Welcome to Alpha Epsilon Alpha
Meet
Alpha Epsilon Alpha (AEA) is the Washington, D.C. alumnae chapter of Alpha Chi Omega.
We bring Alpha Chi Omega women together throughout the D.C., Maryland and Northern Virginia area to build sisterhood, serve our communities, support collegiate sisters, and create opportunities to connect, learn and grow.
Alpha Chi Omega doesn't end at graduation.
AEA provides a way to stay connected to the sisterhood throughout the many seasons of alumnae life. We create opportunities for women to build friendships, serve our communities, support collegiate sisters, celebrate Alpha Chi traditions, and continue learning and growing together.
Some of our sisters are new graduates building their lives in the D.C. area. Others have called the region home for decades. Some attend activities regularly, while others stay connected by supporting the chapter and their sisters when and how they can. There is no one way to be an involved alumna.
There’s a place for you here.
Whether you're new to the area, looking to reconnect with Alpha Chi after time away, interested in getting more involved, or simply want to maintain your connection to the sisterhood, AEA offers a place to belong.
AEA Leadership
AEA is led by a volunteer Executive Board and supported by sisters who give their time, talents and energy to our chapter.
2026 - 2027 Executive Board
Nikki Higgs, President
Sydney Sinclair, VP Membership Programming
Michelle Slusher, Treasurer
Our Story
Alpha Epsilon Alpha’s story began on April 23, 1915, when Myra Jones and Mary Emma Griffith, both members of Lambda chapter, organized AEA as a chartered alumnae club. AEA was one of ten Alpha Chi Omega alumnae clubs organized that year, following a 1914 National Council decision that alumnae groups must exist for one year before becoming chapters.
That September, AEA began its year with a tea at Ye Old Pierce Mill in Rock Creek Park. Founder Mary Emma Griffith later wrote in The Lyre of hopes for a “successful and prosperous year” as the young club welcomed new members.
During and after World War I, AEA continued its altruistic work in the Washington, D.C. community, providing assistance with local housing needs, supporting an orphanage, and contributing to Alpha Chi Omega’s national philanthropy.
AEA also left its mark on the broader Fraternity. When Alpha Chi Omega established its first Permanent Central Office in 1922, AEA founder Mary Emma Griffith served as secretary-editor and oversaw its administration.
In 1934, nearly two decades after its founding as an alumnae club, Alpha Epsilon Alpha was installed as an alumnae chapter by National President Ethel Meade Van Auken, Lambda, in the Garbo Room of Washington’s Shoreham Hotel.
The following year, Alpha Chi Omega celebrated its 50th anniversary with the 1935 Golden Jubilee Convention. The convention journey began in Indiana, continued through West Virginia, and concluded in Washington, D.C. AEA’s first chapter president, Helen Rhodes Grubb, Theta, welcomed sisters from across the country and hosted tours of the nation’s capital. Among the visitors were Alpha Chi Omega founders Bertha Deniston Cunningham, Estelle Leonard, Nellie Gamble Childe, and Olive Burnett Clark. The Shoreham Hotel hosted the convention banquet.
More than a century after that first gathering in Rock Creek Park, Alpha Epsilon Alpha continues to bring Alpha Chi Omega women together in the Washington, D.C. area through sisterhood, service, leadership, and connection.