This article is written by a student writer from the Her Campus at Sewanee chapter.
Your girlfriends are some of the most important people in your life, but sometimes it is all too easy to take your relationships with them for granted. Kappa Delta at Sewanee wants to change that, by dedicating the month of September to International Women’s Friendship Month for the 13th year in a row. Through hosting events and encouraging discussions, the ladies of KD want to remind you just how amazing the female friendships in your life truly are! I sat down with Eva Moss, a senior Kappa Delta and Vice President of Public Relations, to talk about the sorority’s involvement with IWFM and why it is so important to cherish each and every one of your friendships.
What is the history of International Women’s Friendship Month, and how did Sewanee’s chapter get involved?
International Women’s Friendship Month was founded by a partnership between Kappa Delta and the Confidence Coalition. Friendship among women is a core value for Kappa Delta, and it is something that we as an organization love to celebrate. In 1999, Kappa Delta Sorority created National Women’s Friendship Day, and in 2009, the celebration of friendship was expanded to the entire month of September. Now known as International Women’s Friendship Month, the celebration offers all women the opportunity to remember their special friends.
So how is Sewanee’s KD chapter celebrating IWFM?
Each September, our chapter gets together and bakes cakes to gift to each sorority in the Sewanee community. In addition, we had S’mores with the Girls night on Tuesday (9/23 at 8:00pm) in the Social Lodge, and we will be hosting a community talk on Thursday (9/25 at 5:30pm) with guest speaker Sarah Miller from the School of Theology, whose talk will be titled “Friendships Will Save the World”. The talk will be in the Mary Sue Cushman Room.
Why is it important to have something like this in the Sewanee community?
Celebration of IWFM is definitely important in our community because it provides a framework of events and a month long mentality of celebrating something that is crucial for life, especially college life, and that something is true friendship. We have many, many amazing women in our community, and there are also all sorts of wonderful friendships and connections that have been made, and will continue to be made, so why not take a break from the weekly grind and eat some cake, make some s’mores, hear a speaker, or just send your BFF an uplifting note about how awesome she is? That’s what IWFM is about, and that is what we hope to promote through our events.
How long has Sewanee KD been celebrating IWFM?
This will be our 13th year celebrating IWFM.
What are the ultimate goals of IWFM? What does KD hope to accomplish?
We aim to encourage a re-focusing on friendship among women. It’s so easy to get caught up in homework, classes, clubs, etc. and to push back that lunch date, or reply to that text, or just make the time to stop everything and just hang out with your girls. We’d love for as many Sewanee women to come out to our events this week to take a break and celebrate and refocus on their friends, and make time for themselves as well!
In your opinion, what is one of the most fun things y’all do as part of IWFM?
Our chapter really loves getting together to bake the cakes and also to deliver them to the different sororities to spread the IWFM love. We also really enjoys our community IWFM event, like this year’s s’mores and last year’s movie night outside. Little get togethers like that are just so simple but really fun and it gives us all a chance to stop everything and take some time to hang out and have a good time.
The Confidence Coalition is running a competition for September’s IWFM. There is a video on their Facebook page titled #WORLDSBF. The competition is for the title of “World’s Best Friend”, and the basics are you take a photo or video with one of your best friends and explain why she’s the best, and you’ll be entered to win a trip for two to Disney World! It’s a pretty sweet deal – you show your BFF some love, and you could also win a trip to Disney! It’s a win win.
For more info on IWFM, visit http://www.confidencecoalition.org/internationalwomensfriendshipmonth.