"Excellence is the result of caring more than others think is wise, risking more than others think is safe, dreaming more than others think is practical, and expecting more than others think is possible."

The Beta Phi Omega Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated is definitely proud of its sorors.

SOROR LORETTA PENRICE-BRANCH

Soror Loretta Young Penrice-Branch is a graduate of Bolings High School, Prairie View A&M University (B.S. Business Education) and Texas Southern University (M. Ed. Administration). Soror Penrice-Branch also attended Wharton County Junior College and is certified in all areas of Special Education. She has additional training in content mastery, crisis intervention, leadership training, assertive discipline, drugs/AIDS prevention, anger/violence training, TTAS certification, communications, and curriculum and instruction. Soror Penrice-Branch worked as a teacher in Angleton ISD for seven years and for one year in Boling ISD. During her 30 year tenure with Columbia-Brazoria ISD, she was a special education coordinator for twenty-one years and an administrator for nine years.

Soror Penrice-Branch was initiated in this chapter June 26-28, 1998. She is currently serving her second term as Basileus of Beta Phi Omega. Prior to serving as Basileus, Soror Penrice-Branch served two years as 2nd Anti-Basileus and two years as 1st Anti-Basileus. Her sister Ada Penrice Johnson and niece Pleshette Johnson are both members of this chapter. She is married to Mr. Archie Branch and has two sons, Garland and Graylyn; and three grandchildren, Jalyn, Garland, and Courtney.

Soror Penrice-Branch is very active in the community serving as an election judge for Brazoria County, a member of Willing Workers, her Neighborhood Watch program, and the Gulf Coast Apollo Chapter of the The Links, Incorporated. She is a member of the First Missionary Baptist Church of Angleton, where she has held many offices from announcement clerk to treasurer. During her spare time, Soror Loretta enjoys reading and sewing.

SOROR CHARLA BURNS

In November of 2006, Soror Burns was awarded the Doctor of Medicine degree by the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB) School of Medicine at Galveston. Upon graduation from medical school, she received the Ouachita Parish School Board Certificate of Academic Excellence. Since high school, Soror Bums has been an academic achiever. She is the recipient of many scholastic awards - valedictorian of her class at West Monroe Senior High School, Phi Beta Kappa for her undergraduate work at Louisiana State University at Baton Rouge, and the 2005-06 Daisy Emery Allen, M.D. Scholarship recipient.

Soror Burns earned a Bachelor of Science degree in biochemistry/pre-medicine from LSU and a phlebotomy certificate from the UTMB Educational Resource Center. She has also attended Grambling State University and the University of Louisiana at Monroe, where she earned certificates in complementary and alternative medicine and spirituality, health, and healing. She will be attending the Tulane University School of Medicine in New Orleans, Louisiana for her three-year residency training in internal medicine.

Soror Burns was initiated into the LSU's Eta Kappa Chapter of Alpha Kappa Alpha Sorority, Incorporated, during the spring semester of 1998. She is an active member of this chapter and serves on the Health and Technology Committees and as 1st Anti-Grammateus. During the 68th South Central Regional Conference in New Orleans, Soror Burns received the Faye B. Bryant Undergraduate Excellence Award and was recognized as a South Central Region Scholar. She has received recoginition from the Gamma Eta Omega Chapter as the member of the Eta Kappa Chapter graduating in 2000 with the highest cumulative grade point average.

Soror Burns is also involved in the community. She has volunteered at the Galveston County Health Fair and served as a mentor for an undergraduate pre-medical student at Stephen F. Austin State University in Nacogdoches through the Piney Woods Area Health Education Center Mentoring Program. She is employed as a tutor for students at Galveston College and physician assistant students at the UTMB School of Allied Health Sciences. In her spare time, Soror Burns enjoys reading poetry and playing the piano. Her mother, Dr. Billye Joyce Goree Burns, is a soror and an active member of the Omicron Iota Omega Chapter in West Monroe, Louisiana, where she currently serves as Anti-Basileus.