During college, Pratt started a lifetime of service by volunteering to distribute clothes and food to the poor.

[1] Pratt, Nellie Quander, Julia Evangeline Brooks, Norma Boyd, Minnie B. Smith and Ethel Jones Mowbray worked together to incorporate Alpha Kappa Alpha on January 29, 1913, in order to provide for its future expansion to other colleges.

Nellie Russell also did graduate work during the summers, earning a Master of Arts degree from Columbia University in New York.

[1] She devoted great energy to her career as an educator, teaching English at St. Paul's College for nearly 50 years.

[1] Russell served as a faculty advisor to the Alpha Upsilon chapter of ΑΚΑ at St. Paul's College.