committed to constructive development of its members and to public service with a primary

Transcription

1 DuBose 1 Nicole DuBose Lori Carriere English Composition March 2017 Mission Statement Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated is an organization of college educated women committed to constructive development of its members and to public service with a primary focus on the Black community. (Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.) Introduction Delta Sigma Theta is a sorority of college-educated African American women whom are dedicated to providing services to their cultural community.the sorority was founded by 22 female students on January 13, 1913 at Howard University.The sorority has over nine hundred - forty chapters but I chose to focus on the Delta Sigma Theta Rancocas Valley Chapter because it's the closest chapter near me. The chapter's goal is to meet the needs of the community by providing scholarships to youth to recognize academic excellence. ( President's Message )The RVAC has been in service for over 40 years in the Burlington County area. The chapter has many programs that they host for the community such as Five-Point Program Thrust,International Awareness and Involvement,Physical and Mental Health,Political Awareness and Involvement and Voter Education, but this paper will focus on the educational

2 DuBose 2 development programs, Delta GEMS anddr. Betty Shabazz Delta Academy, because of personal experience. Dr. Betty Shabazz Delta Academy consists of girls in grades 6 to 8 (middle school) who are a minority. Delta Academy is designed to offer opportunities to young women of great promise who might otherwise be excluded because they lack support, resources, and encouragement (Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc).During the meetings they focus on the following topics: education, financial education, social action,political awareness, physical and mental health, international awareness, and leadership. Other topics also include upcoming community service projects and the two main cultural events held by the Academy and GEMS.(Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.) The Delta GEMS group is pretty similar to the Academy, accept the girls are in grades 9 through 12 (high school) that have graduated from academy or just joined from word of mouth. The G.E.M.S stands for Growing and Empowering Myself Successfully. The goals for this group is to provide the girls with tools such as goal setting and academic excellence for high school and to eventually pursue a college education. Not to mention, through community service the chapter would like to instill a compassionate mind set to the young ladies during the service activities. The group has the same meeting times,once or twice a month, between September and May. The meetings cover topics like career planning, college tours and upcoming community events. (Delta Sigma Theta Sorority Inc.)

3 DuBose 3 Objective I decided to investigate how the forms of communication in a discourse community is used in the Delta G.E.M.S and Academy. The purpose is to show how the educational programs are partially accepted into the Delta Sigma Theta Sorority's discourse community by the use of the different forms of communication. Methods To find out the restrictions put in place by the Delta Sigma Theta sorority I did online research on the official website of the sorority and the chapters website. I used some information from the President's Message and the Programs section of the chapters webpage. The main sorority website was used for the mission statement, background information and research on the different chapters. The information gathered will be used to find out what a person who pledged to the sorority can do as a member and what their overall purpose as a Delta is. I conducted a interview at the Blacks In Wax Program, which was held on February 25, 2017 at the Willingboro library. I asked two sorority members, Jackie Barker Dennis,who was in charge of the GEMS and Miko Sparks, who was in charge of Academy. I asked them how the participants in the program changed over the years?, what type of activities do they participate in and why do they do them. I wanted to see how the girls who are apart of the educational groups are the same to the sorority members themselves. For instance what the girls cannot or cannot do when it comes to the activities that they are included in. I asked some participants in the GEMS and Academy some questions about their experience and what they learned in the program. I was

4 DuBose 4 hoping to find out the extremes of what the girls in Academy and GEMS can and cannot do throughout the years of the program. The communication through the form of events such as Rites of Passage and Blacks in Wax might change over the years due to guidelines put in place by the sorority. Results The Delta Sigma Theta Rancocas Valley Chapter hosts two main events,blacks in Wax and Rites of Passage, for the community during the GEMS and Academies Term. Blacks in Wax focuses on African American women throughout history. The Academy and GEMS girls become the wax figures of these women. They portray them through costume, posters and memorization of important facts and relay this information to the public. The girls in the groups are able to choose the theme, genre and set up of the program. The purpose of this program is to allow the girls to learn about women who are relevant today or have been forgotten in history. Using this information they will teach the sorority members and the community about the African American women s accomplishments. The GEMS and Academy are using a form of communication to teach a wider audience such as their local community new information. By doing this the educational groups are similar to the sorority members by participating in public service. The Delta Sorority and the educational groups are participating in a discourse community act by teaching others. The second and last event of the Academy and GEMS term is the Rites of Passage. Rites of Passage is a ceremony of a Academy becoming a GEM, a girl transitioning from middle

5 DuBose 5 school to high school, or a GEM graduating the program and going on to college. The event is setup just like the Blacks in Wax where the girls are able to choose how the program goes and what they do in it. I asked a second year,gem Kiara Johnson,what was her first experience of Rites of Passage was like, My first year as a GEM, the program was mardi gra themed, we introduced ourselves through a stroll with masks and dance. During the GEMS portion of the program we did a step and danced to Beyonce s Move Your Body... I asked another GEM who was about to graduate about how Rites of Passages changed since she first started. Iman Harris told me My first year of Rites of Passage involved a stroll with EMBODI. The guys were our escorts and walked us up to the podium to introduce ourselves. Our part of the program was a 3 part skit based on what we learned at the meetings and ended with a slide show of us working on different community projects. The change in both programs are significant due to the rotation of girls going in and out of the program and the restrictions put in place by the sorority. Conclusion/Discussion Through research and personal experience Delta Sigma Theta Sorority is a discourse community by Swales six criterias but the education programs, GEMS and Academy, are not. When it comes to the criteria of owning genres, a discourse community acquire some specific lexis, the educational programs do not have one. The Delta Sorority use the delta symbol, a triangle, when they take pictures with their fellow sorority sisters. The Deltas also step and where pearls at their event to distinguish them from other groups. The Delta GEMS and Academy however cannot participate in these activities since they have not been initiated into the sorority.

6 DuBose 6 Works Cited "Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Inc." Delta Sigma Theta Sorority. Inc. Web. 02 Mar "John Swales: Genre and Discourse Community." The Discourse Studies Reader (2014): 305. Print. "Sisterhood." ΔΣΘ Rancocas Valley Alumnae Chapter. Web. 02 Mar