Members of Eta Kappa Chapter of Lambda Theta Alpha (from left): Glennis Quiñones, Krystal Arellanos, Joana Da Silva, Valeria Carmona Ascencio, Leah Madrigal, Jessica Velasquez, Jacqueline Alvarado, Jana Guffey
The University of Tennessee at Chattanooga’s Eta Kappa Chapter of Lambda Theta Alpha didn’t appear overnight.
It took more than a year of meetings, fundraising and paperwork for the eight founding members to officially bring the sorority to campus. During the spring 2025 semester, they were formally recognized as UTC’s first Latin sorority.
Lambda Theta Alpha, founded nationally in 1975, describes itself as “Latin by tradition, not by definition.”
At UTC, the sorority is open to anyone interested in joining.
For chapter president Joana Da Silva, a junior Innovations in Honors student majoring in photography and media art, taking the lead on this project was about finding a space on campus that felt like home.
“Whenever I was looking into colleges, it could have made or broken my decision if I knew there was a Latin sorority here,” said Da Silva, who was born and raised in Venezuela and lived in Atlanta before coming to UTC. “For Hispanic girls, they’re looking to have a place where they feel seen and heard.
“We are open to girls that want to learn more about our culture.”
Discussions of bringing the sorority to campus began in 2022, but it wasn’t easy. The group had to meet University requirements, keep a minimum number of interested members and raise money to cover the costs of becoming a chapter.
“We didn’t want cost to be the reason someone couldn’t join,” Da Silva said. “We did fundraising events so we’d have funds set aside in case any girl needed help and so we’d have a base for future students.”
Founding member and orientation advisor Jacqueline Alvarado said she first heard talks of the sorority in her freshman year. Now as a senior, she has a list of accomplishments to look back on.
“We put so much hard work and effort and fundraising into it,” said Alvarado, a political science major and Spanish minor from Nashville. “We talked to other LTA members who were already in the sorority, but not at UTC.”
For her, building Lambda Theta Alpha at UTC was about creating a “home away from home.”
“Having a sisterhood that you can rely on and feel like you belong is something that I wanted to bring to UTC and is why I wanted to be a part of the founding line,” Alvarado said. “I really wanted this to be something that is not just for me, but for future sisters that join.”
She added that joining the sorority helped her grow as a person.
“It was critical for me because I was very introverted,” she said. “Being around the girls, being in the sorority, it really put me out there and made me more of an extrovert. It taught me new things that I didn’t know I could do.
“They pushed me to be the best version of myself.”
Jessica Velasquez, who serves as the group’s chapter recruitment and retention advisor, said UTC hadn’t even been on her radar until joining a college prep program called Camp College. Not long after, she stumbled across Lambda Theta Alpha during a Hispanic Heritage Month event.
“I didn’t even know there was a Latina sorority,” said Velasquez, a sophomore entrepreneurship major from Chattanooga. “I attended one of their meetings and I got really interested, and I guess that’s how I got here. I was never interested in Greek life, but now it’s like I have seven sisters who I can rely on and talk to about anything.
“It’s made the college experience better—one that I never knew I would have.”
Beyond building community, Lambda Theta Alpha also focuses on academics and philanthropy. Members host study sessions and support each other to succeed in the classroom, which is something Alvarado described as “really important to us.”
The sorority also supports St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital through fundraising events, with many involving cooking and baking.
“We will probably do a lot of Hispanic desserts. Miss Jessica is the cook of the group,” Da Silva said of Velasquez. “We did an empanada sale. We were cooking for a long time, but that was fun.”
Da Silva said the chapter hopes to expand its volunteer work and connections in Chattanooga.
“A big part of the sorority is the amount of connections that you gain,” she said. “A lot of people are willing to talk to you and just help you because they consider you a sister, even if you don’t know them.”
Despite all the work, Da Silva said she wouldn’t change the experience, but she wishes she could have even more time with her sorority sisters.
“I feel like it would have made my college experience—from the beginning—completely different,” she said.
“But now I still have seven girls that I can’t escape,” she added with a laugh. “Not that I want to. We have been out of school for a while [this summer] and now I’m like, ‘Where are they? I’m bored.’”
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