Zeta Chapter  History

 

" Strengthening our roots to blossom

into the women of tomorrow"

​​Founding Sister, Yesenia 'Lady Love' Vallejo



   

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It all began March 2009 in the Jardin dorm located in Mesa Court. Being that this was the only dorm with the most Latina/os, fifteen to be exact, this was significant due to the grim reality that Latina/os made up only 12% of the student population.  The genius idea to establish an additional Chicana/Latina sorority on the UCI campus happened in Jardin, where Laura Ulloa proposed the idea to Erika Santacruz and Jacqueline Fuentes.

As eager freshmen, these ladies were involved in multiple organizations on campus, yet they never felt like they found a safe space in which they could thrive and obtain the support from other Latina students. In particular, Laura had been contemplating on joining a sorority on campus. After learning about these organizations, she came to the realization that those organizations did not embody the ideals she was looking for. In addition, the lack of options, at the time there were only two Latina based sororities, inspired Laura to establish an additional sorority to complement and validate the richness and diversity there are in Latinas.



After class, she went back to the dorm and expressed the idea of establishing a new sorority to Erika and Jacqueline. The idea sounded a bit extreme and one that required a lot of work. However, after reflecting on the lack of a strong representation of Latinos on the campus, especially for Latina students, these ladies were motivated to change that reality. After researching many sororities, Erika shared that she had a high school friend that recently joined a Latina based sorority at UCLA. They got in contact with Nidia and asked about her experiences in the organization. She invited the ladies to an informational on the UCLA campus. These ladies attended the informational and were amazed on how the sisters of Phi Lambda Rho carried themselves in a professional manner, embodying the true characteristics of Latina Leadership. These were the qualities that UCI needed and what these ladies were destined to establish.Determined to get the process going, these ladies shared their goal with other students and were able to convince eleven ladies to join them in their journey.In September 2009 these ladies became known as FLOR (Feminine Leaders in Outreach for la Raza). As FLOR, these ladies discussed and developed ideas as to what they wanted FLOR to represent on the campus. Together, they came to realize that they all wanted to strive for women empowerment and create a space that would allow women to grow professionally, academically, as well as socially.  In addition, they wanted to be visible on the campus, holding events that brought cultural awareness to the campus, as well as events that were centered on female empowerment. To name a few, FLOR held a display board about Mujeres de Juarez and participated in community service projects such as Women’s Day of Self Esteem.

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In December of 2010, the ladies of FLOR became the Official Interest Group of Phi Lambda Rho with a total of sixteen ladies.



After two years and a half, Phi Lambda Rho, Zeta Chapter was finally established on May 15, 2011 with 11 Founding sisters. The journey was tough, one that required hard work and dedication, but  one that was well worth it.