The Society of Virtuous Women

Southern University has introduced another infamous organization on campus. The Society of Virtuous Women is a new organization that develops female leaders and professionals with a drive and ambition in order to uplift young women in today’s society.
This organization was formerly known as the Collegiate 100. Although this is a new organization to the university, ‘The Society of Virtuous Women’ carries the same purpose and values. With the Collegiate 100 no longer being an active organization for women, students are curious if they will still be able to be led in the same direction in their new organization. Lauren Johnson, the president of The Society of Virtuous Women, says “The name change doesn’t affect the organization at all; we’re still the same organization with the same values and goals and are gonna do the same work on campus and in our community as we did before. If the name is all that makes them have interest in our organization, then we’re not the organization for them.”
Senior, Business Management major, Jasmine Brown, gives her opinion about how this organization can benefit women on campus. “It’s a great opportunity for black women on campus. It’ll be great for women because it prepares them for the right skills and knowledge they need. Also , with this organization, it heavily promotes sisterhood and being the best version of yourself.”
The Society of Virtuous Women was not affected by the unfortunate title change. It only made them stronger and more motivated to continue a legacy for women. “We like to think of it like this— we were stung by bees, but instead of letting the bee sting bother us, we took those same bees and made honey from them. It definitely wasn’t the easiest thing to do, but for an organization that was so dear to our members and even prospective members, it was worth fighting for,” Johnson vocalizes.
The vision for this organization is for all of Southern University’s organizations to become a safe space for women, through events, to feel comfortable, to express themselves, be vulnerable enough to ask for advice without judgment, and to expand their knowledge during informative events. Their main goal is to establish a connection from their previous organization to their current organization, to not only speak on but also show that they’re the same organization they used to be. They plan to hold events both based on what they see the need to inform women on and what they have a will or want to learn. They also plan to do more events catered to young women in high schools based on self-love, resume- building, and makeovers to those in need during prom season.
Senior, Biology Major, Starr Turner, says “It’ll bring more opportunities to women on campus. Also, it would be a great organization for women to be vulnerable, and build upon a sisterhood.”
According to President Lauren Johnson “The theme of being virtuous is what we stand on, it’s in our motto, we just took that one word, brainstormed, and ended up with The Society of Virtuous Women. It was our executive board’s decision to not really create, but more so continue the organization’s work into the next. We, as a whole, are just so resilient and literally would not take no or accepting defeat for an answer, Johnson stated after being asked where did their organization’s name stem from.
This organization was only in the works for two months, from February 17, 2023 to their founding date April 17, 2023. Being sisters and knowing what the organization “Collegiate 100” meant to them, they stood by each other’s side to continue building a new sisterhood for the University. Johnson explains their motivation, “We’re sisters, we knew what the organization meant to us and what it can mean to others and do for them, so we weren’t taking no for an answer. We explored several options and knew that whatever decision we made, all of them ended in continuing and none of them even entertained the idea of just stopping where we had to and letting it go. Like I said, we’re very resilient and should be the last to ever be counted out. Through every setback, we come back 100 times harder for whoever thought we wouldn’t or couldn’t.”
Going forward, they are open to embracing women to learn more about their organization and join their sisterhood.