Theta has become a huge part of my life over the past six or seven months since I received my bid and was initiated. As I have heard many of my chapter's Theta stories and I have read some Theta stories of my sisters that are across the country that are a part of this community, I'd thought I'd share mine.

I grew up kind of a tomboy, and as I got older, I went farther and farther from the normal gender norms of girls my age. I was more into playing video games with my friends in middle school than going shopping. I remember going to a private middle school and I was the only girl most of the time that would wear pants, all my friends wore skirts to school. Growing up, I was not the girl you'd peg being a sorority girl. As I went through high school, I found a middle ground before a tomboy and a girly girl. I would sometimes wear skirts and dressed but most of the time I was just in leggings and sneakers because I always had practice before or after school. I lifted weights in the morning but would go to the mall on the weekend with my friends. But I still wasn't the girl you'd think about when you look back and try to analyze who was and wasn't going to go greek.

When I was looking at colleges, what chapters they had there never came to my mind, I never even thought about sororities when applying and picking a school. Once I got accepted to Colorado State University and started packing up over the summer to get ready for the 13-hour drive into Fort Collins, Colorado, I still never thought a thing about what sororities were and what they stood for. I came into college with this stereotype of who sorority girls and frat guys were. I thought the girls were just rich, preppy, gossipy, brats that thought the tricks and games they played in high school to get their way would still work with everyone they come into contact with through college. I thought the guys were just sex-driven, binge-drinking, idiots with no drive to do anything buy party their way through college.

I moved into my dorm and met my roommate for the first time, and everything that I thought freshman year was going to be was pretty spot on. One day, another girl on my floor came into my roommate and my room to ask my roommate if she wanted to rush with her a bunch of other girls on my floor. My roommate agreed but talked to me later that night about how she wasn't going to join one but wanted to see what rushing was like. I immediately thought, why waste your time on it if you won't even join, but I could tell she was on the fence about the whole situation. Rush came and went, and she became a member of CSU's chapter of Kappa Alpha Theta, and at the time I thought she was crazy. I semi-openly shared my disapproval of sororities, before I knew what second semester held for me.

First semester was going by pretty quickly, and I remember leaving a class with a friend that lived in the same dorm as me. As we walking, and she knew almost ever other girl we passed by, and it made me think. Maybe I'd be able to reach out a little more if I joined a sorority. And then I thought, no, I'd just be paying for friends, I rather just make them on my own. First semester came to an end and second semester was starting up nicely.

I left one morning early to get to my classes with all the snow we had at the time. I get home after my classes, just wanting to take a nap and watch some Netflix. I open the door and my roommate turns towards me in her chair with this huge smile on her face. I was confused and then she told me that she signed me up for spring recruitment for Theta and that I'll be getting an email from their recruitment officer with more details about the events. And I thought she had lost her mind.

I get the email and first day of recruitment rolls around. My roommate signed up one of my suitemates, so we walked to the house together, promising that we'd only be there for about an hour. We get there and I start talking to the girl they paired me up with and we clicked pretty well until another one came up to us and started saying how my roommate had told her a lot about me and how she likes to do CrossFit. Little did I know this woman was going to be my big and one of my closest friends. We talked about our PRs and why we started lifting and I felt a little more at home, and then I heard a bell ring, the night was over.

I remember walking back to my dorm with my suitemate just thinking about how much I actually enjoyed that. I went to one of the other night until it was the day they were calling, giving woman bids. My suitemate got a call and ran into my room saying she accepted her bid for Kappa Alpha Theta, and I got a little jealous. I wanted to be a part of that. But I got a call a couple minutes later, offering my a bid to become a member of Kappa Alpha Theta. I happily accepted.

Ever since then I have fallen absolutely in love with Theta. When I was going recruiting women in the fall, I had sure to tell them why I joined Theta to make them feel like even if they are questioning it, that I hated the idea until I went through recruitment and saw it all for myself. Everything I thought was wrong about greek life. Sorority women are smart, driven women who want the best for their campus and community. Fraterny men are kind-hearted, well thought guys that care about the whole greek community, and some of the best men I have ever met.

I'm still not the girl you look at and think "she's a sorority girl". You look at my laptop and it's covered with stickers that say "I got pierced" and American Tradition style stickers from my tattoo artist. I'm the girl at the gym doing burpees and deadlifts with a solid RBF. I may not be what you think about when you think about women in sororites, but I'm just happy to break sterotypes.