By Liz Spano, Student Reporter

The W Club, a women’s academic honor organization on campus, will sponsor the “Silver Tea” on Saturday to raise money for its scholarship program.

The W Club, which Daisy Sewell started in 1920, is a club for women on campus who are sophomores, juniors or seniors and have a standing 3.5 GPA. The club is active on campus in providing speakers, sponsoring small group Chapels and giving scholarships each year to female students.

The “Silver Tea” was a tradition in the club’s past in which members sponsored a tea party during Lectureship week to raise money for the club’s scholarship fund. Guests were invited to socialize and contribute “silver” coins as a donation.

Although the club has not sponsored the Silver Tea in recent years, members have decided to make the tea a yearly tradition again, said Dr. Caron Gentry, chief sponsor of the W Club.

“We decided to have the Silver Tea as a way of bringing together current ACU student members and the graduated members that still live in the Abilene area.to raise money for our scholarship fund but also for the two groups to meet and mingle and talk,” said Gentry, assistant professor of Honors Studies and political science.

Anyone is invited to come, dress up and support the club, Gentry said. Student admission is $5, and alumni are asked to donate $10. All benefits will be used for the club’s scholarship fund, which awards female students, both club members and non-members, on campus with two to three scholarships each year, she said.

The tea will be at the Swenson house, which is a historic structure in Abilene designed in 1910 and now owned by the Abilene Preservation League.

Built with Spanish Colonial Revival architecture elements, the house features detailed woodcraft,stained-glass windows and architecture that make it a “magnificent setting” for weddings, receptions, parties, teas, meetings and other gatherings, according to the Abilene Preservation League’s Web site.

“I think it’s going to be so much fun [and] a really unique experience,” said Cynthia Michaud, vice president of the W Club and senior youth ministry major from Abilene.

Michaud said she encourages anyone wanting to dress up and have fun, build relationships with alumni and students, explore the Swenson house or simply support the club’s scholarship fund to attend the tea and enjoy refreshments provided by Tuscany’s Coffee House.

The Silver Tea will be Saturday from 4-6 p.m. The Swenson house is located at 1726 Swenson St.