When Surina Ramoutar (C ’26) first arrived at Penn, joining a sorority wasn’t at the front of her mind. Now as a senior, Surina is getting ready to conclude her term leading more than 136 girls as president of Alpha Phi, one of seven sorority chapters on campus at Penn.
There were a few things that led Surina, who was initially hesitant about going through recruitment, to join a sorority. Many of the alumni she knew from her high school in New York went to big Southeastern Conference schools, and she wasn’t sure if that was the college experience she wanted. “I didn’t necessarily want my college experience to be just one thing,” Surina says. “One thing that stood out about APhi was that it just felt very involved. All of the girls were smart. They were social. They had such cool things going for them outside of the chapter—very smart women, women that were winning awards, doing great things with sports—and it felt very well rounded.”
Surina’s own experience at Penn reflects this sentiment. In addition to her involvement at APhi, she is captain of Penn’s cheerleading team, president of Penn’s chapter of Big Brothers Big Sisters, a sixth–grade tutor at MathMates, and a writer for The WALK magazine.
In coming to Penn, she aimed to continue pursuing community service, which had been important to her throughout her life. APhi’s emphasis on philanthropy was a key factor that drove her to get involved. “I had been so involved in service in high school. And I feel like when you come to Penn, it’s kind of hard to find those opportunities without seeking [them] out,” Surina notes. For sororities nationally, philanthropy is a central pillar of their organizations—chapters are expected to organize service events, raise funds for national causes, and engage with their local communities. Historically, APhi’s main philanthropy cause has been carried through the Alpha Phi Foundation, which raises funds to support women’s heart health. Each February, APhi fundraises for Heart Health Week, selling chocolate roses on Locust. The chapter’s biggest philanthropy event is the annual Red Dress Gala, an event that every APhi chapter around the country hosts. Additionally, the chapter’s leadership team attends the national Alpha Phi conference in Denver, where the Red Dress Gala is one of the conference’s largest focuses. “It’s special because we get to feel the same experience, regardless of what school we go to,” Surina highlights.
The gala at Penn raises between $10,000 and $15,000 each year for heart health research. As the chapter has been trying to be more creative while expanding philanthropy events, last spring it hosted “Alpha Phifa,” a five–on–five charity soccer tournament that brought 13 teams together at Penn Park, with proceeds also going to the Alpha Phi Foundation.
Beyond the chapter’s two largest events, the local days of service that it hosts every month across Philadelphia have been especially important to Surina. These service events focus on a variety of different causes, bringing members on the ground to local spots in the community. “When we’re fundraising for heart health, we’ll hear about what’s being done with the proceeds we’re raising, but [we might not] see the tangible effect of that,” Surina says while reflecting on the fundraising aspect of the sorority. “When you’re out in the field, doing stuff in Philadelphia, it’s very different,” she continues, highlighting the importance of these community–based events.
Since joining APhi, Surina’s level of engagement and leadership has grown in increments, as each role she’s held in the sorority has had a resounding effect of her. Her presidency has been informed by her term as the sorority’s vice president of membership and recruitment—a role she held her sophomore year that focused on the sorority’s recruitment process. “I came into Alpha Phi only knowing my roommate, and on bid day, I made so many of my closest friends. That pride in our recruitment made me want to do our recruitment role my sophomore year,” Surina explains. “Being on exec[utive board] really allowed me to get to know the girls a lot better, especially in [pledge classes] that aren’t mine.”
After concluding her term as vice president of membership and recruitment, she knew that she could either go back to being a regular member or continue in a new role on executive board. She wanted to spread the same pride and warmth that she experienced as a new member, which inspired her to run for her current role as president.
For Surina, working to spread warmth to others has also had an impact on her own life. “On the day to day, it’s made Penn feel smaller in a way,” she explains gratefully. “I see so many girls on Locust or see the younger class, and they always say, ‘hi.’ They always pull over to chat. … It’s made my day–to–day feel a little bit warmer.”
At the same time, the role has changed her day–to–day routine in other ways. Working behind every date night, philanthropy event, or chapter meeting has taught her to think ten steps ahead. “I’m not necessarily the one doing all these things, but [I’ve learned to] just be constantly thinking about what needs to get done because it almost feels like, ‘Okay, if I don’t know, then no one does,’” she states.
From the start of her term as president, Surina has led with a sense of direction shaped by her previous experiences. In an organization that is so rooted in tradition and customs, pushing for change—whether it is through the recruitment process or other aspects of the organization—is often not a priority. Surina, however, has let her past leadership experience shape her vision of APhi’s future. “If I didn’t have that experience as recruitment chair and taking that step back and thinking about what the chapter feels like, I feel like I would have just repeated what we had done,” she says. Under Surina, the chapter has made changes to its New Membership Education program, the lineup of events it plans to host, and its philanthropy events, which have grown in volume over the last few years.
APhi has changed the way its recruitment team works, expanding a two–person team that used to oversee the recruitment process to include three more spots—director of diversity, equity, and inclusion; director of new member outreach; and director of continuous open bidding. All of these roles had previously existed but were not as involved in the recruitment process. “I think building a larger and more intentionally made recruitment team changed how we see and approach different potential new member conversations. [It also makes] sure that every PNM here feels a little bit more welcome,” Surina says.
Ensuring that the team is larger and more perspectives are represented has been important in promoting inclusivity and diversity within the organization. “Typically, when you think of someone who does recruitment, there’s someone that’s really outgoing or really involved in the chapter. And I’ve tried to move away from just having a recruitment team be that person because I wanted to resonate with a lot of different types of women,” Surina explains. Under Surina’s leadership, the chapter has also made its New Member Education program more extensive. As recruitment chair, Surina realized that freshman spring and sophomore fall were the semesters when members typically felt the most involved in the organization, a sentiment she wanted to leverage by redesigning the program to be more robust. Surina explains the reasoning behind the program: “If the younger class wants to feel more involved in the onset, why don’t we give that to them?”
In a large organization like APhi, there are always conflicts—whether those be organizational, leadership, or interpersonal—that arise, but Surina’s leadership has always centered around care and community building. Early on in her tenure, Surina learned to take a step back to better consider the purpose of her leadership. She explains, “When you’re in leadership and planning all these events, you have to think: Who is this really serving? … How does this better or answer chapter members’ needs and their wants? This is their experience. They join a sorority, and they want the most out of it—and making sure that there’s something in this experience that makes it worthwhile for everyone [is important].”
In terms of her personal leadership style, Surina has stepped beyond the typical responsibilities expected of the role. She’s strived to become more involved within the chapter through, for example, attending underclassmen events that she typically wouldn’t be expected to attend. She tries to spend time at the sorority house, where our interview took place, although she has not lived there since her junior year. “I feel like a lot of the times it’s easy for leaders and presidents just to be this person that people see all the time but don’t really get to know,” Surina says. “[I’ve made] more of an effort to try to go to a lot of things [even if I don’t have to].”
Surina will be working in finance in New York after graduating, and she’s confident that she will carry the interpersonal skills she’s gained through her role well into the future. “My life post–grad is going to be very work heavy, but there is also a relationship aspect as well,” she says. Her time as president has taught her to always have a perspective—to never be the person in the room that doesn’t contribute a new idea. “Even if it’s the wrong perspective, just having a thought and being willing to change that and bounce ideas off of people [is so valuable],” Surina explains.
She has also learned how crucial empathy and understanding are when it comes to teamwork—something she’s learned through working in a large cadre with people from diverse experiences and backgrounds. “That level of empathy and understanding is something that I think was harder for me to gain without being in a position where you’re always communicating with people and always trying to think of the best outcome for everyone,” Surina says.
Despite Surina’s years of involvement within APhi, her successes were never shaped by a linear, single path that took her towards leadership. These are roles that found her because she wanted to give back, roles that she grew into, and now, roles that she will carry with her well beyond her time at Penn. “I go back to my pre–recruitment experience as well, because I feel like that’s when I grew into a leader in this chapter,” she recalls. “I was very timid and shy and soft–spoken, and I was scared to say what I thought because I wasn’t sure if it was the right thing.”
Over the years, her leadership has built incrementally, strengthened at each level by her care for the chapter and its people. “This chapter has given me so much … some of my best friends that I’ll have for a very long time, and I think that aspect of it, people recognize and know that. That’s what makes it all work at the end of the day. No matter what is going on … even if all the events in philanthropy, and sisterhood events, and date nights were to stop, there is still a reason why we’re all here,” Surina reflects.
Surina will graduate in spring 2026, but the impact of her leadership will continue to be felt within APhi. For her, leadership wasn’t a destination so much as a series of choices, ones that will continue to define her well into the future.
