The first collegiate Delta Kappa Gamma chapter in the state of West Virginia was born out of love for education and aims to foster a supportive environment for future educators to flourish, one leader of Marshall’s chapter said.
Abbi Carney, the treasurer and social media manager for DKG and Marshall student, said while traditionally, the organization has only been available for education professionals, a local chapter extended the opportunity for Marshall to establish their own chapter.
“It is an international honor society for women in education who are dedicated to promoting leadership, scholarships and service,” Carney said. “The past two years, there has been one other collegiate chapter at Texas A&M.”
Carney said before following her invitation to work on the project, she recruited Fiona Reynolds, the current president, parliamentarian and fellow advocate for women in education.
Fiona said upon embarking on this chapter’s journey, she most remembers requesting guidance from Hilary Brewster, the director of the women’s, gender and sexuality studies program and DKG faculty advisor.
“Abbi and I went and sat criss-cross applesauce on her office floor and asked her to do this for us,” Reynolds said. “We would do all the work, and all we needed was her signature, and she was inducted with us as well.”
While the Marshall chapter successfully became the first in the mountain state, its creation did not go off without a hitch.
“When the DEI situation happened, we put our progress on hold completely because we are an honorary society for female educators,” Carney said in reference to the DEI rollback post federal executive orders. “We had to navigate the obstacle that the DEI legislation put in until we had the green light.”
Reynolds said despite past and future difficulties, Marshall’s DKG chapter remains committed to paving the way for future female educators.
“Education is under attack,” Reynolds said. “It is really important that we create spaces and can come together and figure out how this is impacting classrooms and hold that space for us as we enter the workforce.”
Similarly, Carney said professional development for the field is currently more valuable than ever, particularly in regards to connections and perspective of the field’s future.
“I’ve seen the highs and lows that the college of education and professional development has to offer,” Carney said. “I know through the professional development law institutions and the connections it’ll bring that members in the future will be in a better position to become educators.”
Meanwhile, Cailey Hinkle, the vice president and secretary for DKG, said playing a role in the state’s first chapter remains pivotal not only for herself and current students, but for future female educators.
“It is super important that we can be the first people to pave the way for other women,” Hinkle said. “It’s good to have that visibility, and it’s really important for the future of the field.”
As far as recruitment goes, Carney said currently, the chapter is narrowed down to juniors, seniors and graduate students. In the future, Carney said she plans to open the chapter up to freshmen and sophomores as well.
Kaitlyn Fleming can be contacted at [email protected].
