will close at 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26, and will not be available after that time to answer email or take telephone calls. After 5 p.m. Tuesday, Nov. 26, contact the Longwood Police Department for assistance at 434-395-2091.
The annual Thanksgiving dinner features Longwood’s famous baked Alaska for dessert.
FARMVILLE AREA BUS Farmville Area Bus (FAB) service will end at 6 p.m. on Tuesday, Nov. 26, and will resume at noon on Sunday, Dec. 1. During this time, no bus service will be available for travel to or from Lancer Park or Longwood Village.
SHUTTLE SERVICE If your student needs transportation home for the break, shuttle service (Virginia locations only) is available from a private company not affiliated with Longwood. Breakshuttle offers service from the Longwood campus to northern Virginia (Springfield), Richmond and Hampton Roads. Basic information is summarized below. You can get additional details and buy tickets at the Breakshuttle website: https://breakshuttle.com/collections/longwood-university
Want to draw a crowd on campus? Bring out the bunnies. And don’t forget the alpacas, miniature donkeys and baby pigs.
That’s what the College of Business and Economics did this past Monday as a treat for students at this busy time of year—and they loved it!
The petting zoo sponsored by the College of Business and Economics was enjoyed by all students.
With the addition of some temporary fencing, the grassy area between Lancaster Hall and the Upchurch University Center was transformed into a petting zoo from 11 a.m.-3 p.m. I heard laughter and squeals of pure delight as your Lancers crowded around the enclosures to look a spotted alpaca in the eye or to pick up and cuddle a fluffy chicken.
Many students pulled up handfuls of grass to offer to the animals, who found it much more enticing than the grass within their own fenced areas. (Maybe the grass really is greener on the other side.)
Miniature donkeys enjoyed munching on the “greener grass” from the other side of their enclosure that was happily provided by students.
Patti Carey, director of student engagement and special initiatives in the business school, said the event took shape when she was tossing around ideas recently with a student advisory group. “When we said petting zoo, they just about come up out of their chairs,” she said, adding that the goal was to do something for everyone—not just business students.
“November is one of the busiest months in the school year, and animals decrease stress. I’ve seen so many smiles today,” Carey said.
There’s no doubt that the event was a hit, with the petting zoo staying full of visitors for the entire four hours.
“I just fed an alpaca, and I’ve never been so happy,” said Delaney Pietrantoni ’23, an elementary education major. “They’re so majestic. I love them.”
Interacting with the animals produced a lot of smiles.
Chuck Stevens ’21 also spent some time with the alpacas along with his friend Kyla McMakin ’23, a computer science major.
“College students love animals. This is a great stress reliever,” he said.
Tori Bronson ’22, also an elementary education major, agreed. “They make me feel calm. They’re just so cute,” she said as she was petting a brown-and-white goat who’d thrust his head through the fence to eat some grass from her hand.
Whether or not to join a sorority or fraternity is one of the many decisions college students face. Your student may want to talk this over with you, so I thought it might be helpful to provide you with some basic information. In the following Q&A, Meagan Earls Byrnes, director of Fraternity and Sorority Life at Longwood, sheds some light on Greek life Longwood-style.
Megan Earls Byrnes is director of the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life at Longwood.
What should parents do if their student is considering joining a fraternity or sorority? Be supportive and learn as much as you can by asking your student questions as they meet people and organizations through the recruitment process. Encourage your student to keep an open mind. Encourage your student to find the chapter where they feel most comfortable and where the chapter’s values resonate with them. Fraternity/sorority members will be more than happy to tell them (and you) about their organization. Once your student is a member, become involved in the parent and family activities.
What are the recognized fraternities and sororities at Longwood? There are 23 recognized fraternities and sororities at Longwood.
The College Panhellenic Council (CPC; sororities) comprises Alpha Delta Pi, Alpha Gamma Delta, Alpha Sigma Alpha, Alpha Sigma Tau, Zeta Tau Alpha, Kappa Delta, Sigma Kappa, Sigma Sigma Sigma and Alpha Beta Psi.
The Interfraternity Council (IFC; fraternities)comprises Alpha Sigma Phi, Gamma Psi, Pi Kappa Phi, Phi Kappa Tau, Phi Mu Delta and Sigma Nu and Theta Chi.
The National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC; historically African-American sororities and fraternities that accept prospective students from all ethnicities) comprises Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Inc., Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
A new addition to the community is Gamma Rho Lambda, an all-inclusive multicultural and LGBTQ inclusive sorority.
What does it mean to be a recognized Greek organization? The Student Government Association (SGA) of Longwood University has a defined process for students wishing to create a student organization to apply for official recognition. This process is detailed in the Student Handbook. Recognized student organizations (RSOs) benefit from multiple levels of support from the university. For many groups, this includes access to professional staff/faculty members and university resources and facilities. In most cases, RSOs housed under the Office of Fraternity and Sorority Life are supported by the university as well as by an inter/national entity.
It just doesn’t get much better than Bid Day for Longwood’s Pan-Hellenic Council sororities.
What are the unrecognized fraternities and sororities at Longwood? Current unrecognized organizations are: Delta Tau Chi (also known as Delta, DTX), Zeta Chi Alpha (also known as ZXA) and Sigma Phi Epsilon (also known as SPE).
What does it mean to be unrecognized? In some instances, an unrecognized organization may exist off campus and therefore have no affiliation with Longwood. Unrecognized organizations are typically former fraternities or sororities that have lost their recognition from Longwood and/or their inter/national headquarters due to disciplinary action. Unrecognized organizations are not advised by the university, are unable to utilize campus resources, and cannot participate in Fraternity and Sorority Life events.
Groups operating in this capacity are not regulated under university policies and regulations, which could result in undesirable consequences for both individual members and the group, as they are not mandated to follow the same standards and policies that our recognized fraternities and sororities follow. Longwood students are strongly encouraged to associate with recognized student organizations.
What percentage of Longwood undergraduate students are members of recognized Greek organizations? 24 percent
A student once said, “You don’t have friends at Longwood. You have family.” Greek life plays a big part in creating that feeling.
How is Greek life at Longwood different from Greek life at a larger school? The way fraternities and sororities were meant to be is more like the way they are at Longwood. What’s most important here are the mission and values of the organization. In a lot of ways, larger schools offer a different type of membership experience compared with a place like Longwood. For example, Greek students here get to know one another across all of the chapters rather than only getting to know their fellow chapter members.
How does a student join a fraternity or sorority? The process is different for each umbrella Greek life council mentioned earlier, but there are some commonalities here at Longwood.
Students must have a minimum of a 2.5 cumulative GPA and at least 12 Longwood credit hours. Transfer students who enter Longwood with at least 12 or more credit hours earned after high school graduation are eligible to participate in membership recruitment for fraternities and sororities beginning the semester they enroll. Prospective students are encouraged to remain open-minded and look at all of their membership options within the 23 chapters.
More information about each group’s recruitment process can be found below or on the Fraternity and Sorority Life website at http://www.longwood.edu/greek/.
College Panhellenic Council (CPC; sororities): Students who wish to join a Panhellenic sorority in this organization go through a process called Formal Recruitment. It begins with sign up, which is open through midnight on Jan. 5, 2020, and requires a $50 fee. Then there is a series of recruitment events beginning on Jan. 9, which culminates with Bid Day/CPC Walk on Jan. 12, where the sororities extend invitations to new members. Interfraternity Council (IFC; fraternities): IFC recruitment is ongoing throughout the school year. Interested students should sign up (there is a $10 fee) after they have gotten to know some of the chapters and members. IFC Walk, where new members are announced and welcomed to their chapter, is held each semester. The next IFC Walk is scheduled for February 2020. National Pan-Hellenic Council (NPHC; historically African-American sororities and fraternities that accept prospective students from all ethnicities): Prospective students join NPHC through their Membership Intake Process, which is ongoing throughout the school year. Students are encouraged to “do their research” on the various chapters on campus and then attend an informational/interest meeting, where they learn more about their chapter and membership criteria.
Raising money for worthy causes is an important part of membership in sororities and fraternities.
What costs are associated with applying and with membership? Members of fraternities and sororities take on a financial responsibility both as new members and active members. New member dues tend to be higher than active membership dues because of some one-time fees that are included. The organization will determine the number of dues students will have to pay each semester. It’s important that prospective students and their families have a good understanding of all Greek-affiliated financial aspects to determine if joining a fraternity or sorority is affordable. A variety of payment plans is also typically available.
What other membership obligations have a financial cost? Chapters are encouraged to include any financial costs with the described membership dues of each chapter. Fraternity and sorority members should be provided detailed budget information for how their chapter dues are being used. Chapters and/or members may choose to voluntarily take on extra costs, for example through buying T-shirts or big/little gifts. (Bigs/littles are new members paired with current members in a mentoring relationship.) Prospective students are encouraged to ask detailed questions regarding the financial commitment during their recruitment process.
What are the benefits of membership in a Greek organization? Greek memberships offer a multifaceted student organization experience. Fraternity and sorority membership offers many opportunities, including leadership, service, networking, academic support, brotherhood/sisterhood/siblinghood, professional skills and interpersonal development. The values and rituals of each chapter are what make Greek organizations truly unique compared with other extracurricular involvements. Additionally, what differentiates these organizations from others is their lifetime membership. While the Greek experience is often focused on the college years, alumni members are essential to our organizations.
We want you!
What kinds of activities are part of belonging to sororities and fraternities? Fraternities and sororities participate in a variety of activities including community service, philanthropy awareness/fundraising, educational programming, social events, academic study hours and workshops, professional meetings and leadership development programming.
What are the four national sororities that were founded at Longwood—and are they still active today? Our Greek history started on October 23, 1897, with the founding of Kappa Delta sorority, then came Sigma Sigma Sigma sorority on April 20, 1898, Zeta Tau Alpha sorority followed on October 15, 1898, and last was Alpha Sigma Alpha sorority on November 15, 1901. All of the “Farmville Four” are active, recognized chapters today.
At the time of the founding, the university community welcomed the new organizations by immediately recognizing them and giving them permission to utilize university grounds to conduct secret meetings and rituals. The groups announced themselves to the university and community through the yearbook, where a page was devoted to information about each organization.
“Jumpers” is a fun tradition that comes from Longwood’s rich fraternal history. Active members of CPC sororities pass down dresses or outfits that members wear to show their support and pirit of their chapter. Each sorority has a different color and style of their jumper.
As someone who works in marketing communications, I can tell you there’s not much that’s more valuable than knowing what your customers think about you—and that’s true not only for businesses but also for higher education. We know that students and parents are our primary customers.
As the parent of a recent college student, I looked for information that reflected what my daughter’s fellow students and their parents thought of their university.
As a journalist, I know that when you provide the complete picture of a situation, the positive parts of that picture have more credibility.
So, given all of that, I’m sharing with you a website where you can read authentic accounts of the experiences a group of freshmen are having during their first year at Longwood. There is a good cross-section of students in the group: They’re aspiring educators, law enforcement officers, communications professionals and psychologists. They love basketball and hockey, country music and playing the clarinet, Mexican food and pancakes—and a lot more.
Kara enjoyed a weekend visit from her dad.
I can’t tell you how much fun I have had getting to know these students and reading their posts, which are included in a blog you can find here: “My Life As A Freshman.” It’s not all sunshine and roses—because life isn’t like that. But the way they’re settling in, making friends and starting to love being at Longwood is truly heart-warming.
Andrea and her roommate both tried out for and made the Blue Heat dance team, which performs at basketball games.
Andrea writes, “I’ve now been at Longwood for more than a week, and I can truthfully say that I’ve never felt more at home. Ever since move-in day, everyone at Longwood has made me feel so welcome! Everyone’s always smiling here, and they made me feel like family.” And she’s not alone in feeling that way—though some students write about missing home and their favorite foods, and feeling a little overwhelmed by their new independence.
Phil (right) hangs out with a friend in his residence hall.
So I hope you have a few minutes to explore what these 10 freshmen are doing, thinking and feeling. You might enjoy just reading their bios, which will give you a sense of the kind of students that are sharing your Lancer’s classes, dinnertimes and extracurricular activities.
And, finally, Happy Halloween! May your day be full of Jack-o-lanterns, candy corn, and friendly ghosts and goblins.
