Like many freshman and sophomores in college, I decided to go through sorority recruitment and landed myself into one of the most amazing houses on campus.
My chapter had only been established for one year before I joined, I was the product of their first formal recruitment, and we were already getting a house built for us.
I have grown to love my sisters and be proud to wear my letters every day. I have seen three classes of seniors come and go and I am not going to lie, it's hard.
I remember my reaction after my second ceremony for the seniors, I sat in my car and cried the whole way home. It had finally occurred to me that one day I will no longer be an AOII. They tell you that it is for life, and it is, but once you leave college and it is a different world. I asked people why they wear their letters after college and their answers really resonated with me.
Duh!
Twitter"AOII made me the human that I am today and I am honestly so grateful. I plan on applying for ELC and hopefully being an advisor in the future. I am so in love with my letters and I am probably going to be in love with them until I die, ALAM!"
Bigger Than This
Twitter"My letters are more than a chapter at Missouri State, they are an ideal. They represent the better world that my fraternity strives to play an active role in. A world of culture, of friendship, and of love"
Instant Connections
Twitter"I just saw an older woman at the store the other day with a hoodie with her letters. It was Alpha Gamma Delta. I thought it was cool. People too often think the sorority experience is collegiate.
It's nice when others can see we continue to represent it throughout life in different ways. I still think it's so fun to find other AOII's no matter where you are and have an instant connection and reason to say hello!"
It's Forever
Twitter"It's a way to find sisters where you might not know they are. Airport, new neighborhood, etc. and promote Greek life to young people and show them it's forever"
Girls Love Bling
Twitter"I normally wear my lavaliere! I've gotten a lot of comments about it. Still wear some of my favorite shirts/sweatshirts"
My Leap of Faith
Twitter"I wear mine because I am proud of my sisters and proud to be a part of a great sorority. I wear them to show the world that sorority girls are not drunk, vapid, problem children Hollywood often makes us out to be by default.
I wear my letters because it's a personal reminder of the biggest leap of faith (going 1,000 miles away to college) ever made in my life and that my sisters were there to point out the wings I already had and then teach me to fly"
Sorority Girls are Cool Ladies
Twitter"I wear letters because I am proud to represent AOII and because I invariably meet other sisters who see my letters. I wrote this while in the Reno airport. The San Jose State basketball team is on my flight and one of them saw my shirt and told me the AOII's at his school are 'cool ladies'!"
We wear our letters in college with such pride and I cannot imagine going into a job interview when I am however old without wearing my badge, or going to run errands on the weekends with my kids and not have that instinct to throw on my letters.
You better believe that I am going to be an active alumna who buys all the shirts from a million different chapters.
I love my letters, and on hard days when I am not always sure I made the right choice or I am totally lost, I just remember that my letters mean so much to my sisters and myself and I can't imagine my life without them.
Look out for that crazy 80-year-old AOII many years from now because that will be me!
man running in forestPhoto by 
