For me, the first semester of college was lonely in a way I had never experienced before. I had spent almost every day of the previous summer with my best friends from high school. We did everything together, and although we didn't go on any cross-country road trips or European adventures like you might see in teen movies, it was probably the best summer of my life.
The last night we were all together that summer, I cried like a baby. I just couldn't help it. All but one of them were going away to school, and it felt like they were leaving me. It took me what felt like forever to find a group of true best friends who I felt I could be myself around, and I was scared everything would change forever. And it did change forever, of course, but I didn't know then that Adelphi would enrich my life in so many wonderful ways.
After a semester of eating lunch alone in my car and socializing only with the few friends I had leftover from high school and freshman orientation, I was getting pretty bored. I realized that I needed to find my new normal and new home at Adelphi.
Going through sorority recruitment was definitely not something I thought I would be doing in a million years. I didn't have anything against sororities necessarily; I'm just not cut out for anything remotely girly, so I had never really considered it. But something deep in my gut told me that it might be worth a shot, so I coughed up the minimal fee and started the process.
As I met all the different girls at the rounds, we talked about their crafts and fun events, which was all well and good for them, but that wasn't what kept me coming back. It was a particular group of women whose values and personalities spoke to me in a way that I couldn't put into words, and still cannot justly explain.
When I was a new member of my organization, I was entirely sure I was not cut out for this. I didn't get what a "big" was, or why I had to make mine a paddle, or what a paddle even was. My organization, fortunately, does not participate in any sort of hazing, but it didn't matter, because I had no idea what hazing was.
Long story short, I wasn't the sorority kind of girl, and I'm still not. Luckily, Delta Phi Epsilon loves me anyway.
Delta Phi Epsilon is the single best thing that happened to me in college. It doesn't always feel that way. My three years in this sorority have been full of frustration, anger, excitement, pure hilarity, my highest of highs and my lowest of lows. But without this organization and the women who I call my sisters, I wouldn't be the person I am today. I wouldn't be nearly as happy as I am today, as a second semester senior looking back on her college experience.
Having a group of women who accept me wholeheartedly for who I am has enriched my life in ways I never expected. I never expected that I would be a new member educator, or a vice president, or a big, or a grandbig... or a great grandbig. I never expected to have so many life-changing people enter my life so quickly.
This group of women -- from alumni to our (as of Friday) 75 active members -- is the best part of my life. Being part of this organization makes me so ridiculously proud. I'm proud of all the work we do for our three philanthropies. I'm proud that my best friend (and little) was just voted our president. I'm proud that we recruit girls with beautiful personalities. I'm proud that we have created an environment on campus where our members, me specifically, are free to be their weird, quirky, honest selves without fear of judgment. I'm just proud and thankful.
Thank you, DPhiE.
