Alpha Sigma Nu is a Jesuit Honors Society and a worldwide organization with a deep alumni network that has its headquarters located on the Marquette University campus.
ASN was established at Marquette on June 4, 1915 by John Danihy who at the time was the dean of the journalism school and originally consisted of 11 undergraduate men (alphasigmanu.org). ASN grew into a worldwide organization with chapters around the world.
Vlada Snyder, a sophomore at Marquette and a member of ASN, said the organization has a goal of making a positive impact on the world by serving and giving back to their communities. On Tuesday Oct. 15, ASN hosted an event inside the Alumni Memorial Union.
Annabel Engelhardt, a senior in the College of Health Sciences and the vice president of Alpha Sigma Nu, said the organization put on the event to raise awareness and recognition of Alpha Sigma Nu on campus. Engelhardt also said the event was put on to celebrate Alpha Sigma Nu day which is a celebration of ASN that takes place at all the chapters.
ASN set up tables in the AMU, and Engelhardt said anyone walking by the tables was allowed to participate.
Snyder said that the event was going great and many students and faculty from Marquette stopped by the event. She said it was “wonderful to receive support from Marquette and to see that students were interested in joining the organization.”
Engelhardt said one of the purposes of ASN is to “honor students who excel in service, scholarship and loyalty, as well as to provide a network and reasons for members to continue following these tenets after graduation.”
“All the ASN chapters have a mission to live the Jesuit values of their higher education, and it’s not just about the members grade point average but also about their service to their community and to their embrace of the values of their Jesuit education,” Kate Gaertner, executive director of ASN’s central office, said.
Gaertner said ASN has chapters at Jesuit institutions in the United States, Canada, South Korea, Spain and Peru. The organization specially benefits Marquette because it honors students’ educations and provides them with opportunities such as service, scholarships and a network of peers who will extend past their Marquette experience, Engelhardt said.
Engelhardt said this was the first time ASN Day had been celebrated at Marquette. Snyder said ASN day is officially on Oct. 17, but fall break forced the organization to celebrate it on Oct. 15. She said ASN Day took place at chapters across the U.S., Canada and Spain, and all the chapters had similar events and celebrations. The National Headquarters, located on Marquette’s campus, organized the events for ASN Day.
“(The event) was a really fun way to get the word out about ASN on campus and get new people stopping in to learn about ASN,” Kristina Tadeo, the assistant director of ASN at the central office, said.
Pranay Vadapally, a senior in the College of Arts & Sciences and worked at the event, said there was “a lot of traffic at the event,” which included undergraduate students and even workers from Marquette Place at the AMU.
Gaertner also said “They were really excited about the number of students that stopped by the event and learned about ASN.”
Snyder said they celebrated the event by giving out T-shirts along with snacks and drinks, and having quizzes and giving out prizes to try to gain as much attention as possible and spread the word about the organization.
The Alpha Sigma Nu event celebrated ASN Day at Marquette and spread the word to students who could potentially become members of the organization in the near future.
