To all new members, congratulations! You have found your home, the place where you fit. It’s a tough decision, knowing that it will be affecting the rest of your college experience, but you all made it.

Hopefully going through the recruitment process made you realize what you want from your experience if you hadn't already. I remember thinking that I was literally picking out the type of person I wanted to be based on the vibes I got from each house.

The most important thing that I have learned, and I learned this while going through the process myself, is that each house is a home for someone. Every chapter exists on this campus so that we all can have somewhere to go. Somewhere where we belong.

On that note, we don’t all belong together. That’s just how it is. If we did, nothing would set any chapter apart. No one would find 100-plus people that are just like them while being different enough at the same time.

The most common misconception about the process is the concept of the spark.

The Spark (noun): That thing that is going to come out of nowhere and hit you and tell you what house to pick.

While I hate to be the bearer of bad news, that magical fantasy of a spark almost never exists. Instead it is the culmination of the feelings you have had throughout your experiences in every house. It is the way it all comes together and what it leaves you with in the end.

I trust that you all followed those feelings and ended up in the place that made your heart leap when you saw it on your schedule, the place that kept your mind coming back to it while you entertained thoughts of other houses.

Now that you have accepted your bid, it’s time to take the next step. Accept what your house has to offer you. Take it all in girls. Your New Member Education period is the time that is all about you. You chose the house for what you felt and what you foresee it giving to you. Now is the time to let it give you those things.

Be proud of yourselves for making your decisions, choosing the right place can end up giving you everything in the world without you even realizing it. I know that’s what it did for me.