Legacy Center Receives ‘Gift of Reading’
Members of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Orange County Alumnae Chapter, recently made a valuable donation to the Cypress College Legacy Program. Before an audience of Cypress executives, faculty, and students, they presented the “Gift of Reading,” a donation of more than 80 books.
Delta Sigma Theta Sorority is a historically Black sorority founded in 1913 with 1,000 international collegiate and alumni chapters. The Deltas, as they’re known, offer scholarships and service to the community, and the Orange County Alumnae representatives came to campus to celebrate a new community partnership with the college.
“We are honored to be donating gifts of reading to your groundbreaking exceptional Legacy program,” Valerie Bordeaux, a Soror of the Delta sorority chapter, said. Fellow Delta sorority sisters Mabel Jones, Brenda Sears, Letitia Clark, Nicole Jones, Janice Macon, and Carolyn Vallas were gathered in the audience, as well as Chapter President Caryn Lewis-Bugg, who spoke next.
“Deltas of Orange County stand ready to assist at every opportunity,” Lewis-Bugg said. The crowd she addressed included students from Dr. Annette Letcher’s English class.
In attendance from Cypress were President Dr. JoAnna Schilling; Vice President of Instruction Dr. Kathleen Reiland; Interim Vice President of Administrative Services Dr. Stephen Schoonmaker; Director of Admissions and Records Dr. David Booze; Dean of Social Sciences Jamie A. Thomas; Dean of Counseling Dr. Troy Davis; Dean of Kinesiology, Athletics, and Health Science Colin Preston; Co-President Black Faculty and Staff Association and Co-Advisor of A2MEND Student Charter Virgil Adams; Ethnic Studies Professor and Legacy Faculty Mentor Dr. Gio Hortua; and Sociology Department Chair and Legacy Coordinator Regina Rhymes.
“We stand on the shoulders of giants like Frederick Douglass, W.E.B. Dubois, Sojourner Truth, Harriet Tubman, and Sororities like Delta Sigma Theta,” Rhymes said during the presentation. “Their stories are our stories and the Gift of Reading keeps our Legacy moving from one generation to another.”
The books will be housed in the Legacy Center HUM-128. They will be available for those seeking “the important educational opportunities enabled through reading,” Dean Thomas said.