IWA, Changing Names or Changing Lives?
Aimee Hyde looked out over the top of the podium. She couldn’t ignore the 500 faces staring at her, waiting for her to say something.
She didn’t want to say anything.
The fear of knowing everybody would be listening was almost too much.
But it was her job; she had to say something.
Aimee, a student at Utah State University, considered herself one of the shyest people she knew when she first joined The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints’ IWA, Institute Women’s Association. She hated any group activity because she didn’t want to talk to people. She was happy sitting and watching the world go by.
Now, three years later, she finds herself leading almost 500 fellow IWA members.
Hyde is serving as the IWA inter-chapter president; she presides over Logan’s 17 IWA chapters. This position, as well as her past positions in the organization, has helped her become a leader.
“IWA has forced me to be up in front of people so much, it doesn’t bother me anymore,” Hyde said. “It has helped me learn how to speak.”
Being Inter-chapter president isn’t easy. She spends 10 to 15 hours a week – a part time job for many students – to keep the organization running.
A lot of that time is spent attending and conducting meetings. She meets with the Institute of Religion Council, the IWA area advisers, the inter-chapter advisers, and individual chapter presidents. Meetings enable Hyde to find what is not working and ways to make IWA better.
“I had never planned anything before; but now I can’t live without my planner,” Hyde said. “I often wonder if I can do it all.”
Hyde is one of thousands of IWA members nationally. Logan’s IWA program is the largest in the country.
In December 1999 the Institute Women’s Association was organized as an expanded version of the Lambda Delta Sigma sorority. The LDS Church created Lambda Delta Sigma in 1937 to put Institute students on a good social level during their college years. The new organization takes away the term “sorority,” allowing young women who are not students at a university to join.
Most people involved with the change are enthusiastic about it.
“I love it,” Hyde said. “I think it’s about time they did something, a lot of the things they got rid of were a waste of time.”
The primary change in the program is that chapters have more freedom. The old organization had a lot of rules that no longer exist. Chapters are free to decide what is best for them.
For example, in the past the table at a ceremony was required to be set up a certain way, and a script was read word for word; now the chapter can improvise.
Expanding the program has given IWA leaders an opportunity to analyze every aspect of the association.
Like cleaning out a closet, they throw out items that don’t fit or have aged with time.
Advisers predicted a loss in membership with the change but were surprised this fall when they received more membership applications than in the previous year.
They feel that this is because of retention of the parts people love about the program.
Results in a survey done last year before the change said that most young women joined to make friends, not because it was a sorority. Besides providing Hyde with ample opportunities to lead, IWA has given her support from a circle of friends.
She first joined because her roommates were members. But Hyde has made many friendships since that reach far beyond her roommates.
“I have met some of my best friends at IWA,” Hyde said. “I know these friendships will last a lifetime.”
The first time she went to an activity, people automatically accepted her, she said. She received hugs from people she couldn’t call by name. Although it seemed weird at first, she was deeply touched by everyone’s sincerity. “I joined and automatically I was treated as a sister,” Hyde said. “I am continually amazed at the love people have for one another.”
Although The LDS Church sponsors IWA, membership is not limited to people in that religion.
Any single adult woman between the ages of 18 and 30 who is enrolled in an Institute of Religion class may join, regardless of religious affiliation.
One member of Logan’s IWA program is not a member of the LDS church.
The program was created to give young women opportunities to improve their lives. Each chapter meets weekly for activities like banquets, sleep-overs and service projects.
These activities encourage members to increase personal spirituality, make friendships, value scholarship, serve others and give support to family, church and community.
The IWA program hopes to help young women gain confidence to meet daily challenges.
“Girls go to college and get lost,” said Jeanie Chase, inter-chapter adviser. “IWA can provide direction for them.”
Service, one of the ideas IWA stresses, was displayed in November at “2000 Lights of Service Celebration,” an inter-chapter activity.
The activity was planned to celebrate the new millennium by involving as many people as possible.
Two thousand luminaries beaming with candlelight covered the block of the Logan Tabernacle on Main Street on the night of Nov. 30, 2000. The luminaries created a stream of lights, which flowed down the steps and both sides of the sidewalks, and could be seen three or four blocks away.
“The sight was electric,” said Marlene Johnson, an IWA adviser. “It took my breath away,” Hyde said. “The amazing part was that each light represented some act of service done for others. We were able to show Logan that you can make a big difference with everyday acts.”
With 500 young women involved, each girl was asked to do four acts of service equaling 2,000 acts of service.
All members of IWA were invited to come to the Tabernacle and light candles representing the service they had done.
Maggie Hickman, a member of IWA, said her four acts included writing a note to a roommate, baby-sitting for her sister, raking leaves and volunteering at a welfare center.
Hyde said she spent every day looking for something to do, and continued to do so even after her four acts were completed. “Once I started I couldn’t stop because it made me so happy,”Hyde said.
“I don’t think I can fully put the experience into words, but I walked away feeling like I was another person,” said Megan Melville, an IWA member.
IWA gains most of its members at an open house held twice a year at the beginning of the semester.
Tables are set up displaying each of the 17 chapters in Logan.
Interested young women fill out a form requesting to join specific chapters.
New members are announced the following night, and the bonds of sisterhood begin.
When others look at the IWA program, Hyde said she hopes “they will see girls that are dedicated to living a gospel life. People who care about others, excited about life and happy.”
The next open house will be the second or third week of school in the fall.
For more information about joining, call the Logan Institute of Religion at 752-4265.