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| Black Sorority's Luncheon Lauds Motherhood
By Helen Berggren
[email protected]
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Deciding which fork is the proper utensil to eat a garden salad with can be a daunting task.
Especially when you are only 8 years old.
``It's my first ball,'' said Nardia Robinson, neatly tucking a white cloth napkin into the neckline of her shimmering lavender tea-length dress.
The Hallandale Beach Elementary second-grader, who was mastering the art of cutting chicken scampi into bite-size pieces, seemed a bit awestruck at the ladies in suits and hats attending the Roses Tribute to Mothers mother/daughter luncheon.
``They look so beautiful,'' said Nardia, who was a guest of her aunt, Alvilda Marie Greene, chairwoman of the Roses Committee of the Sigma Gamma Rho's Gamma Delta Sigma chapter.
The sorority on Saturday hosted the banquet, an annual tradition, at the Howard Johnson Plaza Hotel in Hialeah Gardens.
Poems, songs and skits formed part of the celebration of motherhood.
``This is a luncheon to honor our mothers,'' said ``Rose'' Shantelle Williams, who attends Pinecrest School in Fort Lauderdale.
Becoming a Rose is another long-standing tradition of the historically black sorority.
``You become a Rose in your senior year of high school,'' said Shantelle, 17, who will be attending Stanford University in the fall.
``You have to learn how to waltz, tango and . . .'' she said, pausing to ask a fellow Rose the name of another dance step. ``Oh yeah, the box step. Then, at the cotillion in June, we will be presented to society.''
But being a Rose is not all about parties and luncheons.
``We do lots of community service,'' said ``Rose'' Ashley McLeroy, who attends Miami Norland High.
Ashley plans to attend Liberty University in Virginia.
``We have to get good grades. And you can't get pregnant or get a tattoo. You're supposed to set a good example for others, especially for the Buds,'' she said.
Girls are invited to become Buds when they enter the ninth grade.
``We started Buds in 1962,'' Greene said. ``At that time, we were concerned about the dropout rate of young girls.''
Etiquette, personal-grooming and character-building workshops are some of the steps a Bud takes when she begins her path to becoming a Rose.
``They are taught how to speak to an adult and how to respond to their parents,'' Greene said.
Seven school teachers in Indianapolis founded the sorority in 1922. It now has 660 chapters and 85,000 members.
If You Go
The sorority has scheduled two cotillions:
* The Buds of Spring Cotillion will be at 5 p.m. May 20 at the James L. Knight Center, 400 SE Second Ave.
* The Rose Cotillion will be hosted June 17, time to be announced, at Trump International Sonesta Beach Resort, 18001 Collins Ave., Sunny Isles Beach.
* For more information: Call 305-620-9552 or log on to www.geocities.com
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