Growing up, I was never the type of girl who would fit a mold. I’ve been known to color outside of lines and play by my own rules for as long as I can remember. I’ve always felt a need to branch out and be my own person, so when I decided to go through formal recruitment, or “rush,” at IU, I received a lot of serious inquiries from my friends and family.

I suppose it’s my personality that made people question my yearning for Greek sisterhood. Standing out from the crowd has always been a natural tendency of mine. I listen to bands people have never heard of and support causes people aren’t aware of. By no means do I identify as a hipster, but I am known to do my own thing; so to desire to be accepted into an organization that prides itself on exclusivity and conformity seemed ill-fitting to my peers.

However, I have this complex where I won’t judge something until I experience it. I would never want to mock something that I don’t understand. Which leads me to why I’m writing this piece, I wanted to comprehend what formal recruitment actually entailed. I wanted to see these sorority girls for who they truly are and not just the walking stereotype of girls with blonde hair, small waistlines, and stacks of money.

Going into recruitment, I was slightly intimidated. I didn’t know much about sorority life, fraternity boys, the Greek system, or even how to properly attend a party. My life at IU didn’t really expand beyond my classrooms, dorm, dining halls, and the Wells Library. I was focused on laying down a strong academic foundation; at the same time, I sort of put off my social life for a few months. I saw recruitment as a way to find people who hold similar interests to me, if they truly existed.

At this point I had convinced myself that this was a good idea and began to register. After filling out the paperwork, submitting a headshot, and paying my dues, all that was left to do was to finish out the semester with a high enough GPA. Honestly, I was surprised at the effort it took for me to simply register to rush.

You see, what they don’t tell you about recruitment is how complicated the process of rush is. So being the adventurous person that I am, I decided to document it. I recorded every instant of the “behind the scenes” moments, like ranking and breaks between rounds, and before I knew it, I was actually having fun and forming friendships left and right.

So after being asked the same question fifty plus times, I think I’ve finally come up with the right answer.

I chose to rush, not because I wanted to treat the process as a social science experiment and not because I wanted to discover Greek sisterhood, but because I wanted to go out on a limb and try something new. Did I know what I was getting myself into? Not at all, but it’s been a surprisingly wonderful and rewarding experience so far and I hope to continue to grow wherever I’m taken along on this crazy ride of Greek life.

Thank you, Alpha Delta Pi, for welcoming me home.