As cliché as it sounds, it’s true what they say, you don’t know what you have until it’s gone. I learned this unfortunate lesson halfway through my freshman year when, just a few months after being initiated, I decided to leave my sorority.
I was a competitive cheerleader throughout high school and I had committed to Carroll University before ever considering that I would want to continue to cheer in college. I finally decided that I couldn’t live without cheer, I tried out, made the team and started practice in the fall. Something just didn’t feel right about it. The skill level wasn’t what I was used to and ultimately I decided that I couldn’t cheer at Carroll and be happy like I was in high school. This left me lost. I began to realize that I needed a new family to make up for losing my cheer family. That is when I decided to go through formal recruitment.
On just the first night, I knew I wanted to be a part of Alpha Gamma Delta. Everyone understood what I was going through and made me feel at home at Carroll for the first time. Bid day was by far one of the best days of my life. (I know everyone says that, but it’s true!) I ran out onto Main Lawn and was greeted by tons of new sisters and spent the entire day smiling more than I had in a long time.
A few months passed and I started to feel overwhelmed and unhappy again. I pushed through and was initiated. There it was again, the unhappiness and the overwhelming feeling looming over me. After thinking and weighing my options, I decided my only choice was to leave the sorority. The papers got signed, I handed in everything related to Alpha Gamma Delta that I owned and that was it. Then, not too surprisingly, nothing changed. I finished my miserable freshman year with very few friends, feeling awkward when seeing my former sisters. I kept to myself and focused on nothing but school.
Along came my sophomore year and I knew I made a HUGE mistake. I missed my sisters. Seeing pictures of bid day and their happy faces, I knew I had to have that back. So I immediately began my pursuit of reinstatement. During my pursuit, I found out that I had to wait a year before being considered for reinstatement, so I did. However, when that year mark came along, I wasn’t financially ready. So I waited some more, until fall of 2015, the beginning of my junior year.
Ever since I got the letter from International Council saying that my request had been approved I haven’t even thought of looking back. My sisters welcomed me back with open arms and I am unbelievably grateful to have them in my life. I have completely thrown myself back into the sisterhood and even got a little that spring. I am so happy to be back home in Alpha Gamma Delta.
