The National Pan-Hellenic Council held The Divine Experience, a new member presentation, in the Sandy and John Black Pavilion at 5 p.m. on Saturday, April 5. This ceremony marked the initiation of 52 new members to the five participating Black Greek-letter organizations at the University of Mississippi.
The five out of seven active Divine Nine organizations that took new members on Saturday were Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Inc., Phi Beta Sigma Fraternity, Inc., Zeta Phi Beta Sorority, Inc., and Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
Jatoni Donelson, a senior public health and health sciences double major from Tchula, Miss., who serves as the dean of membership for Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity, Inc., explained the purpose of this weekend’s ceremony.
“The purpose of (the) new member presentation is to announce your membership into an organization in a celebratory way. A new member presentation is also referred to as a probate,” Donelson said. “This new member presentation is such a monumental moment for the new members, because the process and the time they’ve put in to get to the point of a probate is meant to be discrete.”
NPHC President and junior public policy leadership major, MaryKatherine Archer from Vicksburg, Miss., said that the presentation marked the first time that new members publicly shared their NPHC affiliations.
“A big thing in Black Greek-letter organizations is discretion, and I think that’s what gives The Divine Experience so much power, intrigue and excitement, because nobody knows,” Archer said. “So it’s a huge thing for new members, because this is the first time they can be with their other sorority sisters and fraternity brothers. They can wear their letters, and they can throw up their signs and do calls and chants.”
Archer said that members present songs, poems and step routines that have historical significance to their respective organizations at the new member presentation.
“A lot of chapters put things that are significant to those individual and local groups in their presentations,” Archer said. “A way to think of it is presenting our new members to the community and allowing them to show you all the things that they love about their organizations, through songs, through poems and through steps.”
For Donelson, the atmosphere in the Pavilion was the highlight of the event.
“My favorite part of the event was the moment right before we started to walk out onto the floor. (We could feel) the adrenaline, the energy in the room and all the excitement,” Donelson said. “Everything was at an all-time high, and I knew it was about to pay off with the great show that was put on from my fraternity.”
Ebonee Williams, a junior allied health studies major from Jackson, Miss., is the vice president and membership chair of the Xi Zeta Chapter of Sigma Gamma Rho Sorority, Inc.
“Our chapter’s intake total was 10. This is a historical moment for our chapter, as it is our largest membership class in the 30 years we have been on campus,” Williams said.
Archer estimated that there were approximately 300 event attendees who purchased tickets and showed up to support the NPHC.
“Being supported by the community meant so much, especially with our chapter alumni, regional officers and members of Sigma Gamma Rho from other schools in the crowd,” Williams said. “Their presence showed me that this journey was bigger than just the intake class — it was about representing a legacy and continuing a powerful tradition. It made the moment deeply meaningful and reminded me of the strength and unity within our sisterhood.”
