A sorority is not just letters stitched onto an over-sized sweatshirt, not a dreaded weekly meeting, not a secret acronym- it is a sacred bond, an unspoken loyalty, a true, accepting, genuine sisterhood.

We all decided to go Greek for many different reasons. We wanted to meet new people, to put something else on our resume, to help us get involved on campus, etc. but it quickly became so much more than all of that to everyone after joining.

Yeah, you met those new people, but no one warns you about how special those people will become to you. They are your "unblooded" sisters, your confidants, your partners in crime, your best friends, and your future bridesmaids. There is a bond that you all share that while it is rarely spoken of, everyone knows and feels it. Your sisters understand you in a different way than anyone else can, even better than you understand yourself some days. They know your weaknesses but recognize and play off of your strengths. They push you harder than others in your life do — because they know everything you are capable of. They want better for you than you even want for yourself. They stick by you, take up for you, and with them, you know that you are never alone. They make your problems their problems, and they know when you're lying that you don't have anything on your mind. They are your biggest fans, your cheerleaders, and a constant support system that you couldn't get rid of even if you tried — but why would ya wanna? They build you up, and never let you forget how wonderful you are in their eyes. They don't make you beautiful, strong or worthy, they just love you so much that it shows you what you never saw in yourself before.

Yeah, we can definitely write our sorority name all over documents and future resumes. We can list all the positions we held within it, but what we can't put on that resume is all the late night life talks, midnight ice cream runs, sleepovers, all the times you wiped away a stressed out or brokenhearted sisters tears or all the time they wiped away yours, and how you always knew you had somewhere to go and someone to call when you needed it most. We can't explain to our future employers about the bonds we shared within our sorority, or what those letters truly mean to us. We can't explain to them how our sisters made college the best four years of our life, and how much we will always cherish the memories we as sisters made. We can't explain the sacred morals we share, and how much we ended up needing those girl's who wore those same letters during those four years. We can try to explain to them what our sorority taught us, who it made us, and everything we owe to it, but we will never be able to do it justice.

Yeah, being in a sorority definitely gets you involved on campus, but at the end of the day, you know that if it was not for your letters you would not know exactly where you fit in on that new, big campus. You find your new home, and you feel safe when you think of everything that your sorority is, and has become, to you. At the end of the four years you look back and see that you could have done all of the other things without being in a sorority, but it would have been a lot more stressful and a lot less fun.

When it is all said and done, we could have all made it without our letters, but we can all recognize the huge spot in our heart they now hold. Our letters gave us our best friends, our "home away from home," our good times and our support through the bad times. They remind us of who we are, and of our purpose in life when we forget.

I want to thank my letters for making me the woman I want to be, and for all the opportunities, people and memories they have brought me!