Jeremiah Rankin, former president of Howard University planted a sprig of ivy around Andrew Rankin Memorial Chapel. 

xxThe building was constructed in 1894-95 and was dedicated in 1896. The Chapel was named after Jeremiah Rankin’s brother Andrew, whose widow contributed $5,000 to the building fund.  The Ivy  around Andrew Rankin chapel  came from Abbotsford, Scotland, the famous county seat of Sir Walter Scott; and also named the chapel after his deceased brother Andrew.

One of our sprigs comes from founder Sarah Meriwether & Incorporator Nellie Quander.

 In 1914, Sarah Meriwether represented Howard University at a conference of the World Student Federation in Princeton, New Jersey. While at the conference commemorating the founding of Christian work in American Colleges she visited Grover Cleveland's grave. She cut a portion of ivy to use as a part of the Ivy Day ceremonies. The ivy was sent to Nellie Quander, who then planted the cutting near the Manual Arts Building. It should be noted that Cleveland died in 1908.  This was of course no unusual event as It has been said that some of the ivy that grows on the grounds of Howard University to this day were planted there by Meriwether, who had a penchant for planting cuttings in prevalent spots throughout the campus. 

John Harvard, the founder of the oldest American University, planted a clipping of this bit of nature which today covers the oldest building on Harvard’s Campus.  The ivy from that sprig is our ivy and covers portions of the ivy from Harvard as well. 

THE ALUMNAE AND THE SORORITY.

There is no agency by which alumni are kept in touch with their Alma Mater so effectively as through their Greek-letter organizations. Even if we could not furnish proof for the assertion, the very nature of such affiliations makes this. reasonable. assumption. Pledged to be a brother or sister to all present' and future members, a tie is formed which binds' to Alma Mater; and, moreover, recollections of the days wherein intimate relationships were formed and fostered make the scene of such activities ever a place of hallowed association, Not only. is this assumption theoretically true, but concrete instances also can be given. to illustrate this point-that college fraternity tend to foster in their members a love for Alma Mater which endues. NELLIE M. QUANDER) '12, 

(1916) "HURecord, Vol. 10, No. 3," The Howard University Record: Vol. 10 : Iss. 3 , Article 1., Available at: https://dh.howard.edu/hurecord/vol10/iss3/1

Perhaps Dickson has best described the emblem of the Alpha Kappa Alpha when he said: “ Oh, a dainty plant is the Ivy green, That creepeth o ’er ruins old! Of right choice food are his meals I ween, In his cell so lone and cold. The wall must be crumbled, the stone decayed, To pleasure his dainty whim; And the moulding dust that years have made Is a merry meal for him. Creeping where no life is seen, A rare old plant is the Ivy green. 

Fast he stealeth on, though he wears no wings, And a staunch old heart has he. How closely he twinetli, how tight lie clings, To his friend the huge Oak Tree! And slily he traileth along the ground, And he joyously hugs and crawleth round The rich mould of dead men's grave. Creeping where grim death has been, D A rare old plant is the Ivy green. 

Whole ages have fled and their works decayed, And nations have scattered been; But the stout old Ivy shall never fade, From its hale and hearty green, 

The brave old plant, in its lonely days, Shall fatten ux^on the past: For the stateliest building man can raise Is the Ivy’s food at last. . Creeping on, where time has been, A rare old plant is the Ivy green.