DATE: May 23, 2007

CONTACT: Jennifer Shurley, (864) 656-0243
jshurle@clemson.edu

WRITER: Angela Nixon, (864) 656-0382
anixon@clemson.edu

EXPERT: Jennifer Shurley

EXPERT: Joy Smith

Sorority starts community service endowment in memory of Tiffany Souers

CLEMSON – Clemson University’s chapter of Kappa Kappa Gamma sorority has started an endowment in memory of member Tiffany Marie Souers that will be used to fund community service projects.

Souers, a native of Ladue, Mo., was killed in her off-campus apartment May 26, 2006. She was a junior at Clemson majoring in civil engineering.    

Money raised for the Tiffany Marie Souers Community Service Endowment will be distributed as grants to any student organization or individual student that needs help funding community service projects.    

So far Kappa Kappa Gamma has raised $7,000 for the endowment, through fund-raisers and donations from friends and family.    

“Kappa has an intrinsic capacity to foster leadership, developing women who strive to set the standard on their campus or in their community,” said Kappa Kappa Gamma president Maggie Herbert, a junior marketing major from Greenville. “Tiffany was a perfect example of this and we wanted to do something in her honor. She was the kind of student Clemson can be proud of. Although she was only at the university for two years, she made a significant impact on the sorority as well as the Clemson community.”     

Herbert said all 160 members of the sorority were involved in raising funds for the endowment.    

“This is a great, unique opportunity for students to fund their service efforts,” said Jennifer Shurley, associate director for community service. “It’s a wonderful way to remember Tiffany. Her legacy can live on in bettering the community through the work of her fellow students. It is so impressive that her sorority sisters wanted to put forth the time and effort into creating this endowment.”    

Donations for the endowment may be sent to the Clemson University Foundation, P.O. Box 1889, Clemson, S.C. 29633-1889. Checks should be made out to the Clemson University Foundation, with a note in the memo line designating the money for the Tiffany Marie Souers Community Service Endowment.