Just recently, at the beginning of this semester, I decided to join a sorority. Now, this was a decision I pondered for a really, really long time. Growing up I had always classified myself as not a 'sorority girl.' Most of the women in my family were never affiliated, I didn't know that many girls who had joined when they went off to college and, I'll admit, I was never convinced they were the greatest of institutions. But then I came to Denison, a small liberal arts school, I joined and everything changed.
It's something that I still can't quite wrap my head around. I had always been so against what I then thought was conforming to ideals of a group. I had always fought the stereotypes of 'girls in sororities' and I never thought of myself as someone who could willingly join an institution that breeds ideals I didn't connect with. The community of affiliated women here on a small liberal arts campus proved me wrong. Since I've joined, and even during the process of recruitment, I have met so many incredible women who have the same goals, ideals and morals as me. I have been introduced to women I now call some of my close friends and support systems. From the moment I walked in the doors of my sorority I felt all my previous judgments, ideas, and thoughts about sororities fly out of my head. The more girls I talked to, and the more I got to know the girls that chose to affiliate themselves with this institution, an institution I originally stood firmly against, I realized I had it all so very wrong.
And although I haven't been able to fully wrap my head around it, I haven't really looked back since I made the decision to be one of those women. The only time I've looked back was maybe only to say that I never would have thought I would be here. I never thought I would be wearing sweatshirts with greek letters on them and have them mean something to me, or hearing the word philanthropy as much as I now do, or being able to call girls I barely knew before my 'sisters'. But this experience has made me realize that it doesn't matter how I thought in the past because ideas can change and the more perspective you have, the more you understand why people choose to do it. And I most definitely understand now. 
By choosing to join the sorority I did I have been welcomed into a family, a home away from home. I grew up with one younger brother so I have never felt that love and empathy one feels from having sisters but now I have an entire house of girls who are there to cheer me on during the good days and carry me through the bad ones. I have met women I now admire and am lucky to have them around me. I am a part of something bigger than me which is exciting and something I am so grateful for. My sorority is a place where I feel loved, supported, cherished for who I am, and at home. Past me would have laughed out loud if I told her she would be in a sorority, but I would be sure to tell her that, little does she know, it was one of the best decisions she could have made.
