1. She really does feel like your mom away at school. They make your sorority or fraternity house feel like your home away from home. She will always be there as a mother figure when you need motherly advice or just someone to talk to. She makes tea when she hears of someone sick and makes popcorn with everybody when the Bachelor is on.
2. She usually comes second as the other chef in the house. But unlike a chef, and like our mothers, she has the same touch your mother or grandmother does when she makes decorated desserts or gameday treats. She knows how to make special occasions even more special.
3. She takes on responsibilities well and makes the house the best it can be. Whether it be the lagging Wi-Fi system that never seems to get better, the hallway doors that creak or a cool new addition to the kitchen, she is passionate about making a sorority or fraternity house the best that it can be for those who live there. She takes her job seriously as co-house manager and makes sure living conditions are the best they can be for everyone. There isn't a demand that she doesn't take seriously.
4. She lives, to the best of her abilities, with a bunch of college kids. College kids barely live well with other college kids and she voluntarily puts herself in a place that's constantly surrounded by the mayhem that is a university, and the students which reside there. If that's not something that shows she's strong, I don't know what is.
5. She either remains adorably oblivious to the alcoholism that we sometimes participate in or she deals with it. Either way it's super cute. When it's obvious that we're about to start day drinking at 8 A.M. she doesn't judge or not try to understand our ways, she just tells us she likes our Spartan socks and to be safe today. She doesn't complain about hearing us come back in our heels at 2 A.M. - not so gracefully - and walk up the stairs by her bedroom. She doesn't complain that she hears girls running back and forth to the bathrooms on a Saturday night or Sunday morning, she just suggests getting bedazzled buckets on each side of the hallway to avoid the er-problem.
6. She is always willing to have a conversation with you - even if it's 8 A.M. on a Monday. Personally if I lived with 50 sorority girls as a woman I don't think I would be mentally ready to have a conversation with anyone until after noon. But our house mom will always be willing to talk to you about your classes that you're headed to in the early hours, or a new movie that's come out. The best part about this - you don't realize how truly interesting she is until you have one of these early morning convos.
7. When everyone goes home for the weekend and you're still there seemingly alone, she's there too. She makes the house feel not so ominous by busying herself in the kitchen and always being around to break the silence.
8. She takes on the sorority activities and other on-campus activities like a champ. She holds herself as a vital part of the pancake breakfast philanthropy every year and she takes her position as a judge in Miss Greek for a fraternity on campus with pride. What other adult could do this with as much ease as she does?
9. She loves to hear about things going on in our lives. She's genuinely curious about what's going on on campus and what we individually do aside from being apart of our sisterhood or brotherhood. She's always in the know because she's always interested.
10. She takes on one of the most important roles in a Greek house. She makes a giant house full of new people a home. She carries on a legacy as her time in the house grows. She smiles in the composite with the best of 'em and enjoys Greek life for the right reasons. She's a mom to hundreds of girls and she's awesome at it. House moms are the real MVP.
