“Just be yourself,” says junior Nicole Kramer, “because once you find your home in Pi Phi, everyone is going to accept you for who you are, so you might as well be your amazing self!” This is quite the motivation from a young woman who did not initially expect to join a sorority. But when she went through recruitment and met the women in the Massachusetts Gamma Chapter, it felt like a natural fit. Pi Phi has provided Nicole with a family on campus at Massachusetts Institute of Technology.

Now, Nicole is serving as Vice President of Philanthropy for Massachusetts Gamma, which is hard, but rewarding. This was a position that Nicole wanted because she felt such a strong connection to our philanthropy, Read > Lead > Achieve. Growing up, she would often skip homework so she could read instead. Reading is a great skill to have. When Nicole was having a tough time in school or with friends, she would turn to books and get lost in the happenings of characters from Twilight or Harry Potter. So our philanthropy struck her close to home because she could not imagine that some children are not able to read.

Nicole noticed the trend of chapters on campus being more focused on raising money for their philanthropies, but she wanted to go beyond this and get Pi Phis passionate for service. One thing Nicole brought to the chapter is Pi Beta Phi Fraternity’s Champions Are Readers® program. Nicole contacted Cambridge Public Schools to see if anyone would be interested and found a kindergarten classroom at Amigos School, a bilingual school in the area. The Pi Phi women now have the opportunity to spend time in the classrooms reading with the children, thanks to Nicole. “Everyone is excited,” says Nicole. “And it is amazing to have a personal role in making a child’s life better.”